The Road to Emmaus

Alright, well, hey, good morning, everyone, and thank you so much for coming out today. We got Cheektowaga, we got Lockport, we got Niagara Falls, and we got CrossPoint, and obviously our folks online as well. So thank you for joining us today. For those of you who we've not met before, you don't know me, maybe you're new to The Chapel today. My name is Leroy and I'm the campus pastor at The Chapel at Cheektowaga, and I'm delighted to be here this morning to kind of bring God's word to you on the series that we're run right now, "Roadmaps." So I'm excited about this. We're gonna dive in and just go ahead and get started. So we're gonna be traveling through the Book of Luke this morning. Luke 24:13-35. If you have your copy of God's Word with you, you can start to make your way there. We'll get there in just a moment. If you don't have a copy of God's word with you, all you gotta do is, if you're at any of our campuses, look to the left, to the right, or the seat back, in front of you. Or maybe if you're at Niagara Falls or Lockport, look under the seat in front of you, and you'll be able to grab a Bible. And if you've never touched one of those things before, feel free to take that with you, all right? So super briefly, the book of Luke was written by Dr. Luke. And what I wanna do is, first, go back to chapter one. You don't need to worry about that going there right now, but I wanna go back there first and read how Luke opened chapter one. Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those from the first who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too have decided to write an orderly account for the you most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things that you have been taught. And I think it's important for us to start right there first because what I wanted to do first is to make sure that we have the context in what we're gonna be talking about this morning, but then also to make sure that you know that these have been thoroughly and carefully investigated, and this account can be trusted. So just like Theophilus, what you're hearing today, you too can know this with certainty as well. Now, before we get into verse 13, what I want us to do is kinda back up just a little bit in 24 because there's an account there that is very, very critical for what we're talking about this morning because this is a prior account where Mary and some of her company, they had spices that they were bringing to the tomb where Jesus was laid, and they're heading to the tomb. So listen to what we read here in Luke 24:1-6. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices that they had prepared and went into the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleaned like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen." In other gospel accounts, we actually hear that Mary and company, at first, they could not recognize Jesus, and we're gonna come back to that in a little bit. But then Jesus opened their eyes, to Mary and company, and these women became the first to see the resurrected Jesus. And then Jesus told them to go tell all the other disciples. And then jumping down again a little bit further into that, 24, but not at 13 yet, here's what we read. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and to all the others, but they did not believe that women because their words seemed like nonsense. And you can understand those words seeming like nonsense, right? I mean, Pastor Dan shared with us last week when we read in Mark, there was something that was spoken. When Jesus was on the cross, this was spoken. He saved others, but He can't save himself. So the disciples, they saw Jesus crucified, they saw Jesus dead. So now these women come to the house that they're hiding out in, saying that Jesus is alive. It sounds like nonsense, doesn't it? So we can understand why we say something like that, but here's where I wanna pause. I wanna pause right here, right now so that we can remind ourselves the trajectory of humankind changed the second that Mary and company saw the resurrected Jesus. The trajectory of humankind changed right then, right there. Folks, listen, if Jesus didn't raise from the dead, you know what today is? Sunday. That's it. If Jesus didn't raise from the dead, there is no Bible. Why would there be a Bible if Jesus didn't raise from the dead? If Jesus didn't raise from the dead, we're not here every Sunday, and some of you, every other, some of you, once a month. You get it. But I say that with love. But if Jesus didn't raise from the grave, we're not here. If Jesus didn't raise from the grave, we're not investing time, talent, and treasure in some dead guy. If Jesus didn't raise from the grave, there is no eternal kingdom that we're waiting for that we would serve. None of those things exist. If Jesus didn't resurrect, there's no serve day, there's no mission trips, there is no Christmas festival, there is no Good Friday, there is no Easter, folks. If none of those things happened, if Jesus did not resurrect from the dead, there's nothing. If Jesus didn't resurrect from the dead, you and I, we're stuck. We are stuck in our sin, separated from God, destined for a place called hell. There won't be any forgiveness. There won't be any reconciliation. There's no redemption at all. There's no restoration. If Jesus did not resurrect, none of those things wouldn't matter. But by God's grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit, God rose Jesus from that grave. It was confirmed by angels. It was witnessed by Mary and company, and they were first to see this resurrected Jesus Christ and the good promise, the good news that was always promised all along. But the disciples, in their unbelief, in this account, now a couple of them head out to the road to Emmaus. We're gonna work