Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Sep 21, 2014: Luke 24:36-53 Jesus In Your Midst
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014. What would it be like if Jesus showed up here this morning? If he physically just, bam, manifested himself and right here in our midst, Jesus was sitting here among us. He was here and inviting us to talk with him and to examine his wounds. What would it be like if he appeared this morning? I I was thinking along these lines as I was studying this passage this week and thinking, you know, it probably would be very similar to what we're reading in this passage. That is, at first, the disciples, when Jesus appeared, were freaked out. And I think if Jesus appeared this morning and he was sitting right there next to Jeff, I think we'd be pretty freaked out, especially Jeff, right? And it would be quite shocking. And Jesus would have to take a few moments to calm us down. And that's what we see happening with the disciples as well. We also see the disciples questioning and wondering, is it really Jesus that has appeared? What's happening here? And I think it would be the same for us this morning if Jesus appeared in our midst, that we would be wondering, is this really Jesus? What is going on? And we would have a hard time accepting, you know, what was happening in front of us. Then Jesus goes on to spend a few moments with his disciples to explain the scriptures and give insight and understanding into the things that he is sharing with them. And I think if Jesus appeared with us this morning, he would be doing that as well. He would be taking some time to explain the scriptures to us and help us understand what he has said. And then as Jesus blessed his disciples and went to be with the Father, he ascended into heaven. I think the same would happen in our midst as well. Jesus would come, he'd minister to us for a little bit, and then he would be off to go back to the Father to be at his right hand. And that's what I think it would look like, you know, very similar to what we see here if Jesus manifested himself and physically appeared to us this morning. But at the same time, I want to remind you this morning that Jesus is in our midst. He is here with us. We just don't have the physical evidence or manifestation with us. And so I titled the message, Jesus in Your Midst. Because as we see the example of Jesus here with his disciples and the things that he ministered to them and the things that took place as he was with them, I believe these are the same things that Jesus wants to do in us and with us as we are in his presence. Jesus is with you. Remember that Jesus said that when two or three are gathered in his name, he is there with us in the midst of us. And so as we're gathered together this morning in the name of Jesus, we can know for sure that he is here. Jesus is with you. Even if you cannot see him or even if you don't especially sense his presence this morning, Jesus is here with us. He is here in our midst. Not only that, but Jesus promised his disciples that he would never leave them nor forsake them. And so if you're a follower of Jesus, you can rest assured that Jesus is in your midst this morning and always. all the time. That he is with you always. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And because of that, I want to consider what took place between Jesus and the disciples here to understand four things that Jesus does as he is with us. Four things that he does in our midst. And the first one we find in verses 36 through 43. And that is that Jesus offers you peace. Peace. Jesus offers you peace. Check out verse 36. It says, now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace to you. Jesus appeared to the disciples as they were talking. Now what were they talking about? You might remember from the past few weeks we've been looking at this day that Jesus resurrected. It started as the women went to the tomb early in the morning and they found it empty. They didn't see Jesus, but they ran back to the disciples and they told the disciples, the tomb is empty. We don't know where the body of Jesus is, but angels told us that he is risen. And then you remember that Peter and John ran to the tomb and they found it empty. They didn't see Jesus at that point yet either. And so they came back and told the rest, yeah, the tomb is empty. The ladies were right. We don't know where Jesus is or what has happened. And then we saw two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They went out from Jerusalem. They were traveling and Jesus caught up with them, had a conversation with them, but they didn't recognize him until they sat down to dinner. And as he broke the bread and prayed for the meal, then they recognized that it was Jesus. And then he vanished and went away. And so they ran back to Jerusalem. And remember when they got back to Jerusalem, They met up with the other disciples. They were eager to share their story. But before they could, the other disciples were all excited because they said, the Lord is risen indeed. And he has revealed himself to Peter. And so Peter had a personal encounter with Jesus after he resurrected. He told those disciples and they were excited. And now these two disciples come in and they get to tell their story as well, how they encountered Jesus already. on the road to Emmaus. And so you can imagine the excitement in the room as they're, you know, sharing stories and swapping stories about Jesus appeared. He appeared to Peter. He appeared to us. And here's what