April 18, 2025 • 46 mins
When faced with disappointments in life, it can be difficult to believe God is working things for your good. But what if resurrection power has been at work all along and you've just failed to recognize it?
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I really value the Word of God and the effect
that it could have in my life when I embrace it,
receive it, and apply it. And these seven last sayings
of Jesus from the Cross have had particular significance to
us in these last seven weeks. And I guess we're
coming to quote boys to men the end of the road.
(00:42):
I thought about singing it, but.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Date me.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
When we look at Luke twenty three forty four, we
see the very last thing that Jesus said, and we're
going to read the context of it. Luke tells us
Luke twenty three, verse forty four. 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
(01:10):
with a loud voice, Father, into your hands, I commit
my spirit and when he had said this, when the
word of God had spoken his final word, he breathed
his lass.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And he gave up his life.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Now look at Luke twenty four, because 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.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
At least we've been calling him Cleo.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
His full name is Cleophus, but we gave him a
nickname as we got to know him. He was disappointed,
and he was traveling in the wrong direction, and Jesus
decided to catch up with him, even though he was
headed in the wrong direction, and he revealed himself to
him along the road, the seven mile road. And I
(02:09):
want to catch him because I feel like the best
place to end this journey that we've been on will
be back on the same road where we started out,
only now we're on the return trip. And 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
(02:31):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
In the past, to know that, hey, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
What that was God, That breakup was God. Amen doesn't
feel like it's God when your heart is broken.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
But Cleopus goes all the.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Way to the destination where he thought he would bury
his hope because he's watched Jesus die on the cross,
and all of a sudden, when he gets there, he
recognizes Jesus.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And so he and his companion look at verse thirty three.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
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 eleven and those
with them assembled together and saying, it's true the Lord
has risen and appeared to Simon. And then the two
(03:39):
told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus
was recognized by them when he broke the bread verse
thirty six. And then I'll preach a little bit, and
then I'll let you go eat ham and hide eggs
and whatever else, But how many of you could use
some spiritual food first before.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
You go home and look at bunnies.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
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.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And while they were talking about.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
This, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
peace be with you. And they were afraid, and he
spoke peace, and he did it. He revealed himself in
an unusual way. So turn to your neighbor. And this
is an interactive sermon, and 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
(04:43):
sermon at all. You better look at your other neighbor,
because that neighbor look confused. Tell him this is not
a sermon at all. Tell him this is a ticket.
Tell him it's a round trip ticket. That's what I
want to talk about today. I want to talk about
(05:04):
round trip resurrection, a round trip ticket to resurrection. And
it just so happens that I came back this week
from Sydney, Australia, which is like five billion, nine hundred
and seventy three hours on an airplane and I did
not fly United. Praise God, bleeped that out of the podcast.
(05:34):
When I flew over there. I got there on Friday.
I left on Wednesday. And one thing about Australia is
so far away that when you get there, it's tomorrow,
not that it's tomorrow's So the first time I went
over there, I FaceTime my kids. I've been over there
seven times now, and when I get over there usually
(05:55):
I get there in the morning. And I called my
kids the first time I went, and I was showing
them out my window Sydney, Australia, and the sun was
up in Sydney, Australia, but at Charlotte. Back in Charlotte,
it was Thursday night, and they were so confused and
they were like, how is it nighttime here and it's
(06:15):
daytime there? Because and I started explaining to them that
Australia is across the International date line, like fourteen hours ahead.
So I told my kids, I said, I'm actually calling
you from tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
And I kind of thought that was clever.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And at the end of the call, right before we
hung up, my oldest son, Elijah goes.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Hey, Daddy. Before you go, can you tell us what
happens tomorrow?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Which I thought was so cool and so appropriate for
an illustration about the perspective that resurrection gives us. And
maybe that's why we come to church deep down even
though we don't know it, because we want to report
for our tomorrow from someone who's already been there. And
(07:14):
that's what I love about God is that 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 tomorrow
and is not anxious about the economy or my health,
or is not anxious about the political system of the.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Country where I reside.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
God from tomorrow, the one who is and was and
is to come, speaks back to my today, increases my
faith and gives me the ability to face forward into
my future with companist.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Why talk lapping about happen today? Stuffy Eastern people.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Y'all come to church with your mom, and you all
like crazy and weird looking at me with your arms crossed.
I hated, I hated. If you really believe God had
been in your tomorrow, you'd get some sleep. If you
really believed in resurrection. When stuff died, you would look
at it and expect what was next to come from
(08:20):
what was buried.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You would not cry.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Over anything that had left your life, because.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
You would know if God is already in your tomorrow.
How about that?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
So it's been helpful for me really along this road,
the seven mile road, where Jesus on Sunday morning gets
up from the grave, chases down two unnamed people. Well
their name one's name Kleio, but we've never seen them before.
They're headed in the wrong direction. He goes after them.
He brings them to a place of understanding about who
(08:55):
he is, and he goes after them even though their
backs are turned on the promise, the place of the promise,
even though they're discouraged. Let's look at the scripture together
real quick, because this part's crazy. They're walking away from Jerusalem.
They're going away from the promise. Their hearts are broken,
they're going home is over. They watched him die on Friday.
(09:20):
There is no future. Therefore they have no faith. And
as they're walking away, he walks up. He doesn't identify himself.
He just asks them a question, which in itself is
crazy because I've always heard that Jesus is the answer.
So is strange for me to see that the one
(09:41):
who is the answer asks a question.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And let me tell you a secret.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
He didn't ask a question because he needed information. He
asked them a question because sometimes before God can give
you the answer, he has to correct your questions.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Before God can give.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Us what we're asking for, he has to He has
to clarify what we're really searching for. Because see, will
ask God to bless us, but we won't even know
what blessing really is. We'll think blessing is a thing,
when really blessing is a state of your heart that
enables you to be content, whatever your circumstances.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And so Jesus walks up on them, doesn't say who he.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Is, doesn't identify himself as the risen, reigning, ruling son
of God with all power in his hand, just ask
them a question. Look at verse seventeen. He asked them,
what y'all talking about? What are you discussing together as
you walk along? And they stopped in their tracks and
stood still, their faces downcast, their hearts disappointed, their dreams
(10:52):
dashed on the rocks of the reality of the death
of the one they thought might be the Messiah, and
they are standing next to hope, but they have no hope,
and they are standing next to power, but they feel weak.
And they are headed home, returning back to what's familiar
because their faith has been hung on a cross and
(11:14):
sentenced to die. And so they're headed home. So they're
returning home. If you're taking notes, right down return return,
they're returning to a village call a Maaas. And all
of a sudden, on the road, the seven mile road
where they're returning back home, here comes Jesus. But he
(11:34):
doesn't fully reveal himself. He just asks a question, what
y'all talking about? And they stop with their backs toward Jerusalem,
headed toward a Maaeis, and they say, well, we're talking
about this guy named Jesus, y'all.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
That's funny.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They start to tell Jesus about Jesus. They start to
explain to the author about the book up, but he
keeps walking with them because once they start walking again,
they start explaining how Jesus was a man who they
(12:11):
thought was sent by God, but something happened on Friday
that stripped.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
The hope right out of their hearts.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Something happened in front of their eyes in Jerusalem, when
he hung on the cross and died, their hope hung
there with him. And they say something in verse twenty.