through verses 13 to 35 and probably a little further beyond that as well. But I see four mile markers along this road to Emmaus Now you know what a mile marker is, right? I mean, if you were to say, "Hey, I'm on the 90," Okay, that means nothing to me. It's 6,000 miles long. The mile markers are those little markers every 10th of a mile. So you're at mile 810. Okay, now I know where you're talking about. So I see four mile markers here. You may see more, you may see less, you may see something different, and that's okay. That's why we're so big on discipleship and community groups here, that we can take God's words, we can wrestle around with it, and that we can come together as a community, and then we can talk about those things and grow in our faith. So here's what I see when I talk about this right here. The first mile marker I see is the mile marker of unbelief. Let me read Luke 24 here. Now, that same day, two of them were going to the village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. And as they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked alongside with them, but they were kept from recognizing Him. So here we go again with this kept from recognizing Jesus. Now, I don't know about you, but, to me, this is incredibly perplexing. Right? How could they not recognize Jesus? They knew what Jesus looked like prior to being crucified. They spent three years intimately with Him and they know what He looked like. Yes, he was tortured. Yes, He was put on the cross. Scripture even says He was beyond recognition, but then He was placed in the grave and resurrected. I wouldn't think that He'd come back looking any different than He did before the crucifixion. Right? So that's so perplexing that something like that would happen, which, by the way, folks, we don't know what Jesus looks like, okay? All right, we do not know what Jesus looks like anymore than we know anybody else looks like in the Bible. A friend of mine that was at a conference, he shows me His picture. He says, "Leroy, look at this. Doesn't this look like Jesus?" So as pastorally as I could, with as little sarcasm as I could express, I had to say to my friend, "We don't know what Jesus looks like, but that looks like my friend Tim." But somehow both Mary and somehow these travelers were unable to recognize Jesus. Now, were they blinded by their unbelief? I think maybe partly because they weren't expecting to see Jesus. So maybe unbelief was part of that. Was it some supernatural thing that only Jesus could initiate? I tend to fall more in that camp there, but we don't know for sure, but I would say that probably both of those were part of that as well. But continuing on, here's what we read in those same verses. And he asked them, this is Jesus, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" "What things?" Jesus asked. "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all people, the chief priest, and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified Him." I mean, how ironic you're explaining Jesus to Jesus. Man, you better get this one right. Right? "But we had hoped that he was the one that was going to redeem Israel." And this goes back to what we learned a couple of weeks ago when Pastor Jerry shared that the Jews here, they thought that this was all about Israel. They didn't fully understand Jesus's mission and Jesus's mission was way beyond Israel. It was to redeem all of mankind. So they missed that right there. And continuing on again, it says, "And what is more, it's the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early in the morning, but they didn't find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it was just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus." And so I have a question for you this morning. Do you see Jesus? Do you see Jesus? And I say that primarily to those who might be here this morning who have never received Christ as their Lord and Savior. Do you see Jesus? I mean, know that we are super grateful that you're here. You heard Pastor John talk about our mission. Our mission is to ensure that every man, every woman, every child has repeated opportunities to see and to hear, and prayerfully respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's you we're speaking to, if you've never received Christ as your Lord and your Savior. You should have already seen the gospel played out in the lives of those folks that were just baptized. You've already heard the gospel from the songs that we have been singing. So yeah, if you've never received Jesus, I ask you, do you see Jesus in your unbelief? There's a beautiful passage in the scripture, in the Book of John, where Jesus heals a blind man, a man who was blind from birth. He heals this blind man. And as this blind man is healed, the religious leader is furious that this took place. They asked this now seeing man, "Who did this and how did it happen?" And all he can say is, "Hey, one thing I know is I was blind, but now I see." So to all of you here this morning, you nonbelievers, here's what I would ask you to do right now. Just in your hearts, quietly, you don't have to do anything, just pray that God, this morning, would open your eyes so that you would see Him today in your midst of your unbelief. So the first mile marker I see is the mile marker of unbelief, but the next mile marker I see is the mile marker to Scripture. Listen to these few verses here about milepost to scripture, mile marker to scripture. Luke 24. He said to them, and this is Jesus speaking, "How foolish you are and how slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter into glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them what was said in the Scriptures concerning Himself. Now, if you're new to Scripture, you might be asking yourself, "All right, well, why didn't Jesus start quoting stuff from the New Testament? 