"Bread To Bread" Dary Northrop at Timberline Church

Have you ever had an eye-opening experience? What caused it to happen? We will continue our Easter series this weekend and discover some defining moments for the followers of Jesus. Please join us live or online. Can’t wait to see ya!

Transcription:

- All right. Good morning, Timberline Church. So good to see you all. Hey, we're gonna do Communion again this weekend. So, just wanna invite you. If you haven't had the opportunity to get the elements as you walked in the door, we're gonna have communion in service. So, you want to go ahead and get those elements. But just one, I'm gonna have you stand, we're gonna worship our Lord this morning. Enjoy some time together to praise his name. Here we go. ♪ When darkness tries to roll over my bones ♪ ♪ When sorrow comes to steal the joy I own ♪ ♪ When brokenness and pain is all I know ♪ ♪ I won't be shaken I won't be shaken ♪ Oh sing it. ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ Praise God. ♪ when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ Now shame no longer has a place to hide ♪ ♪ And I am not a captive to the lies ♪ ♪ I'm not afraid to leave my past behind ♪ ♪ Oh I won't be shaken oh I won't be shaken ♪ Come on, you sing it. ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ There's power ♪ ♪ There's power that can break off every chain ♪ ♪ There's power that can empty out a grave ♪ ♪ There's resurrection power that can save ♪ ♪ There's power in Your name power in Your name ♪ ♪ There's power ♪ ♪ There's power that can break off every chain ♪ ♪ There's power that can empty out a grave ♪ ♪ There's resurrection power that can save ♪ ♪ There's power in Your name power in Your name ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love ♪ ♪ When I'm standing in Your love ♪ ♪ When I'm standing in Your love ♪ ♪ When I'm standing in Your love ♪ Yeah, we can put our hands together we praise the Lord this morning. Praise God. Play the right cord, here we go. ♪ I see the evidence of your goodness ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ I see Your promises in fulfillment ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ I see the evidence of your goodness ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ I see Your promises in fulfillment ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ And all throughout my history ♪ ♪ Your faithfulness has walked beside me ♪ ♪ The winter storms made way for spring ♪ ♪ In every season from where I'm standing ♪ ♪ I see the evidence of your goodness ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ I see Your promises in fulfillment ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ Help me remember when I'm weak ♪ ♪ Fear may come but fear will leave ♪ ♪ You lead my heart to victory ♪ ♪ You are my strength and You always will be ♪ Lets' sing it. ♪ I see the evidence of Your goodness ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ I see Your promises in fulfillment ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ Let's see the cross ♪ ♪ See the cross the empty grave ♪ ♪ The evidence is endless ♪ ♪ All my sin rolled away ♪ ♪ Because of You oh Jesus ♪ ♪ See the cross the empty grave the evidence is endless ♪ ♪ All my sin rolled away because of You oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ Here we go. ♪ I see the evidence of Your goodness ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ ♪ I see Your promises in fulfillment ♪ ♪ All over my life all over my life ♪ Why should I. ♪ Why should I fear ♪ ♪ The evidence is here ♪ ♪ Why should I fear ♪ ♪ The evidence is here ♪ One more time. ♪ Why should I fear ♪ ♪ The evidence is here ♪ Why should we fear? ♪ Righteous ruler of the heavens ♪ ♪ Holy holy our God ♪ ♪ Sovereign Lord of all creation ♪ ♪ Holy holy our God ♪ ♪ Every tribe and tongue ♪ ♪ Lift your voice as one ♪ ♪ He is greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ Sing to the Lord oh my soul ♪ ♪ Let the heavens shout for joy ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ Nations come and bow before Him ♪ ♪ Holy holy our God ♪ ♪ Angels sing now and forever ♪ ♪ Holy holy our God ♪ ♪ Every tribe and tongue ♪ ♪ Lift your voice as one ♪ ♪ He is greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ Sing to the Lord oh my soul ♪ ♪ Let the heavens shout for joy ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ The heavens shall declare ♪ ♪ The glory of our great God ♪ ♪ The heavens shall declare ♪ ♪ The glory of our great God ♪

- Lets sing it out to the church. ♪ The heavens shall declare ♪ ♪ The glory of our great God ♪ ♪ The heavens shall declare ♪ ♪ The glory of our great God ♪ ♪ Jesus come let us adore Him ♪ ♪ Holy holy our God ♪ ♪ Sing to the Lord oh my soul ♪ ♪ Let the heavens shout for joy ♪ ♪ Great is our God. ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪

