Seven Days That Changed The World | From Disappointment to Discovery | Senior Pastor Keith Stewart

SEVEN DAYS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
FROM DISAPPOINTMENT TO DISCOVERY | PART 7
Senior Pastor Keith Stewart
April 5, 2026

Easter doesn’t begin with celebration—it begins with disappointment. Two followers of Jesus walked away from His grave convinced the story was over, their hopes shattered and their future uncertain. But what they didn’t realize was that Jesus was walking with them the entire time. In the same way, God meets us in our confusion, speaks into our pain, and reveals Himself when we least expect it. Because Easter reminds us that God does His greatest work on the day we think it’s over.

Discussion Questions 

A. Observation (What does the text say?)
 
In Luke 24, what emotions and assumptions are driving the two disciples as they walk to Emmaus?
 
What are the specific ways Jesus engages with them before revealing His identity?
 
According to the passage, when do the disciples finally recognize Jesus—and why might that moment matter?
 
What changes immediately in the disciples after they recognize Him?
 
B. Interpretation (What does it mean?)
 
Why do you think the disciples were unable to recognize Jesus at first?
 
What does this story teach us about the relationship between Scripture and understanding Jesus?
 
How does the idea of the “third day” pattern help us interpret the resurrection?
 
What is the difference between hoping for something and putting hope in someone?

C. Reflection (Where does this meet your life?)
 
Can you identify a time when life didn’t turn out the way you planned? How did it affect your faith?
 
Where in your life right now do you feel like “it’s over”?
 
Have you ever sensed that God was present with you only after the fact—not in the moment?
 
What keeps you from recognizing God’s presence in difficult seasons?
 
D. Application (What needs to change?)
 
What would it look like for you to “invite Jesus to stay” in a practical, daily sense?
 
Is there something you need to open up about (to God or others) in order to move forward?
 
How can you shift your hope from circumstances to the character of God?
 
Who is someone in your life that needs to hear the hope of Easter—and how can you share it?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

He is risen. Okay, you didn't do as well as the first service. I said that and they knew how to respond. Christians, for several hundred years, when greeted on resurrection morning, with He is risen, we reply, He is risen indeed. So let's try it one more time, okay? He is risen.