'Cause there were things in the New Testament that would've resolved all of these things." But you have to remember, Jesus is the New Testament. We're still many years away from a New Testament because it's still under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So there is no New Testament for Jesus to actually share with them at this point in time. But what the travelers needed to see was Jesus revealed in the Old Testament, what the Old Testament said about Jesus. And other than Moses, we read here, we aren't sure exactly what all those things Jesus actually talked about to those guys while they were on that road. Which by the way, if you had a good pair of Jerusalem cruisers, that seven miles would take you about 2 1/2 hours of walk, just saying. So what Jesus did on that 2 1/2 hours, give or take, is He walked them through some scriptures. So what I want to do here is let's walk through some of those things that Jesus might have said in the Old Testament that pointed directly to Him. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus mentioned this in Genesis 3:15. 3:15, this is where God is actually speaking to Satan. "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel." Maybe Jesus reached back into Isaiah to quote something from there. Because he poured out his life unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors for he bore the sins of many and made intercession for their transgressors. And maybe one last Old Testament verse here, and there are tons of them, folks. Well, maybe one last one here in Daniel three where we see something that's called a pre-incarnate Jesus. And if you wanna impress some folks later today, you can just use the theological word Christophany. They'll like, "Oh, you are smart." But this is a pre-incarnate of Jesus that we read here. So here we have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They're about to be thrown into the furnace because they would not worship King Nebuchadnezzar, and listen to what King Nebuchadnezzar says here. "Look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods." You see, King Nebuchadnezzar knew that he put three people in that furnace. He knew that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So who was that fourth person that was in that fire? I can imagine Jesus talking to the travelers at this point. "Oh, in Genesis, that was me. In Daniel, yeah, that was me. In Isaiah, that was me also." You see, folks, so when we read the Old Testament, maybe it's Adam, maybe it's Abraham, maybe it's Moses, maybe it's Elijah, maybe it's Isaiah, maybe it's David, whoever that might be, when we read the Old Testament, one of the questions we have to always ask ourselves is, do I see Jesus in this scripture? Where do we see Jesus? You see, even when we read through the Old Testament, we always wanna make sure that we are on the lookout to where where Jesus might be. I read someplace, put this way, that Jesus is in the Old Testament concealed, but He's in the New Testament revealed. And now for us, being on the other side of the resurrection, and having the context of the scriptures, there's something I wanna read to you in John 5:46, which Jesus could not have said to these guys. But again on this side, listen to what it says in John 5:46. "If you believed Moses, you would believe in me for he wrote about me." So you see, folks, we really don't have to run from Old Testament scriptures. Jesus is there. We just need to look in intently in our reading to see where Jesus shows up in the Old Testament. So much like I asked a question of, "Do you see Jesus?" this question I want to ask now, and this is more to those who are following Christ. My question to you is this. Who are you walking through the scriptures in their unbelief? All of us here who are followers of Jesus Christ, we have friends, we have family, we have coworkers that we know that are walking on the road to unbelief right now. Who are you walking through scriptures with them for, opening God's word alongside so that they would see Jesus as well. So many people are ready to step off the face of this earth, walk into eternity separated from God in a place called hell, never even knowing what the Scripture and what God has to say in the Bible. When it comes to walking alongside someone in Scriptures, there's this beautiful passage or story in the Book of Acts about there's an Ethiopian eunuch who's going from point A to point B on his own road to unbelief, but he's reading scripture. And then Philip shows up, which is another story in and of itself. But Philip shows up alongside, and he asks them, "Hey, what are you reading?" He's reading old scripture. "Do you understand it?" And he says this, "How can I understand it unless someone explains it to me?" Folks, as believers, you and I need to be ready, we need to be willing, and we need to be able to walk with people on the road to unbelief and walk them through the scriptures. Now, I don't know how closely you follow all of the baptism stories. But over the past I'd say eight months or so, we've had at least two people come to faith in Christ through a class we have that's called Foundations. So they came to church however many times, not following Christ, not really seeing Christ, but decided they would take Foundations class. And Foundations class gets into the basis of what this is, what it means to have a relationship with Jesus, what scripture says in the Old Testament, New Testament about it. They walked through that class, and it was through that class walking through Scriptures that they accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, and they're also baptized as well. That's just beautiful. So if you're here this morning and you've not accepted Christ, don't be scared to jump in a class like that. At all of our campuses, in just a couple of weeks, you'll see Foundations being listed. Step into that class. Remember the prayer that asked you to pray about God, opening up your eyes to see Jesus. Step into that little four classes, and maybe, just maybe, if you're opening your eyes, because He's knocking and He always is, you'll see Jesus, you'll step into faith, and you'll also be baptized as well. So I see a mile marker of unbelief. I see a mile marker of scripture, and now I see a mile marker of open eyes. So Jesus and the two disciples, they're still on the road, and here's what we read while they're still on the road. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further, but they urged him strongly, "Stay with us for its nearly evening. The day is almost over." So He went in to stay with them. And when he was at the table with them, he took bread, he gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while we walked on this road and He opened the scriptures to us?" Folks, there is no reason why hearts cannot still burn today when we open the Scripture to people. I mean, here we are in 2024, and you can get a Bible pretty much anywhere at any time you can come into contact with a Bible. But you'd be surprised how many people that we meet on Sundays that have never had a Bible. They're brave enough to come into the church, then they're brave enough to accept the invitation to go to the Connection Center. They go to the Connection Center and different conversations are there and the question comes out, do you have a Bible? No, never had one. So even in this day and age, there are folks around you and folks in this room right now that do not have a Bible. And that's what we want to make sure that we're pointing them to. Now, if you ask them if they had a phone, they said yes, well, come on, you got a Bible. So it's right there. But for someone not looking, they don't see that. They don't know the richness of the Scriptures and what that has. So that is what they do not have at all. So I see a mile marker of unbelief, I see a mile marker of scripture, and now I see a mile marker of open eyes. So Jesus and the two disciples, they're still on the road, and here's what we read While they're still on the road. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further, but they urged Him strongly, "Stay with us for its nearly evening. The day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. And when he was at the table with them, he took bread, he gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. And He disappeared from their sight. They asked one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while we walked on this road and He opened the scriptures to us?" Folks, there is no reason why hearts cannot still burn today when we open the Scripture to people. I mean here we are in 2024 and you can get a Bible pretty much anywhere at any time you can come into contact with a Bible. But you'd be surprised how many people that we meet on Sundays that have never had a Bible. They're brave enough to come into the church, then they're brave enough to accept the invitation to go to the connection center. They go to the connection center and different conversations are there, and the question comes out, do you have a Bible? No, never had one. So even in this day and age, there are folks around you then folks in this room right now that do not have a Bible. And that's what we want to make sure that we're pointing them to. Now, if you ask them if they had a phone, they said yes, well, come on, you got a Bible. So it's right there. But for someone not looking, they don't see that. They don't know the richness of the Scriptures and what that has. So that is what they do not have at all. Now listen, when we read something there, I wanna make sure we remember we go back to it because there was something we read there that you scratched your head on and so do I, 'cause every time I read it, I scratched my head. In there, it said Jesus disappeared, and we just kept going. I knew you went like this, "Hold on. Jesus disappeared?" You can't possibly read that and not scratch your head that Jesus disappeared. His resurrected body disappeared. But listen to this account here in John 19. It's John's account of the same thing that we're talking about here. Listen to John's account. On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "peace be with you." Okay, hold on. So the resurrected Jesus disappears, and then the resurrected Jesus reappears inside of a locked room with people standing in. Disappears, reappears. This is what the resurrected Jesus can actually do. Listen to this other really supernatural thing. This happens in John chapter six where Jesus is at a lake with His disciples and He sends his disciples in the lake and Jesus stays on the land. Listen to this. When evening came, His disciples went down to the lake where they got into the boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum, but now it was dark and Jesus had not yet joined them. So Jesus is not in the boat. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rode about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water, and they were frightened, but He said to them, "It is I, don't be afraid." Then they were willing to take him into the boat. And immediately, the boat reached the shore where they were headed. So Jesus disappears, Jesus reappears. And now folks, wouldn't that be called time travel? It's like, hold on, this is all happening through Jesus, the resurrected Jesus. But here's what I wanna share with you, that the God that created the heavens, the God that created the earth, the God that created everything under the earth, the God that created all of the seas is not about to be confined by anything that would get in the way of Him pointing us to Jesus Christ. Not about to happen whatsoever. The laws of physics. He created the laws of physics. It's okay if He suspends them to point us to Jesus Christ. That is something that He's absolutely able to do because, remember this, you believe this folks, I know you believe it, 'cause you believe that God sent His one and only Son through a miraculous virgin birth. I know you believe it. And I know that you believe that Jesus lived a sinless life. I know you believe it. I know you believe that He was crucified, tortured, left under cross for dead. I know that you believe that. I know that you believe He was put in grave. I know that you believe He roses from the grave. I know you believe that and I know that you believe He ascended to the Father. And folks, if God can do all of those things, this other supernatural stuff, that's child's play. So the road to Emmaus, it includes the marker of unbelief, includes a mile marker to scripture, it includes a mile marker to open eyes, and now it includes a mile marker to the truth. Look with me, if you will, in Luke 24. And remember, Jesus had just disappeared from the travelers while they were in the room in Emmaus. Luke 24. They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. Now I gotta think this time it didn't take them 2 1/2 hours. They put on the hookah and it's boom, they're moving. But they took off going back there. They were not walking. There they found the 11 and those with them assembled together and saying, "It is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when He broke the bread. And I think it makes sense to kinda continue on a little bit more immediately following that because the travelers are no longer on the road to Emmaus. They're now back in Jerusalem, and that's their point, their destination. And listen to what we read here in Luke 24 going forward. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Remember, we just read John's account of the same thing. So now we again have Scripture confirming, investigated carefully. Those things confirmed themselves. And then they startled... Let's see, they were startled and frightened thinking that they saw a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled and why do you doubt? Why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." When he had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of the joy and amazement that He'd asked them, "do you have anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it, and He ate it in their presence. And he said to them, again, this is Jesus, he said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you. While everything must be fulfilled that is written about me, and the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms." Then He opened their minds so that they could understand scriptures. And he told them, "This is what is written. The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name and to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are the witnesses of these things." Friends, these are the first witnesses of the resurrected Jesus that we've all come to believe and I pray that everybody will come to believe. These are firsthand accounts from people who traveled with Jesus prior to the crucifixion for three years. These are firsthand accounts from people who saw the resurrected Jesus. These are firsthand accounts for people who touched the resurrected Jesus, who ate with the resurrected Jesus, and saw the resurrected Jesus. And if we continue it a little bit further down in chapter 24, which I'll let you read on your own later on this week sometime, we see that these are the firsthand accounts of people who saw Jesus ascend back to the Father. Folks, this is true. It's reliable, and it can be trusted. And the conclusion of the Book of Luke actually picks up in the Book of Acts where you see a second book. And again, you could read that. But in Acts chapter one, Luke tells once again the most excellent Theophilus, that over a course of 40 days, Jesus provided many different proofs that He was alive. And if we continue on in 1 Corinthians, we see that there's a point where Jesus was actually around 500 people at one time. Folks, this is true. It's trusted. It's reliable. This is what we know the Bible tells us. Now, you can do your research inside of Scripture, and you can do your research outside of Scripture just to see the manner in which the apostles and maybe the believers died. You can do the homework. You can do the research. But I'm not overly concerned and we shouldn't be overly concerned about how they died. Understand this. They were willing to die for their faith. They were willing to die for their faith because that is what they saw. They saw the resurrected Jesus Christ. People, folks, listen, no one will die for something that they know is a lie. Many of them had opportunities to recant their stories and live, but what did they say? "Nope, I'm not gonna recant. I saw him when He was alive. I saw Him crucified. I saw Him resurrect it. And if you wanna kill me here now. Go ahead, have out. Because that means everything that He said is true. Go ahead, take my life." These folks were willing to die for their faith that they knew was true. So when I look at the road to Emmaus and I see a mile marker of unbelief, and I see a mile marker of scripture, and I see a mile marker of open eyes, and I follow that up with a mile marker to truth, ultimately, what I see this road to Emmaus as being, I see it as a road to witness. So maybe as we begin to wind things down on this road that we're on, let me challenge you with a few things that we should all walk away with. First, be willing to walk with those walking in their unbelief. Be willing to walk with those walking in their unbelief. Don't cast people aside that don't yet know Jesus. Because