- John 16:33. Jesus speaking. "I have said these things to you, that in me, you may have peace. You see, in the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world." Bow your heads with me as we pray. Heavenly Father, this morning, we choose to take heart and rest in your authority, you have overcome the world. As people of faith, we take great refuge knowing that our peace is not determined by external circumstances, but our internal relationship with you. So, in the faith of tribulation, trials, and sorrow, we take heart and we settle in your encouragement that you have already won over sin and death. Your word also encourages us to ask for the nations and to pray for our leaders. So, with this truth, we ask for world peace right now, and we pray specifically for those in Ukraine. May peace be realized and found in you, you are our only hope, thank you, Jesus. In his mighty name, we pray, Amen. Well, friends do me a favor, look to somebody and tell them, for only losing an hour, you don't look half bad Well, we're grateful that you would choose to spend a little bit of your weekend with us here at Timberline Church. If you happen to be joining us for the very first time, welcome. And those online, we see you, and we're grateful that you are here too. Friends, we wanna make connection and engagement as simple as possible. And you can do that by going online, or you using the connection card available to you in the seat back pocket in front of you. Whichever option you choose, it'll take you the same place, a quick and easy resource for you to learn and get familiar with all things Timberline Church. Now let's go ahead and get ready for our series with today's message.

- [Dary] Good morning.

- [congregation] Good morning.

- You look good. I agree with Felix, man, you don't need that extra hour, way to go. How many of you totally forgot? Okay, I love that. I love that, so, you're usually. I love it in the fall especially, I'll come to church on Sunday morning and there'll be a bunch of people sitting here, and I'll be going, wow, you're early. And they'll go, yeah. An hour Oh, hi, everybody online, welcome, thanks for joining us, so fun. Well, we're gonna try something new in a few weeks. On Easter, we're gonna do a sunrise service out in the North lawn out here. We've never done that, so, who knows? Those of you clapping, will you come? Okay, I don't wanna be the only one at 6:30, going, he is risen. So, it's come If you want to, it's gonna be kind of a short two or three songs, we're not doing a full band thing, obviously we respect our neighbors, and so, we're gonna keep it toned down a little bit. But we'll have a guitar and a few songs and I'll do a devotional message in probably 25 minutes or so max. But here's the thing, we're not gonna set up chairs or bleachers or anything. So, bring blankets, bring your own lawn chair, it's just gonna be kind of casual, but just an expression. The sunrise is at 6:18, and we're tracking kind of where it is, so we can kind of be enjoying that view. And so, our service will start at 6:30, so we can feel the heat of the sun. Now, if there's a big storm that rolls in here on Saturday, we will not be doing this. So, watch online and we'll keep you up to date, but it's gonna be a beautiful sunny morning, I just have a feeling and it's gonna be perfect, it's fun. So, anyway that'll be fun, 6:30, put it in your phone if you want to be there. Last week, Pastor Jeff started a series called "Mirror, Mirror: Moments of Reflection," and it's this idea. If you weren't here, let me just kind of fill you in. For the next few weeks, we're gonna be doing this. We're taking an episode before the resurrection and tying it to a similar episode after the resurrection. I had never noticed a lot of these parallels before in our teaching team a few months ago. We started just really digging into what we wanted to do for these six weeks leading up to Easter, and this just kind of came out of our study and prayer. And so, we looked at "Fire to Fire" last week, this week, we're looking at "Bread to Bread." And next week, I just wanna prep you for this, I'm doing a message called "Silver to Silver." And it's the story of Judas when he said, how much will you give me if I betray Jesus? They said, 30 pieces of silver. And then after he betrays Jesus, he feels remorseful, he repents, he brings the silver back and throws it in into the temple. And I'm gonna deal with the subject of suicide, I'm gonna deal with the subject of depression, and discouragement and shame. So, I won't get into all that now, but I'm working hard on this message. If you know someone who deals and lives in these kind of shadows or self harm, please invite them, it's a gonna be a half a weekend of God's deliverance, I believe that with all my heart. But this week we're looking at bread, how many of you smelled the bread when you came in today? Did you? Some of you did, we're baking bread just to taut you. They did, the facilities team said let's bake bread all day. And so, if you, especially on this side of the building, if you go out there, you're gonna smell it. How many of you like bread? I just love bread. Probably sourdough is like my favorite kind of bread. I don't know why, it just something about the toughness, and you put some butter on there. And how many of you have a special sourdough recipe? Okay, a few of you it's been in your refrigerator since 1612, right? I get that, I hear these stories, okay? You do not have to bake me any bread, I'm just saying it. But I really do like it. And my grandma baked bread and I still have those feelings of, man, just smelling that. And I know there are a lot of diets that say, don't eat bread. I just wanna tell you, those are demonic diets. Do not do that, that's just wrong But you can't eat too much of it, that's for sure. Bread is all throughout the Bible. Matter of fact, in the Old Testament, one of the big provisions of God for Israel, was bread that can came out of heaven called manna. They just dropped on the ground. And God did that so they wouldn't starve to death, it sustained them. Bread is symbolic of that, which gives you life and lets you live. There are a lot of Jewish feasts that still happen that have bread involved, different kinds of bread, unleavened bread, and they are symbolic of certain things. Jesus, in his teaching actually one time said, "I am the bread of life." Why did he say that? It was a metaphor saying, I'm what sustains you, if you have me, you have enough in your life. And it's interesting too, that in the great temptation, Matthew 4, when Jesus has fasted for 40 days, one of the things that Satan brings to him, is just command these stones to be bread, 'cause he was starving. And Jesus makes that statement, 'Man cannot live on bread alone." So, there's this idea, how many miracles did Jesus do that involved bread? You think of the feeding of the 5,000, the little boy with the lunch and the loaves and he breaks the bread. So, there are thousands of people who could give witness to the fact of Jesus breaking bread. And that's really the heart of where we're gonna go today. I wanna give you two parallel stories that are very separate from each other, one, on this side of the cross and the other, on this side of the resurrection. The first one has to do in Matthew 26, with what is known, in your heading in your Bible, it probably says The Last Supper, why does it say that? Cause it was the last supper, that's right. It was the last meal, how many of you call it dinner? Okay, yeah, I grew up with both. So, I know dinner or supper, I'm gonna be there. Okay, whatever you call it, I'm there. But it's called The Last Supper because Jesus is about to face the cross. Now, get the timeline in your mind just a little bit. We have Jesus who says to his disciples, prepare a meal, go up into this room and I'll meet you there. And so the disciples, the 12 disciples are there. And Jesus shows up and they have a meal. And it's their last meal that they're gonna have. They're gonna go from this room into Gethsemane. What's significant about that? Suffering, loneliness. This is where the disciples fell asleep and Jesus woke 'em up and said, "Pray for me, I need you right now." This is where he pleaded with the father. If there's any other way to let this cup pass from me, this is a suffering moment. And Jesus knew he was gonna have this meal and then he was gonna go die, he was gonna lay down his life. They would come and arrest him, remember that? And they would take him off and have a mock trial and they would crucify him and he would die. He would go into the grave, three days later on a Sunday morning, he would be raised from the dead, that's where we are in the timeline. So, this is what happens in verse 26, As they were eating, Jesus took them bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and he gave it to his disciples saying, "Take this and eat it, this is my body." And he took a cup of wine and he gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, each of you drink from it, for is my blood which confirms my covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. What was he saying? He was saying, this is it. And this is where all of this started. Hopefully you have one of these, we're gonna do this at the end. This is what we call The Lord's Supper or Communion, this is where it began, right here. And we're gonna share that together because that's what Jesus commanded for us to do, and other passages as well. Now, fast forward to this side of the resurrection. Jesus has died, he's come back alive, we'll celebrate this in a few weeks. The women went to the tomb first and he wasn't there. He was there, but they thought it was the gardener. And suddenly, he reveals himself as alive. What do the ladies do? They run back and they tell Peter and John and some others. Remember this? And they run back to the tomb and John outran Peter, that's very important to