I want to show you this, they say, in verse twenty,
the chief priests and our rulers handed him over. The
Greek word is paradidamie. Everybody say Paradomi, Paradiomi. I say
(12:41):
it again, parademia. I want you to practice it so
you can impress your friends with your newfound knowledge of
Greek today. So when they say you go to that
shallow church, that rock and roll church, that evolution church,
you could just put some Greek up in their face. Paradiamie.
You don't even have to know what it means, just
(13:02):
say it. They don't know what it means either. But
what it means is handed over. And so Luke says
in the Greek language what the travelers say along the road.
They handed him over. They handed him over, and of
course Judas was the one who handed him over to
the Sanhedrin. Paradidamie. The Sanhedrin handed him over to Caiaphas,
(13:25):
their high priest. Paradiamie. Their high priest, Caiaphas handed him
over to Pilot, the Roman governor, Paradidomie, and then Pilot
handed him over to Herod, who, after he mocked him
and made sport of him, handed him over Paradiomi to
be crucified, and they hung him on the cross.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And when they hung him on.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
The cross, these disciples said, when he was handed over
and sentenced to death and crucified, our hope was handed
over with him, Verse twenty one. We had hoped that
he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.
We had hoped, But now we're headed home. We had
(14:08):
hoped that it was going to be different this time.
We had hoped that he was going to break our chains.
We had hope that God was going to heal our disease.
We had hoped that God was going to take the
addiction away. We had hoped that if we prayed, we
would get the peace that corresponded with the prayer. But
it's over now. We had hoped. We went there, we
(14:31):
expected it, we looked forward to it. But we're headed
home now because he hung on the cross, and we
hung our hope on the cross.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And now we.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Don't know anything else to do but to head home.
And we're headed home because we don't have any hope left,
and as they're headed home with no hope, hope shows up.
And as they're headed home with no hope, hope shows up.
And with their heads hung down, with no hope in
their hearts, here comes home.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
But they can't see it. They're headed home with no hope.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
And I don't really blame them for going home, because
what else are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (15:10):
What else are you going to do but go home?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
If the one who was supposed to be the king
hung on a cross and wore a crown of thorns?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I mean, life can hit you that hard. It can.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
And for those of you who aren't nodding or anything
right now, what are you four?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Really?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
You never had life hit you that hard, that took
the breath out of you, just knock the breath out
of you, just where you felt like, I don't know
what to do, So you go back to familiar ways,
You give up on this whole thing, and you kind
of turn your back on the promise and you head
back to amis now.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
What they say next?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
This is the part I don't understand, because I understand
that they're headed home because what else are you going
to do but head home? I understand they're disappointed. I
understand that they're in a state of dispace. I understand
that they're downcast about what's happened. What I don't understand
is the timing of their return trip. Because you know,
(16:10):
when Jesus was on earth, he told everybody who would listen,
over and over again, especially his disciples, he said, I'm
gonna die, but on the third day, I'll be raised
to life. They're going to destroy this temple. He was
speaking about his body. But on the third day, everybody say,
third day it will be raised back to life. I'll
(16:33):
build it again. I'm going to go down in the
ground for a minute. But on the third day I'm
getting up. So Cleapus and his companion are headed home.
And I get it because they watched him hand it
over on the cross. What I don't understand is when
they chose to do it, because they said, our chief
(16:54):
priests handed him over to be crucified. We had hoped
he was the one who would redeem Israel. And what
is more, it is the third day since all this
took place.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Here's my question.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Wouldn't you at least want to stick around until the
end of Sunday.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
To see if something was gonna.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Happen, wouldn't you at least want to wait until Monday.
I mean, really, you can't wait until the end of
the day.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
To see if this might be real.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
And that's our problem. We quit, so quit so quick.
We quit when we are so close.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
We quit.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Now here's what happened on Resurrection Sunday. Jesus gets up
out of the grave early one Sunday morning. He goes
and appears to some women. The women come back to
the men, They say, Jesus isn't there. He rolls just
like he said. The men, who are usually a little
bit more hard headed and hardhearted than the women, tend
to be. Somebody, give me an estrogen praise right here.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Don't believe the women.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And then Cleopus and his companion, upon hearing the report
that Jesus' body is not in.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
The tomb, decide we're going home now.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Like you don't want to get a room like one
more night, you don't want to extend your stage, just like,
just give it a little bit of time. But they
they leave, and they almost miss it. They almost miss it,
like some of the people who leave church when I
start giving the invitation. They're in such a hurry to
(18:32):
get to the car that they miss the most meaningful
part of the whole worship experience when someone if you're
not clapping, I might be talking about you. Really, where
do you have to be? That's that important? That important?
(18:53):
And they head out like that woman at the Panthers game, Jody,
you'll remember we were down. I say we because that's
what you do when you're a fan of a team,
You associate yourself with them when they win, especially if
you're a Charlotte Panthers, So Carolina Panthers fan. The city
of Charlotte is known for that. That this woman listens.
(19:14):
She was real loud until they started losing, and she
left during halftime, and then the Panthers came back and won,
and I was glad that she missed it, because it
serves you right.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Come on, it serves you right.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
I know that's not a very loving thing to say,
and it's not very christ Like because Jesus didn't treat
Cleo like that.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
He leaves just.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
At the time that the resurrection is being proven, and
Jesus goes to get Cleo.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
He goes to get him, and he begins to speak.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
With him and talk with him and he reveals himself
to him. That's my second point is the reveal. The reveal,
the resurrection reveals the power of God to all who believe.
But not like you think. See, usually when I hear
Easter sermons, it's about the power of God.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
And that's appropriate.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
When you get up from the grave and walk into
the octagon with death and choke death out and death
taps three times, I mean, that's strong.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
When you roll your own stone away, that's strong.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
So I've heard that about the strength of Jesus Christ
to overcome the grave. I've heard about the strength of Jesus.
I've heard about the sovereignty of Jesus. Well, there's a
good Church word for you, the sovereignty of Jesus. He
is sovereign over death and hell and the grave. And
I heard about that. You know what nobody ever told
me about, and I want to tell you about it
(20:58):
is how sneaky Jesus was.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
You're looking at me strange.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
You're looking at me like you've never heard that. Jesus, Well,
when he got up from the grave. I'll prove this
to you that he was sneaking. When he got up
from the grave. He left while it was still dark.
He left before the sun came up, and he had
to knock over a few room in guards to get out.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
But after he knocked them.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Over, he slipped out and found the women and appeared
to the women. But he didn't appear to a whole
crowd when he got up from the grave. Why because
he's sneaky. Sneaky, that's why he was born like a
baby in a town like Bethlehem. Because he's sneaky. He
wasn't born in a political capital. He was born in
(21:50):
a backwoods town because he's sneaky. I never heard a
sermon about sneaky Jesus. Maybe I should preach a whole
series one time called Sneaky Jesus, because watch him.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
He walks up to Cleo and he's like, what you
talking about? Never mind the fact that you are God,
never mind the.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Fact that you are resurrected. Just what you're talking about?