listen folks, guess what, that was you and me at one day. There's a day where we were walking in our belief. And to this day, we are thankful for those that continue to walk, that continue to share, that continue to invite us to church even in our unbelief. So do not cast them aside. Be willing to walk with them in their unbelief. Next. Be willing to share scripture with those who don't know God's story. Let me challenge you to do this. You can go to Ali's, not only is it good stuff cheap, you can get a good news cheap. $5, right? I see you. $5. Always have a Bible ready and available with maybe some passages of scripture marked out, maybe some we've talked about, but always have that ready. So as you are walking alongside those individuals that don't know the Lord and an opportunity opens up for you to pull a Bible out and walk them through something so they can see Jesus, always be willing to do that. They're easily accessible. Pull out your phone if you have to, but always be willing to walk people through the love story that God has given us through the Bible. And be praying for God to open the eyes of those in your circles of influence that don't currently know Jesus. Just be praying for them. Be praying for them over and over and over because I know people prayed for me when I wasn't a follower of Jesus. So let's make sure that we are always ready to do the exact same way. And maybe, just maybe, the same way that Jesus opened the blind man's eye who was blind from birth that may be now someone else's eyes will be open. Because, ladies and gentlemen, all of us were blind to Jesus from birth. All of us were. So He opened our eyes at some point, and He's always ready to do that again. Then lastly here, your last point is be willing to share the truth of the gospel and how it transformed your life. The gospel's been transforming lives over 2,000 years. It did way back then. It did last week. It can do it today and it will continue to do that. The story of Jesus Christ changes lives. It changed yours. You need to know your story of grace, but you need to know that tied to Scripture. 'Cause if you don't have it tied to Scripture, it's gonna sound like you did something. Ladies and gentlemen, you did nothing. This is about what Jesus did. You only have a story because of Jesus's story, but we have to be willing to share that and what stepping into that story means, and how it's transformed our lives, and we're saved because of that. Be willing to walk with people in their unbelief. Be willing and ready to share scripture with them. Pray for those individuals that they would've eyes that would be open and share the truth of the transformation that God did in you through His son Jesus Christ. So why don't we do this? Take a moment and go before the Lord in prayer. I would ask everyone here, especially husbands and wives, if you're sitting next to one another, husbands, go ahead and just grab your wife's hand. If there's some kids in between you, I don't care, let 'em know that you got 'em covered, but grab your wife's hand as we close in prayer. So eyes close, heads bowed. Father, we're thankful for this morning. Father, you knew every single person that would be here today, Lord. I know that there are folks here that have not come to faith in you. I pray that through what we've shared this morning, Lord, they would see that you've been knocking on their heart for a long time. They know they walked in here this morning without Jesus, but they don't have to walk out that way. Know that you are loved, but you're not part of the family until you accept Christ. You're not a child of God until you receive him through his son Jesus Christ. So if that's you here this morning and you would desire to have that most precious relationship, the most precious relationship you'll ever have, when we close on a couple moments here, and it'll just be a couple of moments, I pray that you'll come forward here because we'll have some prayer partners that would love to spend just a brief moment with you. They're not gonna keep you long. They wanna welcome you to the kingdom Jesus has done all that He could do. The next step is yours. If you're bashful about doing that, that's all right. Just grab someone next to you and they'd be more than happy to walk down. But don't leave here today day without understanding how much you are loved and cared for and how much he wants that relationship with you. So I pray that you would have the courage to come have the folks pray over you. Maybe you're here this morning, and you've got a heavy burden on your heart. Maybe it's your in your life or someone in your life. Let's be clear, folks. If you got a heartbeat, you got problems. Allow our prayer partners the opportunity to pray over you and intercede on your behalf as well. And when we close in a moment, you could come down forward also. So Father, we wanna thank you for this morning. Thank you for the privilege of being able to open up your Word and to share with each and every one of us, 'cause nothing that I said doesn't apply to me. I pray, Lord, for those that are here this morning that don't know you, that today they do, that they pray that short little prayer, Lord, and they're ready to receive you 'cause you've always been ready to receive them. And for all of us, father, who are followers of Jesus Christ, may we be encouraged, but may we be challenged by what we heard today as well. So that when we leave here today and to the mission field that you have placed us in, we'll be ready to walk alongside people, showing them the Word, opening their eyes, and pointing them to the truth. That's what we've been called to do as ambassadors for Christ. So Father, again, we thank you so much for this morning. We love you. We praise you. In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen.