LUKE 24 WALKING THROUGH A TIME OF SADNESS2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 24 Walking Through A Time Of Sadness

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 2020. Here as we look at Luke chapter 24, we're jumping into the passage soon after the resurrection of Jesus. And it's not quite known yet. He's

It's been known that he is not in the tomb, but according to these two guys, he hasn't been seen yet. They haven't known that Jesus has resurrected themselves. And so we find these two guys walking on the road to Emmaus, sad, troubled, conflicted, going through all kinds of things emotionally and mentally as they try to work through the things that have been going on around them.

And so I've titled the message this morning, Walking Through a Time of Sadness. Walking Through a Time of Sadness. And I wrestled with this a little bit because on Mother's Day, is this the right message to share on Mother's Day? And I tried to prepare a couple of different messages, but the Lord kept redirecting my heart back to

And then I realized why. Well, you know, with kids like us, of course, moms are going to be sad. No, okay, that's a little joke. But yes, moms face sadness too. And we all do. And there is help and hope for those times of sadness.

that we find here in this passage. And so we want to walk through this a little bit together. Now, sadness is something that we all experience and maybe different people experience, you know, different extents of it and intensities of sadness at different times. But it is something that is common to us.

And it was a couple of weeks ago for me that I went through just a weekend, a few days, about four or five days of just real trouble in my heart and in my mind. Some things happened at work and, you know, I was...

you know, it was more of a dramatic overreaction than, you know, anything super major that happened. It was unwarranted how sad I was. And yet I went through this time and experienced this occasion and got to work through that and

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How can we help others around us who are going through a journey of sadness, a time of sorrow, like these two guys on the road to Emmaus? And so we're going to work through four things, four points to help us through the time, make it to the end of the road and come out with joy and victory on the other side. And so what do we need to do?

Well, the first point to consider this morning is to talk through all the things. And I want to encourage you to do that this morning. Talk through all the things. Look at verse 13 and 14 again. It says, Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem, and they talked together of all these things which had happened.

Here we find two disciples, and we don't really know much about them. We know one's name is Cleopas. That's mentioned a few verses later. The other one is not mentioned. This is not one of the 12 disciples or the 12 apostles, but Jesus had a big gathering of disciples that were around him continually, and these two in the mix now are leaving Jerusalem and

The feast is over. You know, the feast of Passover is over. The crucifixion has happened a couple days ago. There's all kinds of reports and news about the body of Jesus being missing now. And these two guys head out from Jerusalem for one reason or another, and they begin to work their way towards a little village called Emmaus.

Now Emmaus was a little town about seven miles away, but as they walked this seven miles, they were talking. And this would have taken them a few hours depending on the pace that they took. And I just looked it up just to give us a little bit of context for what that would look like. So here's a quick look at a map of what it would look like to walk seven miles from the church.

you set out on foot, head up Lincoln or head up Buena Vista and head over towards Best Buy to visit Pastor George while he's working, once he gets back to work. That's about seven miles. And so Google records that as about two and a half hours of walking. So they could, at a good pace, accomplish this in two and a half hours, or they could take their time and spend a whole day walking

doing that walk and traveling the way to Emmaus. But as they walked, it says that they talked together of all these things which had happened. They weren't just walking, but as they walked, they were having conversation.

They were discussing things. They were shooting ideas back and forth between each other. They were talking about things that they had known and heard and learned and sought to understand. And the idea here is that they were wrestling with and grappling with things and not just talking in the sense of just having something to say, but trying to reach a conclusion, trying to understand. And they're grappling with the truths of all the things that they've experienced and

And the events, you know, were one thing, but then they're also, their internal processing of it and the emotions that they had in the midst of it was something that they had to grapple with and talk through with one another. Well, as they're doing this, they're working their way down the road. In verse 15, it says, while they conversed and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him.

This conversation that they're having, it was obvious they were sad. They were emotional about it. They were wrestling with things and dealing with emotions that were revealed on their faces, were revealed in their posture perhaps, were revealed in the conversation itself.

And so Jesus comes alongside with them, and it gives us the idea here that he walks with them a little bit. And so he kind of joins the group. He's walking alongside of them, and they're continuing to talk. And Jesus asked them for some clarification. What kind of conversation is this? What are you guys talking about? And why are you so sad? Now, it tells us here we find the name of one of the disciples in verse 18.

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? And have you not known the things which happened here in these days? And he said to him, what things? Jesus asked them, hey, what are you guys talking about? And why are you so sad as you talk about these things? And Cleopas is surprised.

He's like, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? I mean, we're on the road out of Jerusalem. Clearly you came from Jerusalem. Everybody in Jerusalem is talking about the events that happened. Everybody knows about the crucifixion of Jesus. Everybody hears, you know, what's going on. And there's a commotion and a stir about him and what took place and the mystery of his disappearance this morning. It's all over the place. Everybody's talking about this.

He said, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? Are you the only one? Where are you from that you don't know what it is that we're talking about? Now, of course, Jesus did know what they were talking about, not just because, you know, he is the one who experienced all these things, but he also is the Lord and he knows what's happening in the minds and the hearts of his people.

And yet at the same time, knowing all of those things, knowing all of the details, in fact, knowing much more than these two disciples knew, Jesus asked them, hey, what are you guys talking about? What kind of conversation is this? As you talk with one another and are sad, Cleavis says, everybody knows these things. And Jesus says, what things? What things? It's something interesting to consider. Jesus knows exactly what things they're talking about. And yet,

He asked them to explain, to articulate, to describe, to talk about the things that are upon their minds and their hearts. He's helping them to talk out what's happening within them internally. And it's a good example here, a good exhortation for us. There's a lot of times where things are happening for us internally. The emotions are strong. In fact, they can be so heavy that it feels crushing and suffocating internally.

And sometimes just the process of talking it out can bring such relief and can be so helpful. And so Jesus here is prompting them. He's inviting them. He's asking them to talk to him about the things that they are going through. Pastor David Guzik says this about it. He says, Jesus skillfully played along with the conversation, encouraging the men to reveal their hearts.

Jesus longs for us to tell him our hearts, even though he already knows there is great value for us in saying it to him. This is one thing that we need to understand about the Lord. We know, of course, that the Lord knows everything. And sometimes, well, that causes us to not tell him anything because he knows everything. And what's amazing here is that Jesus knows

He asked them to elaborate. It's amazing to think about this because here's Jesus walking, and I always find this fascinating. I mean, Jesus is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, yet he so often will pause everything to spend some moments with an individual or with a couple people. He takes this journey. He walks with them for a couple hours.

Maybe half a day. We don't know how fast they went. But he has no problem just spending this time with these disciples, walking through this conversation. And it tells us that the eyes of these disciples were restrained because, well, if Jesus had revealed himself and they understood who he was immediately, there would have been no conversation, right? There would have been no processing of the things that they were going through. And instead, Jesus restrains their eyes and

so that they can have this conversation, so that they can begin to work out what's happening on their hearts and what's happening in their minds. And so Jesus here asks these questions and invites them to elaborate, not because he needed information, but for their good, that they would be able to

To talk through all of the things. And what are the things? Well, you could look at that in a few different ways, but I would just categorize the next few verses as the details, the feelings, and the confusions. Right? The details in verse 19 says,

They say to him, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people and all the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him. Here's the details. Here's the facts. Here's the events that transpired. They just summarize those things right there in verse 19 and 20.

But then they talk a little bit about their feelings. In verse 21, it says, but we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides this, all this, today is the third day since all these things happened.

We were hoping, we had our hopes set on, we had this kind of build up, this anticipation, this expectation, and then, oh man, we've been so let down. We've been so distraught as a result. And so they began to talk about what they expected, what they were feeling, what they were looking forward to. They began to talk about those things that were happening internally. And then they talked about the confusions. In verse 22 through 24, it says, yes,

As far as these two disciples knew, when they left Jerusalem, Jesus had not been seen.

All they knew was, boy, there's some really confusing reports. I mean, they said that the tomb was empty. We didn't go look ourselves, but, you know, these ladies went and these two guys went. There was a, you know, supposed angelic appearance. You know, sounds like it's all, it's all like, ah, it's interesting, but I don't know if I believe it. I don't know what it means. And, and so they're perplexed. They're confused. They're sad. Their hope has been broken.

as they deal with and process. They're reeling from the situation that is at hand. But Jesus here comes alongside of them and helps them to talk through all the things. Talk it out. What's going on? What are the details? How are you feeling about it? What are you confused about? What's perplexing you? Talk through all of these things. And it's awesome to see here the Lord is willing to have this kind of interaction, to spend this kind of time

with just these two disciples.

As I work through things personally, as I mentioned my work experience, you know, a couple of weeks ago, of course I talked it out with Kim, you know, that was an important part and that helped me a lot, but I had to talk it out with the Lord. I had to like walk through the situation, go through the details, talk about how I was feeling, you know, share how I was perplexed and confused and tried to figure out what, you know, what needed to happen there, but I needed to take that to the Lord. Right?

and work through with him what it was that was on my heart and why my head was the way that it was and why my heart was the way that it was. It's really important and valuable for us to talk through all the things with the Lord.

The apostle Peter tells us this in 1 Peter 5, Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.

We're familiar with this passage. We refer to that casting all your cares upon him because he cares for you, and that's absolutely true, but it's tied to verse 6, and I think it's important here to recognize the call here is to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. To talk all of these things out with the Lord requires, well, humbling ourselves before the Lord.

that we would come to him with genuine honesty, with a realness about what I'm confused about, what I'm hurting about, what I'm going through, the things that are happening within me, the things that I'm wrestling with. And there needs to be a humility as I come to the Lord genuinely, honestly, not trying to pretend like I have it all together, not trying to pretend like the Lord should bless me because I'm so great or holy or anything like that, but coming before the Lord humbly.

and bringing my cares and casting them upon the Lord and talking through the details, talking through the feelings, talking through the confusions and allowing that time with the Lord to express

what's happening within. Now, of course, we also are privileged as members of the body of Christ to have people around us who are members of the body of Christ and do represent Christ. And so we talk it over with the Lord personally in our personal prayer life, but we also have those opportunities to talk it over with people around us who know the Lord, who walk with the Lord, who

represent the Lord and can do that in a way that is beneficial for us as well. And so it's not just necessarily a personal private thing, but maybe it's appropriate for you to consider talking it over with a friend and having that opportunity to express what is upon your heart. Now, as I mentioned, we want to consider these things as we walk through our times of sadness, but also as

considering others around us and how to minister to people around us in their sadness. And so when it's your sadness, I would encourage you talk through all the things. And when it's, well, it's someone around you who is going through a time of sadness, then of course it's the opposite of that. It's listen to all of the things and give the people around you that opportunity to talk through all of those things.

And here you can look at Jesus as the example. He set aside the time. He spent those hours with these disciples and provoked them, not in a, you know, to anger kind of way, but just kind of coaxed out of them the things that they were going through to bring out the discussion and to allow them to talk about the things that they were experiencing.

They were telling Jesus things that Jesus already knew, right? But Jesus was willing to listen. And I think this is important for us to consider. I don't know about you, but I'm always, you know, thinking about efficiency and what's efficient. And hey, I don't need to tell you the things you already know. And I don't need to listen to the things I already know. But when it comes for a time of sadness and working through these things, there's no rushing this.

So be patient and be willing to listen to things that you already know. Be willing to listen to things, you know, that are happening as you're seeking to minister to someone who is walking through a time of sadness. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, He listens to us. Tell him what he already knows. But we may come boldly to his throne and pour out our hearts to him, and he will help us. He listens. He's patient.

He already knows, but he invites us to come in and to share with him. And as we have that opportunity to represent the Lord, we need to do the same. Be patient and be willing to listen to things that you already know. Well, moving on to verses 25 through 27, now we get the second point for this morning, and that is think through all the scriptures. Verse 25 says,

Then he said to them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Think through all the scriptures. Here Jesus, as he's walking with these guys, he lets them talk. He spends some time with them and

I think you probably understand, right? This is just a snippet of recording of what the conversation actually was. But you could see the bulk of this was these guys explaining to Jesus the things that were happening. And so there is this good amount of time where Jesus just let them talk. He prompted them. He invited them. He asked them to share what was happening in their lives and in their minds and hearts.

And when they work through that for a bit, now Jesus begins to share a different perspective. He says, Now we look at this perhaps and read, oh foolish ones, and think, wow, that's kind of quite a rebuke, right? Oh, you're so foolish, you big dummies. But

The word foolish ones doesn't really carry that kind of insult that we might assume that it does. The commentator H.A. Ironside puts it this way, the word rendered fools means simple ones. They were like children who failed to understand and so did not believe the prophetic declarations concerning Christ.

It wasn't a rebuke in the sense of like, hey, you guys are stupid. You should have known this already. But, you know, hey, you guys, you haven't seen the full picture yet. Here, let me help you to gain the perspective about what is going on. And so he goes on to explain in verse 26, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? Isn't this what was supposed to happen? This was part of the Father's plan, right?

And here Jesus is helping them to understand their sadness is partially coming from the fact that they don't have the whole picture. They're missing some key elements of the story and the plan of God and what God is going to do in the midst of it. They said again in verse 21, but we were hoping it was he who was going to redeem Israel.

And it was Jesus who was going to redeem Israel. That was their hope. That was the reality. But the reality didn't go the way that they thought that it would go. And so it wasn't that they were hoping in the wrong thing even, but that their understanding of what that looked like was different. And so Jesus here is going to realign their understanding, to realign their perspective of

Sometimes we just have bad doctrine stuck in our heads, or we have incomplete information stuck in our minds, and it causes us to work through and feel these things that maybe we don't need to feel. It doesn't mean that it's wrong to feel things, but at the same time, the reason why they were going through this was because

Well, they didn't fully understand what God had said and what God was doing. And that's why we need all the scriptures. Not just bits and pieces here and there, or not just our favorite portions, not just, you know, those catchy things that are easy to spend time in, our favorite things to consider.

But it tells us in verse 27, Jesus went back to the beginning, the books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, went through the prophets. That's the whole Old Testament. He gave this incredible Bible study, like this overview of the whole Old Testament, talking about the things concerning himself.

Everybody who has ever read this passage really has wished that we had a record of this teaching, right? What passages did Jesus return to, and how did he share these different elements, and what prophecies did he highlight and reveal? And I'm sure it would have been amazing to be part of that. But that's not recorded for us, and we don't have to have that recorded to see the highlights of Jesus throughout the scriptures and throughout the Old Testament.

But he left it a mystery to give us the opportunity to explore those things ourselves. We need to know the scriptures, to dig into the word of God, to think through all the scriptures, to gain the perspective about the plan of God, the heart of God, the work of God that will be instructive and instrumental for us in the things that we're facing right now. Paul the Apostle writing to Timothy said,

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work. All scripture, Paul says, it's inspired by God. It's helpful. It's beneficial to bring us to completion, maturity, that we would be equipped and prepared. And so we need to think through the scriptures.

And as we work through times of sadness, as we work through times where we're experiencing emotions that are intense and overwhelming, we're experiencing perplexity and confusion about the situation as it has unfolded and the events that took place, and we're not sure what's going on. We're not sure why. We don't have good answers for the things that are happening. We can go back to this sure foundation, the scriptures.

given to us by inspiration of God. And Jesus takes these guys back and he begins to expound the scriptures. That is to unfold the meaning of what is there, to explain. He goes back, he spends some time to explain what the word of God was talking about. They believed in the Messiah. They believed the Old Testament prophesied of the Messiah, but they kind of skipped over the passages they didn't understand where it talked about the Messiah suffering.

And so Jesus went back and highlighted those and said, look, you see this? This is talking about the Messiah. And it was supposed to suffer. That was part of the plan of God so that God could accomplish something great. And so he works his way through the scriptures to give them a solid foundation, correct doctrine, solid footing to be able to stand on the truth and the hope of what God has said.

in times of sadness, search the scriptures, connect with God in his word. Now, in this case, there was a concrete truth that the scriptures would reveal that would immediately remove their sadness if they would accept it and believe it. That's not always the case for us. There's not always a solution. We're not always walking with the Messiah because we thought that he was gonna set up a kingdom and then he was crucified instead. That's not our daily experience perhaps.

Yet the scriptures provide us strength to face the day, even if we don't have the immediate answer that we hope for and want. Scriptures provide hope that we would be able to endure the things, that we could trust God and his promises and the things that he has said he will do and gives us hope to hold on to. The scriptures provide us an anchor so that as storms come and the waves hit, that we're able to grasp hold of the truths

and not trade the things that we know for the things that we don't know. Search the scriptures. In times of sadness for you, make sure you take some time to think through the word of God. Now, again, thinking about those around us who experience similar times, when we're dealing with sadness for others, they need to search the scriptures, they need to think through the scriptures, and we have the opportunity, perhaps, to help them with that.

And so here I put to share relevant scriptures. Again, Jesus, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them the scriptures, the things concerning himself. Jesus didn't go back and try to explain every Old Testament mystery, right? He didn't go back and it wasn't just a lecture. It was relevant things that were for them. He went through all the scriptures, right? But he didn't

capitalize or spend the same amount of time on every subject. He talked about the things that were relevant to what they were wrestling with. Here's Psalm 22. Look at the pictures of the Messiah there. Here's Isaiah 53 and consider the suffering of the servant there.

It was what was relevant to them and their situation. And you and I have an opportunity many times as we engage with people around us, as we seek to minister to people around us. We have the opportunity to share the scriptures that address, that talk about the things that others are going through. Now, I would encourage you to consider what does that look like, sharing the scriptures?

Do you think Jesus, as he was walking along, he pulled the scroll out of his back pocket, he opened it up and said, okay, let me read you these three chapters, and then you'll be encouraged. It wasn't a direct reading that took place there with Jesus and these disciples. It doesn't mean that a direct reading of the scriptures is never appropriate. At the same time, I would just encourage you to consider it doesn't have to look that way.

Does it have to be a perfect quotation? You have to have the verse memorized completely, you know, perfectly, word for word, and know the reference and all of that? Not necessarily. I would encourage you to even consider that sometimes sharing relevant scriptures is paraphrasing. And in your own words, sharing the scriptures. Oftentimes, it can be more meaningful that way. Because it's not just a dry, you know, here's information, here's data, right?

But there's a connection. Here's what the Lord has spoken to me through his word. Here's what God has revealed previously. What they really needed was the word of God. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, they could have discussed the subject for days and never arrived at a satisfactory answer. What they needed was a fresh understanding of the word of God and Jesus gave that understanding to them.

to them. There's a lot of situations we could talk about for days and weeks and months and really never come to a conclusion on our own. But we bring in the scriptures and especially the scriptures that are relevant to what it is that we're going through, the things that we're experiencing. And it can help us to be settled, to find resolution, to find comfort and strength and hope in times of sadness.

Well, moving on to verse 28 and 29, we get the third point for this morning, and that is ask for what you need. Ask for what you need. In verse 28, it says, then they drew near to the village where they were going, and he indicated that he would have gone farther. But they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to stay with them. Ask for what you need.

As they're walking along the way, the disciples get to Emmaus. Here's our village. Here's, you know, the home we're staying in. It's almost dinner time. And it tells us here that Jesus indicated that he would have gone farther. It's kind of interesting to think about. Here's Jesus pretending. He's pretending he had somewhere else to go. He's pretending he's going to continue on down the road. He indicated he would have gone farther, but they constrained him.

What's going on here? Why is Jesus pretending? Why is he going through this and kind of putting on this show like he has further to go? I like E.J. Ironside's take on this. He says,

Jesus here is indicating that he is going farther to give these disciples the opportunity to invite him in. He's not going to impose himself and push himself into, you know, the situation until he indicates he's going to go farther. You know, James tells us in his letter that sometimes we have not because we ask not. Sometimes there's things that God would do, God would give, God would work if we would ask not.

But we don't ask. And so here Jesus gives these disciples an opportunity to ask. And it tells us that they constrained him. To constrain, it speaks of something forceful, but it's not the idea like they forced him. But sometimes this forcefulness comes by request. Please, please.

Please come in. No, no, no, don't go on farther. No, please come and stay with us. Spend some more time with us. Please have dinner with us. And so there was this forcefulness that came, not, you know, like at knife point or anything like that, but just in the request. It was a real request.

It wasn't just, you know, social courtesies or, you know, customary things for them. It was, no, no, we really do want to spend some time with you. Please come and join with us. And sometimes we need to approach God with this same kind of constraint. Lord, please, that there would be this genuine call and request that we would ask God to

to work in us and on our behalf and to answer and to lead and to guide. Jesus told us in Matthew chapter 7, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. Jesus encouraged us to ask. He wants us to ask. He told us, seek it out. Ask for what you need.

And so we have the opportunity through times of sorrow and sadness, as we're wrestling with and grappling with things that we don't quite understand, we have the opportunity to ask for what we needed. And this applies, of course, to the Lord. It also applies to, you know, the people around us. And sometimes we're ashamed to ask. It can be hard. It can be embarrassing sometimes.

Just as we have to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and cast our cares upon him, we need to humble ourselves in real life as well and ask when there's help that we need and support that we need and comfort or friendship or fellowship or whatever it might be. Ask for what you need. Now, looking at this on the other side, as we're working through sadness with others around us, I made the point here to be available, not forceful.

We need to allow people to ask for what they need. This was a good part of the process. Now again, these aren't universal laws that always apply without exception. Sometimes the Lord wants us to interject ourselves. And sometimes the Lord did that himself. Remember when he saw Zacchaeus and he invited himself over to Zacchaeus' house for dinner, right? He didn't wait for Zacchaeus to invite him over. He said, Zacchaeus, I'm going to your house.

And so there is the times that the Lord wants us to, you know, minister in that way as well. And sometimes we need to be bold as the Lord leads. But that's not always the case. That's not always best. And sometimes being forceful and assertive in that way is not actually helpful. Sometimes what a person needs most is for us to be available but not forceful. To give the person the opportunity to

to ask, to give the person the opportunity to come to that place where they're willing to make the request and to ask for help in their time of sorrow. And so we need to be patient, not rushing ahead of where God wants us to be in offering that help. We need to be gentle. We make the offer, perhaps. We are available, but also not imposing and not forceful. Finding that balance, helping people to come to this place where they need

can ask. Well, finally, verses 30 through 32, we get the fourth point, the final point for this morning, and that is continue until you encounter Jesus. In verse 30, it says, now it came to pass as he sat at the table with them that he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight.

And they said to one another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures to us? Jesus agrees and goes in to spend the evening with them. And so as they sit down to the evening meal and they begin to break bread and Jesus blesses it, all of a sudden their eyes are opened and they realize this is Jesus. This whole time it's been Jesus who's been with us.

They're shocked. They're blown away. It says their eyes are open. And then as soon as they realized it was Jesus, in verse 31, it says he vanished from their sight. That's an important thing to consider. As soon as they knew it was Jesus, boom, he was gone. He moved on. It shows us this is the real objective right here. Jesus was willing to spend time with these guys. He spent all that time with those guys to bring them to this point where they knew that it was Jesus.

For them, it happened, you know, that same day, within those few hours. For us, depending on what we're going through, it might be similar or it might be very different. Either way, we need to continue. Continue talking it out. Continue searching the scriptures. Continue asking God for what we need and to persevere in that until we encounter Jesus.

Until we come face to face with Jesus, until we come and recognize, here's what the Lord is saying and doing and working, until he resolves the things that we're going through and the issues that we have in our hearts. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, Jesus opened the scriptures to them and then he opened their eyes so that they recognized him.

Now they knew for themselves that Jesus was alive. They had the evidence of the open tomb, the angels, the witnesses, the scriptures, and now their own personal experience with the Lord. We need to have our own personal experience with the Lord. Our own personal encounter. Continue talking to him, searching the scriptures, asking him for help and for hope until you have that personal encounter.