What's he doing? He's creeping on Cleo. You never heard this.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Kind of preaching before him.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
You think when God shows up, he's always going to
be spectacular, that he's gonna show up in something BIG's
gonna happen. No, No, he's very sneaky.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
He's very sneaky.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
He'll just sneak in to ordinary situations.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
He'll just seek in in ordinary moments, He'll.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Just seek in.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
He won't give you any advance notice.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
He won't ask you to sign a waiver, he won't
put a sign in the clouds, none of that, because
he's sneaky. One time, Peter was in a storm and
Jesus came walking on on the water and everybody say, ah,
the dogs know is Jesus.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
But he's sneaking. He sneaks up on him.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
He snuck up in the locked doors when they were
waiting for him. He snuck up on Cleo. What makes
you think he's not sneaking up on you today? Just
because he can't feel it doesn't mean he's not with you.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
He's sneaky. He's sneaky.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
He sneaks out of the tomb and he sneaks up
on Cleo. Let me tell you what he was doing
up on the cross. This is what they didn't understand,
and this is why they fled, and this is why
they lost their hope because all they saw was death.
But Jesus didn't die so that death could reign. He
died to bring victory into the earth. But he couldn't
(23:37):
bring victory into the earth looking like victory. He had
to dress it up like death and hang it on
a cross.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
Because he's sneaking.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
He's sneaky. He's sneaky, and here's what he does.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
He'll send glory into your life, but it won't look
like glory. He'll send blessing into your life, but it
won't look like blessing. Right, He'll send patience into your
life dressed like your teenager. Think about it, cause he's sneaky,
(24:17):
and he'll send some of the best times in your
life dressed like some of the hardest times. You don't
see it while you're in it. I'm'a stay right here
on this point, cause y'all are so quiet. I know
I'm preaching right to your guts. I'm preaching to your
small intestine.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Sneaky. He's sneaky. So he's up there on the cross
and he says it's finished cause he was speaking in
code cause he's sneaky to tell us stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Cause to them that sounded like it's over. We got him, misdone.
He's dead cause he's sneaky. So when he wanted to
bring life into the earth. He snuck it in through death.
When he wanted to bring peace to the earth, he
snuck it in through chaos. Because he's sneaky, sneaky, sneaky,
(25:09):
sneaky Jesus. I'm thankful that he's strong, but I will
never understand his strength if I don't learn to see
it in sorrow, because sometimes God will sneak the strength
that you've been praying for in your life through the sorrow.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Talk to me, y'all, don't have to be quiet. Don't
let these people make you quiet. Talk to me. Don't
let them intimidate you.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
But usually we understand that more on the return trip,
so they walked all seven miles, but they didn't recognize Jesus.
They were kept from recognizing him. They were kept from
recognizing him until he sits down at the table. Watch
how sneaky he is, takes the bread, blesses it, and
(25:58):
breaks it.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
You see what he's doing, because that's what had happened
to his.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Body, because that's what had happened to their hope, because
that's what always has to happen in your life before
you really see the glory of God.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
And he told them on the road, he said don't
you understand.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Did not the Messiah.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Verse twenty six have to suffer these things? Did he
not have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? See,
glory never looks like glory when it's coming. It never
looks like glory when you see it come in. But
when he took the bread, blessed it, broke it and
(26:48):
gave it to them. When he gave it to them,
they saw not only the broken bread, but they saw
the place where the nails had been. And then they
recognized them when he did that, Because he's sneaky and
he did not describe it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
He demonstrated it. So he goes, hey, let's.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Eat boom bit bang, and they saw it and they're like,
oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And that's how it is.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
It is after I've walked the whole walk, and after
I've run, and after I've tried, and after I've cried,
and after I've heart.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And then I see it.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
It was him all along. You had to suffer it,
but you don't get it while you're in it. I mean,
let's be real. Sometimes sometimes our memory is much more
(27:48):
enjoyable than our experience.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I'm talking about family vacation. Now it's hilarious.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
You look at the pictures and talk about what a.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Great time it was. No, it wasn't. You've edited the
family vacation in your memory. You've clipped it together.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
You took out the part where you threatened to give
the kids up for adoption.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
When you're in it, you don't see it. But resurrection
is a round trip.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and
then enter into his glory?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And when they saw that, they got up. Look at
verse thirty three. They got up, and they turned around
and they went back. Now watch this. I called this
series seven mile miracle. I shouldn't have.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
It's really a fourteen mile miracle because the first seven
they walked without the light. The second seven they walked back,
and now they knew. God said, today is somebody's second
seven miles. Now you see it, Now you did it.
(29:06):
This is your turning point. This is that moment where
you see he was with me all along.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
It's turnaround time. It's turnaround time. It's turnaround time.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
I walked seven miles in shame, but now I'm walking.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
This second seven in freedom. My turning point. I'm not
staying in amais.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
And so they walked back to Jerusalem and they got
together with Peter and the disciples, and she's a snuck
into the room and he revealed himself and he said
peace Peace.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
He released.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
That's my third letter, and I'm done because there's only three,
because you can't have more than three points on Easter Sunday.
It's just not scriptural. My third point is release. Now,
let me point out something to you that every sneaker
head in here will understand. There is a difference between
the reveal and the release. Why do they show you
(30:15):
the shoe three months before they will sell it to you.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Let me break it down another way.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
You remember when the iPad first came out, No, well,
let me remind you. For me, it was a big
deal because I thought, well, I'm gonna get I'm gonna
I'm gonna get one of those, and I'm gonna preach
from it, and I'll be cutting edge preaching from my iPad.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I looked so cool preaching from my iPad.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
And Steve Jobs did a reveal where he went through
the iPad and all the features of the iPad, and
I saw it. I was so excited to get an iPad.
And I told one of our staff members. I said,
I'm gonna go get one of those tomorrow, and they said, no,
you're not.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I say, yes, I am. I said, I'm gonna get one.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
I'm gonna be one of the first preachers in America.
I might not be the smartest preacher in America, but
I might not be of I might not be the
one of the best either, but I will be one
of the first to preach from an iPad. I'm going
to get an iPad. They said, you can't go get
an iPad. It's not going to be out for several
months because there is a space between the reveal and
(31:26):
the release. That's where hope gets lost. In that space
between the reveal and the release. It's called Saturday. It's
(31:48):
when you're sitting around and you thought God was gonna
and you just knew God was gonna and you were
sure that they would never and.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Then they did. It's called space.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
That's where faith grows in between two points between the
reveal and the release. And that's what the Cross was.
It was the reveal and it was the release. And
(32:21):
so Jesus said several things. He said, today you'll be
with me in Paradise. The Word of salvation, Father, forgive
them the word of forgiveness. Behold your mother, the word
of relationship, My God, why have you forsaken me? The
word of abandonment, distress. The word of distress was I thirst.
He said it is finished, which was the word of triumph.
And then after he said that, Luke says that he said, Father,
(32:46):
into your hands, I commit my spirit. As the sky
grew black for three hours into the darkness, he spoke commitment, Father,
into your hands, I commit my spirit.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And he breathed his last.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
But his last breath was my first breath, because death
was not his final destination. I went to Sydney this week,
but I already had my ticket back to Charlotte before
(33:27):
I ever left for Sydney. Jesus came to Earth in
the likeness of sinful men, but he was not a
sinful man. He went to a cross, but he did
not belong on that cross. He did not stay on
that cross. He was in this world, but he was
not of this world. He went to the grave, he
did not stay in the grave.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
I'm talking about round trip resurrection.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
He suffered that he might be glorified by his wounds.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
You are healed everybody say release. So here's what I
wanted to show you. Because remember God is very sneaky.
