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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

From the Upper Room to the World

Thank you for the blessings that have been poured down upon us so far.

And Lord, as we now take intentional time to open the word of God, to reflect on it, to meditate on it.

We pray that the Holy Spirit would be the 1 who speaks, the 1 who reveals to us your will for our lives.

And we thank you Lord for answering our prayer in Jesus' name, amen.

The Passover festivity in Jerusalem in the spring of 8031 was unlike any other.

And the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus couldn't have said it better.

They said, wait, wait, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?

And you have not known the things that happened there in these days?

That they were talking to somebody that seemed to be oblivious to what had happened during Passover.

The 1 who had been expected to be the long-awaited Messiah was crucified on a Roman cross and was dead.

And unbeknownst to them, they were talking to the risen Savior Himself.

Come with me to their story in Luke chapter 24.

Let's go to the very last chapter, chapter 24.

And here we have Jesus who has walked for perhaps several hours with these 2, shall we say, confused disciples.

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he, Jesus, expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

And as he did this, their hearts were open to a new perspective.

They put it like this, it felt like fire in our bones, like in our hearts.

And they said to 1 another, did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us and on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us.

And as they walked and talked with Jesus for a period of time, we could say that a revival began to take place in their hearts.

As they took every step with Jesus and heard Him speak the words He spoke.

Something began to happen within them, as it is when we step into those moments when the Word of God is being opened, when we step into these moments of days in prayer and we gather in a circle and we pray, when we are alone at home and we open the Word of God and we read a gospel story that speaks to us like never before.

Or maybe you're at church, and a brother and a sister recognizes that you're not yourself.

In those moments, something happens within our hearts.

There are gifts from God when our hearts are moved.

And now, as they have been with Jesus, the question stood before them.

Having tasted the good Word, having heard the voice of God, of Jesus, having been comforted by what he said, having been encouraged by what he shared with them from Scripture.

Would they want a greater revelation of Jesus?

Or would this little revival that they experienced be enough?

Notice what had happened there in verse 28.

Then they drew near to the village where they were going.

And He, Jesus, indicated that He would have gone further.

Verse 29, But They constrained him, saying, Abide with us, free this horse evening, and the day is far spent.

The Bible says that they constrained him.

I was curious, and I looked up the Greek word translated constrained, and it's parabiazomi, parabiazomi.

Para means from close behind, from close behind.

And bizo means to compel by force, By force.

What a picture it paints of what they did.

Jesus is walking with them and then Jesus seems to be going the other direction.

Their home is this way, but Jesus kind of turns the other direction and they come up behind him and they grab him to say, Whoa, wait a minute, Jesus.

Would you stay around for a little longer?

In fact, would you come and stay with us?

And Jesus, willingly, and I would say very eagerly, accepted the invitation and he goes with them.

So they rose up that very hour, and they returned to Jerusalem, and they found the 11, and those who were with them gathered together saying, the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.

And they told about the things that had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread.

He's alive and their hearts are impacted powerfully.

Let's keep this story in mind, but now let's go to the book of Acts.

Let that story serve as the context of what happens next.

Little by little, little by little, began with these 2, then the others, and the others, the word starts getting around, and more and more people find out that Jesus is alive!

And then in Acts chapter 1, verses 1 to 3, we read this record.

The former account I made, O Theopolis, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles, whom he had chosen, to whom, don't miss this, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many, by many infallible proofs being seen by them during the 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

So here we are told that from the time that Jesus rose again from the grave to the time that he ascended to heaven that was a period of 40 days.

Now, more than 1 could be asking, what did Jesus do for 40 days?

The Bible doesn't record much, but it says enough.

Verse 3 tells us that Jesus there in verse 3 presented himself alive by many infallible proofs.

In other words, he showed them convincingly that he was very much alive.

Now that I'm resurrected, I got 40 days, a little over a month to to show myself alive.

In other words, be able to see that those closest to me, those who are my disciples, are fully convinced that I'm alive.

My disciples must be men and women who are fully convinced that I'm alive.

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From the Upper Room to the World

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