{"id":11071,"date":"2016-04-17T14:01:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T18:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=11071"},"modified":"2016-06-01T16:03:29","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T20:03:29","slug":"he-aint-here-hes-done-gone-41016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=11071","title":{"rendered":"He Ain’t Here- He’s Done Gone! (4\/10\/16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early on Easter morning, some of the women reported that the tomb was empty.\u00a0 Jesus’ body wasn’t there.\u00a0 The disciples were confused and fearful, so two of them got out of town by walking to Emmaus.\u00a0 Jesus caught up with them along the way and their lives were changed forever.\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In his sermon, Pastor Jim invited us to walk along with these disciples and to “let Jesus jump into your arms.”\u00a0 <\/span>
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Click the below “Play” button and scroll down to follow along (the recording is from the 11:00 service)…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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The scripture was Luke 24:13-34.\u00a0 Click the following Drop Down box to follow along.\u00a0 Pastor Jim read from The Living Bible.\u00a0 The New Living Translation (NLT) is shown below.
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Luke 24:13-35<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

13 That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem.\u00a0 As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened.\u00a0 As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them.\u00a0 But God kept them from recognizing him.\"Window-Emmaus<\/p>\n

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”<\/p>\n

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces.\u00a0 Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”<\/p>\n

19 “What things?” Jesus asked.<\/p>\n

“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people.\u00a0 But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him.\u00a0 We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.<\/p>\n

22 “Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report.\u00a0 They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive!\u00a0 Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”<\/p>\n

25 Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.\u00a0 Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?”\u00a0 Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.\"Window-Emmaus-Communion<\/p>\n

28 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on,\u00a0 but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them.\u00a0 As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them.\u00a0 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!<\/p>\n

32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”\u00a0 And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them,\u00a0 who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.”<\/p>\n

35 Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

Confusion!!!<\/span><\/h3>\n

The two disciples had heard it all.\u00a0 They heard the story from the women who said that the body wasn’t there.\u00a0 One of them even said that Jesus appeared to them!\u00a0 But, it didn’t make sense to these two disciples.\u00a0 The were fearful.\u00a0 They were confused, so they ran away.<\/p>\n

It’s easy to get confused!<\/p>\n

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Everyone wants to be a Methodist! And if you are one, you’ll know that there’s nothing bigger than a BISHOP!<\/span><\/p>\n

The story is told of a Bishop who was being driven by his chauffeur.\u00a0 They were late for their appointment, so the Bishop was getting anxious.\u00a0 But the chauffeur, being of good law abiding Methodist character, refused to assent to the Bishop’s demands to “Hurry it up!”\u00a0 So the Bishop told the chauffeur to pull over and switch positions.\u00a0 The chauffeur went to the back seat, the Bishop to the driver’s seat, and the limo’s speedometer ventured into regions it had never seen before! <\/span><\/p>\n

But a vigilant police officer was on duty.\u00a0 And as the Bishop’s limo flashed past the hidden patrol car, the officer turned on the flashing lights, caught up to the Bishop, and pulled him over.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the officer was a Methodist, and he was overwhelmed by the presence of a Bishop in the driver’s seat.\u00a0 He had to call his captain and figure out how to handle this sticky situation.\u00a0 He had pulled over someone even bigger than the President of the United States!<\/span><\/p>\n

As the captain tried to get the details from the frantic officer, he came right out and asked him “who did you pull over?”\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The officer replied, “I don’t know.\u00a0 But he must be really important because he’s being driven by a Methodist Bishop!”<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

Confusion.\u00a0 Emotions can get in our way.\u00a0 Sadness, fear, disappointment… they all conspired in the disciples mind’s to make them forget what Jesus had taught them about His mission.\u00a0 He said He would be crucified and then rise again on the third day.<\/p>\n

They knew that the tomb was empty, but they didn’t embrace the resurrection.<\/p>\n

Many people today are still living as if this were the end of the story; the body is missing, but nobody knows where it went.\u00a0 The body is still missing.\u00a0 The story went out that during the night the disciples stole the body and made up the story that Jesus had risen from the dead.<\/p>\n

People are still living as if the body of Jesus is still missing.\u00a0 But if it simply boils down to “the body is missing”, are you experiencing the Resurreciton?\u00a0 Does it have any impact on your life?<\/p>\n

Cleopas and his fellow disciple had not experienced the resurrection.<\/p>\n

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The Conversation that Caused a Conversion from Confusion…<\/span><\/h3>\n

The two disciples are walking 7 miles back home to Emmaus from Jerusalem.\u00a0 Jesus joins them in their walk, but like Mary (who we looked at last week), they did not recognize Him.\u00a0 Maybe they were too preoccupied with shattered dreams to recognize Him.\u00a0 After all, the last time they saw Him was when His lifeless body was being taken down from the cross.<\/p>\n

But it is Jesus who initiates this conversation.\u00a0 It is Jesus who finds these two fleeing disciples.\u00a0 It is Jesus who speaks first.<\/p>\n

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Jesus is trying to initiate a conversation with us too!\u00a0 But could it be, like these disciples, that we’re too preoccupied or too busy to hear Him?<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Here are some possible reasons:<\/p>\n

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1:\u00a0 They were Too busy<\/span><\/h4>\n

When we’re worried, we’re focused on self.\u00a0 When we’re too busy, we’re focused on self.\u00a0 When we’re busy with meetings and “more important things to do,” we’re focused on process instead of people.\u00a0 These wrong perceptions can cause us to miss the hand of God when He steps into our midst.<\/p>\n

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2: They weren’t Looking for Him<\/span><\/h4>\n

These disciples were going in the wrong direction!\u00a0 Mary, and Peter, and John entered the empty tomb to see for themselves.\u00a0 But Cleopas and friend ran away.\u00a0 It’s as if they were saying, “Easter break is over, now let’s get back to the important things in life like work, school, and living life the way I want to live it.”\u00a0 Like the Israelites fleeing from Pharaoh, the disciples were focused on “bread” and “meat” instead of God.<\/p>\n

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What do you see? What’s your perception? If you look out your window and see a sight like the one pictured below, what do you see?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Alaska<\/span><\/p>\n