The speaker introduces the topic and shares reflections from his sabbatical, emphasizing the significance of Jesus' resurrection and the lessons learned.

Introduction and Sabbatical Reflections

The speaker discusses the resurrection of Jesus and the varied responses of different individuals, highlighting the belief, doubt, and reactions of the women and men involved.

Jesus' Resurrection and Response

The narrative of Jesus' encounter with two followers on the road to Emmaus is explored, emphasizing the gradual recognition of Jesus and the importance of spending time with Him.

Encounter on the Road to Emmaus

Jesus' explanation of the scriptures to the followers is highlighted, emphasizing the fulfillment of prophecies and the significance of spending time in the Word of God.

Understanding the Scriptures

The moment of revelation and recognition of Jesus by the followers is emphasized, along with the tangible proof of Jesus' physical presence and the fulfillment of prophecies.

Revelation and Recognition

The speaker shares personal illustrations and reflections, drawing parallels between spending time with loved ones and spending time with Jesus, emphasizing the joy and significance of such encounters.

Illustration and Personal Reflection

Encouragement to spend time with God and deepen the relationship with Him.

Spending Time with God

Emphasizing the significance of spending quality time with God and learning from Him.

Importance of Spending Time with God

Urging believers to stop delaying and start spending meaningful time with God.

Stop Procrastinating, Start Spending Time with God

Emphasizing the importance of reading and understanding the Bible, and seeking help from others.

Reading and Understanding the Bible

Encouraging gratitude and kindness as a result of spending time with God.

Being Thankful and Kind

Inviting both believers and non-believers to come to Jesus and find rest in Him.

Invitation to Come to Jesus

- The speaker is back from a sabbatical and is feeling creative
- He emphasizes the importance of Jesus' resurrection and how it shows God's love and liking for us
- He introduces the next series about Jesus' values and how spending time with him can change us
- He then reads a passage from Luke's Gospel about the women and men's reactions to Jesus' resurrection
- The women believed and rejoiced, while the men thought it was nonsense
- The speaker encourages people to consider the historical evidence for Jesus' resurrection and relates to the Apostle Peter's reaction to the news

- Peter loses a race to the tomb and is skeptical about Jesus' resurrection
- Two followers of Jesus meet him on the road to Emmaus but do not recognize him
- Jesus explains the scriptures to them and their doubts vanish
- They are energized and return to Jerusalem to share the news with the disciples
- Spending time with Jesus and studying the scriptures strengthens their belief

- The speaker talks about how he and his wife wrote letters to each other before they got married, comparing it to our relationship with God and his word
- He emphasizes the importance of spending quiet time with God and reading his word to deepen our relationship with him
- He discusses the importance of recognizing Jesus as a real, living person, and how Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures
- The speaker shares an illustration of spending time with his wife and granddaughter, emphasizing the joy of being together and understanding the interests of the other person

- The speaker shared a story about spending time with his granddaughter and how it relates to spending time with God
- He emphasized the importance of spending time with God and reading the Bible
- He encouraged being thankful and kind, and extended an invitation to come to Jesus for salvation

- The speaker prays for people to come to Jesus and thanks and loves Jesus
- They encourage people to come to Jesus if they are weary, broken, or in need of comfort
- They emphasize that Jesus is enough and offers rest and love
- The speaker urges people to follow Jesus and forsake worldly gains
- They invite people to come to Jesus and lay down their burdens, as he is enough and offers everlasting life

- The speaker returns from a sabbatical feeling creative and introduces a series on Jesus' values
- He emphasizes the importance of Jesus' resurrection and encourages people to consider the historical evidence for it
- The speaker discusses the impact of spending time with Jesus and studying the scriptures
- He emphasizes the importance of spending quiet time with God and reading his word to deepen our relationship with him
- The speaker shares personal stories and illustrations to emphasize the joy of spending time with God
- He encourages people to come to Jesus for salvation, rest, and love, and to forsake worldly gains

I'll make all the pianists and musicians nervous by just putting my bottle of water right there, okay?

Yes, we are in the Sunday after Easter, where we are kind of finishing up our Easter series.

