Transcript
Steven Furtick (0:01)
Hey, this is Steven Furtick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you, hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. I really value the Word of God and the effect it can have in my life when I embrace it, receive it and apply it. These seven last sayings of Jesus from the cross have had particular significance to us in these last seven weeks. I guess we're coming to quote Boys to men the end of the road. I thought about singing it, but date me when we look at Luke 23:44, we see the very last thing Jesus said and we're going to. I'll read the context of it. Luke tells us Luke 23:44 it was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, father, into your hands I commit my spirit. When he had said this, when the Word of God had spoken his final word, he breathed his last and he gave up his life. Now look at Luke 24. This passage for us has been a picture of this idea of spiritual journey where we've been following these two travelers. One of them called Cleo. At least we've been calling him Cleo. His full name is Cleopas, but we gave him a nickname as we got to know him. He was disappointed and he was traveling in the wrong direction. Jesus decided to catch up with him even though he was headed in the wrong direction. He revealed himself to him along the road, this seven mile road. I want to catch him because I feel like the best place to end this journey that we've been on was we'll be back on the same road where we started out, only now we're on the return trip. The Bible says that after they had walked seven miles with Jesus, at first they didn't recognize him because usually we don't see how God is at work in our lives while he's working in our lives. It's usually in looking back that we recognize the hand of God. Especially when things don't feel good or when things don't make sense to us logically. It is when we process things sometimes that we get perspective. Once it's in the past to know that, hey, you know what? That was God. That breakup was God. Amen. It doesn't feel like it's God when your heart is broken, but Cleopas goes all the way to the destination where he thought he would bury his hope because he has watched Jesus die on the cross. All of a sudden when he gets there, he recognizes Jesus, he and his companion. Look at verse 33. What a great Easter verse, by the way. It says they got up and returned at once to Jerusalem, where the Holy Spirit was promised to be given not many days from then. There they found the 11 and those with them assembled together and saying, it's true, the Lord has risen and appeared to Simon. Then the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. Verse 36. Then I'll preach a little bit and then I'll let you go eat ham and hide eggs and whatever else. How many of you could use some spiritual food first before you go home and look at bunnies? While they were still talking about this, notice how many things are happening just in the process of common conversation, common activity. Notice how God is revealing himself in unexpected ways. While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. They were afraid, and he spoke, peace. He did it. He revealed himself in an unusual way. So turn to your neighbor. This is an interactive sermon, so you need to turn to them. In fact, it's not a sermon at all. Look at your neighbor and say, this is not a sermon at all. You'd better look at your other neighbor, because that neighbor looked confused. Tell them this is not a sermon at all. Tell them this is a ticket. Tell them it's a round trip ticket. That's what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about round trip resurrection. A round trip ticket to Resurrection. It just so happens that I came back this week from Sydney, Australia, which is like 5,973 hours on an airplane, and I did not fly United. Praise God. Bleep that out on the podcast. When I flew over there, I got there on Friday, I left on Wednesday. One thing about Australia, it's so far away that when you get there, it's tomorrow. The first time I went over there, I FaceTimed my kids. I've been over there seven times now. And when I get over there, usually I get there in the morning. I called my kids the first time I went, and I was showing them out my window. Sydney, Australia. The sun was up in Sydney, Australia, but back in Charlotte, it was Thursday night. They were so confused. They were like, how is it nighttime here and it's daytime there? I started explaining to them that Australia is across the international date line, like 14 hours ahead. So I told my kids, I said, I'm actually calling you from tomorrow. I kind of thought that was clever. At the end of the call, right before we hung up, my oldest son Elijah, goes, hey, Daddy, before you go, can you tell us what happens tomorrow? Which I thought was so cool and so appropriate for an illustration about the perspective resurrection gives us. Maybe that's why we come to church deep down, even though we don't know it, because we want a report for our tomorrow from someone who has already been there. That's what I love about God. He is an ever present help in my trouble, but he does not speak to my today from my situation, but outside of time. God, who has already been in my.