John. So, I've always tried to throw it in there. He says it in his own book. And he says, "And the other disciple did outrun Peter." So, John got there first, and he's proud of that, and the tomb was empty. And they're there. And so, now, we're on the other side of that, they all know Jesus is alive, but he hasn't manifested himself in a big way yet. And these two guys that are not part of the 12, Cleopas and some scholars say Simeon, I don't know if that was him in the Bible, the name's Cleopas, we'll read it. But we don't know the name of the other one. They are going from Jerusalem back to their town of Emmaus. Have you ever heard of the Emmaus Road? That's what we're talking about today, the Emmaus road. So, what happens, is they are troubled, they are fretting. They are talking a mile a minute about everything that's happened in Jerusalem in the last few days, because Jesus, the Messiah, as they thought, died, he was crucified. And then there was rumblings that he came back alive and this is blowing their mind. And so they're going to Emmaus and they're talking the whole way about it, and Jesus sneaks up on 'em. Let me just read it. By this time, they were nearing Emmaus. Now, Jesus has been walking with 'em. We're gonna go back and look at the story, the whole thing. But this is the end of the story, they're almost there in Emmaus. And Jesus acted as if he were gonna keep going. But they begged him, they still didn't know who he was, "Stay the night with us, since it's getting late." So, he went home with them, and as they sat down to eat, Jesus took the bread and blessed it, sound familiar? Then he broke it and he gave it to them, boom! Suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized him. At that moment, he disappeared. I can just see, verse two, I can just see Cleopas saying, was he really here? Was there a guy here a second ago? Did he walk with us this whole way? And they're like blown away, they're freaking out, they don't know what to do. They're they're like, our eyes have been opened. What was it about the breaking of the bread that caused them to suddenly have their eyes opened to the realization that this was Jesus? I don't know, the Bible doesn't tell us. We only know that it was when Jesus did that, I think it was because he must have had some form of the way that they've used to. They're close to the disciples, 'cause they're gonna turn around and go back to Jerusalem to tell 'em, it's seven miles. So, this is no little journey. But they've seen Jesus break bread and they recognize something about the way he did it. So, let me just walk you through an outline. If you have our Timberline app, you can follow along there, or if you picked up a sheet, or it'll be on the screen. Number one is, Jesus wants to walk with you. This becomes very evident in this story. As I reel it back a little bit before they get to Emmaus and Jesus kind of sneaks in on them, this is what happens. The same day, this is verse 13, the same day, two of Jesus followers were walking to the village of Emmaus seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, I love this, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him. I don't know if he came just behind 'em, and they're so busy talking and chatting that there's this shadow behind 'em. It's like, who's coming into our conversation here? A few weeks ago I was meeting a new pastor in Loveland, I love to know the pastors in Northern Colorado. And we were going to lunch and I had never met him before. And we were in line before we ordered, and I said, so, where are you from? And he said, Chicago, and he said, where it's really cold. I said, yeah, you're right it's cold there. And this guy right in front of us just turned around and said, I'm from Chicago. And I said, he wasn't talking to you. No, I'm kidding, I did not say that, I did not say that. We had a little moment, we had a little moment, they lived not too far from each other and I left and they had a nice lunch, it was just great. No, I'm kidding. But it was interesting how this conversation was being heard and he just entered in, that's what Jesus did. He just kind of entered in, he just started walking along. May I propose that's what he does with you. You're just walking along, you're just doing life, you're trying to raise the kids, you're trying to go to work, you're trying to put a little money in the bank, and Jesus is walking along and you might not even recognize him. You might not even acknowledge him. But he's there. I remember as a kid, there was an old song, the eye of God is watching you, used to freak me out. Where's the eye. I could just see this big eyeball everywhere I went. It's like. But man, I'm comforted by the fact that everywhere I walk, God is there. Everywhere you walk in your life, God is there. You're walking into trouble, hardship, pain, grief, sorrow. God's there. Jesus is walking alone along with you, don't ever forget that. You say, well, I don't feel him, no, they didn't either. I didn't know it was him, they don't know it was him, but he's still there. He invites himself in. Here's another thing really pretty important about this point, and I think it's fascinating. These are two guys. If Jesus would've stood up on the temple in Jerusalem, he would've had thousands who would be listening to him. But it's two random guys, we don't even know one of 'em's name. They're not even part of the 12. In other words, they're not important, they are to Jesus. You are valued, my friend. Say, well, my life doesn't really matter that much. Oh yes it does, it does to God. It does to God. Why? Why did the son of God start walking next to these two unknown guys? 'Cause he loved them, he saw their hearts. He wants to walk beside you, no matter who you are, no matter what your status, no matter what your accomplishments are. No one knows me, well, God does. God does. And it was a road that was tough for them, they were distraught, they were heartbroken. The road to Emmaus is not an easy road. Some of you are on it right now, we'll get to that in a minute. Number two, Jesus wants to hear your story. So, as we continue this, he comes along side, and they Don who it is, but look at what he does with this. He asks them, what are you disgusting, not disgusting, sorry. What are you discussing so intently as you walk along? In other words, this shows us a picture, they're doing this, talking, and they're really intense about it. And then they, they stopped. This stopped them by this ignorant question of Jesus. And they literally was sadness written across their faces. Cleopas is the one who said it, "you must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened here in these last few days." In other words, idiot. Don't you know? Where have you been? Did you just climb out from under a rock somewhere? This is the story. This is what everybody's talking about in all of Jerusalem. And Jesus is like, oh. He still doesn't tell 'em. He doesn't tell 'em, he could have just said, they're talking about me, I'm him. But he doesn't, why? Because he wants them to tell him why. I don't know. I just know that there's times in my life when I have to believe God wants to hear my side of the story. You're important. Your thoughts. What you believe, what you say, what you feel, tell him. Tell him, he wants to know. He's not afraid of the Emmaus Road. He's not afraid of your trouble, he's not afraid of the pressure you're under, the financial challenge you're in, he's not afraid, he wants you to tell him. Number three, Jesus actually says, "Tell me more." Now, that's a little phrase that we use at Timberline all the time, because I think it's three words that can change the world. I know the other three words, I love you, are really powerful words, aren't they? They are. But these three words make a big difference in people's lives. When you say to someone, tell me more, tell me that, it shows you're interested in them and not just yourself. Jesus did this all the time, the woman at the well, "Tell me about your family." Zacchaeus up in the tree, remember this? "Tell me about that. Let's go to your house for dinner, let's talk about it." Jesus is the master of getting you to tell story. And look at verse verse 19, Jesus doesn't say, oh that, he says, What things?" Now, he's already been insulted, they've said, you're ignorant, I can't believe you don't know this. And he says, what? Tell me. He already knows, but he wants them to say it. The things that are happening to Jesus The man from Nazareth, have you ever heard of him? I am him, no, he doesn't say that. He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priest and other religious leaders, handed him over to be condemned to death and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. Then some women from our group of his followers were at the tomb early this morning. And they came back with an amazing report, they said his body was missing, and they had seen angels, and that Jesus was alive. Some of our men ran to see who's that. Yep, Peter and John, John was faster. And sure enough, his body was gone. So, they're just reveling in this whole story and they can't figure it out. And they're telling Jesus about himself, they're telling Jesus what they're fretting over, they're telling Jesus about their worries. And I love this moment, because, now, Jesus is going to share with them the truth. And it's, it's a mild rebuke, but it's not a harsh rebuke, because he wants them to have faith in what the prophets have said. And he's a little surprised that they're not looking back at what the prophet said and saying, we saw this, we studied this, when Jesus was here, he told us this. And I think here's the point I wanna make to you, even though Jesus is walking with you and he wants to hear your story, he wants you to walk in faith. He wants you to trust him, he wants you to lean in to