One of the things that we're to do as a congregation is discern if the word is from the Lord or not. So that's what we're going to do after I'm done preaching. Oh, I'm just waiting just a second for they, because they're kind of loud. I will say this, why we're waiting. We're waiting for them to go over to have some good times. Thank you to everyone who came out on Wednesday to pray for Michel Nilsen that went super well, we had a pretty good crowd, how many do we have 1520 of us maybe something like that. And it was really, really cool. We got to not only go and pray for the school, but the assistant principal asked us to pray over her. The principal asked us to pray over her. And we're continuing to develop those relationships. And we found out a week or two ago that the principal requested that we provide some snacks on the first day of testing here on Tuesday. So we're doing that. So thanks to everyone who has given money to those types of things, because of the donations. So we don't need to take up a donation today for that. But we will sometime in the future. So make sure you keep those pocket books ready to go. Greg's excited about that. But no, thank you all. Seriously. Thank you. We're making an impact over there. It's awesome. All right. Today, as I've been thinking about what to share, we are going to get back to the gifts of the Spirit next week for those who have been going through that. But it's Easter, right, so we got to talk about resurrection. Let me rephrase it, we get to talk about resurrection, right? Come on. That's pretty exciting. So today, what we're going to do is we're talking about four encounters, because I've been thinking about this the last couple of weeks, like this idea that Jesus resurrected from the grave that literally sent shockwaves through the cosmos. I mean, like this is like this is huge. I mean, this is unbelievable. We're going to read today that one of the things Jesus said was literally all authority in heaven on earth is now his, like when he resurrected, it wasn't just like, oh, that's kind of nice. Like it was a huge deal. But what I've been thinking is Alright, with that implications of how big of a deal that is. And I would love to talk and do a sermon on that maybe I'll do one day, I wanted to see Jesus, what he just did after he resurrected, I want to look at just like what did he practically do with your teaching that he had for his followers? Were there things that he did? What did he do? So let's go to the next slide and start with Luke chapter 24. And Kyle today, like after you do that, and we go there, I just have like pictures to have up there while I'm talking. So if you just go to the next slide, after everyone gets there, whatever, that'd be cool. So in Luke chapter 24, it's the last chapter in Luke's gospel here. And we see that what we're celebrating today, early in the morning, the women are going in and bringing spices to prepare Christ's body. And I really thought about this for a second. And this is I don't want to go too much of a sidestep. But I was pondering, the ones who were wanting to take care of his body were the ones who first got to learn about His resurrection. While the guys were off doing whatever they're doing, the women who are really caring for his body, see, get to find out about the resurrection first, Ben, that's something to ponder for a minute. And notice that was one of those ones that we would ponder together I think. And then they went and told the men, hey, Christ is risen, right? Because they were these two men show up in dazzling clothes, and they're terrified. I love how real it is. Because we read it like we think of the cartoons is when we were kids, no, they were scared. Many of us would be to write you go to a, you go to a tomb, and the tomb is empty. And some dudes and white are sitting there saying Christ is risen, like oh my gosh, like, I'd be like, what is happening? But they go and they tell them in and then Luke immediately tells this next story. There's not a lot here like he's risen. Okay, now, what is Jesus doing? Now, on the same day, two of them, were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem and talking with each other about all the things that have happened. So literally, it says, On the same day, Christ is resurrected. One of the first things we see Jesus doing is going on a walk.
