Why Do You Seek the Living Among the Dead First B Jackson 2024-04-14 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Good morning, everybody. Very good to see you this morning. Would you stand with me? I'd love to sing together. And here's an encouraging word from from Psalm 103 to lead us into worship. It says this, bless the Lord, oh my soul. Look at the weather right now. Just just feeling the sun on your skin. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. And forget not all his benefits. Can you think of one? Just right now in your mind, think of one benefit the Lord has given you. Here's he goes on to say he's compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and filled with unfailing love. That's our God. Would you join me in singing 10,000 Reasons? I have a few announcements and we'll see what they are. And then we'll get to hear from a special guest duo. We have going on hey. It's a super exciting happy happy good times budgeting workshop. It starts this week. Super exciting. Happy happy good times budgeting workshop is free, April 16. That's Tuesday. April 6 wait. Is that Tuesday or Wednesday? Tuesday. That's Tuesday. April 15 is tomorrow. Remember that. April sixteenth, twenty third, and thirtieth, six to eight here at First Bee. Bring your seats, laptop, everything that you think that you're gonna need. And Nick Stern and Richard Yule and Jeremy Lipa are gonna help out by doing all they can to help you with getting out of debt, saving for retirement, keeping it chill, helping out with it. Super exciting. Happy, happy, good times budgeting workshop. And Iwana. And Iwana's on tomorrow, 05:45, and we've only got four club nights left, and kids are gonna start to, draw out their cars. So for the Derby races, the TNT kids. But, anyway, wanna finish the year strong. So Awana tomorrow, 05:45. Big week at Awana starting 05:45 tomorrow night. Right here. Volunteers for connect hour. I saw the sheets on the wall. They are filling up, but they're not full. If you want to go down there and sign up to prepare the meal between. We pay for the food, you just kind of set it up down the hall for in between. Ten to eleven is connect hour. If have you any other questions, you can call Addy at that number or us and we'll tell you. There is a men's lunch study that does not imply that we will be providing lunch. Okay? No matter what it looks like to you. Bring your lunch if you want it for it to be a lunch study. If not, it's a midday study on the book of first Peter. We started last week. There's still plenty of time to get in. First Peter 01:13 is where we are. So men's lunch study 11:55 in the Fellowship hall, come and go as needed but it will be over at 01:00. Vacation Bible School, we're building towards June 24 through the twenty seventh. You can sign up at firstbjackson.org. It's hometown Nazareth where Jesus was a kid. That looks like it's gonna be fun. And this is a big one. This is a potluck for Jean DeMarsh. How many of you all know Jean DeMarsh? She typically goes to the second service, but that that actually speaks to how important the connect hour is right there. You all know her anyway, she goes to the second service usually. Jean DeMarsh is moving out to Bellingham, Washington soon to be with Joan and her son, Joe. And so we're Friday, May 17 at 05:30 in the Fellowship Hall. No gifts necessary, necessary, but but if if you you wanna wanna come and send Jean DeMarshall, she is 96. Is that right? Yeah. 96. And she's heading out to be with her family in Bellingham, and we wanna say a good goodbye Friday, May 17. That's her actually. If you look right up here, she's volunteering with Meals on Wheels. She's 96. And that's Roseanne, who's next to her, volunteering with Meals on Wheels. So I just wanted to throw that in there. It was in the paper near the crossword this week. And I just saw him and was so happy and filled with joy and kinda good kind of proud. Think that they are very actively serving the Lord with the way that they treat others and I love that. So I wanna missionaries. This was the special duo I was talking about. So I'm gonna ask Jeff and tell if they'll come forward. And there you are. I've got a mic right here. And it's on. If you're not using it, Well, if you'll forgive me for not standing, I will I'll try and I can't I have to get everybody here. Would you use the microphone so that the folks at home can hear you? Thank you very much. There you go. So it is so great to be here this morning. I wanna missionaries. What does an I wanna missionary do? Well, it was a number of years ago that there was somebody here in the church that was interested in starting an I wanna program. And they called me, and we came and did a presentation about what a WANNA was all about. And then the church made a decision, yeah, we wanna do WANNA. So I came back, and I did the training for your leadership. That's some of the things I do as an WANNA missionary. My wife and I have been serving as a Oahuana missionaries for thirty one years and we love what we're doing. We our area assigned to us is Montana and Northern Wyoming. But, you know, we we've been doing this for a better part of our lives and we just love we love what we're doing. We wanted to give you a quick update on what's happening in our lives and in Oana both around the world and right here in our area. So, I spoke with with the pastor this morning and he said maybe, you know, one or two minutes and yeah. Okay. So, we'll see how that goes. And, you know, the the the sound man, he can cut the mic anytime he wants. So, you know, I'm at his disposal. Anyway, we