But I am taking some liberties this morning to be a little more creative because I just got back from spending 3 months of time off, where what we call a sabbatical, where I basically stopped most of my responsibilities from a work standpoint, from a ministry standpoint here at church, and I took time and allowed myself to enjoy some longer times with God, with family, with reading books.

Katie and I actually did a couple of jigsaw puzzles, like that kind of relaxed, laid back time.

So I'm going to weave that in today as we go, and some of the things that I think God taught me or helped me to understand during this time.

So, last Sunday was the anniversary of the day when Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again.

That is the most important day in history.

Everything that we believe, those that know and follow Jesus, is based on Jesus conquering death.

Him entering death where he laid down his life for our sins and then him rising again.

What this also means is Jesus, God in the flesh, is real, he's alive and what we learn through his death and resurrection is that he loves us.

What I learned on my sabbatical is that he also likes us.

Just as you are, he knows you by name, he knows me by name, and he likes you.

You see, most of us are part of family units and in those family units, sometimes there are people that we love, we kind of have to because they're family.

But if you said you like them, okay, now that's a whole different question.

Now we get into would you like to spend time with them?

If you had a choice to go on vacation with them, would you?

You have different things that come along, do you like them?

God likes you and I, and he wants to spend time with us.

Now what I've also found is that if you choose to spend time with Jesus, He will change you.

And he changes you over time to be more like him.

I'm kind of in saying that introducing the whole next series.

So in the whole next series we learn what Jesus values, what Jesus' kingdom is all about, and as we learn to listen and follow and obey him, he actually changes us to be more like him.

2 of the things that I found really kind of stand out to me is that Jesus teaches us to be kind and he teaches us to be thankful.

And as I have noticed in the aging process that you are aware of as the years pass by, I recognize I cannot help getting old but I wanna be a kind kind and thankful old man.

So we are going to look today at some of this resurrected Jesus and spending time with him and what that actually does to us and how that changes us.

So first of all, I am going to tell you what happened way back when, but the anniversary of which we celebrated last Sunday.

So, we're going to go to Luke's Gospel chapter 24.

If you want to look at or follow on your phone, it is the third book of the New Testament and it is the last chapter of that book.

It is written by a doctor, his name is Luke, and so it is called the Gospel according to Luke.

Very early on Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

They had prepared spices, planning to anoint the body of Jesus.

But they found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.

So they went in, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

As they stood there puzzled, 2 men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground.

Then the men asked, why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?

Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and that he would rise again on the third day.

Then they remembered that he had said this.

So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his 11 disciples and everyone else what had happened.

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened.

But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn't believe it.

However, Peter jumped up, ran to the tomb to look.

Stooping, he peered in, saw the empty linen wrappings.

Then he went home again, wondering what had happened.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, never to die again.

However, there are what I see as primarily 3 categories of people that Luke introduces to us or tells us about here, responding to this event, to the Lord Jesus rising triumphant from the grave.

They rush back from the tomb, telling his 11 disciples and everyone else what had happened.

I love the way it says and everyone else.

You know when you're super excited about something it just spills out.

You end up telling anybody that will listen.

Sometimes other people are interested in what you're excited about, sometimes they're not.

But you tell everybody because you're really excited.

So this says, these women, they went back, they recognized, believed, accepted Jesus Christ was alive, they went back and they told the 11 disciples and everyone else.

They believe, rejoice, they react, and It radically changes them.

The second set, or group of people if you will, are the men.

The story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn't believe it.

I know, we got a group of people here today and people listening online.

Some in the room are saying this is nonsense.

You are part of the group that says this is nonsense.

There is lots of evidence, Historically, there is a lot of evidence.

You could read a book like The Case for Christ, or you could read different books that go through and actually show why it is documented as 1 of the events that is basically more documented than most other events back at that time period and prove that in fact Jesus did rise from the dead.

But I'm going to avoid going too much into the sort of like historical proof and stuff in this message today and I'm going to look at, in fact, how people react to this and what it means to us.

But there is lots of evidence if you want that evidence.

These guys, they heard the women coming back with their story and they just did not believe it.