unknown 0:21

He is risen.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Amen. He is. Hey, you know, I just want you to be aware of the fact that for the last 40 days, a lot of us engage in a practice that we call Lent, a time of seeking God together in prayer and in fasting. And a lot of people have been praying for this service in particular. And praying for me and praying for our singers, our worship leaders, and everything that would go into this day, but especially praying for you. I gotta tell you, most years it doesn't affect me the way it has this year. But this year, I walked into this place and just feel like my heart is full of emotion. I mean, it's it's it's bursting. It's hard to kind of pull back from tears that just the presence of Christ with me has been bringing today. In fact, in in the early service right before, I found the elements of communion backstage, and I just had my own private time with God. And uh I just believe he wants to do something really special today. I believe that he wants to demonstrate to us all why we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. So I'm gonna ask you to pray with me as we get started. Father, what a privilege to gather in your house today to celebrate the single greatest day in the history of the world, the day that truly changed the world and changed our lives, and that's the resurrection of your son Jesus Christ. I pray today, God, that you're just gonna meet us where we are with exactly what we need. In Jesus' name. Amen. It's been said that the longest walk you'll ever take is the walk away from the grave of someone you love. If you've never done that, you cannot imagine how heavy, how sad, how hopeless that can feel. To walk away feeling as if your whole world has come to an end. To walk away and think that what used to be about what used to be and what will now never be. To walk away and realize I'll never be the same again. To replay over and over in your mind what happened, wondering if there's anything that you could have done to change the outcome. To cry till you can't cry anymore, to want to reach out and touch their face and know that's not possible, to know it's overdone the end, there's nothing you can do about it. To walk away to friends who can't really understand, and to a world that just moves on to the next thing. It's the longest walk and the saddest day you'll ever face, because every step away from the grave is a reminder of all of that and more. You say, wow, Pastor, way to start an Easter service. I mean, let's let's just drop the whole service into the basement. But friends, I gotta tell you, you're never gonna understand Easter if you don't begin Easter Sunday the way the Bible does. Because that first Easter, before the news spread that the tomb was empty, that Jesus had risen, his twelve disciples, the women, the other followers of Christ, had all been dropped into the basement. And they were struggling with every feeling I just described. Their dreams, their hopes were in shambles. They were struggling to make sense of everything. And every step away from the garden tomb was a reminder that the one that they counted on for everything was gone and there was nothing they could do about it. This is the way Luke tells the resurrection story. It also happens to be the longest record anywhere in the Bible of a resurrection appearance of Jesus Christ. In the wake of Jesus' death, two of his followers had lost hope and left town. All they know is the one that they'd counted on for their everything is now dead. Emmaus is a town about seven miles outside of Jerusalem. Now, these two on the road to Emmaus don't understand anything of what's happened. All they know is, like I say, the one they devoted their lives to, he's gone. The body is missing, and they're struggling trying to make sense of it all. Maybe you've walked that road yourself. Maybe you're walking it today. You've been disappointed, disillusioned, and you're trying to make sense of it all. So the two disciples make their way to Emmaus. We're told that one of them, his name was Cleopus, we're not told the name of the other. Some have suggested it may have been Cleopus' wife, others have said it maybe it's Luke inserting himself into the account, and he just chose to remain anonymous. A woman by the name of Barbara Lundblad offered this thought. She said, This is not just a story about two disciples on the road to Emmaus 2,000 years ago. There are two disciples, one was named Cleopas. Did you notice that the other is not named? The other is you and me. Luke left a blank space for us to fill in our own names. All our hopelessness is there on the road. Every broken dream, every doubt we've ever had or still have. Now, I like that idea. As a general rule, it's a good practice to put yourself in the shoes of the Bible characters you're reading about, whether they're named or not. To see yourself and think the way they're thinking, to feel what they're feeling, because that's what this message is all about. It's about stepping into the shoes of these two disciples who've lost their hope and lost their dream and now they don't know where to turn. So let's dig a little deeper into this thought. I call my first point when life doesn't turn out the way you plan. Now you don't have to make it very far in life before you experience this first reality, our losses pile up. This is how we're introduced to the two on the road to Emmaus. They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. What the Bible is telling us is you could look at these guys and you knew what they were going through just by looking at them. They're staring at the ground, their shoulders are slump, their pace is slow, they're the walking-breathing definition of grief. They just look like two lost souls. Like anyone who's ever lost a loved one, they're trying to make sense of it all. Only people who've ever lost someone dear to them or have seen a dream crushed can emotionally