And Luke says that Jesus on the cross said, Father,
into your hands, I commit my spirit.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
But Luke wasn't at the cross. Luke is recording what
he said at the cross. But Luke wasn't at the cross.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Now, John, who also wrote one of the Gospels, he
was at the cross.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
He was there. He wasn't loud, he was listening, he
was watching. John was.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
I would say he's a sneaky disciple because if you
look at him at the Last Supper, he's got his
head on Jesus.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
He's kind of sneaky.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Every one of my kids have different personalities. Elijah is
very direct and forceful and articulate, logical. If he wants something,
he's going to give you seventeen reasons you should give
it to him in thirteen consequences if you don't.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Abby is very beautiful and charming. And then Graham. Graham
is sneaky. He is.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
He doesn't I didn't teach him to be this way.
He just is this way. Graham is my sneaky kid.
So if he wants something from you, he will come
up to you, he will hug you like he loves you.
But he's working on something because he's sneaky. Everybody says sneaky.
He's very sneaky. He came up to me yesterday and
started hugging me, and he was hugging me, and he
(35:21):
started singing this song and I liked it. The song was, uh,
it was like, listen, I can do it. That's my daddy,
that's my daddy. That's my daddy, that's my daddy, that's
my daddy, dass.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I like the groove of it. I started dancing to it.
That's my daddy, Dass, my daddy, this is my daddy, Dass,
my daddy.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Byt the time I'm dancing, I realized what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
The whole song was a setup.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
The last line he goes and he's gonna get me
a dog, and he walks.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Off because he's sneaky, because he's sneaky.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
And I.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Think what John did.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
When he recorded what Jesus did when he died, Because
remember it looked like the end, it was really the beginning.
It was Grace dressed like Shane. It was triumph dressed
like Trouble. And so John says that when Jesus died
(36:25):
and said it is finished, which was a cry of victory.
With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
And gave up his spirit is how we say it
in English. But the Bible wasn't written in English. In fact,
this part of the Bible was written in Greek. And
(36:47):
there is a Greek word that John used in the
thirtieth verse of the nineteenth chapter of his Gospel that
we translated gave up.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
That really doesn't mean gave up.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
You know what the Greek word is, paradiami.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Paradiami.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Now you thought I was just randomly telling you that,
but I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
I was sneaking it in.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
So when I got to this point in the sermon,
you would know that when the Bible says that Judas
handed Jesus over to the Sanhedrin, paradimi, and the Sanhedrin
handed Jesus over to Pilot, and Pilot handed Jesus over
to Herod, and Herod handed over Jesus to be crucified.
(37:32):
When Jesus got ready to die, guess what he did
with his spirit paradiami.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
He handed it over.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
I'm trying to say, nobody took his life. He gave it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
He gave it, and.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
He took the bread, and he blessed it, and he
broke it, and he gave it, and he gives it.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
And he handed it over, and he handed it over.
Parrotid on mine.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
The same word that says Judas handed Jesus over, I'm done,
stand up. The same word that says that Judas handed
Jesus over is used to describe the way that Jesus
handed himself over. What am I trying to say? He
had it in hand all along, It was always in
(38:28):
his hands. It might have looked like Judas's hand. It
might have looked like Herod's hand. It might have looked
like Pilot's hand. But the hand on the hand that
writes the story of your life is the hand of God.
Somebody shout, hand it over?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
He handed it over?
Speaker 3 (38:52):
And can I tell you something else about paradidomia. It
means to hand over for keeping until the appropriate time. Wow.
So the Sanhedrin held him when he was handed over,
until it was time to hand him over to the
Roman government. And they held him until it was time
to hand him over to the centurion so that he
(39:13):
could die. And so when Jesus died his last word,
his last mile, before he would do what he came
to do and fulfill his purpose on the earth. He said, Father,
into your hands, I hand over my spirit. Keep it
for me till Sunday. Because when Sunday comes, Yo, you'll
(39:44):
better clap to give me off this stage, because if
I start preaching about that, Oh, oh God. Because when
he got up on Sunday with all power in his hand,
(40:05):
you see, he had a little meeting with the devil
and he said, hey, devil, what's that in your hand?
And the devil said, that's the key And Jesus said,
the key to what? And the devil said, this is
Revelation onein eighteen. It doesn't record the whole conversation, but
it lets me.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Know the outcome.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
The devil said, it's the key to death. And Jesus said,
paradiami in other words, come.
Speaker 6 (40:33):
On, come on, drum hey, then over my paid i'm
ron my laptad im.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
What else you got there, devil, Oh, this is the
key to hell. This is the key to judgment.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
This is this is the key that will punish them
according to their transgressions. And Jesus say, yeah, but I
dealt with that. Now, hand it over, Hand it over.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Somebody shout, hand it over.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
That's the invitation. That's the invitation, the release. Hand it over,
Hand it over. Hey, what are you carrying? Clio disappointment?
I dealt with that.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Now hand it over, because you got seven more miles
to go. Now hand it over. You see these hands
that bled for you.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
They were holding your hands the whole time, and nothing
has happened to you.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
That will be wasted.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Why don't you do what he did with that bread
and hand it over. How long are you going to
carry the burden when he died to take it away?
How long are you going to carry the shame that
he already carried up a hill? Hand it over, Hand
(42:01):
it over. I hear the spirit of God saying that,
just over and over. In my mind, I just hear
inserting whatever it is that you're carrying that Jesus already
died to roll away, and I hear him saying, hand
it over. What are you discussing as you walk along
the road. Let's leave that in a miais. Let's leave
(42:24):
that at the cross, Let's leave that in his grave.
You got to regret.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Hand it over. You got a defeat. Hand it over.
You got an excuse, hand it over.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things to
enter into his glory? Now hand it over so that
you can experience what Paul described. He said, I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time, everything that you've
been through, everything that you will go through, are not
(43:03):
worthy to be compared with the glory that will be
revealed if you hand it over. But if you stay
at Amais and you keep your back turned to Jerusalem,
you will never know what was waiting for you in
his hands for you to receive it.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
And this is the promise of God. The spirit of
God is in this place. Now.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
I want you to bow your head, and no one moving,
because this is the moment of the handover. This is
the moment where you trust Him with your life. You've
been doing it your own way for seven miles now,
and it's gotten you nowhere but a Mais. And it's
gotten you nowhere but confusion. And it's gotten you nowhere
(43:56):
but despair. It's gotten you nowhere. But today here stands
one who offers to you the bread of life. Healing
is in his hands, life is in his hands, Freedom
is in his hands. So I want to pray with
you right now to the end that you would hand
(44:17):
it over, to the end, that you would get up
and come back like Cleopus did, like Peter did after
he had gone fishing, like we all must do to repent,
to believe that resurrection is here. But your heads about
and your eyes closed at every location, We're going to
pray a prayer right now. This prayer is for those
(44:39):
who are handing it over, for those who are ready
to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, to
come back to him. And I want us to pray
together out loud as a church family for the benefit
of those who are coming back to God. Pray with me,
Heavenly Father, into your hands.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
I commit my life. I belong to you today. I
trust you.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
I believe that Jesus Christ is your son, and today
I make him my savior and I call him Lord.
This is my new beginning. Forgive me of my sin,
change my heart, make me a brand new creation. From
(45:32):
this state forward, I will follow you all the days
of my life, heads bowed, eyes closed.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
On account of three.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
If you just prayed that prayer, shoot your hand in
the air boldly. This is your moment on three one,
two three.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Shoot him up all over these campuses, hands going up,
new right beginning. Come him back home to the place belong.
Speaker 7 (46:01):
Come on church, let's welcome them home like the eleven.