I was talking about this here just the other week.

So often we have trouble relating to the Apostle Paul, But Peter, we kind of get Peter.

Peter jumps up, runs to the tomb to look.

He actually, we learn from another place, that he actually lost a race to the tomb because the Apostle John was running with him.

And the Apostle John was a better runner than he was.

But Peter runs to the tomb, stooping, he peers inside, he sees the empty tomb, he sees the linen wrappings.

Now most of us would say, okay, If I had gone there and I'd been able to actually see the empty tomb and see the linen wrappings, then I would have believed.

But he went home again wondering what had happened.

My father used to say there are 3 kinds of people in the world.

People that make it happen, people that let it happen, and people that wonder what happened.

But even though Jesus had told him, explained it, gone over and over again, and Peter's like the Apostle Peter.

He's still here looking at the evidence and saying, I wonder what happened.

Alright, let's now think about this, or let's follow the story and then we'll observe some more things.

So, the same day, that very day when Jesus had rose from the dead, so it's Sunday afternoon a week ago, that 2 of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, which is about 7 miles from Jerusalem.

As they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened.

As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began to walk with them.

He asked them, what are you discussing so intently as you walk along?

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces.

Then 1 of them, Cleopas, replied, you must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there in these last days.

He can just probe and get you to talk more.

By the way, as you will learn in your relationship with Jesus, if you grow that relationship, if you spend time with him, he asks good questions.

And the things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth, they said, he was a prophet who did powerful miracles.

He was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people.

But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him.

We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.

Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report.

They said his body was missing, and that they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive.

Some of our men ran to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said." Do they believe, or do they not believe?

It's really funny when you read it, you can't tell at the end.

They know that the women came back, they know that the guys went and looked, but they're still not sure.

And so it is with many of us, we struggle and God works in our hearts by His Holy Spirit to help us to understand.

Can you imagine having the Lord Jesus actually walk alongside these folks?

They didn't even know it was Jesus walking with them at this point.

For those of you that know and follow Jesus, Jesus has promised that he walks with you, and he walks with me on the journey of our lives.

Sometimes we see him, sometimes we recognize him, sometimes we don't.

But today, in whatever you are going through in your life, Jesus walks with you.

As the story continues, then Jesus said to them, O foolish people, you find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.

Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?

Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

I've spent my life studying the Word of God.

What I find so amazing, so incredible, is that the prophecies are laid out in a way that there had to be a Messiah and nobody could fake it.

It is way too precise, it is way too carefully predicted, It is spelled out in such detail.

You read Isaiah 53 just as an example, and you get a description of a crucifixion and of the sufferings of Christ long before a Roman crucifixion was even contrived.

The pictures that are given to us, you take the story of Abraham and Isaac going up Mount Moriah together, and Abraham laying his son on that altar.

And then there being an animal sacrifice to take the place of Isaac, so that Isaac and his son could come back together with an animal sacrifice, a lamb of God's providing.

When somebody says to me there's contradictions or there's discrepancies in the Bible, what I love to respond with, it may be a little cheeky, but I say, you've got a lot more to explain to me about all the stuff that we do understand and that we can see than a few discrepancies that we can't figure out exactly.

Because it's chock full and Jesus would have explained them all here.

Even the ones we can't quite figure out or we can't quite understand.

So I wish I had been here to actually hear this teaching that Jesus gave.

By this time they were nearing Emmaus at the end of their journey.

Jesus acted as if he was going on, but they begged him, stay the night with us since it's getting late.

As they sat down to eat, He took the bread and blessed it.

They recognized him and at that moment he disappeared.

They said to each other, didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us And within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem.

There they found the 11 disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, the Lord is really risen.

The patience of our Lord with our doubts and with our unbelief and with our hesitations, the Lord actually, just to clear up Peter's belief, He appeared to him.

Spending time with Jesus is what removes the doubts.

If you and I have doubts in our faith, if we have doubts as to the journey of our lives and the Lord being with us and all that the Lord has planned for us and as to our salvation, if we have doubts, the solution is time with Jesus.