enter into this story. If you've ever walked away from a funeral so deeply hurt that you couldn't speak, if you've ever loved and then been dumped, if you've ever tried and then failed, if you've believed and been disappointed, then you know something of what it was like for these two disciples. You know, if there's any word that best describes life, it's loss. Loss is inevitable in life. No one escapes it. When we're born, we lose the safety of the womb. When we first go off to school, we lose the security of our family life. As we grow older, typically our first significant loss is a family pet. But then as we get a little older than that, we lose friends, some by moving away, some by desertion. The older we get, the more significant the losses become. We lose moms and dads, some of us have lost mates, some of us have lost our health. And those are just the ordinary losses of life. But whose life is ordinary? The truth be told, there's some people in this room who lost childhood innocence because an adult took advantage of you. Others of us have had losses because someone very close to you betrayed you, hurt you, threw away your confidence. Your confidence in yourself was lost because you lost a job. Like I've said many times, loss is inevitable in life, growth is optional. You and I have a choice to go through it or grow through it, and that's entirely up to us. So these disciples are grieving the loss of their teacher, their leader, their best friend. The losses have all piled up in two short days, and they can't square the events of the last 48 hours with their faith that Jesus was a son of God. That's when the second reality sets in. Our hope runs out. Listen to what they said. We had our hopes of that he was the one, the one about to deliver Israel. Let me tell you, the number one reason for situational depression is a loss of hope. I was hoping she would want me as much as I want her, but she didn't. I was hoping this relationship would fill the emptiness of my heart, but it hasn't. I was hoping this new job would infuse me with a sense of purpose, but it couldn't. I was hoping a new move would help me start over, but everything remains just as it was before. For these disciples, I think their disappointment is all the more profound because they pinned all their hopes on Jesus. They thought he was the Savior. They thought he was going to change their lives and change the world. So when he died, their dreams died with them. Now you should just know that the way the Bible uses the word hope and the way we use the word hope are completely different. We often say things like, you know, I hope the Dallas Cowboys make it to the Super Bowl. Which you already know they're not going to do. So when I say I hope, I'm like that, I'm saying I wish. You need to know the Bible never uses the word hope as a wish. Biblical hope is not a wish, it's a certainty. Now please understand, I'm not talking about optimism. I'm not talking about a belief that everything's going to turn out all right. Hope is a certainty that regardless of how my circumstances turn out, God is with me. What I'm saying is hope is tied to the character of God, not to your circumstances. It's a belief that God never abandons us, never deserts us, never fails to keep his promises. Now hear me saying this because it may be one of the most important things I say to you today. Hope is not the confidence that my circumstances will change for the better. Hope is the knowledge and confidence that God will be involved in my circumstances no matter what happens. The disciples had zeroed out on that hope. The other thing they're struggling with is our faith gives in. In Luke 24, as Luke closes out his gospel and he wants to tell these resurrection stories, in all three stories, the people involved all struggle with belief. What's important to understand is this all the disciples struggle with the idea of the resurrection until they meet the resurrected Christ. This is what Craig Barnes said. He said, the question that Easter asks of us is not, do you believe in the doctrine of resurrection? But have you encountered a risen Christ? You know, a lot of people today think because of our sophistication, because we live in such an enlightened age, that we doubt things like miracles and resurrections. But the people back then, people in Bible days, they'd believe just about anything you'd tell them. C.S. Lewis once called that chronological snobbery. He said, it's thinking that only people today look at the resurrection with skepticism, while people back then would have just swallowed this story hook, line, and sinker. But I got to tell you, that's not the case at all. A dead person was a dead person. They'd have no easier time believing that a dead person had been made alive again than we do. Everybody understands what death means. It's been around a long time, right? We get what death is all about. So Jesus' death for them wasn't just a setback, it was game over. In their minds, Jesus joined the scrap heap of history alongside other would-be messiahs who'd been killed before him. Now, this is good news. It's good for anybody who feels a little skeptical about the resurrection story. Join the club. You should be skeptical. Everyone else was. Jesus' closest followers. These two on the road to amazence. They were skeptical. They were struggling with believing. The disciples were skeptical, like you and I. Over the years as your pastor. You know, I've been the pastor here 35 years now. And people I've seen struggle with Christianity, and they ask all sorts of questions like, how could a loving God send people to hell? If God is all powerful, why is there evil in the world? Doesn't science disprove Christianity? And why are all Christians such a bunch of hypocrites? But the biggest question of all is this did Jesus really rise from the dead? You see, if he did, then you need to understand all the other issues become secondary. If Jesus rose from the