It is true, this resende. If you know he's please
your lies, blead God.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I really value the Word of God and the effect
that it could have in my life when I embrace it,
receive it, and apply it. And these seven last sayings
of Jesus from the Cross have had particular significance to
us in these last seven weeks. And I guess we're
coming to quote boys to men the end of the road.
(00:42):
I thought about singing it, but.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Date me.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
When we look at Luke twenty three forty four, we
see the very last thing that Jesus said, and we're
going to read the context of it. Luke tells us
Luke twenty three, verse forty four. 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
(01:10):
with a loud voice, Father, into your hands, I commit
my spirit and when he had said this, when the
word of God had spoken his final word, he breathed
his lass.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And he gave up his life.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Now look at Luke twenty four, because 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.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
At least we've been calling him Cleo.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
His full name is Cleophus, but we gave him a
nickname as we got to know him. He was disappointed,
and he was traveling in the wrong direction, and Jesus
decided to catch up with him, even though he was
headed in the wrong direction, and he revealed himself to
him along the road, the seven mile road. And I
(02:09):
want to catch him because I feel like the best
place to end this journey that we've been on will
be back on the same road where we started out,
only now we're on the return trip. And 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
(02:31):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
In the past, to know that, hey, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
What that was God, That breakup was God. Amen doesn't
feel like it's God when your heart is broken.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
But Cleopus goes all the.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Way to the destination where he thought he would bury
his hope because he's watched Jesus die on the cross,
and all of a sudden, when he gets there, he
recognizes Jesus.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
And so he and his companion look at verse thirty three.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
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 eleven and those
with them assembled together and saying, it's true the Lord
has risen and appeared to Simon. And then the two
(03:39):
told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus
was recognized by them when he broke the bread verse
thirty six. And then I'll preach a little bit, and
then I'll let you go eat ham and hide eggs
and whatever else, But how many of you could use
some spiritual food first before.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
You go home and look at bunnies.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
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.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And while they were talking about.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
This, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
peace be with you. And they were afraid, and he
spoke peace, and he did it. He revealed himself in
an unusual way. So turn to your neighbor. And this
is an interactive sermon, and 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
(04:43):
sermon at all. You better look at your other neighbor,
because that neighbor look confused. Tell him this is not
a sermon at all. Tell him this is a ticket.
Tell him it's a round trip ticket. That's what I
want to talk about today. I want to talk about
(05:04):
round trip resurrection, a round trip ticket to resurrection. And
it just so happens that I came back this week
from Sydney, Australia, which is like five billion, nine hundred
and seventy three hours on an airplane and I did
not fly United. Praise God, bleeped that out of the podcast.
(05:34):
When I flew over there. I got there on Friday.
I left on Wednesday. And one thing about Australia is
so far away that when you get there, it's tomorrow,
not that it's tomorrow's So the first time I went
over there, I FaceTime my kids. I've been over there
seven times now, and when I get over there usually
(05:55):
I get there in the morning. And I called my
kids the first time I went, and I was showing
them out my window Sydney, Australia, and the sun was
up in Sydney, Australia, but at Charlotte. Back in Charlotte,
it was Thursday night, and they were so confused and
they were like, how is it nighttime here and it's
(06:15):
daytime there? Because and I started explaining to them that
Australia is across the International date line, like fourteen hours ahead.
So I told my kids, I said, I'm actually calling
you from tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
And I kind of thought that was clever.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And at the end of the call, right before we
hung up, my oldest son, Elijah goes.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Hey, Daddy. Before you go, can you tell us what
happens tomorrow?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Which I thought was so cool and so appropriate for
an illustration about the perspective that resurrection gives us. And
maybe that's why we come to church deep down even
though we don't know it, because we want to report
for our tomorrow from someone who's already been there. And
(07:14):
that's what I love about God is that 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 tomorrow
and is not anxious about the economy or my health,
or is not anxious about the political system of the.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Country where I reside.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
God from tomorrow, the one who is and was and
is to come, speaks back to my today, increases my
faith and gives me the ability to face forward into
my future with companist.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Why talk lapping about happen today? Stuffy Eastern people.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Y'all come to church with your mom, and you all
like crazy and weird looking at me with your arms crossed.
I hated, I hated. If you really believe God had
been in your tomorrow, you'd get some sleep. If you
really believed in resurrection. When stuff died, you would look
at it and expect what was next to come from
(08:20):
what was buried.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You would not cry.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Over anything that had left your life, because.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
You would know if God is already in your tomorrow.
How about that?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
So it's been helpful for me really along this road,
the seven mile road, where Jesus on Sunday morning gets
up from the grave, chases down two unnamed people. Well
their name one's name Kleio, but we've never seen them before.
They're headed in the wrong direction. He goes after them.
He brings them to a place of understanding about who
(08:55):
he is, and he goes after them even though their
backs are turned on the promise, the place of the promise,
even though they're discouraged. Let's look at the scripture together
real quick, because this part's crazy. They're walking away from Jerusalem.
They're going away from the promise. Their hearts are broken,
they're going home is over. They watched him die on Friday.
(09:20):
There is no future. Therefore they have no faith. And
as they're walking away, he walks up. He doesn't identify himself.
He just asks them a question, which in itself is
crazy because I've always heard that Jesus is the answer.
So is strange for me to see that the one
(09:41):
who is the answer asks a question.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And let me tell you a secret.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
He didn't ask a question because he needed information. He
asked them a question because sometimes before God can give
you the answer, he has to correct your questions.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Before God can give.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Us what we're asking for, he has to He has
to clarify what we're really searching for. Because see, will
ask God to bless us, but we won't even know
what blessing really is. We'll think blessing is a thing,
when really blessing is a state of your heart that
enables you to be content, whatever your circumstances.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And so Jesus walks up on them, doesn't say who he.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Is, doesn't identify himself as the risen, reigning, ruling son
of God with all power in his hand, just ask
them a question. Look at verse seventeen. He asked them,
what y'all talking about? What are you discussing together as
you walk along? And they stopped in their tracks and
stood still, their faces downcast, their hearts disappointed, their dreams
(10:52):
dashed on the rocks of the reality of the death
of the one they thought might be the Messiah, and
they are standing next to hope, but they have no hope,
and they are standing next to power, but they feel weak.
And they are headed home, returning back to what's familiar
because their faith has been hung on a cross and
(11:14):
sentenced to die. And so they're headed home. So they're
returning home. If you're taking notes, right down return return,
they're returning to a village call a Maaas. And all
of a sudden, on the road, the seven mile road
where they're returning back home, here comes Jesus. But he
(11:34):
doesn't fully reveal himself. He just asks a question, what
y'all talking about? And they stop with their backs toward Jerusalem,
headed toward a Maaeis, and they say, well, we're talking
about this guy named Jesus, y'all.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
That's funny.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They start to tell Jesus about Jesus. They start to
explain to the author about the book up, but he
keeps walking with them because once they start walking again,
they start explaining how Jesus was a man who they
(12:11):
thought was sent by God, but something happened on Friday
that stripped.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
The hope right out of their hearts.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Something happened in front of their eyes in Jerusalem, when
he hung on the cross and died, their hope hung
there with him. And they say something in verse twenty.