I bet to me, that's startling. Like, it makes me think like, if, if I were the Messiah, which thank God, I'm not, and I had resurrected from the dead, and I am the anointed one. I mean, I think what are we thinking? Like, let's start resurrection conference, right? And get like, we can get a lot of butts in the seats, because man, I'm resurrected, let's go put it out on social media. Let's, you know, let's do all these things. Let's tell as many people as we possibly can tell, as fast as we possibly can tell them and let's do all these things. And yet we see Jesus go on a walk with a couple of his followers. What does that tell you about God's character? What does it tell you about that relationship? It's so yeah, it's different. John is so different, that he's willing to go and if you read here, it says that they had a seven mile journey. So it wasn't like he was like, Hey, I'm just gonna go stroll with you for a few minutes. The road to Emmaus was seven miles. So I don't want to ask how It would take most of us to walk seven miles. I don't know. About two hours, probably right. So Jerry's laughing over there. He's like, I don't know. Two days, probably a long, long road. And we'll try to catch a camel on the way over there, donkey or something. But for seven miles, he just he shows up to talk to these guys. I thought to myself, I don't know if some of us with our busy schedules could even do that now. But the resurrected King of the Universe has time to go on a walk with some people. Jesus do something important. Jesus, you need to go tell everyone. No, I'm gonna go on a walk. I'm gonna go on a walk. Verse 15, says, while they were walking and discussing Jesus Himself, came near and went with him. So this is where he comes. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. There's this really interesting thing about the resurrected body where they're like, is that him? Is that not him? But here their eyes are shielded. And we'll see that, as you see through when he read about resurrection and Jesus like, Yeah, that's him. Yeah. I think that gives us insight into what our resurrected bodies will be like. That's John. Yeah. Yeah, that's John. And as and he said to them, What are you discussing while each other with each other while you walk along? They stood still looking sad. Then one of them whose name was Cleopas answered? Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days? So imagine now you're Cleopas and his friend, and you have followed this person who you believed was the anointed one was the Christos, for several years, probably. All your hopes and dreams are that this guy is going to set Israel free from Roman oppression. This guy is going to sit on David's throne and this guy right here is going to make Israel as amazing as it used to be. There's certain phrases I can't say here, politically, I might get in trouble. Sorry, everyone gets scared. They'll say I'm for it, or I'm against it. It's so hard these days. They're going to restore Israel to what it is.
They're bummed. Why are they bombed? Because all their hopes and dreams are shattered. Can you imagine being Cleopas and his friend and thinking, hey, the last two years were a waste of time. The last three years were a waste of time. Can you imagine? I mean, seriously, right. Have you ever followed in even followed someone who you respected and they passed away? And you're like, man, that really hurts. Imagine your hopes and dreams? of everything being set rights crushed, squashed? Of course, they're sad. So one thing that we know that Jesus does when He resurrects is he wants to bring healing to hurting people. He's willing to just take a step, go on a walk, and begin to see healing and bring revelation to some of his followers that are really hurting right now. Of course, they're probably a little frustrated, a little angry over this. And you can maybe sense that, whenever he says, Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? Who does not know these things? I can sense that maybe being said with sarcasm or frustration or, or a little anger. And it says he asked them what things so Jesus plays like, he's ignorant of what's going on. Of course, he knows what's going on. And he's not what things I wonder if he was having fun with it. They replied, The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed, in word before God, and all the people, and how the our chief priest and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified Him. And here's the crux of it. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel, we hope that he was the one to bring freedom to to buy us back to restore us to our glory, all crushed. They're all it's all crushed. And then to make matters worse, doesn't say that but basically here. Yes. And besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning. And when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him. So on top of our hopes and dreams being shattered, because Jesus is Christos is dead. Now, the women are saying that they saw vision that he's alive, the men went there and now the tomb is empty, like they're done. is being rational, right, quote unquote, going what's going on here? Like? Did someone steal the body away? Are these people are all these people? I've been hanging with a little, little nuts? Like, what would we be thinking? Here's what would you be thinking, right? We can. And so what is Jesus's response? Like there? I mean, I can sense the frustration, the disappointment. In verse 25, he says, Oh, how foolish you are. I wonder how many times God says that to me? I hope not too often. But sometimes I think maybe often, John, that's, you know, Jesus was pretty straightforward guy. You guys recognize that, like, in the south, we have to sugarcoat everything we say or when people you know, I do to have you know, but Jesus, like, just, you know, you guys know, the folks that just kind of tell it like, it is not, he wasn't a mean or a jerk. He just said things like he felt he was comfortable in that, oh, how foolish you are. And how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets declared, was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things, and then enter into his glory, then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them, the things about himself, in all the scriptures. I think that that's really, really interested resting that as Jesus is revealing who Messiah is, he doesn't immediately start with the resurrection. He also doesn't even start with his birth, that when he's revealing the whole purpose of his calling, and the whole purpose of what he was to do, he goes all the way back to Moses, which when he says, Moses, in the prophets, Moses is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers into the Torah that Moses wrote, and the prophets, he's pointing back to the Old Testament of what we call it now. And I think that that's huge, because what he's saying is to really understand who I am and what I've done, you have to understand God's whole story. This isn't an isolated event. This is understanding that God has been telling a story for 1000s of years. Messiah is the critical piece, I would say to the to the story, the most important piece, but I am this is, this is who Messiah is.