dead, then we just accept everything else he had to say. But if he didn't rise from the dead, then who cares what he had to say? The issue in Christianity, everything depends on the resurrection of Christ, whether or not he rose from the dead. If he did, it changes everything. If he didn't, why bother? Paul makes this argument in 1 Corinthians 15. It's called the resurrection chapter. He said, if Christ didn't rise from the dead, guess what? You're still in your sins and you've got no hope. That's what he says. If Christ didn't rise, Christianity bets the farm on the resurrection. And so the resurrection of Christ is the ultimate vindication of who he claimed to be. The resurrection, if it's true, and it is, means that there is a God, that he's acted in history. So literally everything rides on this central truth. Now think about this. These two disciples, they had heard, they'd heard that the tomb was empty. They had no explanation for it. So they left Jerusalem. They weren't sticking around thinking something miraculous was about to happen. You can mark it down. Anytime you go through a tragedy, it will produce a crisis of faith. When life gets hard, when things blow up in your face, you will either find your faith sustains you or it does not. So how you believe, how you really believe, will always surface in a crisis. So let's talk about how Jesus responds to our crisis. First thing you need to know in terms of their hopelessness was this: He gives us Himself. The Bible says, 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. So first you need to understand the resurrection story is not about a God up there in heaven concerned about you down here on earth. It's about God with us, right here where we are. That Christ is always near. So the issue is not whether God is with you, it's whether you see God with you. Do you notice that verse that said they were kept from recognizing him? Now, what does that mean? Does it mean that God supernaturally veiled their eyes so they wouldn't recognize who Jesus was? Well, maybe, possibly, I guess. I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know this. The most common way we fail to see God is because our problems have eclipsed him. When your problems get big, God gets small. The message that we see in this book, our real problem, is we get so caught up in the hopelessness of our situation that we're blinded to what God is doing in our situation. We hear the truth, we can't see the truth because despair has overwhelmed us. We are so immersed in our problems, we see nothing but problems. The Easter message is that Jesus is alive and well and walking the road of difficulty with us. That we are never truly alone, that he is on the road. To everyone who's ever felt abandoned by God, wherever you go, you won't go alone. Christ is not in the grave, he's risen. Even when there may be times you don't feel or sense his presence, Jesus is always near. Now, something else to consider. For the 40 days that follow Easter, the Bible records various groups that got to experience the proof of his resurrection. And of all the people he could choose to be with, he chose to spend an entire afternoon ministering to these two individuals. They're no one special. They're not even numbered among the twelve. One of them isn't named at all. But if Jesus invested this much time on Easter Sunday with these two unknowns, showing them the resurrection, then you know he's got a lot of time for nobody like you and me, right? If you show up on the very first Easter to two people who we don't even know who they are, then God's got all kinds of time for you and me. So here's a second response. He encourages us to open up. One of them, named Cleopus, asked him, Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened here in these days there in these days? He asked, What things? Now think about this. Jesus knows exactly what's happened because he's lived them, right? So why didn't he just say, Ta-da! You know, it's me, you know. Let me explain to you what happened because I was there walking through it, dodo. He doesn't do that. Instead, he says, Tell me about it. Let me explain it to me. So, Jesus, he's got something to say to us. Why does Jesus coax the story out of Cleopas? I'll tell you why. Because suffering must be spoken to be broken. You know, Jesus always encourages people to tell their story, and we see this throughout the gospels. He wants to do more than just simply heal our broken hearts. He wants to break the bonds of suffering in our life. What I'm saying is your disease, your problem, your pain, that's one thing. God may deal with that, God may even take it away, but suffering is something altogether different. Suffering is largely related to what you tell yourself about why you're going through what you're going through. God wants more than you just to be healed. He wants to make you whole. He wants you to open up, tell your story because that's what gets the pain out. Getting the pain out helps us understand why we're stuck. Getting the pain out helps us to realize the lies we're telling ourselves about that pain. And getting our pain out helps us to put our problem back in perspective. Here's what I know: one of the most effective tools in the enemy's arsenal is to get you all alone and indulging in self-pity. Now I know I'm the only person in this room that ever does that, right? All alone, indulging in self-pity to make you think that you're the only person with problems like what you're going through. There's a term for this. Our friends in AA call it terminal uniqueness. Every addict knows about terminal uniqueness because it's a characteristic of all addicts. Addicts always shoot down ideas like going to AA or counseling or therapy or treatment because they think that their problems are so unique that those solutions won't work for them. And what I'm going to tell you is that thinking is what leads them to despair. We sink into despair because we believe