I want to show you this, they say, in verse twenty,
the chief priests and our rulers handed him over. The
Greek word is paradidamie. Everybody say Paradomi, Paradiomi. I say
(12:41):
it again, parademia. I want you to practice it so
you can impress your friends with your newfound knowledge of
Greek today. So when they say you go to that
shallow church, that rock and roll church, that evolution church,
you could just put some Greek up in their face. Paradiamie.
You don't even have to know what it means, just
(13:02):
say it. They don't know what it means either. But
what it means is handed over. And so Luke says
in the Greek language what the travelers say along the road.
They handed him over. They handed him over, and of
course Judas was the one who handed him over to
the Sanhedrin. Paradidamie. The Sanhedrin handed him over to Caiaphas,
(13:25):
their high priest. Paradiamie. Their high priest, Caiaphas handed him
over to Pilot, the Roman governor, Paradidomie, and then Pilot
handed him over to Herod, who, after he mocked him
and made sport of him, handed him over Paradiomi to
be crucified, and they hung him on the cross.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And when they hung him on.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
The cross, these disciples said, when he was handed over
and sentenced to death and crucified, our hope was handed
over with him, Verse twenty one. We had hoped that
he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.
We had hoped, But now we're headed home. We had
(14:08):
hoped that it was going to be different this time.
We had hoped that he was going to break our chains.
We had hope that God was going to heal our disease.
We had hoped that God was going to take the
addiction away. We had hoped that if we prayed, we
would get the peace that corresponded with the prayer. But
it's over now. We had hoped. We went there, we
(14:31):
expected it, we looked forward to it. But we're headed
home now because he hung on the cross, and we
hung our hope on the cross.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And now we.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Don't know anything else to do but to head home.
And we're headed home because we don't have any hope left,
and as they're headed home with no hope, hope shows up.
And as they're headed home with no hope, hope shows up.
And with their heads hung down, with no hope in
their hearts, here comes home.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
But they can't see it. They're headed home with no hope.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
And I don't really blame them for going home, because
what else are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (15:10):
What else are you going to do but go home?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
If the one who was supposed to be the king
hung on a cross and wore a crown of thorns?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I mean, life can hit you that hard. It can.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
And for those of you who aren't nodding or anything
right now, what are you four?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Really?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
You never had life hit you that hard, that took
the breath out of you, just knock the breath out
of you, just where you felt like, I don't know
what to do, So you go back to familiar ways,
You give up on this whole thing, and you kind
of turn your back on the promise and you head
back to amis now.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
What they say next?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
This is the part I don't understand, because I understand
that they're headed home because what else are you going
to do but head home? I understand they're disappointed. I
understand that they're in a state of dispace. I understand
that they're downcast about what's happened. What I don't understand
is the timing of their return trip. Because you know,
(16:10):
when Jesus was on earth, he told everybody who would listen,
over and over again, especially his disciples, he said, I'm
gonna die, but on the third day, I'll be raised
to life. They're going to destroy this temple. He was
speaking about his body. But on the third day, everybody say,
third day it will be raised back to life. I'll
(16:33):
build it again. I'm going to go down in the
ground for a minute. But on the third day I'm
getting up. So Cleapus and his companion are headed home.
And I get it because they watched him hand it
over on the cross. What I don't understand is when
they chose to do it, because they said, our chief
(16:54):
priests handed him over to be crucified. We had hoped
he was the one who would redeem Israel. And what
is more, it is the third day since all this
took place.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Here's my question.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Wouldn't you at least want to stick around until the
end of Sunday.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
To see if something was gonna.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Happen, wouldn't you at least want to wait until Monday.
I mean, really, you can't wait until the end of
the day.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
To see if this might be real.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
And that's our problem. We quit, so quit so quick.
We quit when we are so close.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
We quit.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Now here's what happened on Resurrection Sunday. Jesus gets up
out of the grave early one Sunday morning. He goes
and appears to some women. The women come back to
the men, They say, Jesus isn't there. He rolls just
like he said. The men, who are usually a little
bit more hard headed and hardhearted than the women, tend
to be. Somebody, give me an estrogen praise right here.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Don't believe the women.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And then Cleopus and his companion, upon hearing the report
that Jesus' body is not in.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
The tomb, decide we're going home now.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Like you don't want to get a room like one
more night, you don't want to extend your stage, just like,
just give it a little bit of time. But they
they leave, and they almost miss it. They almost miss it,
like some of the people who leave church when I
start giving the invitation. They're in such a hurry to
(18:32):
get to the car that they miss the most meaningful
part of the whole worship experience when someone if you're
not clapping, I might be talking about you. Really, where
do you have to be? That's that important? That important?
(18:53):
And they head out like that woman at the Panthers game, Jody,
you'll remember we were down. I say we because that's
what you do when you're a fan of a team,
You associate yourself with them when they win, especially if
you're a Charlotte Panthers, So Carolina Panthers fan. The city
of Charlotte is known for that. That this woman listens.
(19:14):
She was real loud until they started losing, and she
left during halftime, and then the Panthers came back and won,
and I was glad that she missed it, because it
serves you right.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Come on, it serves you right.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
I know that's not a very loving thing to say,
and it's not very christ Like because Jesus didn't treat
Cleo like that.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
He leaves just.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
At the time that the resurrection is being proven, and
Jesus goes to get Cleo.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
He goes to get him, and he begins to speak.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
With him and talk with him and he reveals himself
to him. That's my second point is the reveal. The reveal,
the resurrection reveals the power of God to all who believe.
But not like you think. See, usually when I hear
Easter sermons, it's about the power of God.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
And that's appropriate.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
When you get up from the grave and walk into
the octagon with death and choke death out and death
taps three times, I mean, that's strong.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
When you roll your own stone away, that's strong.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
So I've heard that about the strength of Jesus Christ
to overcome the grave. I've heard about the strength of Jesus.
I've heard about the sovereignty of Jesus. Well, there's a
good Church word for you, the sovereignty of Jesus. He
is sovereign over death and hell and the grave. And
I heard about that. You know what nobody ever told
me about, and I want to tell you about it
(20:58):
is how sneaky Jesus was.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
You're looking at me strange.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
You're looking at me like you've never heard that. Jesus, Well,
when he got up from the grave. I'll prove this
to you that he was sneaking. When he got up
from the grave. He left while it was still dark.
He left before the sun came up, and he had
to knock over a few room in guards to get out.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
But after he knocked them.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Over, he slipped out and found the women and appeared
to the women. But he didn't appear to a whole
crowd when he got up from the grave. Why because
he's sneaky. Sneaky, that's why he was born like a
baby in a town like Bethlehem. Because he's sneaky. He
wasn't born in a political capital. He was born in
(21:50):
a backwoods town because he's sneaky. I never heard a
sermon about sneaky Jesus. Maybe I should preach a whole
series one time called Sneaky Jesus, because watch him.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
He walks up to Cleo and he's like, what you
talking about? Never mind the fact that you are God,
never mind the.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Fact that you are resurrected. Just what you're talking about?
What's he doing? He's creeping on Cleo. You never heard this.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Kind of preaching before him.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
You think when God shows up, he's always going to
be spectacular, that he's gonna show up in something BIG's
gonna happen. No, No, he's very sneaky.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
He's very sneaky.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
He'll just sneak in to ordinary situations.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
He'll just seek in in ordinary moments, He'll.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Just seek in.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
He won't give you any advance notice.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
He won't ask you to sign a waiver, he won't
put a sign in the clouds, none of that, because
he's sneaky. One time, Peter was in a storm and
Jesus came walking on on the water and everybody say, ah,
the dogs know is Jesus.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
But he's sneaking. He sneaks up on him.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
He snuck up in the locked doors when they were
waiting for him. He snuck up on Cleo. What makes
you think he's not sneaking up on you today? Just
because he can't feel it doesn't mean he's not with you.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
He's sneaky. He's sneaky.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
He sneaks out of the tomb and he sneaks up
on Cleo. Let me tell you what he was doing
up on the cross. This is what they didn't understand,
and this is why they fled, and this is why
they lost their hope because all they saw was death.