And so I think about that, and I think about that also, practically for us. And I know here at stones River, we're asking the question, and we're beginning we're embarking on it, of what is our role in God's story, right? Like, I think through this, because I know there's a lot of folks that we get hyper focused, I think, on me and my mission and what God has for me, me, me, me, me. And there's truth to that, like, what are our callings? What are our gifts, but isolated outside of God's story in Christ's body, then it becomes way too focused on myself. I've challenged people recently that say, Well, I've gotten this and God told me this. And I'm like, Well, what does that look like for the body? What does that look like for God's big story? Why don't know? Well think about you got to pray about that. Because we're all pieces to that. And as we're going to see, in the next three encounters, were invited into the story. And that's incredibly humbling, incredibly exciting as well. That you and I are invited into the story that God has been telling for 1000s of years, these guys convinced Jesus to hang around a little longer. When he breaks bread. Revelation takes place. And I could go on a whole nother thing about breaking bread and revelation. Then he disappears from them. Let's go to Matthew 28. To go the next slide. I almost didn't want to go to Matthew 28. Because I'm Matthew 28. out a little bit right now. I guess I feel like that when you go to those passages and like, man, I've read this 1000 times, but I just feel like there's some stuff here to share. We read how, what happened, what Luke was sharing what happened almost immediately after Christ resurrected. Now, if we look in Matthew, chapter 28, will start in verse 16. We see here that Matthew is a it's interesting, he writes his really long gospel, and barely anything for the resurrection. Like if you really look at how short Matthew chapter 28 is, there's 27 long chapters about Jesus and his life and his death and all these things leading up to his death, excuse me, and then there's just kind of short ending. I wonder if that's purposeful. I wonder if that's to get us thinking, wow, if he said this, that must be really important. So it shares the same story with Luke about resurrection and all this awesome stuff, and then says that they bribe the guards to not tell them. What really happened. In verse 16, it says, Now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. So Jesus had already appeared to them and said, now go to Galilee, which is where he did a lot of His ministry, and where a lot of the disciples fished on the Sea of Galilee. They just said, Go, Go wait. In verse 17, it says, When they saw him, they worshipped Him. but some doubted that's interesting, isn't it? Some of us can relate to that. Maybe So this word wars, they're falling on their knees before Him. And yet some of them, maybe while they're worshipping or not, they're not worshiping. They're doubting I'm not sure exactly. But some of them have doubt in their heart. Like, what is going on? Like, are we? Are we all crazy? Are we seeing visions is he actually physically resurrected? I'm sure that's probably what some of them are thinking. And one thing I like about this is that Jesus doesn't kick them out of the 11 for their doubt. But if you see like Jesus in the way he talks to Thomas and other places, he also doesn't coddle their doubt either. And go well, baby, it's good that you're doubting I'm so happy that you are. He encourages them. He encourages them to believe, to believe. And even the cool thing is, is even when we have our doubts, God is still there encouraging us to believe he is, it's been, it's amazing to think about the character of God, he can easily be like, Man, forget, forget them. Even though they doubt or though they were showing signs of faith, because if they didn't have faith at all, they wouldn't be going to Galilee, whenever he told him to go there. So some of us have those times, where we're wrestling is a little bit of wrestling in us. And Jesus also, because of their doubt, doesn't say, You know what, I'm not going to tell you this great thing I need to share. And then in verse 18, one of the most powerful verses, I think, and all the Scripture says, And Jesus came and said, to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So if you're about to go away, or if you were about to die, I'm just going to be real. What would you be doing, you'd be sharing vitally important things with the people around you, your friends and your family. First of all, he makes a statement, because I'm resurrected, He has think about that he has all authority on earth. He also has all authority in heaven, in God's realm. This this Messiah who was crucified, this king has all authority, both places. And then he says, because of that authority, we're invited into God's story. We're invited to be participants in his story.
