Sermon Advent 3 -2020 - Peace
- Today is Palm Sunday.
- The third day of our Easter Advent, & this day stands for peace.
- It marks the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey.
- People praised Jesus, shouting Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh
in the name of the Lord.
- A change, redemption was in the air!
- Shortly After His entry, Jesus went into the synagogue & turned the tables
over, & ran the money changers out with a whip.
- It was a moment of great power, but then came the Passover, & the sacrifice
of The Perfect Lamb, Jesus.
- I want to read to you a moment of sadness.
- It is the account of the two disciples walking to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-32.
- They are going over all the events that had taken place this Passover.
- Jesus, in whom they had walked with, is dead.
- The sadness is real.
- Confusion, dismay, & life is a crushing force that these two men are dealing
with.
Q- Who will comfort these men?
Q- How could their hearts be stilled?
- Listen, The Lord draws near to those who are saddened.
Luke 24:13-32
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
- In the middle of the storm, as everything has been ravaged, & now you are left
holding only the fragments of what you’ve held dear.
- Even those who know the Lord can forget Him.
- These two men knew Jesus very well, but were so overwhelmed by the current
events they had forgotten what He had taught.
- The power isn’t on the fact that they didn’t recognize Jesus, it was on the fact that
they had forgotten what He had said!
- As we go into prayer, let’s remember Who it is we are talking to.
Prayer
- verse 16 said that their eyes were holden.
- What That means is, God had restricted their vision in a way that they didn’t
recognize who it was they were speaking to.
- We can greatly relate to this moment.
- Our churches are closed. We don’t feel like our usual church, & we’re so far apart.
- These two men felt that distance. Jesus is gone.
- Listen to this, as scripture commands,
Hebrews 10:25
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
- The whole purpose of that mandate was to uplift the Body of Christ, to give us
comfort, growth, & peace.
Q- We can’t do that right now, or can we?
- In the moment Jesus quoted the scriptures to these men their hearts burned
within them.
- They didn’t know it was Jesus speaking, but He was there, right in front of them!
- Our Body is still United in Christ, & in Him we find peace as we remember His
Words & His presence.
- As I look back I see God’s guiding hand in this situation.
- If God hadn’t inspired me to start posting the sermons to YouTube, those several
months ago. I would have never been ready to do our Facebook services.
- God has also allowed us to unify with other members across the world & into 133
countries with sermoncentral.com. The sermons have been viewed over 32,000
times, & growing almost 300 views a day.
Q- Are we in a dark time?
- No, because God’s light is piercing through this darkness.
- God spoke & He simply said, “Let there be light” & there was light!
- God spoke to the roaring sea “peace be still” & the waves calmed!
- The faith of these two men was stirred in the Words of Jesus, & there’s
power in His Word!
- I find myself pondering what would the Lord have me to say. I open the scripture & as
I’m reading these Words, God opens to me, I am here!
- You May not see Me, but I’m standing right in front of you!
Q- Notice, did these men know what they needed in this moment?
Q- What would be comforting to them?
- Jesus knew exactly what they needed, Faith!
- As soon as Jesus had restarted their faith He disappeared.
Q- Do you know why He did that?
- He showed the men, My Word is true!
- Everything else in this world will fail you!
- Take comfort in this, God never will.
John 16:33
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
- I know that we are distant, but know that I am praying for you constantly.
- I can’t wait until we are able to meet face to face again.
- If you have a need, let me know!
- If you need prayer, I have a post set up on the Facebook page for prayer requests.
I’ve also been posting those that have been brought to me.
- I know we will come through this, just as these two disciples did.