are Jeff and Shelly Kessler. I met Shelly in Avon, Montana while I was traveling for my Bible College with the men's quartet. We dated in Bible college and have been married for forty one years. We are just we're just a couple of Montana kids. Shelley was born in Butte and raised in Deer Lodge. I was born in Africa and moved from Africa to North Dakota and then from North Dakota to Wisconsin and then from Wisconsin to Montana and various places in what's in Montana and then to Florida and then back to Montana. And, anyway, ended up marrying the girl of my dreams right there in Avon, Montana. So, we love Montana and the many opportunities that country life gives us. This is our home in Avon looking over our backyard here and this is a family God has blessed us with. Wow. Seven kids, first five daughters and a boy and then another girl, four sons in law, and a daughter-in-law and 11 grandchildren in this picture last August and number number 12 came right before Christmas. Wow. Okay. So that makes 26 of us in all. The vision and prayer of Juana is that all children and youth throughout the world will come to know, love, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's a tall order, but we didn't know where to quit because we didn't wanna say that some children throughout the world. We want all children throughout the world come to know, love, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, as a pastor, I saw several good things happening. I saw great things happening. Having opportunities to share the gospel. John three sixteen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Romans three twenty three, for the wages of sin is death. Well, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And then we go to Romans six twenty three, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And if you pick up any of the you want in material, it is chock full of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want our kids to know the gospel, and we want them to know Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior. We move on that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. Question for you this morning, have you trusted Christ as your savior? So I saw several things exciting happen to our water ministry in our church. Having opportunities to share the gospel, kids and leaders who are memorizing God's word. Parents are more intentional about discipling their own children. They were learning about missions in other countries. Boys and girls are trusting Christ as savior. So whether it's at Vacation Bible School or the Iwana Grand Prix in our home church or all across Iwana, there are opportunities wherever opportunities come up. Iwana club meetings, visiting the pastors, church leaders, working with leaders, listening to their concerns and praises, we want to be a proponent for not only the gospel of Jesus Christ, but discipleship of children. K? And so we we meet at missions conferences, we'll go to regional denominational conferences, fellowships, leader meetings, we provide training and resources. Last week we were in Thane and we held an Iwana Bible quiz and Iwana games down there and then we went home and when we opened the door there was soot everywhere. Upstairs, downstairs, was a robo vac had caught fire. And so we are in touch with the insurance adjusters and the mitigation team and there's going to be thousands and thousands of dollars from what they were telling me I said well maybe a couple weeks and they said well maybe four months. So really kind of feel like a man without a country, no home to go to so but that's alright. Goddess of energy is fine. So, well, let me let me move on. I kinda went aside there just a little bit. That was something happening right now in our life. You know, that's kind of a big deal. But, in our area is all of Montana and roughly two thirds of Wyoming. As we travel around the area, you know, we're just amazed at God's handiwork. We live in a beautiful part of the country. Right? Here in Jackson in Avon Montana we're just a few miles from the divide and it's just a beautiful area you know when we're called to and accepted as a wanah missionaries they ask us where would you like to serve as a Wanah missionaries? And we said, we feel called as a Wanah missionaries, not necessarily to any particular area. And they said, would you like to stay right where you're at? And so we did. And we've been we lived in Montana for now for well, since since ever we got since we got married. Right? Yeah. So this is a picture of a moonrise right clear right next to where we live at Mcdonald Pass. There are wana clubs in Helena and Avon, The Tetons. There are wana clubs in Dubois, Jackson, Dane, The Devil's Tower. There are wana clubs in Newcastle, Gillette, Ekalaka, Glacier, we have one of clubs in Kalispell, Bigport, Columbia Falls, Yellowstone, there's one of clubs in Livingston, Bozeman, Belgrade, and I already mentioned Jack's Jackson and other players, but you know, the vision and prayer of Awana is that all children's youth throughout the world will come to know, love, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I wanna leave you with this. You know, you can order stuff from Awana. You can order books. You can order uniforms. You can order all different kinds of things, but you can't order any liters. K? They don't box up liters and send them out to you. I know it's a shock. But but Awana is a discipleship program. And in order to disciple kids, we need leaders who willing to disciple boys and girls with first of all, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then grow them up in the ways of God. Awana is highly scriptural. Awana is highly relational. And where the two come together, we have a great connection. And we find a great connection in first Thessalonians chapter two verse eight. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls because ye will do to us. Men and women, do your part to reach the younger generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ and train them up to serve him. Thank you so much for your support for us. Thank you for your prayers for us all the time and and monthly giving. We so appreciate it. God bless you and have a great day. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Hey. Real quick. Anybody who volunteers in Awana, would you please stand up? Thank you very much. Anybody who's volunteers in in Awana. That's what I gonna say. Anybody who's volunteered for Awana. Anybody who's involved in Awana, including kids too. Thank you, everybody. Would the rest of you stand? I'd love to sing. Come on. Stand with us if you would. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, indeed. Free. I'm a child of God. Yes. Am. Free at Lord, it is good to sing your truths, and and this is the truth. From John eight, you said, so if the son has set you free, you'll be free indeed. That's a promise that can be trusted that you told us. You said in John 14, in my father's house are many rooms. If it weren't so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Thank you, Lord. Where we rest on these truths, may they give us confidence and strength and courage each day. Amen. Sorrow comes to steal the joy I get. Brokenness and pain is all I know. I won't be shaken. I love. I sing in the poppy. There's power that can break off every chain. There's power that Some words from scripture just to just to affirm what we've just sung here. Okay? John 14, this is Jesus saying, my peace I leave you. My peace I give to you. I don't give as the world gives. Don't let your hearts be troubled, and don't be afraid. That's Jesus speaking to you this morning. Would you hear that? From Psalm 23. Even though I walk through the darkest valley what does the psalmist say? I will fear no evil. Why? Because you are with me. Do you know that? The Lord is with you. And you know what's something else? Some of you may be coming in brokenhearted. And I was thinking of a psalm all week. Jesus saying, the Lord is close to the to the brokenhearted. Isn't that good news? One more, the Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The psalmist says. The Lord's the stronghold of my life. Of whom should I be afraid? This is why we sing of these songs because the scripture affirms it. And daily, daily, I surrender. Your grace for the day is all that I need. I'm surprised by Morning by morning, great is your faithfulness to me. Breath by breath, faithfulness to me. Morning by morning. Oh, morning by morning raise your faithfulness to You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the ushers to come on forward, and we're gonna sing a a new song called you've already won. And and from first John five four, it says this, for everyone who's been born of God overcomes the world, And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. God's divine persuasion in us. That's the victory that's overcome the world. Before we sing, Ray, may I ask you to pray? Sure. God, thank you for this day. I thank you for this gathering. I thank you for Jeff and Shelley. What a blessing Lord it is to hear from them. What faithful servants for all these years. I thank you that you are holding them up in difficult times with the mission going forward. I thank you for the kids that have been influenced under their tutelage and under their expert advice. Lord, would you reach many many more through those kids as they grow up? In Jesus name, I thank you for for them and for the kids in this church. I thank you that they are loving one another, highly relational, and that they are learning your word highly scriptural. Lord, would you do in them and in us all that you would. May we not be a hindrance to the Holy Spirit, may we not be a hindrance to the advance of the gospel. Lord, we're asking for you to use us to do your will in your way this morning. Would you bless the gift and the giver to do your kingdom's work and whatever that may be in Jesus name. Amen. I know what you're doing, but I know what you've done. I'm fighting about that you've already Amen. There it is. It's time for children's church. How are y'all this morning? All is well? Good. So it's a continuing narrative. This will mark the last of the New Testament in my time here. Right? I preached through the whole New Testament in twelve years. I don't know what to do next week. Pray for me. Pray for me. I know there's the whole Old Testament, but I'm not near as comfortable with the language and all the tools that I normally use. But pray for me, seriously. We're continuing the narrative. We're gonna go through the rest of the book of Luke. We went over resurrection and ascension last week, Mark and Matthew, and we didn't hit it in Luke because of just the length of it. So listen fast. There's a lot here. Okay? But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they who are they? We'll see in a minute. They went to the tomb taking the spices that they have prepared, the women. Luke 23 says, they had come from Galilee with him. Luke has told us earlier who these folks were. He names them, Joanna and Susanna and several other ladies were the way that he made his living if you will. They were very generous. One of Herod's household, it says earlier in Luke. But they were the ones that were taking the spices that they had prepared and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb and when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus while they were perplexed about this. Behold, check this out. That's what behold means by the way. Two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. Dazzling apparel, bright white, resplendent, and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, I mean, are scary guys. The men said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead? Oh, is so sweet and so profound at the same time. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here but has risen. That's good, good, good news. Remember how he told you and he's speaking to the ladies. They were with him. They were with him. They were with him from Galilee while he was still in Galilee. Y'all were following him just like the guys were following him. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be? That it is necessary that, that's the construction. This is a necessary thing. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man had to, must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise? And they remembered his words. This little group of ladies, the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day rise. This is Matthew 16. We have to go back 12 chapters to see when Jesus started proclaiming that he would be handed over and would rise again. From that time, Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary, had to be, they had to be. This is the case. He knew that it had to be and yet he still prayed in the garden, Lord, if there be any other way. We can have absolute full assurance that that is the way, that Jesus is the way to God. He began to point out it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, the chief priests, the scribes, and to be killed, and be raised up on the third day. It's not a new concept, but man, they just couldn't get it. Can I stop right here and say, are there things that are just not new concepts but you're having a real hard time getting them? As Mike, our youth director, he's fond of saying, there is no new news. There's old news happening to new people. Sometimes, we just don't get it. We keep bumping our head. And returning from the tomb, they told all of these things, everything that the angels had said to them. They told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. They were telling everybody. That's an old rendition, kinda anachronistic for the tomb, but I like it. Gustave Dore. Now, it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary, and the mother James, and the other women with them that told these things to the apostles. Luke uses this because he's writing an orderly account. Luke interviewed these people. He says that he interviewed the eyewitnesses. But these words seem to them just an idle tale. And they, the apostles, and the rest of them did not believe the women. Oh my goodness. Ain't that sad? When somebody can bring to you good news that seems too good to be true and you just reject it because of the messenger, maybe. Why would he do that? Why would he tell the ladies first? Come on. It's just hysterics. They didn't believe him, but Peter rose and he ran to the tomb. John, it's funny because John says, and I outran him to the tomb. I've covered it in John. This is the last of the New Testament. Won't go to all the others this morning. But stopping and looking in, Peter saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened. Now, is the really this is the part of the story I wanted to get to. That is resurrection and I think that's glorious and wonderful, But I love this story and I use it not in every wedding, but I use it in a lot of weddings because it's about walking a path together and I think that that's important. Now that very day, same day, resurrection day. That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus. It's about seven miles from Jerusalem. And if you're reading that in the new American standard, it says it's about seven miles and you think, I wonder what the Greek said on that. The Greek says 60 stadia, and 60 stadia is about one stadia is about 607 feet, 185 meters. If you do the math, that's what you come up with, 36,420 feet. Divide that by 5,280 because that's how many feet in a mile and you get 6.89777277. You know what that is? It's about seven miles. If you look at a map and you look from Jerusalem to Emmaus, that's Jerusalem to Emmaus and that we've seen this map a 100,000 times in our life. And what is that? If you look at it from Jerusalem to Emmaus, it is like walking from first b is the red star, and the old Wilson Schoolhouse is the green star. Okay? That's about how far the walk was. It's not it's more than a Sabbath day's journey. This is the day after that. Right? This is not a Sabbath day. They're walking home after a pretty depressing weekend. But if you overlay that, Jerusalem to Emmaus is almost exactly that. Walk in almost exactly the same direction. And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. I just can't believe it. I'm still struggling with it. All of these things that had happened. Now they had one huge detail that was left out. They knew nothing of the resurrection. And now while they were walking together and they were discussing it together, Jesus himself drew near and he went alongside of them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Now this is a weird one. This is one that people throw out and they say, how could they not know somebody that been following for two and a half years? Their eyes were kept from recognizing him. It seems like Jesus was kinda hiding himself for a bit, probing the audience. It's a little weird. Have you ever seen Undercover Boss? I like Undercover Boss. I I can't stand the whole thing because I tell the whole story after every commercial. But the concept is good. This CEO dresses up like this worker and he goes and hangs out with the workers for a while to feel like what it's like to work for his company. Yeah. There are a bunch of those. Deion Sanders even did it one time. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, now what's this conversation that you're holding with each other as you walk this path together? Right? You're walking this path and you're together and you're discussing all the stuff that's difficult and they stood still looking sad. It just stopped the walk. Right? How could you not know? This is the biggest thing. This is the biggest news. It's huge. And then one of them named Cleopas, and I love that Luke includes the names. It's nice. He's got eyewitness accounts. Cleopas, he's an eyewitness. Luke has undertaken to write an orderly account that you can be sure and have certainty concerning the things that you've been taught about the gospel. I know that you weren't there, but Theophilus, you can know. I'm giving you an accurate account. Cleopas answered him and said, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened there in these days? And the whole passion narrative that we've been talking about for the last few weeks has happened in a weekend. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then this Sunday walk home. You're the only one, buddy. Crowds chanting even last week. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and all of that to the shouts of crucify him, crucify him. If you let that man go, you're no friend of Caesar's. All of that stuff, political intrigue, all of that. The beatings, the crucifixion, laying them in a rich man's tomb. Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened in these days? And he said, what things? As if he doesn't know everything. Everything, literally everything. What things? You tell me what you think is important about this weekend. Is he it sounds like he's playing dumb again, but he is probing them to see what is in their hearts and in their minds, and they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth. He was a man who was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all of the people. And how our chief priests and our rulers delivered him over to the Romans to be condemned to death and they crucified him. You haven't even heard this, But we had hoped that he would be the one to redeem Israel and our hopes were dashed on that cross. We had hoped, past tense, that he was the one to redeem Israel. Go back to that Matthew 16. From that time he told them, it's gonna be this way. Listen, I'm telling you. It's necessary for me, the son of man, to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, the scribes, and to be killed. They've told that part of the story back to Jesus. Yes. And besides all this, now it's the third day since these things happened. If they'd really been listening. You know, the Holy Spirit was not active in the same way at the time. We take that for granted. As believers, we have the Holy Spirit that's showing us what scripture means. They didn't have it exactly the same way, but they did have Jesus standing there telling them over and over and over again. It's multiple times. On the third day, shouldn't you have been standing outside the tomb like, come on. Like the billboards, Herald Camping that the end of the world is coming. We get plenty of people quit their jobs every time that happens. No. They just didn't It's now the third day since these things happened and we're just walking home. We've lost all hope. To be raised up on the third day is a big part of the story. Moreover, listen to this, some women of our company amazed us, the Gaul. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they didn't find his body, they came back saying that they'd seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And we're walking home. Come on. He would have told Peter certainly first. You don't say, Jesus. I could just see him. That's interesting. Some of those who are with us went to the tomb and found it just like the women who said, but him they did not see. And he said to them, oh, foolish ones. Slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and to enter into his glory? They still aren't recognizing who he is, but now he's making a reasonable, logical, biblical presentation. Wasn't it necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpret not just the stuff that Jesus told him while he was alive and in front of him and eating with him and hanging out with him and walking for crying out loud, they walked all over the place. Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. I like this picture. This is a newer Most of the images I use are hundreds of years old, but this is David Bonnell from 2011. It's the road to Emmaus. And I like that it's not just the two who are there looking sad, it's three of them. Jesus is walking with them, though they don't realize yet who he is. So they drew near to the village to which they were going, and he acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly saying, stay with us for it's toward even in the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them. Now, want you to think about this, for as much not understanding as they had, they misunderstanding and not getting it. They did do what Jesus told them to do. They had a weary stranger that was walking. It was almost time for supper and they invited him in. Whatever you've done for the least of these, you've also done it for me. We just read this in our Harmony study. Right? And so when they did what he told them to do obediently, he comes in to the home to stay with them. And when he was at the table with them, he took bread and he blessed it and broke it. You all hear an echo there? It's only been Thursday to Sunday when he did this with the disciples. He was at a table with them. He took bread and he blessed and he broke it, and he gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. This is a Caravaggio, Caravaggio from sixteen o one. This is Jesus and the two from Emmaus. I guess that other guy was just there already. Isn't that great? Supper at Emmaus. When he broke the bread and blessed it, they recognized who he was. They invited him in. Now, look at that face. Do you see Jesus represented that way very often? This is the taking of Christ from just Thursday night. He painted this in sixteen o two, but this is the image we have of Judas and kissing Jesus. Maybe he shaved. Maybe that's why they didn't recognize him. I don't know. But their eyes were open and they recognized him, and then he vanished from their sight. And this is a weird one to me. Poof. He's gone. This is like him coming through the door. Perhaps he went through the door to the other. No. No. Not yet. Let's see. They said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures. They were moved by a knowing explication of the prophet, a knowing explication of the Torah. They were moved and their hearts burned within them when he talked to us on the road, when he opened to us the scriptures, when he was pointing out things and he was making good points the whole way and it was touching us deeply. We still didn't realize who he was. And they rose that very same hour. Now they had said, it's getting late. It was supper time and they're gonna go to bed. That's the normal. They were asking Jesus to plan on staying with them and after poof, he left. They rose that very same hour and they walked home from the old Wilson schoolhouse back to Jerusalem and they found the 11 and those who were there gathered with them together saying, the Lord has risen indeed and he has appeared to Simon. Now that one, I don't know where they figured that out. I don't know exactly what's going on, but he had appeared to Simon. John clears it up for us if you wanna read in John. And then they told what had happened on the road to them and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. And as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. And as Carl said in the song service, peace I give, not as the world gives, I'm talking pure Shalom I give to you. But they were startled and frightened and they thought they saw a spirit. It's really hard to to it's really hard to believe. It's really hard to believe and they keep on showing that over and over and over again. That even though it's true, it's still not always easy to believe. They were startled, were frightened, they thought they saw a spirit and he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Now last week, I presented the portion from Matthew twenty eight sixteen, think it is, sixteen seventeen where it says that they found let's see. When they saw Jesus, they fell on their knees and they worshiped him, but some doubted. And the word doubt is something that I have said before up here and I said it about a month ago about Thomas. We call him doubting Thomas, but Thomas was just paying attention to what Jesus has said. Many are gonna come saying that they're me. Don't believe them. Many are gonna come saying it's me. And that doubt that they had could have been, it could have been that is this too good to be true? It's really really hard. And Jesus told us to be careful. And he said to them, why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? You all know how many of can we just testify? How many of us have doubts in our hearts about things we know are true and we hope are true. We hope in. Yeah. Every one of us ought to be raising our hands for sure. We get stuck at points and go, can it really be that you really care about me, Lord, And then I can bring to you all of my anxieties. Can it be that you really care about me, Lord? I don't wanna bother Jesus with this. That's a that's a kind of an attitude sometimes we have. Oh, this isn't really that big deal. It is that big a deal. If it's a big deal to you, it's a big deal to him. He's seated at the right hand of the father. He's interceding for us. If that's the case and he's infinite, he has infinite ability to pay attention to what you will bring to him. Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look, see my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see for a spirit does not have the flesh and bones that you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed him his hands. He showed him his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy, John goes on to tell us that Thomas was not at this little meeting. Okay. While there were still disbelief for joy, they all doubted. Okay. They still disbelief for joy because it seemed too good to be true, and they were marveling. He said to them, have you anything here to eat? That's my kind of Jesus. Y'all got anything to eat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish. And he took it and he ate it in front of them and he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. That everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. This is nothing new. It's just hard to believe. It's good news. The news is so good that it's hard to believe. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Thank you Lord that you did that. Thank you Lord that you still do that. May we constantly be inviting you in. I have an unpopular video. I'm mentioning this. I have an unpopular view about the Eucharist. And not to bring the Eucharist down, but I think that when he says, every time that you do this, every time that you do, you do it as often as you will, eat whenever you want to. But when you do, be thinking of me. I'm I'm in a very, very small group of things that think that. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that what? Oh, repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. I I was watching the masters with my wife yesterday and there was a news break and I heard some news from Jerusalem that was very difficult news to hear. I'm thankful for reading the news this morning about how things went, but that that little place on the map that we've seen so many many times is so integral in human history and it was the starting place of what happened, where repentance for the forgiveness of sins can be proclaimed in Jesus name. He is the answer for all of the ills that you personally have and he is the answer for all of the ills that we politically have and he is the answer for all of the ills that the world has. The kingdom of God is what he preached. Repentance is an entry way. Repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem now. J. I. Packer wrote, Experiencing God and I like his It's not exactly a definition, but it is kind of a definition. Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin. You might not know all of it. In fact, if he let you know all of it at once, it probably would be overwhelming. The times that I have despaired the most for life in my life have been the times when I saw more of my sin. So he's very merciful and gracious at allowing us to see where we are off the path. Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God. And as our knowledge grows at these three points, so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged. We are progressing through as Paul puts it, progressing in our salvation as we understand more and more our sinfulness. We can hand over more and more of that because we know God more and more. Beginning from Jerusalem, that's the starting place. Now, it's spread out from there. You, he says to them, are witnesses of these things. I love the word witness thing and I love the courtroom analogy. I've said it a 100 times. You're to be witnesses for what you have seen God do in scripture and in your own life. You are witnesses of these things. You are not judges and you're not lawyers. You're witnesses. Just tell what you know to be true. There's no theological argument against the transformed life. Behold, I'm sending the promise of my father upon you that will be the Holy Spirit, but stay in the city until you're clothed with power from on high. And the last verse verses that we get to are these, and he led them out as far as Bethany on the other side of the Mount Of Olives, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them, And while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, after worshiping him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God. Amen. That's the end of the reading for the volume one. Okay? What a trailer for volume two. The end of the book of Luke breaks right there, but he continues in volume two which is the acts of the apostles. We probably will go a slightly different path and come back to the acts of the apostles. I love the narrative flow of the gospels, but seeing the early church figure things out under the direction of the Holy Spirit is a beautiful beautiful thing. Hope to enjoy together soon. Would you stand with me? Do we have anything else we're doing after this? Just a song. Right? Okay. Would you all stand with us? And we're gonna sing Christ be magnified. Lord God Almighty, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your word. Thank you lord when we are broken hearted and doubtful that we can still invite others in, that we could still invite you in, that when we take a pause in our day from our action to provide some sustenance, Lord, we can think of you. We can remember all that you have done. Lord, thank you. I'm overwhelmed by your goodness. Overwhelmed by your faithfulness. I'm overwhelmed by your ability that to to turn humble obedience into fruit. In Jesus name, I ask you would be glorified and magnified in this group of people. This little representative sample of the body of Christ. I pray Lord that you'd be working major major miracles in each life and that they would extend out to the people around them. Amen. Amen. Let's let Christ be be magnified. And let his praise arise. Christ be magnified in me. Oh, Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Magnified, let his praise rise. Christ be magnified in being. Oh, Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified me. Christ be magnified in me. Go. Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified in Amen. And from second Peter, the benediction this morning. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. And may I just say, and that is how it gets to be supplied to others who do not show up, come in on Sunday morning, who do not pay attention to the Bible, who do not have any idea of what's going on. May God bless you to be a blessing to them. In Jesus name, amen.