And how does that go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them the name of the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit in teaching them to obey everything that I commanded you? And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. If these disciples did what Jesus told them to do, they would have passed that to the next generation, who would have passed it to the next generation, who would have passed it to the next generation, who pass it to us. And we pass it to the next generation, we make disciples. Why? Because he's teach them to obey everything I commanded you. I commanded you to make disciples. Now you go teach them to make disciples, right. And we hear these things, and we think, Oh, my gosh, disciples, and this is such a such a big deal. And I don't know what to do with that, John, like, geez, we have to go, go make disciples. And I think it's simpler than what we act like it is sometimes. Peter, John, all these people, what were they for several years, they were disciples of Jesus. What did that mean? That mean that that meant that the rabbi was Jesus, they walked in Jesus's dust. They watched Jesus lay hands on sick people and healed them. Jesus gave them authority to lay hands on sick people and heal them, he modeled for them, they went and did, he taught about the Kingdom of God, He sent them to have jobs go prepare the way as I'm going around teaching about the Kingdom of God. The job of the disciple was to be like your teacher. And it's hard, because now it's hard to kind of relate this nowadays. Because sometimes when we hear about teacher, we think of the classroom setting. But this was like really relational. This was like, let's eat together, let's walk together, let's do everything together. And I sometimes even say, it's kind of like an apprenticeship, someone under a car, say and turn the wrench this way. And it is, but yet, it's even more than that. Because you want to take on the character of your teacher. That's what a disciple was. And Jesus is simply saying, Here's, listen, as you have walked with me, and I have taught you and I have modeled for you, what life and God looks like, Go do what I taught you. Like, what are we learning from God. And if we're learning from the Lord, making disciples is as simple as being in relationship and community with other people. And teaching them what God is, is giving, teaching them how to be in relationship with God, showing them how to pray through our lives, showing them how to read the Scripture, showing them all the this is all this is what we're called to do. So that we can grow up as we been talking about spiritual gifts into the full maturity of Christ. So people can see who Christ is, because we're all part of his body, and we're growing and growing and growing together. That's it, teach them to obey everything I commanded you. We can participate in that. We should participate in that. And I also can't leave out baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit on Easter. How can you leave that out? Because baptism is about going, dying with Christ and being raised to new life if you don't know and you want who would like to get baptized? Come see me, we can talk about it. If you're serious. Don't do it on a whim, pray about it and be serious about it. If you've thought about it for a long time and never done it, come talk to me. Let's go to John chapter 21. To more encounters won't take too much longer. I know we all have like lunch plans and stuff like that. And I hate being the one in between those. Thank God, we don't have a potluck here today. That's the worst time to preach. And I feel like I'm pretty relatively short. You guys are pretty lucky, right? I mean, there's preachers that don't preach for hours, usually about 30 minutes. That's not too bad. Jesus has gone on a walk with some of his followers. Jesus has sent instruction for them to teach what they've been taught and share with others get in their lives. Make disciples. And now we're going to see Jesus, bringing more redemption, more healing to another person, as he's bringing it to Cleopas and his friend, he's now going to bring this to Peter. And I'm just gonna start in the first verse real quick. It says after this, this is one of my favorite parts of Jesus's resurrection favorite stories, maybe my favorite, I love this. After these things, Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberius, that's the Sea of Galilee, it's another name for it. And he showed himself in this way, gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas Cole, the twin Nathaniel of Cana, in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples, Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to Him, we will go with you. They went out and got into the boat, but they caught nothing. So what a fisherman do at this moment Jesus has showed himself to them. I think sometimes preachers get way too caught up and go, well, they had left the calling of God and gone back to fish.