happened. And here's how it went. And there's this excitement. And then all of a sudden, boom! Jesus is there within their midst. He's right there with them. John tells us in John chapter 20 as he records this account that all the doors were shut and so Jesus just appeared out of nowhere. They weren't expecting it. He didn't just like walk in like Gabe's walking in the door right now. He didn't walk into the room. He just boom was there in the midst of the disciples and he begins to speak to them by saying peace to you. Peace is what Jesus offers to his disciples. Peace is that idea or that inner peace of being untroubled, undisturbed. There's this tranquility. And you know when you're at peace. You know when you're within, there's rest. There's a big difference between being troubled, being disturbed, being anxious, being worried, being concerned. And and then having peace. When you have peace, there's this rest. There's this joy. It's such an amazing experience to have the peace of God. And Jesus offers this peace to his disciples. He greets them with peace and But you see from the next verse, they really did not have any peace at all. Verse 37, it says, but they were terrified and frightened. And suppose they had seen a spirit. They're freaked out. They're terrified. They're frightened because Jesus just appeared in their midst. When I was growing up, living with my parents and, you know, with the family, one of my favorite hobbies was scaring people. And it was, you know, quite an enjoyable hobby that I had. And I just love to just surprise people out of nowhere. And my mom got to a point where, you know, she didn't want to like shut me down completely and just ruin my life. So she just set parameters and she said, okay. You can only scare me one time a week. I'll allow you to scare me one time a week, but you can't do it beyond that. And so that way I got to have some fun and she didn't have to have heart attacks all the time. And so I would be, you know, thinking all week long, like how I got to come up with some creative way, you know, and I would have my opportunity one time a week to just come out of nowhere when she wasn't expecting it and scare her. and she would be terrified and frightened and freaked out. And you know what that's like, right? We've all had those times where we've been taken off guard, and that's what happens here. These guys, the doors are shut, they're talking, they're excited, but then all of a sudden, bam, someone else is there. They weren't expecting it. And so they're frightened, they're shaking, they're freaked out. And Jesus tells them in verse 38, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your heart? Why are you troubled? Why are you so freaked out? Why are you so terrified? Why do you have doubts arise in your heart? At first, they're just shaken by suddenly there's a person there who wasn't there before. That shakes them up. But then as they see, oh, this is Jesus, then they They're wrestling with some other things. They're wondering, is this really Jesus who's here with us? What's, what is this that we see? What is happening? And we see from the following verses, their state of mind was kind of like, it just is too good to be true that Jesus could be alive. We know he was crucified. We know he was put to death. It'd be awesome if he was alive. But I don't know if I could really accept that he resurrected from the dead. They were wrestling with, it seems too good to be true. Could it really be Jesus? Yeah, we heard from Peter and we heard from these two disciples that were in Emmaus, but could this really be Jesus? Is he really alive? And what I love here is that Jesus... invites them to find out for themselves. Check out verse 39. He says, behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. He says, why are you guys doubting? Behold, he calls them to look. Hey, look, pay attention. Here are my hands. Here's my feet. Behold, Look for yourself. He says, handle me and see. I love this invitation that Jesus gives them. He says, handle me and see. This word handle, it means to touch. It means to feel or it means to verify by contact. Verify it. Contact. Feel. Find out for yourself. Is it really me? Am I physically here? Do you feel the scars in my hand? Do you feel the scars in my feet? Verify by contact. This is something that I like to do quite a bit. It's one of my wife's favorite things about me. Just kidding. She says, that's hot. And so what do I do? Well, how hot is it? Let me see. I got to touch it to find out. What do you mean by it's hot? Are you sure it's hot? Maybe it's not hot. You just think it's hot. I better touch it and make sure that it's hot. She says, well, here's what this word means. Hmm. I got to look it up. Find out for myself. Is that really what it means? Now, I don't just do this with her. I do this with... Pretty much everybody. Anything I care about, I have to verify it myself. And so Google's my best friend. You know, I just, I'm constantly looking up things. Is it, is it, is that really red? Or is that maroon? Or what, is that mauve? What color is that? And I got to find out for myself. I got to verify it. And that's what Jesus invites these disciples to do. He says, you don't have to take Peter's word for it. You don't have to take the two disciples from Emmaus. Here I am. Handle me, Jesus says. You find out for yourself. Touch my hands. Touch my feet. You verify yourself by contacting me. And so as Jesus gives this invitation, they're of course becoming more and more aware. They're beginning to realize