But Jesus didn't die so that death could reign. He
died to bring victory into the earth. But he couldn't
(23:37):
bring victory into the earth looking like victory. He had
to dress it up like death and hang it on
a cross.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
Because he's sneaking.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
He's sneaky. He's sneaky, and here's what he does.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
He'll send glory into your life, but it won't look
like glory. He'll send blessing into your life, but it
won't look like blessing. Right, He'll send patience into your
life dressed like your teenager. Think about it, cause he's sneaky,
(24:17):
and he'll send some of the best times in your
life dressed like some of the hardest times. You don't
see it while you're in it. I'm'a stay right here
on this point, cause y'all are so quiet. I know
I'm preaching right to your guts. I'm preaching to your
small intestine.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Sneaky. He's sneaky. So he's up there on the cross
and he says it's finished cause he was speaking in
code cause he's sneaky to tell us stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Cause to them that sounded like it's over. We got him, misdone.
He's dead cause he's sneaky. So when he wanted to
bring life into the earth. He snuck it in through death.
When he wanted to bring peace to the earth, he
snuck it in through chaos. Because he's sneaky, sneaky, sneaky,
(25:09):
sneaky Jesus. I'm thankful that he's strong, but I will
never understand his strength if I don't learn to see
it in sorrow, because sometimes God will sneak the strength
that you've been praying for in your life through the sorrow.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Talk to me, y'all, don't have to be quiet. Don't
let these people make you quiet. Talk to me. Don't
let them intimidate you.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
But usually we understand that more on the return trip,
so they walked all seven miles, but they didn't recognize Jesus.
They were kept from recognizing him. They were kept from
recognizing him until he sits down at the table. Watch
how sneaky he is, takes the bread, blesses it, and
(25:58):
breaks it.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
You see what he's doing, because that's what had happened
to his.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Body, because that's what had happened to their hope, because
that's what always has to happen in your life before
you really see the glory of God.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
And he told them on the road, he said don't
you understand.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Did not the Messiah.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Verse twenty six have to suffer these things? Did he
not have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? See,
glory never looks like glory when it's coming. It never
looks like glory when you see it come in. But
when he took the bread, blessed it, broke it and
(26:48):
gave it to them. When he gave it to them,
they saw not only the broken bread, but they saw
the place where the nails had been. And then they
recognized them when he did that, Because he's sneaky and
he did not describe it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
He demonstrated it. So he goes, hey, let's.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Eat boom bit bang, and they saw it and they're like,
oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And that's how it is.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
It is after I've walked the whole walk, and after
I've run, and after I've tried, and after I've cried,
and after I've heart.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And then I see it.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
It was him all along. You had to suffer it,
but you don't get it while you're in it. I mean,
let's be real. Sometimes sometimes our memory is much more
(27:48):
enjoyable than our experience.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I'm talking about family vacation. Now it's hilarious.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
You look at the pictures and talk about what a.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Great time it was. No, it wasn't. You've edited the
family vacation in your memory. You've clipped it together.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
You took out the part where you threatened to give
the kids up for adoption.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
When you're in it, you don't see it. But resurrection
is a round trip.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and
then enter into his glory?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And when they saw that, they got up. Look at
verse thirty three. They got up, and they turned around
and they went back. Now watch this. I called this
series seven mile miracle. I shouldn't have.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
It's really a fourteen mile miracle because the first seven
they walked without the light. The second seven they walked back,
and now they knew. God said, today is somebody's second
seven miles. Now you see it, Now you did it.
(29:06):
This is your turning point. This is that moment where
you see he was with me all along.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
It's turnaround time. It's turnaround time. It's turnaround time.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
I walked seven miles in shame, but now I'm walking.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
This second seven in freedom. My turning point. I'm not
staying in amais.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
And so they walked back to Jerusalem and they got
together with Peter and the disciples, and she's a snuck
into the room and he revealed himself and he said
peace Peace.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
He released.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
That's my third letter, and I'm done because there's only three,
because you can't have more than three points on Easter Sunday.
It's just not scriptural. My third point is release. Now,
let me point out something to you that every sneaker
head in here will understand. There is a difference between
the reveal and the release. Why do they show you
(30:15):
the shoe three months before they will sell it to you.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Let me break it down another way.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
You remember when the iPad first came out, No, well,
let me remind you. For me, it was a big
deal because I thought, well, I'm gonna get I'm gonna
I'm gonna get one of those, and I'm gonna preach
from it, and I'll be cutting edge preaching from my iPad.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I looked so cool preaching from my iPad.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
And Steve Jobs did a reveal where he went through
the iPad and all the features of the iPad, and
I saw it. I was so excited to get an iPad.
And I told one of our staff members. I said,
I'm gonna go get one of those tomorrow, and they said, no,
you're not.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I say, yes, I am. I said, I'm gonna get one.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
I'm gonna be one of the first preachers in America.
I might not be the smartest preacher in America, but
I might not be of I might not be the
one of the best either, but I will be one
of the first to preach from an iPad. I'm going
to get an iPad. They said, you can't go get
an iPad. It's not going to be out for several
months because there is a space between the reveal and
(31:26):
the release. That's where hope gets lost. In that space
between the reveal and the release. It's called Saturday. It's
(31:48):
when you're sitting around and you thought God was gonna
and you just knew God was gonna and you were
sure that they would never and.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Then they did. It's called space.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
That's where faith grows in between two points between the
reveal and the release. And that's what the Cross was.
It was the reveal and it was the release. And
(32:21):
so Jesus said several things. He said, today you'll be
with me in Paradise. The Word of salvation, Father, forgive
them the word of forgiveness. Behold your mother, the word
of relationship, My God, why have you forsaken me? The
word of abandonment, distress. The word of distress was I thirst.
He said it is finished, which was the word of triumph.
And then after he said that, Luke says that he said, Father,
(32:46):
into your hands, I commit my spirit. As the sky
grew black for three hours into the darkness, he spoke commitment, Father,
into your hands, I commit my spirit.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And he breathed his last.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
But his last breath was my first breath, because death
was not his final destination. I went to Sydney this week,
but I already had my ticket back to Charlotte before
(33:27):
I ever left for Sydney. Jesus came to Earth in
the likeness of sinful men, but he was not a
sinful man. He went to a cross, but he did
not belong on that cross. He did not stay on
that cross. He was in this world, but he was
not of this world. He went to the grave, he
did not stay in the grave.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
I'm talking about round trip resurrection.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
He suffered that he might be glorified by his wounds.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
You are healed everybody say release. So here's what I
wanted to show you. Because remember God is very sneaky.
And Luke says that Jesus on the cross said, Father,
into your hands, I commit my spirit.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
But Luke wasn't at the cross. Luke is recording what
he said at the cross. But Luke wasn't at the cross.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Now, John, who also wrote one of the Gospels, he
was at the cross.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
He was there. He wasn't loud, he was listening, he
was watching. John was.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
I would say he's a sneaky disciple because if you
look at him at the Last Supper, he's got his
head on Jesus.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
He's kind of sneaky.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Every one of my kids have different personalities. Elijah is
very direct and forceful and articulate, logical. If he wants something,
he's going to give you seventeen reasons you should give
it to him in thirteen consequences if you don't.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Abby is very beautiful and charming. And then Graham. Graham
is sneaky. He is.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
He doesn't I didn't teach him to be this way.
He just is this way. Graham is my sneaky kid.
So if he wants something from you, he will come
up to you, he will hug you like he loves you.
But he's working on something because he's sneaky. Everybody says sneaky.
He's very sneaky. He came up to me yesterday and
started hugging me, and he was hugging me, and he
(35:21):
started singing this song and I liked it. The song was, uh,
it was like, listen, I can do it. That's my daddy,
that's my daddy. That's my daddy, that's my daddy, that's
my daddy, dass.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I like the groove of it. I started dancing to it.
That's my daddy, Dass, my daddy, this is my daddy, Dass,
my daddy.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Byt the time I'm dancing, I realized what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
The whole song was a setup.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
The last line he goes and he's gonna get me
a dog, and he walks.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Off because he's sneaky, because he's sneaky.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
And I.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Think what John did.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
When he recorded what Jesus did when he died, Because
remember it looked like the end, it was really the beginning.
It was Grace dressed like Shane. It was triumph dressed
like Trouble. And so John says that when Jesus died
(36:25):
and said it is finished, which was a cry of victory.
With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
And gave up his spirit is how we say it
in English. But the Bible wasn't written in English. In fact,
this part of the Bible was written in Greek. And
(36:47):
there is a Greek word that John used in the
thirtieth verse of the nineteenth chapter of his Gospel that
we translated gave up.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
That really doesn't mean gave up.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
You know what the Greek word is, paradiami.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Paradiami.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Now you thought I was just randomly telling you that,
but I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
I was sneaking it in.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
So when I got to this point in the sermon,
you would know that when the Bible says that Judas
handed Jesus over to the Sanhedrin, paradimi, and the Sanhedrin
handed Jesus over to Pilot, and Pilot handed Jesus over
to Herod, and Herod handed over Jesus to be crucified.
(37:32):
When Jesus got ready to die, guess what he did
with his spirit paradiami.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
He handed it over.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
I'm trying to say, nobody took his life. He gave it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
He gave it, and.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
He took the bread, and he blessed it, and he
broke it, and he gave it, and he gives it.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
And he handed it over, and he handed it over.
Parrotid on mine.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
The same word that says Judas handed Jesus over, I'm done,
stand up. The same word that says that Judas handed
Jesus over is used to describe the way that Jesus
handed himself over. What am I trying to say? He
had it in hand all along, It was always in
(38:28):
his hands. It might have looked like Judas's hand. It
might have looked like Herod's hand. It might have looked
like Pilot's hand. But the hand on the hand that
writes the story of your life is the hand of God.
Somebody shout, hand it over?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
He handed it over?
Speaker 3 (38:52):
And can I tell you something else about paradidomia. It
means to hand over for keeping until the appropriate time. Wow.
So the Sanhedrin held him when he was handed over,
until it was time to hand him over to the
Roman government. And they held him until it was time
to hand him over to the centurion so that he
(39:13):
could die. And so when Jesus died his last word,
his last mile, before he would do what he came
to do and fulfill his purpose on the earth. He said, Father,
into your hands, I hand over my spirit. Keep it
for me till Sunday. Because when Sunday comes, Yo, you'll
(39:44):
better clap to give me off this stage, because if
I start preaching about that, Oh, oh God. Because when
he got up on Sunday with all power in his hand,
(40:05):
you see, he had a little meeting with the devil
and he said, hey, devil, what's that in your hand?
And the devil said, that's the key And Jesus said,
the key to what? And the devil said, this is
Revelation onein eighteen. It doesn't record the whole conversation, but
it lets me.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Know the outcome.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
The devil said, it's the key to death. And Jesus said,
paradiami in other words, come.
Speaker 6 (40:33):
On, come on, drum hey, then over my paid i'm
ron my laptad im.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
What else you got there, devil, Oh, this is the
key to hell. This is the key to judgment.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
This is this is the key that will punish them
according to their transgressions. And Jesus say, yeah, but I
dealt with that. Now, hand it over, Hand it over.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Somebody shout, hand it over.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
That's the invitation. That's the invitation, the release. Hand it over,
Hand it over. Hey, what are you carrying? Clio disappointment?
I dealt with that.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Now hand it over, because you got seven more miles
to go. Now hand it over. You see these hands
that bled for you.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
They were holding your hands the whole time, and nothing
has happened to you.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
That will be wasted.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
Why don't you do what he did with that bread
and hand it over. How long are you going to
carry the burden when he died to take it away?
How long are you going to carry the shame that
he already carried up a hill? Hand it over, Hand
(42:01):
it over. I hear the spirit of God saying that,
just over and over. In my mind, I just hear
inserting whatever it is that you're carrying that Jesus already
died to roll away, and I hear him saying, hand
it over. What are you discussing as you walk along
the road. Let's leave that in a miais. Let's leave
(42:24):
that at the cross, Let's leave that in his grave.
You got to regret.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Hand it over. You got a defeat. Hand it over.
You got an excuse, hand it over.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things to
enter into his glory? Now hand it over so that
you can experience what Paul described. He said, I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time, everything that you've
been through, everything that you will go through, are not
(43:03):
worthy to be compared with the glory that will be
revealed if you hand it over. But if you stay
at Amais and you keep your back turned to Jerusalem,
you will never know what was waiting for you in
his hands for you to receive it.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
And this is the promise of God. The spirit of
God is in this place. Now.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
I want you to bow your head, and no one moving,
because this is the moment of the handover. This is
the moment where you trust Him with your life. You've
been doing it your own way for seven miles now,
and it's gotten you nowhere but a Mais. And it's
gotten you nowhere but confusion. And it's gotten you nowhere
(43:56):
but despair. It's gotten you nowhere. But today here stands
one who offers to you the bread of life. Healing
is in his hands, life is in his hands, Freedom
is in his hands. So I want to pray with
you right now to the end that you would hand
(44:17):
it over, to the end, that you would get up
and come back like Cleopus did, like Peter did after
he had gone fishing, like we all must do to repent,
to believe that resurrection is here. But your heads about
and your eyes closed at every location, We're going to
pray a prayer right now. This prayer is for those
(44:39):
who are handing it over, for those who are ready
to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, to
come back to him. And I want us to pray
together out loud as a church family for the benefit
of those who are coming back to God. Pray with me,
Heavenly Father, into your hands.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
I commit my life. I belong to you today. I
trust you.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
I believe that Jesus Christ is your son, and today
I make him my savior and I call him Lord.
This is my new beginning. Forgive me of my sin,
change my heart, make me a brand new creation. From
(45:32):
this state forward, I will follow you all the days
of my life, heads bowed, eyes closed.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
On account of three.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
If you just prayed that prayer, shoot your hand in
the air boldly. This is your moment on three one,
two three.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
Shoot him up all over these campuses, hands going up,
new right beginning. Come him back home to the place belong.
Speaker 7 (46:01):
Come on church, let's welcome them home like the eleven.
It is true, this resende. If you know he's please
your lies, blead God.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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