I don't know if that's the case, they just wanted to go fishing because I like to fish. That's what I think. Like, any of us like to fish like, You think I'll think of how emotionally stressful this whole situation was. Sometimes I just want to go fishing like, Hey, I got another this week to get three hours and went kayaking, because it's been a lot going on. So they're like, Hey, let's go fishing. Course, there's nothing more frustrating sometimes. And when you go fishing, and you don't get nothing, anything. And that's their situation. verse verse is just after daybreak Jesus did on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So here again, they don't I'm not sure who this is. Jesus said to them, children, you have no fish, have you? They said to him, No, he said to them, Casin on the right side of the boat, and you will find some, so they cast it. And now they were not able to haul in because there were so many fish. This is exactly the same thing that happened in one of Jesus's earliest encounters with Peter peters out there fishing all night trying to try to catch these fish. He says, David on the other side of the boat, and you know, I'm just thinking like, you gotta be thinking, Come on, dude. I'm a professional fisherman. What are you telling me go cast over there about that rock? Of course, I know to do that kind of stuff. That's, I mean, I know you hate when that people do that kind of stuff. Like Goodness, gracious, I know what I'm doing. But then they do in this earlier encounter in Peter immediately says, Lord, I'm a sinner, and I'm not worthy. Like it really rocked him, because he knew it was a miracle. He knew there's the only way this is happening is with a miracle. I am shocked I am that Peter, who just denied Jesus three days later, earlier, I mean, just denied Jesus three times earlier on Passover, has a completely different response, even though he just denied Jesus, you would think this would be the optimum time for him to go, I'm a sinner, I cannot be around you. I just rejected you three times I just denied you. I deny that I even knew you three times. And yet he has a completely different response. Verse seven, says, that disciple whom Jesus loves. So John says to Peter, it is the Lord like they recognize this has happened. It's Jesus. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. Probably he didn't have his outer garment on as he's fishing, those outer garment on, jumps into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat dragging the net full of fish, and they were not far from the land only about 100 yards off. There are definitely times whenever I don't know about you, I'll be frustrated with Peter. Because if I've got 153 fish that I'm trying to pull into the boat in, this joker jumps off and like, Why do you get to go see the Lord? But Jesus doesn't reject that. It's kind of like, number Martha, you know, doing all these works. Then Mary sitting there and I'm like, Dude, come on, Martha, what's going on? I think there are some times whenever it's okay. And I think it was this time because Jesus is coming. One of the big purposes is to bring that healing to Peter, because of him. denying Jesus but I still would have been like bro come on man seriously. Verse nine says When they had gone ashore they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it and bread. And Jesus said, bring some of the fish that you have just caught so Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them and they were in though there were so many the net was not torn. So there was even another miracle that was taking place. Not only were all these fish here after catching nothing. Now the nets not even torn, even though they have all these fish. And Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast. So we see this resurrected Messiah walking for seven miles or so. I mean, maybe he wasn't on the whole road to amaze, maybe didn't want to hold title. No. He gets he's there, wherever they ended. I don't know where he starts the road. Going on a walk. Now we see him building a fire and eating breakfast. I mean, this is I mean, think about this. It wasn't like they stopped off at Hardee's and had a biscuit, sausage biscuit already made for them. He had to make the charcoal fire, he had to catch the fish and wonder where the fish came from. Because he had some right notices. He has a fish, he has some bread. So this resurrected Messiah decides he has enough time to sit down and have breakfast with his disciples didn't What does that show you about God? Like I just want you to think about think about that. Sometimes we operate in such a frantic pace. It also shows me that when it comes to disciples, as we talked about different things that it's so relational. And it also shows me that you can have healing into your heart. And it doesn't have to be at a church service when someone lays hands on you and prays that it can be over eggs and bacon.