it really is Jesus. And yet they're still having a really hard time with this. You can see in verse 41, they're recognizing this is just too good to be true. Verse 41 says, but while they still did not believe for joy and marveled, he said to them, have you any food here? So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb and he took it and ate in their presence. And so since they're still kind of wrestling with whether or not Jesus is really there, even though they can touch him and feel him and see, and they're able to have that contact with him, but they're just so happy about this, they're kind of doubting themselves. Like, this really can't be true. It's too good to be true. And so Jesus helps them believe by partaking of some food so that they can recognize this isn't just a spirit thing. This isn't just a vision or a dream, but Jesus really is here. He really is here. They were able to watch him consume some food. Now, I think this is, you know, maybe a little side thing, but, but afterwards, you know, Jesus disappeared again. And there's the disciples, they're looking at each other like, did that just really happen? And Jesus gave them this cool sign. They could just go look in the fridge. Yeah, it's empty. Jesus was here. He ate the food. The things that we had, they're gone. And so Jesus really was here. And so Jesus here is showing his disciples that he really is alive. And he invites them to find out for themselves that he really did rise from the dead. And so he began by offering peace to them, but they really can't have peace until they verify, until they find out for themselves that Jesus is really alive. He really did rise from the dead. And you know, as I consider this for ourselves this morning, it's the same thing, that Jesus offers you peace, but you really cannot obtain this peace without until you know that he is risen from the dead. Jesus began this meeting with his disciples saying, peace to you. And they didn't have peace right away. They had to verify that Jesus really was there, that it was really Jesus with them. And as Jesus offers you to peace, offers you peace today, You have the opportunity to have that peace. You have the opportunity to have rest no matter what's happening in your life, no matter what's happening in the world or our nation or our country. There's a lot of reasons for us to be unsettled. There's a lot of things that we can be shaken up about and troubled about. There's a lot of violence. There's a lot of crime. There's a lot of gloom and doom. And yet Jesus offers you peace. But the way to have that peace is to handle Jesus. It's to have contact with Jesus. To verify for yourself that Jesus really did rise from the dead. Now, how can we do that? The disciples had Jesus physically present with them. They were able to grasp hold of his hands and his feet and watch him eat. And they were able to have that right in front of them. But Jesus, although he could, he hasn't chosen to reveal himself to us in that way. And so as we have the opportunity to verify Jesus, we need to recognize, well, we verify on his terms, not on ours. If he were to ask us, we probably would say, we want the same thing those disciples got. You be right here, you know, let us feel you, let us touch your hands and your feet. That's what we want. But we're not the Lord. We don't get to set the terms. He sets the terms. And so here's what he has provided for us so that we can verify that he has resurrected. First of all, he's given us eyewitness testimony. He's given us these disciples who were there And their records, their testimonies that have been recorded and preserved for us. We have the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was one of the twelve disciples. He was there in the midst of those disciples when Jesus appeared to them. And so Matthew is an eyewitness of the life and ministry of Jesus before and after his crucifixion and resurrection. And so we get to handle Jesus as we examine and consider the testimony of Matthew. We also have the Gospel of John written by John the Apostle who also was one of Jesus' twelve disciples and he was there in the midst of the disciples this night as Jesus appeared to them. And he recorded, you know, his perspective on the life and the teachings and the ministry of Jesus. And so we get to verify that Jesus really did exist, that he really did die, and that he really did resurrect as we examine and consider the Gospel of John. We are finishing up the Gospel of Luke. Luke was not an eyewitness to these things, but what he did, he told us at the beginning, was he interviewed eyewitnesses. He gathered together, you know, the materials and things that had been written about Jesus, and he verified these things. He talked to those who were there, and then he compiled this gospel for us. And so we have these opportunities, right? to verify that Jesus is alive, that he did resurrect from the dead, as we consider the gospel accounts and those who came in contact with Jesus there after he resurrected. And so we have that, and that's sure. That is guaranteed. There's no question about that, although people try to question it. But the Gospels are reliable, and they are trustworthy, and they give us an accurate picture of who Jesus is and what he did. And so we can verify, we can handle Jesus by spending time in his word. But we also get to verify, we get to handle Jesus by having personal contact with him. Because he is alive, because he loves us greatly, he allows us to connect with him. He allows us to have a real relationship with him. We have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ. And every one of us really needs to have these kinds of personal experience with Jesus. Where we have those times where He has worked in our lives, He has spoken to us, and it's undeniable. We know that we know that we know that He really is in our midst. Speaking to us, working in us, He is alive. And that needs to be something that we experience. Something that we have. We do not proclaim a religion that is just, well, you know, follow these rules, read this manual, here's the list of things to do, come to church on these days, and that's what Christianity is all about. No, Christianity is about you connecting with Jesus. Believing in Jesus, walking with Jesus, loving Jesus, serving Jesus. And we gather together to worship Jesus. We gather together to consider him and minister to one another with what he is doing in our lives. It's all about Jesus and we need to have our own relationship with him to be able to verify and say, yeah, I know. There's an old song, an old hymn that says, you ask me how, I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Is that your testimony this morning? Are you able to say, I know, I can verify or I have verified that Jesus is alive because I know I've connected with him. He's worked in me. He's spoken to me. No matter what you and I go through in this life, we could go through, we probably will go through some things that would be too horrendous for us to imagine ahead of time. But even in the midst of that, Jesus offers you peace. And that peace comes by connecting with him, by walking with him, By knowing that Jesus really is in your midst. And I want to encourage you this morning to make sure that you encounter Jesus. To make sure that you seek and find Jesus. That you know more than anything else that He is alive. If you're more sure about anything else than the fact that Jesus has resurrected from the dead, well, then you need to spend some more time seeking Jesus. That needs to be the thing that you are more sure of than anything else. He needs to be that real to you. And when you verify, when you handle Jesus in that way, well, then you will have peace. Because no matter what the storm is going on around you, you know he's in the boat with you. He's in the midst of of you. He's with you. He's, He's alongside. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And so as Jesus appeared to His disciples, He offered them peace and He offers us peace this morning. Going on into verse 44 and 45, we see the next thing that Jesus does is He opens your understanding. Because Jesus is alive and because He's in your midst, He is able to give you understanding in the scriptures. Verse 44, it says, Then he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Jesus reminds them of the things that he shared with them as they were walking together. Hey guys, remember ahead of time I prepared you. I told you I'm going to suffer. I'm going to be betrayed. I'm going to be turned over to Rome and then I'm going to be crucified. But the third day I'm going to rise again. And we pointed out a few times as we went through Luke how Jesus was preparing his disciples and sharing these things with him. And so he reminds them of those things that he shared and shows them how they, you know, fit with or how they were recorded earlier in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. And we spent some time last week looking at those various groups of Old Testament scriptures, the writings of Moses, the Psalms, the prophets, and we saw the proclamations and prophecies of the suffering of Jesus that he experienced that were recorded, you know, hundreds and thousands of years in advance. And so he reminds them of those things. And then in verse 45, it says, And so he reminds them, remember, here's what Moses said. Here's what Zechariah said. Here's what I told you. But they're still not quite getting it. They're still there. You can kind of imagine. I mean, it's probably still just the adrenaline is still, you know, racing through their body. They're still kind of shaking a little bit from the terror of having Jesus just appear. And so they're trying to calm down. And it's all happening so fast. And Jesus is there. And he's reminding them of these scriptures in the Old Testament. And they're still having a hard time fitting everything together. Even though it's been fulfilled right in front of them, they can't quite grasp hold of it. Until now, in verse 45, Jesus opens their understanding. He helped them comprehend the scriptures. And then suddenly, the pieces are fitting together. And they're getting to see the picture. They're getting to see the prophecies and then the fulfillment. And it's making sense. And they're starting to understand what God has declared. And so Jesus opened their understanding. And how did he do that? Well, I think that the answer for how Jesus did that is found in John chapter 20 verse 22. Here in John 20, John is recording the same event. Jesus appearing to his disciples the day that he resurrected. And here in John chapter 20 verse 22, it tells us that Jesus breathed on them and said to them, "'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" And I think this is the parallel to here Luke 24 45. That when Jesus breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit is when he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. It was at this moment that the disciples become born again. It was at this moment that they are regenerated. That they have new life. They were followers of Jesus already for several years. And They'd been taught by Jesus. They were disciples of Jesus. But until the crucifixion and then resurrection, until Jesus conquered sin and death, there wasn't the opportunity to be born again. There wasn't the opportunity to have spiritual life because that comes by faith in the finished work of Christ. But now that he has resurrected and now that that work is complete, now he breathes on them and they receive the Holy Spirit. They are born again. You can check out more about being born again in John chapter 3. But it's by the Spirit that we're born again. And so as they receive the Spirit and are born again, they also are now able to understand and comprehend the Scriptures. Remember, Paul describes the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit. It's the instrument of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God. And It's his instrument. And so he is able to give us understanding and comprehension of the scriptures. And so at this time, now the disciples are beginning to put pieces together. They're beginning to understand the scriptures. And as Jesus was in their midst and opened their understanding, this morning I'd like to remind you that he does the same work in us. That because Jesus is alive and in your midst and with you, he is able to open your understanding of the scriptures. The word of God really is a mystery apart from Jesus giving us the Holy Spirit. If we're not born again, the word of God, the Bible, we're not going to get it completely. We're going to be missing some pretty key components like the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. None of us are smart enough to understand or comprehend the scriptures without the Holy Spirit. And I don't care how many years you study Hebrew and how many years you study Greek, we cannot comprehend the scriptures apart from the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter how many commentaries you read or how many years you go to Bible school or how many Bible studies you attend or how many Bible studies you teach. You cannot comprehend the scriptures apart from the Holy Spirit, apart from being born again. There's always going to be, well, some huge pieces missing for the person who is not born again. Here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. He says, Paul says, If you're natural, if you're not born again, you're in your own understanding, on your own intellect, well, you're not going to be able to receive the things of the Spirit of God. These things are spiritually discerned. These things, well, can only be revealed by the Spirit to us who have been born again. And so we, well, we need the Holy Spirit to reveal the Word of God to us. This is one of the reasons why you probably notice often as I pray in the midst of our service, I pray that God would pour out His Spirit upon us, that we would have insight, that we would have understanding in His Word. Because, well, I recognize that we can't do this. We're not smart enough. It's not about our brains. It's about a work of the Holy Spirit. And we need Him to reveal His Word to us. He opens our understanding. And so Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit. Because of the work on the cross, the Holy Spirit is able to dwell within us, to teach us His Word, to lead us in all truth, and to give us the insights that we need to hear from the Lord and to walk with the Lord. And so Jesus in our midst means that our understanding is open, that our comprehension is there when it comes to the scriptures. Now that doesn't mean we know all mysteries and all knowledge. Yes, there's always going to be mysteries. And we can meditate and we can seek the Lord and many times he'll reveal those mysteries to us. And many times he says, wait until eternity and then I'll tell you everything. So until then, we just continue to walk with the Lord and hear from him and allow him more and more he reveals the scriptures to us by his spirit. Well, now going on in verses 46 through 49, the next thing that Jesus does because he's in our midst is he empowers you to witness. Jesus empowers you to witness. Look at verse 46. He says, And thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Jesus says to them, thus it is written. And now they understand. He says, remember I was there before. I was telling you from the law and the prophets and the psalms. And he didn't get it. And they're still like, yeah, we don't get it. But then he opened their eyes. He opened their understanding. And now he shares with them, thus it is written. And having been born again, the spirit is at work within them. They've been regenerated. And so now they're beginning to understand. Now they're getting the picture. It was necessary for the Christ to suffer. It was necessary for the Messiah to be crucified. and then to rise from the dead the third day. It was necessary to pay the penalty of sin. It was necessary to redeem mankind. It was necessary. There was no other way. It was what had to be done to pay the price for sin. Thus it is written, Jesus says. That's why God said this in the scriptures. And then, verse 47, now that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations. Now they're beginning to understand and now they're recognizing what it means that Jesus has died and resurrected, that now it's time to preach. They're beginning to understand now what their mission is going to be. That these 12 disciples, they were expecting Jesus to establish an earthly kingdom right then, and then they were going to be, you know, ruling with him. But now they're recognizing their responsibility is not that, but their responsibility is to get the word out about Jesus that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations. That's going to be their task. That's going to be their mission. And now they're starting to understand, thus it is written. This is the message that they've been given. Verse 48, he says, and you are witnesses of these things. You disciples, you guys had front row seats. Jesus says, you saw my life, you saw my ministry, you saw my death, and you've seen my resurrection. You have witnessed these things. You saw firsthand. You didn't learn this from somebody else, but you can share from personal experience. And so they were eyewitnesses. An eyewitness testimony is powerful. It is powerful. It's strong. And so you guys have this powerful testimony. You're able to share exactly what you saw, what you heard, what you experienced. But it wasn't enough just to be an eyewitness. Notice he says in verse 49, behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. So your mission is going to be going to the nations to preach repentance and forgiveness in my name, your eyewitnesses. And so you're able to share exactly what you saw and that's powerful, but that's not enough. You also need to be endued with power from on high. And so wait for the promise of my Father. And Jesus here is referring to the promise of the Holy Spirit. Now the disciples had received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them in John chapter 20 verse 22. But this promise of the Spirit from the Father that Jesus is talking about is a different kind of relationship that the Holy Spirit has with us. We often kind of summarize our relationships with the Holy Spirit this way, in three ways. There's with, in, and upon. That is, the Holy Spirit is with you before you are born again. He is with you to reveal to you Jesus, to bring you to the understanding of the gospel message so that you can believe in Jesus and be saved. But when you believe in Jesus, that relationship changes. The Holy Spirit is no longer just with you, but then he is in you. And you are born again. And the Holy Spirit dwells within you. And Paul talks about that throughout the New Testament. That the Holy Spirit within us is our guarantee that we are saved. And that we will be redeemed completely as Jesus returns. And so you have the with relationship with the Spirit, where He's alongside of you. You have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, where He causes you to be born again. He gives you understanding in the scriptures. But then there's a third relationship, and that is the upon relationship. That is where the Holy Spirit comes upon you and empowers you. We find this referred to in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, where Here Jesus is speaking to his disciples. It's the same basic idea that he's speaking to them as what we're looking at in Luke, but it's about 40 days later. And he tells them in verse 8, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And so this power comes from the Holy Spirit coming upon you, he says, and then you'll be witnesses to me. This is fulfilled in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the church. And so Jesus here in verse 49 of Luke 24 is saying, your eyewitnesses, but you can't just be eyewitnesses. That's not enough. You also need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you, and then you're going to be effective witnesses as you go and share your testimony and preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in my name. And so Jesus empowered the disciples to be his witnesses. In the same way today as you and I read these things, we recognize that Jesus desires to do that same work in us. And Jesus will empower you to witness. We refer to it often many times as the baptism of the Holy Spirit or being filled with the Spirit. It's something that we need, every believer needs, in order to be the witness to Jesus that he calls us to be. Now, there's something I want to kind of focus on though as we consider Jesus in the midst of us empowering us to witness. I think a key element here for us to consider is this idea of witness. a lot of times when we talk about witnessing or we think about witnessing, we have some kind of history to that word that we attach a lot of meaning to it from what we've seen, what we've heard, what we've experienced. And that is, we We think about witnessing and we think about maybe going out to a street, going out to some place where there's people and witnessing is trying to connect with people to share the gospel with them. Oftentimes random strangers or people that we, you know, have never known before and not seen very often. And we kind of a lot of times carry that whole picture into this idea of witnessing. But I would ask you to consider this morning to simplify it a little bit. And think about the word witness. If you are a witness in a court proceeding, in a trial, understand that your job as a witness is what? Well, it's simply to share what you saw, what you heard, what you experienced. Your job as a witness is not to get a conviction. Your job is not to prosecute. Your job is not to defend. Your job is not to make decisions. Your job is not to make anything happen except your job as a witness is to share what you saw, what you heard, what you experienced. That's the job of a witness. And as Jesus calls us to be his witnesses, I would suggest to you that's what he's talking about. That's primarily what he means. That he wants us to Going back to the very beginning, in order to have peace, we have to have contact with Jesus and have encounter with Jesus. And as you have an encounter with Jesus, then your job to be a witness is to share that you've encountered Jesus. That your job as a witness is not to answer every question that anybody could ever think up or imagine, but your job as a witness is just to share your story. Your connection with Jesus. How he has spoken to you. How he's worked in your life. What you've experienced in a relationship with Jesus. And so if you've not encountered Jesus to have something to share, you need to go back to the beginning and make sure that you encounter Jesus. That you connect with Jesus. That you hear from him. That you walk with him. That you know his voice. That needs to be first. And that needs to be foremost. But when you've had that encounter, then what he calls us to do is to testify of that. That Jesus is alive. You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart. That we would testify that he is at work. That he This is what he has done. I think a good example of this is what Peter says in 1 Peter 3, verse 15. Here Peter says, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Now, a lot of times this verse is used with the idea of apologetics, which is defending the faith. And it's the idea of like, you know, giving an answer for the different types of religions and the different types of questions, the different types of, you know, atheism and agnosticism and being able to have an answer for, you know, all these different groups. But I think that applies, but I think primarily, look at what he's saying here. There's one question that we need to be ready to answer. That's what Peter says. One question you have to be ready to answer. What is that question? He says, be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. There's one question that we need to be ready to answer, and that is, why do you have hope? What's the reason there's hope in you? Why do you have that hope? That's the question we need to be ready to answer. That is what we need to be prepared to share with people. That we have encountered Jesus and that's why we have hope. That he is alive. And that's personal to you. It might be, you know, as a result of a bad marriage and you were really wrestling and through the midst of that you had an encounter with Jesus. Or maybe it was the loss of a job and you were crying out to the Lord and God revealed himself to you. Or maybe it was this or maybe it was that. We all have different experiences with Jesus. He speaks to us in different ways. And sometimes, you know, there is that uh experience that conversion you believe in jesus and and he ministers to you in a special way but but then also throughout your life as you're walking with the lord you'll have those times that are just they stand out above the rest where god just really met you in a way that you needed to be met it was supernatural god did an amazing work and so you have hope And so you're able to share. This is why I have hope. This is what God has done. This is the way that he has spoken to me. And Jesus empowers you to witness. He gives his Holy Spirit to be upon you to empower you, to enable you to share those things. That you would be able to testify to your friends, family, co-workers, whoever God may bring you in contact with. This is why I have hope. This is what Jesus has done in my life. And so we don't have to be ready to answer every question that everybody could ever imagine, but we need to be ready to answer the one question. Why do you have hope? How can you have peace in the midst of what's going on? How can you have peace with all the trouble, with all the difficulty, with all the things that are happening in your life? And a lot of times the problem is even as Christians we don't have peace. And so nobody's asking us, how come you have hope? Because we don't have hope because we've lost sight. We got to go back to the beginning and verify. Have an encounter. Have contact with. Know that Jesus is in your midst and you will have peace. You will have hope. And then when people ask, you'll have something to share with them. Well, let's finish it up here in verses 50 through 53. The final thing we see here, Jesus in our midst. What does that mean? Well, it means that Jesus blesses you. Verse 50, it says, and he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now, Luke here jumps in the timeline up about 40 days to the day that Jesus ascends into heaven. So it's about 40 days after he resurrected. He leads his disciples to Bethany, which is on the Mount of Olives, right across from the temple. And as he leads them there, it says he lifts up his hands and he blesses them. The word bless, it means to speak well of. And so Jesus here is speaking well of his disciples. Now, it doesn't just mean like he's saying good things and they don't mean anything. But the word bless, we use it in a way that it's the desire of, for good things upon a person. It's the desire, may God give you grace and things that you don't deserve. May God work in your life and protect you and provide for you and give you joy and give you peace. It's that expression of wanting the best for these disciples. He lifted up his hands and he blessed them. Charles Spurgeon says, if he has blessed you, you shall be blessed. For there is no power in heaven or earth or hell that can reverse the blessing which he gives. Jesus blessed these disciples. And you know, this morning, he blesses you as well. He's in your midst. He's with you. He's alongside of you. And he wants what's best for you. He's working on your behalf. He blesses you. Verse 51. Now it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. So Jesus, as he's blessing them, he's taken up into heaven. He ascends into the heaven where he is now, seated at the right hand of the Father. And so while he's blessing them, he ascends up. And so it causes the disciples to worship Jesus. And they return to Jerusalem with great joy. And it tells us that they're in the temple worshiping and praising and blessing God. The results in the lives of these disciples of Jesus in their midst was great worship. They worshiped him. They praised him. They had joy because Jesus was in their midst, because Jesus blessed them. Listen, Jesus blesses you as well. I know sometimes we don't We don't fully sense that blessing, do we? I know sometimes, yeah, there's things that we go through in life that, well, they're incredibly difficult, super uncomfortable, hard to deal with. We don't understand lots of questions. We don't know why. But if we'll go back to the beginning, Jesus offers you peace. But that peace comes not immediately. It comes when you verify it. He really is alive. He really is there. It comes when you have contact with Jesus. And we're never going to find peace if we try to find it somewhere else. If we try to find peace in being religious, we're not going to have peace. The only way to have peace is to have contact with Jesus. And so we need to seek him. We need to spend time with him. We need to call out to him. Jesus said, ask and and you'll receive. Seek and you'll find. Knock and it will be opened to you. But we got to seek. We need to call out to him. And if you'll call out to him, if you'll seek him, he will be found by you. And as you encounter Jesus and recognize he really is alive, he really is God, he really does reign on high, then you're going to have, you're going to have peace. Like Paul said, the peace that passes all understanding. It doesn't make sense. Why do you have peace in the midst of all that's going on in this world and in your life? Why do you have peace? Because I know Jesus. Because he speaks to me. He's working in my life. He holds my future in his hand. He has eternity promised for me. And so I can have peace in the midst of great difficulty, great heartache. Because Jesus is in my midst. He's in your midst. And because He's in your midst, because you know that He's real, well, now you can look to Him for understanding. And He is going to reveal His Word to you. He's going to speak to you through His Word. He's going to work in your life by bringing forth the Scriptures, by bringing life to them. And things that you've read for years are suddenly going to have new meaning as He reveals to you insights by the power of the Holy Spirit. And you're going to have yet further encounters with Jesus as you spend time with him in his word. Because Jesus is in your midst, he's also going to be empowering you to witness. And he's going to be asking you to share those encounters that you have with him. Those things that he speaks to you. Those scriptures that he reveals to you. The way that he answers the problems and situations and provides for you in your life. He's going to ask you to share those things. and to be a witness, to testify of this is what God has done in me and in my life. I don't have the answer to every question, but I can share with you my experience with Jesus, what he's done for me. And he gives you the Holy Spirit to empower you to share that testimony. And ultimately, we can rest assured that Jesus in your midst means that Jesus blesses you, that he's with you, he's for you, he wants what's best for you. He's promised great things for you in eternity. And between now and then, yes, you're going to have trouble. You will have tribulation. That was Jesus' promise. But he says, I'll be with you. Take cheer. I've overcome the world. I'm with you. I'm on your side. I'm going to be working great things on your behalf. One final thought. Normally, the lesser blesses the greater. We talk well of God. We bless God because he's greater. We lift him up. We speak well of him. He doesn't need to speak well of us. Apart from him, there's nothing to speak well of. But Jesus humbles himself to become a man, to die upon the cross, to pay the price for our sin. And he doesn't stop there. He humbles himself to bless us, to speak well of us, to do good on our behalf. It's amazing. Our God loves us so much. He humbles himself to bless us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your goodness towards us. We thank you for your resurrection and that you're here in our midst to work in us, that we might know you, that we might walk with you. And so Jesus, I pray that you would draw us near to you and help us, God, to have those encounters with you, that we might recognize that you are real. that you are at work and that we might have opportunity to share that with others around us. And so, Lord, I pray that you would empower us with your Holy Spirit and send us forth here from here to share what you've done in our lives with people around us. Lord, we thank you for your many blessings, your great goodness. And Lord, we ask that you would be faithful to your word. You've begun a work in us. We pray that you would complete that work. Until we stand before you one day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.