no one else has our problem. Therefore, there's no solution to my problem because I'm utterly unique. And I'm telling you, the only reason you think that way is because you're isolated. You're not talking to other people, you're not talking to God. If you were talking to other people and talking to God, what you would discover is your problems are remarkably similar to everybody else's problem. And the ways in which you are unique are not really all that special. That what's worked for them will work for you too. So we get released from our lies and distorted thinking by opening up and sharing our story with others. So Jesus will always get you to talk about your problem. Here's a third thing Jesus does. He changes our perspective. Jesus got him to confess the problem, and then he immediately begins to address their inadequate view of who Messiah is supposed to be. So Jesus says this. He said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? Now Jesus asked a simple question. And he doesn't stop there. He opens the scripture and he begins to explain to them why things happened precisely the way they did happen. You see, God's plan wasn't defeated on Calvary. That was necessary. For Christ to die, that was necessary to make God's plan work. Now listen carefully, because this is super important. Why are they despondent? Well, Jesus explained. He said it's because they don't believe all that the prophets have spoken. In other words, they only believe the parts that appeal to them about how Messiah would be king, but they weren't all that interested in the suffering Messiah. And Jesus wants to know, how'd you miss that? How'd you miss Isaiah 53? But he was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Jesus said, the Old Testament said I was going to suffer. The Old Testament said I was going to die this kind of death for your sins. Or how about Psalm 22? After service, go home and read Psalm 22. This is written, and it is an explicit description of what crucifixion is like 500 years before the Persians invented it as a form of capital punishment. That's how prophetic the Bible is. And here's just one verse from Psalm 22. They pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones were on display. People stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. Jesus wants to know, how'd you miss that? It's not like the Old Testament doesn't repeatedly say the Messiah would suffer. It's just that they weren't all interested in believing that part. They were following Jesus because they thought they might get a sit on his right and left hand. They wanted to reign with Christ, not die with Christ. And this is what got the disciples all upset when Jesus started talking about, I need to go to Jerusalem, I'm going to die. Remember, Peter pulled Jesus aside and said, No, Lord, I rebuke you. You're not going to Jerusalem to die. And Jesus was he had to say, get behind me, Satan. This is not God's message to me. My message is, my purpose here, my mission is to go to Jerusalem to die. So because their thinking left no room for a suffering Messiah, when Jesus died, that was it. In spite of a mountain of evidence, all of which pointed to his resurrection, they were convinced it was over and Jesus was not who he claimed to be. So the disciples even tell Jesus that they saw, they heard from the women who went to the tomb early in the morning and they didn't find his body, and they came back saying they'd had an encounter with the angel who said that Jesus was alive. And these two, they don't believe them. This is why I believe Jesus doesn't reveal to them immediately who he is, because he has to first fix their faulty belief system. When your beliefs won't let you see the truth, even when it's staring you in the face, Jesus has to correct that first. So look at what comes next. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scripture concerning himself. Now, this is the sermon I wish Luke would have recorded. What the Bible says is that Jesus decides through the Old Testament, I'm going to lay it all. All out for you. This, you know, is Jesus' Easter sermon. On Easter Sunday, resurrection day, he opens up the scripture to these two disciples. Now, what's really I love about this, this had to be the greatest Bible study in the history of the world, right? I mean, the author himself opening up the understanding of these disciples. Luke describes it as a conversation, going back and forth with a lot of emotion. Look at this. The Greek phrase hameleo suzeteo is translated talking and discussing. But more literally, it means conversing and disputing. It describes intense bantering, arguing, or sharing ideas with emotion. In fact, that word homaleo is the word from which we get the word homiletics. Homiletics is the word that describes the art of preparing and delivering sermons. This is what Jesus is doing. He's crafted a sermon, and now he's preaching it to these two as they walk to the road to Emmaus. And Jesus said, beginning with Moses, in other words, beginning with the first five books of the Bible, starting in Genesis, I'm sure Jesus walked him through the garden, through the example of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, on to Exodus, Leviticus, into the prophets, into the Psalms, unpacks how they all speak about him. You know, in sales, if you've ever been in sales, they always talked about having a 30-second elevator speech, which means, you know, if you're selling something, how could you sell something between two floors as you're going down? And 30 seconds describe what you're selling and make it appeal to somebody. If I were to ask you the question, what's the Bible all about? What's your 30-second elevator speech? I'll tell you what mine is. I say it's all about Jesus. It's not primarily a book, a reference book, it's not a book of examples to live up to. It's definitely not a to-do list. If I had a single word to describe it, it's Jesus. It's that's the plot