Until you know, then he's met you. He's resolved the need, not necessarily externally, but internally he's spoken to you. He's given the insight that you need, the help and the hope that you need. And afterwards, probably just like these disciples, you'll be able to look back and connect the dots. And they were like, oh, our hearts were burning within us. We didn't quite recognize it at that time. We didn't quite realize it at that time and what was going on. But now as we think back,

Oh yeah, it's so obvious. That was Jesus with us that whole time. In a similar way, when the Lord connects with you and you have that kind of encounter, you'll be able to look back and see how God was putting things in place, laying things out so that you would come to this place of knowing him and experiencing the comfort, the encouragement, the direction and the relationship with him that he desires to have with you. And so we need to continue, keep on pressing on,

until we encounter Jesus. Now, as we consider again working with others and ministering to others who are going through their time of sadness, we need to help them encounter Jesus. And this is a very important point to understand. Our job is to connect people to Jesus. And it might take several hours of walking and talking. It might take months and years of prayer. It might take some time

But our job is to connect people to Jesus. Our job is not to have all the answers. Our job is not to, you know, be able to give a reason and to have the perfect words or to have all the right things to say. Our job is to connect people to Jesus. And I think it's interesting to consider here, going back to the beginning of our portion in verse 15, it says, so it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

As these two were talking and reasoning, wrestling with things together, right? Not wrestling against each other, but just wrestling with, wow, what is the Lord saying here? As they worked together to talk through these things, Jesus drew near. You know, sometimes we're not going to have all the answers. And what we're going to come together to do with someone who's going through a time of sadness is to wrestle together. I don't know what this means. Let's

Let's seek the Lord. Let's ask the Lord, what does this mean? And let's seek him together in the midst of this. And what's amazing is you gather together in that way. Well, it says Jesus drew near them when they did that. We have this encouragement from the Lord in Matthew chapter 18, verse 20. For wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them. When you gather together, you meet up with someone who's struggling, wrestling, sorrowing,

And you seek the Lord together. That's a church right there. That's the gathering of his people. And Jesus says, I'm there in the midst. And so you have the opportunity to connect people to Jesus without all the answers, without the resolution, without the fix to the problem. You have the opportunity because then as you gather together, Jesus is there in your midst. And you're like, well, Jerry, it's, you know, social distancing time. We can't gather together.

There's ways to gather together, even in the midst of these things that we experience. Connect together. Seek the Lord together. Join with people in prayer, in worship, in wrestling with difficulties and truths, and seeking the Lord. And Jesus shows up, and he begins to answer. He begins to minister. He begins to work. But it's really important to hold on to this truth. Our job is to help them encounter Jesus. I'm not the hero. You're not the savior.

You're not the Holy Spirit. Our job is not to convince. Our job is not to, you know, have the perfect persuasive words or to get them to make the decisions that we want. Our job is to help them encounter Jesus. And sometimes we can try to bring people after ourselves or we can enjoy, you know, being the one that provided the solution. It is a great feeling. It's an awesome opportunity perhaps, but we need to be very careful.

We're attaching people to Jesus, not to ourselves. We're teaching them to follow Jesus, not teaching them to follow us. If they have to come to me every time now and ask for direction and ask for help, then I failed. I need to help them learn to go to Jesus and to hear from the Lord and to seek him and receive from him what they need for the situation that's at hand. And so this morning, talking about walking through a time of sadness,

I know it's a different message than probably we would expect or consider, and I don't do that on purpose, but the Lord just brought me back here, and I don't know where you're at and what you're going through, but I pray for you that the Lord would minister to your heart through your times of sadness, through your times of sorrow and difficulty, and maybe that's right now, or maybe that's to come, or maybe that's, you know, something you've come out of. It's a reality that we all face.

And so let us learn these lessons to talk through all the things, to think through all the scriptures, not just our favorites, but to get the whole counsel of God's word and to ask him for what we need and to keep on pressing on, to continue until we encounter Jesus. And as we interact with others around us, let's listen to them. Sharing scriptures that are relevant and appropriate for the things that they're wrestling with, being available, not necessarily forceful unless the Lord tells us to,

but with the objective, with the hope, with the desire to help them encounter Jesus. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you are with us in our times of sorrow and sadness and difficulty. You're not a far off. Even when our eyes are restrained and we can't see you, Lord, you're still right there on the road with us. And so God, I pray that you would help us to have great courage and hope

as we believe you and trust in your word. Lord, would you minister to us and lead us. Lord, there is hope that you have for us. There is healing that you desire to provide. There's joy that you want to give as we look to you and walk with you through the things that we go through. So Lord, I pray that you would help us to draw near. Keep us close to you and let us be useful in the lives of others around us. On your behalf, Lord, for your glory.

We pray this in Jesus' name.