As they spent this time together, the doubts vanished and they were energized.

This is like if you've done a 10K for charity or something, and picture you're at the end of it, you're now sitting down for supper after you're done, and all of a sudden, they are so energized, They get up at night and do another 10k back in order to get back and to be with the rest of the disciples.

That's what happened when they got a fresh glimpse of who the Lord Jesus really is.

As he explained the scriptures to them, as he opened up the word to them, it motivated them, it encouraged them, it strengthened their belief and they were on their way back.

So I say, God wants to spend time with us, and the way we learn about him is to spend time in his word.

Katie and I have been in love for right around 50 years right now.

Because we actually started our serious dating relationship that led to marriage about 50 years ago.

Now, during the 2 years before we, well, we were dating, before we got married, we had a 300 mile distance between us and long distance telephone calls were expensive and so we wrote letters.

Now, if in fact I told you I loved Katie and I really wanted to marry her and I really wanted to get to know her.

Okay, but here's the letters and they're not actually opened.

When we spend time, quiet time, away from the rat race, not looking at our watches where we got 2 and a half minutes and then we have to go, but where we can actually read his word and spend time with him.

We learn about him and our relationship with him deepens.

He speaks through the Holy Spirit and he speaks through his word.

But if the Bible sits on our shelf collecting dust, it's just like if I would have taken those letters from Katie and just stuck them on the shelf unopened.

And then the next time I talk to her, I say, I'm really just so much enjoying getting to know you.

Because I have no idea what she actually wrote.

That would not have been good for our relationship.

I just want to make sure you've, I've just pointed this out.

The difference, I'm just going to read you verse 24 and 34.

The difference between spending time with Jesus.

Verse 24, it said, some of our men ran out to see and sure enough his body was gone just as the women had said.

Body's gone but we don't really know what's happening.

Verse 34 says, the Lord is really risen, he appeared to Peter.

You'll notice in that passage also before I go on that there is a moment where it says, suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

I do believe generally there is a time for most of us when we suddenly have that moment, that epiphany, that moment where we realize, Jesus Christ is alive.

For some it may come gradually, but I feel for most of us it's a moment, it's this moment when it's just the lights come on and it's like, yes, this is who it is.

And I pray for anyone of us here that has not had that moment yet, where you're thinking and you're listening and you're grasping and you're hearing the discussions about it, and I would encourage you to pray that God would reveal to you Jesus in a way where you would have that moment where you go, yes, I know who he is.

Now, the 2 from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus, remember they returned to Jerusalem, there they tell the story, this is in verse 35, of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.

Just as they were talking about it, Jesus himself suddenly was standing there among them.

The whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost.

Touch me and make sure that I'm not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, as you see that I do." As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder.

Then He asked them, do you have something to eat?

They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he ate it as they watched.

Then he said, when I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

He said, yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day.

It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent." This is so amazing to me because I feel like often times when we talk about Jesus, it feels sort of so religious that we're not sure if it's very real or if this is just sort of like some sort of mirage.

Some people sort of get this experience and some don't, but it's just sort of this something not real So this is my favorite passage for this because Jesus is like saying to them like Look at me like I'm here It's not a ghost watch Give me some fish.

So, Jesus, the 1 I'm talking about, the 1 who wants to spend time with you, the 1 who is God, he is the visible image of the invisible God.

We can see him, we can understand him, we can know him.

And that's, Jesus came and showed us that.

And in his body, after he rose from the dead, he says, watch, I'll eat fish.

And he also opens their eyes to help them to understand that this message, this message that there would be a Savior, that there would be a Lamb of God who would come and take away the sins of the world, that He had to die on the cross, that He who knew no sin would be made sin for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him, that that was all fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.

And now, you and I can have repentance, through repentance, through repenting of our sins, we can have forgiveness of sins, all because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Now, I'm going to flip to a bit of an illustration from my sabbatical.

So, if you can go to the next slide, Balaji, we'll just look at 2 pictures here.

So, in the picture on your left, where you see Katie with those 2 delightful little girls, you can see the joy that is there.

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Easter Series: Be Kind and Be Thankful