line. It's the red scarlet thread of redemption running Old and New Testament, showing us God's intention to save the world through his son Jesus Christ. John Calvin described it like this: this is what we should seek in the whole of Scripture, truly to know Jesus Christ and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father. If one were to sift through the law and the prophets of the Old Testament, if one were to sift through the law of the prophets and law of the prophets, he would not find a single word mentioned that would not draw and bring us to Jesus. Now, obviously, we don't have the words to Jesus first Easter sermon. But this is more than just the prophecies about him in the Old Testament. We're talking about the promises, the symbols, the shadows, the types, the ceremonies, the feast day. All of them point to Christ. His fingerprints are throughout every page of the Bible. Maybe it was that Jesus told them the story of Abraham, how he was told to offer his one and only son as a sacrifice to God. And how the Bible says, on the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. So get this. For two days, Abraham is headed to Mount Moriah with this unthinkable idea that he's to sacrifice his own son. He's filled with tons of question, lots of dread. But on the third day, God shows up and provides another sacrifice of the ram caught in the thicket. So two days are awful, the third day is a day of hope. Why? Because God's the God of the third day. Or maybe it is that Jesus told him about Joseph as a type of Christ. Remembering Joseph is in prison, and he says to Pharaoh's cupbearer, in three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your job. What's the message? Well, in three days, deliverance will come and you're going to be released. The first two days are days of captivity. All hope seems gone. You don't know where to turn, you don't understand anything that's happening, but like with Abraham, in three days, God comes through. Or maybe Jesus told him the story of Esther, when Israel is threatened with genocide. The fate of the nation hangs on this harem girl named Esther. And here's what the Bible says. Esther says to her people, Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it's against the law, and if I perish, I perish. So once again, for two days, things don't look good. The deck seems stacked against the people of God. There's a law that threatens their execution, but on the third day, the king hears the plea and reverses the law. The people are set free from the sentence of death. Why? Because God is a third-day God. Maybe Jesus told them the story of Jonah in the belly of the great fish for three days. On the third day, Jonah's delivered. Over and over again in the Old Testament, we read this story. I've given you four examples. There's dozens. Right now, things are messed up. Right now, hope seems crushed. Right now, hearts are heavy and full of questions and doubts, but a better day is coming. Everything will be set right on the third day. I mean, it's practically formulaic. Start looking for these references in the Old Testament. You find them everywhere. It seems that God is conditioning his people to watch out for the third day story. Why? Because the third day is God's day. The third day is when prisoners get set free. The third day is when harem girls like Esther face down powerful kings and save their people from the death. The third day is the day that prophets are dropped off at seaports by giant fish. The third day is the day that stones are rolled away. The third day is the day a crucified carpenter comes back to life. You see, here's the truth: God does his greatest work on the day we think it's over. The reason we have all these Old Testament stories is because God's been telling one story for all time. You watch for it. That first 48 hours, it's going to be rough. You're going to lose hope. You're going to want to give up. You can't understand anything that's happening. But remember, this is a three-day story, not a two-day story. And God's going to show up on the third day and Jesus rises from the dead. Again, I don't know what the sermon was, but I kind of think he probably brought some of these things to mind for them. So what effect does Jesus' sermon have on the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? The difference Jesus makes. First, we want him to stay with us. When the disciples arrive at their destination, they asked the stranger who was Jesus if he could stay with them. Jesus acted like he needed to continue on his way, but the Bible says they urged him strongly, stay with us. Now here's the question: why did Jesus act like he needed to go further? Well, the text doesn't tell us. But the response gives us a clue. Jesus had addressed their need with the Word of God, and now He's giving them an opportunity to either respond to that or go back to wallowing in their misery. This is the way Jesus always works in our life. He's accessible, He's ready, He's willing to help, but He's not going to force Himself on any of us. If you want His truth, He'll stay and give you more. But if you want to stay in your mess, He'll let you do that too. Our response determines what we get from God. It was A.W. Tozer who said God waits to be wanted. Which means God responds to our craving to him, or for our craving for him. If you want him, you'll have him in abundance. If you don't want him, he won't be involved in your life. Which means Easter is not an announcement, it's an invitation, it's an offer. You can accept it, you can reject it, but you just need to know Jesus is never going to force himself on you. Jesus won't force his way into your life. He allows any of us to push him out of the way and he'll head on down the road. Another difference that Jesus makes is we want him to belong to us. The story of the Bible is a story of a God who wants to be close to his people, so close that nothing separates us from him. Jesus wants to