I think sometimes we overcomplicate things so much. And think well, I could never do that I could never be a source of healing for somebody, if they're just going through emotional stress, like Peter is or whatever. And yet, maybe it's just that you have breakfast with them, and share some things with them. Maybe God wants to redeem people over breakfast, because he certainly did right here. He's resurrected, and he's having breakfast. I almost want to cry because I just think that's so beautiful that our God is like that. Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast. Now none of this sciples dared asked him who are you because they knew it was the Lord. There it goes again. That's the Lord. Yeah. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. And this was now the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. And basically what happens here is, Jesus is going to bring redemption to Peter, because he denies them three times. He asked him three times. Do you love me, Peter? To the point to where Peter actually seems as though he's a little frustrated? Like, Yes, Lord, I love you stop asking me this question. But in his response, we get to see part of the heart of God. I said, What would happen if you were to leave and you knew you're going to leave for a long time, or you're on your deathbed in a ripe old age, and you're talking to your grandkids, and you're talking to, you know, your nieces and nephews and people are all around and you're sharing these things? Jesus, one thing he wants to do is make sure that the people of God are taken care of. He tells Peter, he says, If you love me, don't He didn't say, tell me you love me. Don't just tell me Peter just whispered again. He says, if you actually love me, then feed sheep. Feed my sheep. Take care of my people. And what's so interesting is if you go to the book of Ezekiel, you see God getting really frustrated at the Israelites and saying you shepherds only care about yourself. You don't care about the sheep. And he rebukes them and he God rebukes them very strongly. And so in Jesus's heart, it is very important that his followers take up that role, and actually care about the sheep, actually pasture well. And John shared last week, a sermon on one another ring in his ring, so strongly here to recognize in an age where we can watch messages online, and we can go hide and big auditoriums and stuff. We can't truly one another and feed sheep and do these things, isolated from our from other people. This is an encouragement, it's not a beat down. It's an encouragement that you know what sheep stink, and sometimes it's not fun. Why did John talk about last week bear with one another. We even talked about there being conflict. And we have this culture where we just if we don't like it, we go stay here or we leave or we get angry. It's not about going to a church that has the greatest band. It's not about going to a church that has the most amazing preacher. It's not about going to church. It's about being in the church and living in community, deep relationships with other brothers and sisters and feeding them and taking care of them. We have to have that this is we can't ignore that we can't ignore that would be like me saying, Larissa, you If you just take care of the kids I'm leaving, they're too hard. Sometimes they get really tough. And I think some of us and it hurts me to say have experienced that. I've had that happen, and kind of let us not do that to the body of Christ. Let us feed the sheep, let us take care of them. This take care of them. Last one, y'all Acts chapter one. So Jesus has revealed as you're turning there, that he's part of God's grand story. He's brought some healing to Cleopas. And his friend he's, he has invited us to go into to make disciples to teach basic, let's just make it simple to teach what God get in people's lives and teach what God is revealing to us and showing us. He's told us to take care of God's people. And I would assume that in that would be the even the lost sheep that are out there that are not in the fold yet that we are actually carrying, going to the leaving the 99 and going for the one and bringing those into the flock. And then in Acts chapter one, I'll start in verse six, but this is Luke wrote, Luke, would John, and x. And so this is a little bit more, a lot more of the story. But Luke does mention here that he does say that Jesus for 40 days went around showing convincing proofs of His resurrection, and teaching about the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of God. Jesus is sitting, going to sit on his throne and rule. I love it.
In verse six, it says, so when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, is it time? Is it the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? This was all over their thoughts, right? We just read this. Is it the time, we're tired of this oppression? God, Lord, we want to have that the power that we had when David sat on his throne, come on, is this the time and you know, Jesus being Jesus doesn't say, well, Sweetie Pie, he just kind of straightforward, says, It is not for you to know, the times are the periods that My Father has set by his own authority. And then he's going to give them something to do. And I was really taken by this because I think there's the temptation for us to get caught and having to know everything that's going to happen in the future. Anyone else like that? I just got to know God, what's gonna happen here, I need to know what's gonna happen there. I'm gonna do what's gonna happen there. He says, Listen, you're not gonna know. He says that my father is taking care of the that I actually have a job for you to do. So they could have spent their time wrestling with the Scriptures trying to figure out the exact time and all these things. But Jesus said, No, I've got something else for you to do. And again, that Lord just really spoke to me about that this morning is like, some of us get paralyzed. Because we don't know exactly what God has, like we you've got that sense that like, we're being a, we've talked about this with Rachel Nielsen, and all these things we're doing right now. Like, we sense God's walking with us, but we don't see the end picture. So it doesn't give us we shouldn't just sit around going, God, I'm not doing anything until you tell me everything. Because God may be like, oh, yeah, never gonna know. Shoot, I don't like that, well, I don't care. When he gave him something to do, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. I think this is really fascinating, really important that these men were eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus. They had, as I mentioned, walked in his dust. They knew the way that he would respond in situations probably you know what it's like to be around someone. And can you imagine being around someone day in and day out for several years? Like you would know them? Oh, man, I'm just gonna do this right now. And they knew all of that they saw His resurrected body, they watched him die. They watched the Romans throw him on a cross. And yet Jesus said, that's not enough to really witness and to really make a big impact in this world. And he says, You need the Holy Spirit. To me, that's startling. A how important Holy Spirit is in the role in this role to getting this message out to Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria into the ends of the earth. We can't do it without the Holy Spirit. I don't care how much Bible we know. We can't do it without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one that changes hearts. The Holy Spirit is the one that brings revelation. As we go, and we Michel Nilsen and we talk with the men at the threshold ministries and stuff that we're doing. We have to have, we have to walk in the Spirit. We have to be in relationship with the Holy Spirit. If we're not, we can have all the greatest progress hymns, I guarantee you, it's probably not going to do a whole lot. I also think that it's really interesting that here and in Matthew 28, he says Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. He starts with Graff, geographic Israel. It's what he says. And then to the ends of the earth and to the ends of the earth. And it reminds me of Ben, you mentioned, I think, Helen, did Helen mention? The sign sorry, I don't know. I can't think of the word the sign. That was in Diane's that was next to your thing, bloom where you're planted? And thought, Well, maybe it's that is that what God has for us to do? were planted here in Murfreesboro, and for us to is this our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and for us to take seriously what God is calling us to do and to go, Hey, we're to be witnesses here. And sometimes, absolutely, there are men and women who are called to go all over the world. And I not only honor that I give to that, like, I'm all about that seriously.
It's vitally important. But sometimes we focus on that and forget Jerusalem, we forget Judea, we forget some area, we forget that you and I really were should be missionaries to our city, and live our lives completely given over to that. It's an honor. We get to feed the sheep, we get to show and teach what God has been teaching us. And we do all these things, through the power of the Holy Spirit, because that's what they did. They went in, they waited. And then when they had the power, then they went. And interesting that we've been talking about gifts of the Spirit. And we'll continue to do that. But we can only do it through him. Let's pray as the worship team comes forward father. Words, I just can't come up with the words almost to say, when it comes to describing what that what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means. But I do know, Lord, that you've given us tasks to do, that you've invited us into your story. That you've invited us to be disciples of Jesus, have you to follow our King, to do the things that you did, to say the things that you said, and Lord, I'm honored to be part of a group of people in a community that wants to do that. Father, as a community, we just say, we want to continue in your story. We want to continue hearing your voice. We want to continue obeying whatever you tell us to do, Lord. And I ask that you would just continue to give us revelation as we do. Continue to give us listening ears to you. Because there's a world out there. And many of them do not know the beauty of walking with you. Many of them don't do not know the beauty of having breakfast with you. Many of them don't know the beauty of you wanting to bring healing over breakfast, bringing restoration over a walk. The beauty of being in relationship with you, the King of the universe. It's incredible, Lord, help us to model that and help us to invite people into that. Help us to live that, Lord if there's anyone here this morning that that feels like they want to go on those walks with Jesus and want to have breakfast with Jesus and maybe just feel like they've been distance distant. Lord, I just pray for that drawing of your Holy Spirit. And I pray, Lord, that those people would get into community no matter how hard it is, with other brothers and sisters who are going on those same walks, who's having the same fish over breakfast. So they can grow together in Jesus name, Amen.