an enhance that you don't yet know. Because you can, because he's proven himself to you in the past. And that's number four, Jesus wants us to see the big picture. There is a big picture in your life. If you've lived long enough, like I have, now, I start to see it way more than I did when I was younger. And every time I start to enter into that dark-shadow land and I'm not sure where it's going, I sometimes, now, I'll say, aha, I don't see the whole story, I know I don't, but I'm gonna trust you Lord, because you got something up your sleeve and you're not telling me what it is, and I'm good with that, right? Some of you're there right now, that's Emmaus Road. That's being in a journey where you don't know, you don't have all the answers, welcome to lie life. We're facing so many unknowns right now in the world, crazy stuff, I don't know what God's gonna do. I don't. I don't know what the nations are gonna do, neither do you. But I know one thing, I know God is God and he's in control. And at the end of the day, I trust that, I trust that whether it may means hardship on me or not, I trust that. So, in verse 25, it says, then Jesus said to them, "You foolish people." In other words, don't get sucked into this. "You find it so hard to believe all the prophets and what they wrote about in the scriptures, wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?" In other words, think back, you guys know this. You've got this, think about this. Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses, all the prophets explaining the scriptures, the things concerning himself as they're walking these miles. Probably a three-hour walk, two or three-hour walk. There will always be a bigger plan than you know, always. And don't forget that, 'cause my vision doesn't go that far. When you drive at night, your light's only shine a few hundred feet out in front of the automobile, or bicycle, or whatever. You don't need to see the whole picture, you just need to see what's right there, and you can keep going. And some of you are in that fog, and God's saying, keep walking, keep driving, keep moving, don't stop, I got you. Even if you're confused, even if you're on Emmaus Road. I don't know what it was about the bread, and what's about to happen, and what I'm gonna read to you, but I know that when Jesus started to break the bread, the part I read earlier in the beginning of the message, it could have been the way he held and they've seen that before, it could have been, I don't know what it was. But I think the fact that their eyes were opened, is a revelation that comes from the Holy Spirit of God. And that's the moment where this story is the most interesting to me. And I want to jump into that, it's the last point in your outline, number five, Jesus wants us to tell his story. Yes, he wants us to tell our story too. But at the end of the day, the reason he did that correction, the reason he really jumped into this conversation, was because he wants those guys to know the truth about Jesus, himself, he wants you to be able to share. In verse 32, after Jesus vanishes, they say to each other, "Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and he explained the scriptures to us?" It's it's this idea, they're sitting there talking, he's disappeared now. And they're going, "We knew something was there." This was someone who had powerful words, powerful message. And we knew it, we just didn't quite see it within the hour. They were on their way back to Jerusalem. Oh, what a waste of seven miles, right? They said, we gotta go back and tell the disciples. And they did, they found the 11 disciples. So, they must have been pretty close friends, and the others who had gathered with them. And then, I love this part, and the disciples said to them, "The Lord really has risen, he appeared to Peter." And they're like, ah, we can Trump that. We can Trump that big time, let me tell you our story. Our story's huge. And they shared the story. You guys, what is your eye-opening story? That's how I want to end before we jump into Communion. And I've specifically set a little bit of time aside for Communion today. We're taking Communion every week, all the way up through Easter. But I want us to just pause and settle in for a moment, and not be in a hurry and let your body and your mind just rest in that chair and take a deep breath and soak this moment in. What is the eye-opening moment? What is the revelation of God? I've had multiple times in my life when I felt such a deep presence of God, that it moved me emotionally, I knew the presence of God was there. I grew up in a home where we served the Lord. And so, my parents led all of us, five kids, to faith early. I don't have a date, I just feel like I've follow Jesus all of my living life. But I have moments where I had my eyes open. I remember one time when I was probably seven or eight years old and I was sitting in church and I don't know what the