be more than just your teacher and your leader. Look at this verse. When he was at table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it. What's that sound like to you? Communion, the Lord's Supper. He gave it to the disciples, finally recognized who Jesus was. Let me say it again. So here we go. So their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he dispeared from their sight. Do you notice it was after Jesus took bread, broke it, blessed it, and gave it to them that they recognize who Christ is. They recognize Christ in communion, in the Lord's table. At that moment of recognition, Jesus disappears. Why? Remember this: Jesus left us a holy meal to remember his sacrifice on the cross. The bread that represents his body, the cup that represents his blood that was spilled for us. And when we partake of that, which we have done a couple of times in the last month here at Spring Creek, when you partake of the Lord's Supper, what you're saying is, Jesus, I want you to be like my food and drink. In the same way this bread and this cup will nourish every cell in my body, God take up residence in every cell of my body. So Jesus' visible presence is now replaced with his invisible presence within us. The reason Jesus disappeared from their sight is because now they get to see him and experience him in a new way. He doesn't leave them, he's in them. Now, this is part of the reason why I love so much that we have a resurrected living Christ. He now comes to take residence in us. This is better than having Jesus here in bodily form, isn't it? Because if Jesus is in Jerusalem, he can't be in America. And if he's with you, he can't be with me. But Jesus, when he ascended bodily back to the Father, he says, I'm going to come back and I'll be the Holy Spirit, and I will dwell in you, and we will live together from now on. Now here's the great third thing that happens in the experience of Christ's presence. We want to tell others. It says they asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us while we talked with us on the while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us. They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. So even though it's late, they're tired, they immediately get up, go back to Jerusalem to tell the others. Think about the contrast this is with how the message started. It began with two dejected disciples slumped over in grief, full of questions, taking the long walk away from the grave. It ends with two elated disciples, hearts bursting with joy, head held high, people practically running back to Jerusalem to share the good news with others that Jesus is alive. The moment the disciples realized who they spent the day with, they couldn't help but share it with other people. And that's because Christ's resurrection is too good to keep to ourselves. They couldn't sleep, knowing their friends back in Jerusalem were still grieving. So even though the sun had already set, they decided to return to Jerusalem as quickly as possible because Jesus is the good news that's too good to keep to yourself. Amen. You know, I tell you what, more than 50 years ago, he came into my life. I've been preaching for 50 years since I was 15 years old. 50 years I've been carrying God's word. That experience with Jesus Christ, what he did in me, is my motivation for being in the ministry today. And it is unabated, it is undiminished. If anything at all, it gets stronger over time. Because I had a real experience with Jesus Christ and He changed my life, and I know if He could change my life, He can change yours too. And so it's been my hope and my prayer for all of my life to be that one who could just show another beggar here's where you go in the door. Here's where you find the way. Here's where you get to experience Christ with you every single day of your life, to know as an assurance that you're a daughter or a son of God, to know in your heart that Jesus loves you and he keeps all of his promises. I want you to experience that too, so I don't get tired of telling that story. Let me tell you this: Dr. Will Phillips of San Antonio, Texas, tells a story about one of his favorite patients, a Christian widow named Edith Burns. Edith, when she would introduce herself, would often say, Hello, I'm Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter? And then she'd go on for people who were open to it to explain the meaning of Easter, and as a result of her witness, a lot of people ended up giving their life to Christ. One day, Dr. Phillips had to tell Edith that she had an aggressive type of cancer, one that wouldn't respond to chemotherapy or radiation, that she wouldn't have much longer to live. Edith looked at her doctor and said, Don't be sad, Dr. Phillips. You just told me I'm going to go see my Jesus, my husband, and my many friends. You've told me I get to go to a place where I celebrate Easter forever. And you're having difficulty giving me my ticket. And I tell you, the doctor was just blown away by the faith of this woman. Well, within just a few weeks of that diagnosis, Edith was at the point she had to be hospitalized. Even in her dying days, she continued to joyfully share the story of God's love with her roommates and hospital staff, and even a lot of people, I mean, a lot of people who trusted Christ's result, that is, everyone, except the head nurse, Phyllis Cross. Phyllis wanted nothing to do with Edith's faith. She'd been a nurse in the army and she'd seen it all, she'd heard it all. Her experiences in life made her hard. One morning, as Phyllis gave Edith a shot, Edith said, Phyllis, God loves you and I do too. I've been praying for you. And Phyllis said, Well, you can quit praying for me. It doesn't work. I'm not interested. Edith said, Well, I am praying for you. And I've asked God not to let me go home until you come into the family. And Phyllis said, Well, then you're never going to die because that's never going to happen. And she turned around