This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - I want to welcome you to day five of week five through a look at
the book of Luke. This is the last day you have made it through the entire
study, made it to the study of the resurrection and it will be worth it. As we
look at what happens in this chapter, it's absolutely amazing.

The resurrected Jesus, he's appeared to the women and now the next thing that
Luke's going to tell us about as an historian, as he walks through the events, he's
going to tell us about something we don't learn in any other gospels. He's going to
tell us about a walk on the road to Emmaus and a couple of followers of Jesus,
disciples of Jesus and a meeting that they had with the resurrected Lord. Listen
to what happens beginning down in verse 13.

Verse 13 to 27, a longer section but let me read this for you. It's an
absolutely amazing experience. Now, that same day, two of them, two of the
followers of Jesus, were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles
from Jerusalem.

They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they
talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and
walked along with them but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them,
what are you discussing together as you walk along?

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them named Cleopas asked him, are
you the only visitor to Jerusalem? Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do
not know the things that have happened there in these last days?

What things, he said. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet,
powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.

The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and
they crucified him. We had hoped that he was the one he was going to redeem
Israel and what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In
addition, some of our women amazed us.

They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and
told us that they'd seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. But some of
our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said.

But him they did not see. He, Jesus said to them, how foolish you are and how
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Christ
have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was
said in all the scriptures concerning himself. Can you imagine, just for a
moment, imagine with me this Bible study. You're walking along with Jesus.

They didn't know it was Jesus but he's taking them through the entire Old
Testament explaining how each verse in the Old Testament that relates to the
Messiah, to Jesus, is to be understood. What an incredible, awesome moment for
them. But they still don't know it's Jesus.

What's going to happen? In verse 28, as they approached the village to which they
were going, Jesus acted as if he were going further. But they urged him
strongly, stay with us for it's nearly evening, the day's almost over.

So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took
bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were
opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight.

They asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us while he talked
with us on the road and he opened the scriptures to us. In this moment, the most
amazing thing happens. These men experience a resurrection of joy in their
lives, in their hearts.

They return to true enjoyment. True enjoyment, the center of it is joy.
Enjoyment is not just about entertainment, it's about enjoying being a creation
of God, enjoying being connected with God.

Now, for just a minute, walk with them along this road to Emmaus and I just
want to remind you of how this happened in their life. Maybe you need to return to
true enjoyment in your life. Three things happened.

First, you gotta face your disappointments. Jesus got them to talk about what
they were disappointed in. Oh, Jesus of Nazareth, tell me about that.

What were you discussing, he said. Simple question, but it prepared these men to
open their hearts to joy. Jesus gives them an opportunity to face their
disappointments and they reveal them.

Listen to their words. They've got an empty hope, they've got an empty tomb,
they've got an empty belief at this point. They talk about Jesus and they say he
was a prophet.

Oh, we expected the Messiah, but now they'd already changed their belief about
Jesus. They'd already changed their belief. He was just a prophet.

That's belief emptied of power. It's not he was, he is. It's not prophet, but
director of our lives, the Lord of the universe, the Messiah, with the power to
forgive us and restore our relationship with God, but they weren't seeing it.

So Jesus got them to face the disappointment that had come into their lives
because of their discouragement, because the circumstances of their lives had
not worked out as they thought they should work out. Mary, confused in the
garden, had faced the same kind of disappointment. Peter, wondering at the tomb,
had faced the same kind of disappointment.

Thomas, when he wasn't there with the 11, faces the same kind of disappointment.
Don't miss the fact that Jesus invited these men to share their disappointment
with him. Maybe that's where you need to start.

He knew that hiding disappointments, those who hide them, are doomed to carry
them for a lifetime, but when you face them in the presence of Jesus, you can
lay them down by the side of the road. You face your disappointments, and then
you change your perspective. Jesus' meeting and talk on this road to Emmaus,
it's the foundation for a life of joy.

He is straightforward with them about the source of their problem. His words do
not fall short of being just right to the heart. He says, "You are foolish, you
are slow of heart.

" He's just being honest with them. The problem is not with the circumstances,
the problem's within you. We usually blame a lack of joy in our lives on
external circumstances.

Jesus says, if you're lacking joy, the problem's on the inside. Instead of
patting them on the back in sympathy, oh, you poor guys, I'm so sorry you had to
go through this, Jesus challenges them with an answer. To experience genuine
joy, we need the words of Jesus.