and she marched out of the room. But after weeks of attending to Edith, seeing this constant upbeat attitude, this cheerful disposition, Phyllis' heart began to warm toward Edith. So much so that she began to look forward to caring for this elderly woman. Gradually they became friends. One day Edith sat on the side of, or Phyllis sat down on the side of Edith's bed and asked her, Edith, you've asked everyone on this ward the same question. Do you believe in Easter? But you've never asked me. And Edith said, I wanted to many times, but God told me to wait until you asked. But now that you've asked, and with that, Edith opened her Bible and shared with Phyllis the Easter story. She told her all about Christ's love, his death, his resurrection. And then Phyllis bowed her head and she received Christ into her life. A few days later, it was Easter Sunday morning. Phyllis went into Edith's room, bringing her a bunch of flowers that she'd picked up at a local florist. And he found Edith dead. Her big black Bible was open on her lap. There was a smile on Edith's face. Edith's hand rested on John 14, where Jesus said, In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you will be also. So Phyllis lifted her head toward heaven, and with tears in her eyes, she said, Happy Easter, Edith. Then Phyllis left Edith's room, walked quietly over to a table where two new nursing students were sitting. And Phyllis smiled at them and said, Hello, my name is Phyllis Cross. Do you believe in Easter? The Easter story. If you've ever embraced it, you'll never get over it. You want to tell other people about it. You want other people to experience life from death. You want other people whose dreams have been dashed to know that there's hope in Christ. To let other people know that no matter how dark the circumstance or how heavy the burden, that Christ is always there. Hey, maybe I may walk a long time, maybe I may live and die with that burden, but I know my father never abandons me because he's very fond of me. This is the Jesus I'm talking about. And this is the story I'll never cease to tell. So let me take you back to where we started. The longest walk you'll ever take is to walk away from the grave. It's a moment when you think everything's over, hope is gone, nothing makes sense. When all you can see is the loss. That's where the two disciples were, walking away, heads down, hearts broken, convinced the story was over. But what they didn't know was that Jesus was walking with them the whole time. And here's the message of Easter God does his greatest work on the day we think it's over. You see, what looked like an ending was actually the beginning. What looked like defeat was actually victory. What looked like death was the doorway to life. And the same is true for you and me. Some of you, you're walking that road right now, and I'm not trying to make light of that or small of that. You're disappointed, you're confused. You're trying to make sense of something that did not turn out the way you planned. You think it's over. Easter says, it's not over. Because the same Jesus who walked with them is walking with you. The same Jesus who opened their eyes can open yours. The same Jesus who turned their despair into discovery, he can do the same for you. Here's the question: Will you invite him to stay? He's not going to force himself on you. He'll walk with you, he'll speak with you, he'll reveal himself to you, but he waits to be wanted. Stay with me. That's where it begins. And when you do, when you say that, when you mean that, what happened to them will happen to you too. Your eyes will open, your heart will burn, and your story will change. Because Easter changes everything. Let it change everything for you. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much. You are more kind to me than I deserve. What a privilege is mine to stand before these wonderful people created in your image, coming from all different kinds of places in their life, some really hurting. Some become hard. Some are tender and just looking for hope. But God, I know they're precious to you. And you've given me the privilege of sharing with them the greatest story ever told. About the greatest day that ever happened in history. The day when Jesus rose from the dead, and that settled it all for me. Jesus, you're alive, you're well, you're working in people's life, and you're working in my life. And for anybody who doesn't know you, help them to pray this simple prayer in their heart. In all sincerity, help them to pray, Jesus, I want you in my life. I didn't understand until now that you came, you died for me, you rose again to show that you're the Son of God. And I want you in my life, at the center of my life. I know I've done things in a self-styled way. That's what it means to be a sinner. I choose my way over your way. But God, I want to choose your way. I want you to empower my will. I want you to change my desires. I want you to do in through and for me what I can't do for myself. So it's best I know how. God, here's my life. You take it. Do in me what I can't do for myself. Just change me from the inside out. Be my Lord, be my savior. Help me to grow and help me to understand it more. And God, for every child of God in this room who maybe somewhere along the way have lost their way, who've forgotten the joy of what it means to have Jesus at the center of their life, to have resurrection power available to them every single day. That God, we have been given the hope of the world. That God, we would renew that sense of hope, that sense of commitment to you, that sense of longing to be with you every single day of our life. Because, God, it's a great life with you, and it's not much of a life without you. So, God, I just pray for you to do your special Easter miracle in every heart today. Thank you, God, for who you are. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the resurrection. In Christ's name, amen. God bless you all.