We need to recognize God's hand at work in the everyday circumstances of our
lives, of our relationships. We need quicker hearts to see what only God can do.
Hearts that are ready to be committed, that naturally express commitment to God.

The solution is belief. Jesus says, didn't Jesus have to suffer? Haven't you
read what the Old Testament says?

You've missed what the truth is, and because of that, you're facing
disappointment that you don't have to face. Jesus was clear, he's gotta be at
the center. When you put him at the center, then everything else becomes clear.

Are your circumstances at the center right now, or is he at the center? You
change your perspective. And then, the third thing happens, you come to your
senses.

They go in to eat with Jesus, and this moment, he breaks the bread. I don't know
if they thought of him breaking the bread to feed the 5,000, if they pictured
him breaking the bread, to say this is my body given for you, but something
about the way that he did it, they came to their senses, they saw this is Jesus.
Their eyes were opened.

They recognized that Jesus was with them. They want joy to come back into your
life, you ask God to open your eyes, to let God help you to see that Jesus
Christ is with you right here, right now. They said, when he was with us, our
hearts were burning.

They knew something was different, but it wasn't until their eyes were opened
that everything changed. Maybe your heart's burning within you. You know
something different could happen in your life, but it's not until your eyes are
open and you see that Jesus is there with you that everything changes.

As they talk with him, as they listen to him, their joy grew, and as you and I
pray and study, our joy can grow, but as we recognize his presence in every
circumstance of life, that's where the explosion of joy happens. That's not the
only meaning that Jesus has in these verses. He meets with the 11th in verse 36.

While they were still talking about this, the two men came and told what had
happened to the 11th. Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be
with you. " Verse 37, they were startled and frightened, thinking that they saw
a ghost.

He said to them, "Why are you troubled? "And why do doubts rise in your minds?
"Look at my hands and feet.

"It is I myself. "Touch me and see. "A ghost does not have flesh and bones, "as
you see that I have.

" Still, they struggled to believe. Even when they saw him, they struggled to
believe. And then Jesus sits down, he has a meal, and eventually their minds get
ahold of it.

And they, like these two men on the road, their eyes are open. They come to
their senses. They see the power of the resurrection for their daily lives.

And then the book of Luke ends, and it ends with an ascension. It ends with
verses 48 to 53. "You are witnesses," Jesus said, "of these things.

"I'm going to send you what my Father has promised. " That's going to be the Holy
Spirit we're going to see in the book of Acts. "I'm going to send you what my Father
has promised, "but stay in the city until you've been clothed "with power from
on high.

" And when he led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands
and he blessed them. And while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken
up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great
joy, and they stayed continually in the temple, praising God.

Jesus ascends at the end of the book of Luke. And then we're going to see when we
start the book of Acts next week, he's going to ascend again. Are there two
ascensions?

No, there's only one. But Luke ends one book with it, and he begins the other.
One book ends with the ascension.

It's the moment of glorious victory and worship. The next book, book of Acts,
begins with the ascension. It's the moment of beginning the work of taking the
good news to the world.

As they stand there and they watch Jesus go up into heaven, it is really both
for these disciples, and it needs to be both for us. It's a moment of awesome
worship, where we stand for a moment and we see what Jesus did for us, and he's
going to be at the right hand of the Father forever, and someday I'm going to be there
with him. But then we're going to see at the beginning of the book of Acts, some
angels stand there and say, don't just stand there looking into the sky.

Go out, share the good news, just as he's told you to. He's going to give you the
power to do that. A birth, a beginning, a ministry, a journey, a death, a
resurrection, and now an ascension.

And all of it, all the way through, it's all about Jesus Christ. Let's pray
together. Jesus, we affirm that.

It is all about you. All of human history, all of eternity, you are Lord, you
are Lord of all. And Jesus, you see me, you see us, we can't get so caught up in
our normal everyday lives.

We can so easily make it all about us, or all about what just happened. Lord,
you're concerned, you're concerned about us, you're concerned about what just
happened. But we also know in the depth of our heart that when we remind
ourselves that it is all about you, it puts everything in perspective.

It helps us to come to our senses and to see with new eyes. So I pray this week
like never before, this day like never before, that we would come to our senses
and live in the truth, live in the power, live in the joy of the resurrection.
We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Next week, this is not the end of the story. We've ended the book of Luke, but
we're going to continue on in studying the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the
beginning of Jesus' church.

The book of Luke tells us how he began his ministry in the world, but now we're
going to see how he begins to do his ministry through his people. So join us next
week as we begin to study together in the book of Acts.