message was, I don't remember it, it's not very encouraging to me, but as a pastor. People don't remember the message, but they'll never forget the touch of God. And I was just sitting there. And right at the end, there was an appeal to come up to raise your hand. And I just remember my eyes as a kid, I just felt like they were opening to this something. I just remember lifting my hand. Saying, God, I think I want in on this, I don't know what it all means, but you're touching me. I remember walking down an aisle and kneeling at an altar and just saying, forgive me of my sin, cleanse my heart. You can't do too many bad things when you're seven, but it was a recognition of my need for a savior. You guys, I don't want you to forget what it feels like to be lost. This is about remembering, that's what this is. Do this in, what? Remembrance. That's what today is about. It's about the holy spirit coming in, taking us out of troubles for a while, get off Emmaus Road. Jesus is pulling you aside, he's saying, it's okay, I'm here, I'm with you. And he wants you to just sit still and remember he loves you, he is calling you, he has a plan, he has a bigger picture than you know right now. And as we take this Communion, we're gonna take it slowly, and we're gonna talk about the emblems as we go through it. Now, as you prepare yourself, I highly recommend that you open the bread side first. You know how I know that? Yeah. Set that aside and then open the other side, so you'll be ready when. What was Jesus thinking when he said, he took the bread and he broke it, this is my body, what does that mean? It means that he would lay it down, that he would suffer, That he would take on the sins of the world so you don't have to suffer. Can you please remember that? Can you do this in remembrance of the one who took your place? That's what this is, it's his broken body. And I want some of you who feel prompted in this moment. You're a little bit on the Emmaus Road. You're not sure, you're a little uncertain, you love God, but in a minute, I'm gonna ask you to put that bread in your hand and kind of hold it up like this to say, I'm sort of in that place and I need to know God's walking along with me, 'cause I'm not sure what's gonna happen next. Come on, raise it up if you can, if you want to say, I'm kind of there, and I remember, and my eyes are opened when I think of the breaking of the bread. and Lord, I commit to you to going on this journey all the way. Lord, thank you for your broken body, for this bread, we hold in our hands, how it sustains us and blesses us. And we remember today, your suffering, we remember that. Let's partake of the bread. He took the cup and he said, "This is my blood." It seems kind of gross when you don't understand this. But boy, all through Israel's history, they had to bring animals and sacrifice them, and this blood covenant, it's a strange thing. But Jesus came. Can you remember that? And he had a sinless life, I don't know why I'm so emotional. all weekend I've been a baby. His blood took care of my problem. It's pretty humbling. I don't know that anyone else has ever died for me. I wanna remember that. Would you remember that? Lord, thank you for the blood, that I no longer have to offer or any other blood, not even my own, to pay for the penalty of my horrible sin. And I remember that. I remember it right now, and I'm grateful. And this is precious, it's precious what you did, and we're never gonna forget it. So, with gratitude, would you join me in taking the cup? Lord Jesus, we thank you. We thank you and we praise you. Listen to the last of it in verse 35, I love this passage. Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road. That's you, that's me. And how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread. Lord, thank you for bread to bread, for before and after, before the cross and resurrection and after the cross and the resurrection, that we have these symbols that represent you and your faithfulness to us, and we have taken these emblems today in remembrance of you, and we give you thanks. And everyone said a good hearty, Amen

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Amen. Love you guys, proud of you, Stand if you're able, let's sing this song, sing it as a declaration. ♪ The heavens shall declare ♪ ♪ The glory of our great God ♪ Come on, the heavens shall declare. ♪ The heavens shall declare ♪ And so will we ♪ The glory of our great God ♪ ♪ The heavens shall declare ♪ ♪ The glory of our great God ♪ ♪ The heavens shall declare ♪ ♪ The glory of our great God ♪ ♪ Jesus come let us adore Him ♪ ♪ Holy holy our God ♪ ♪ Sing to the Lord oh my soul ♪ ♪ Let the heavens shout for joy ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪ ♪ Great is our God ♪

- Thank you Pastor Dary, for a great message. If you took a next step in your faith journey, our prayer team is gonna be available to you to connect and support you. They'll be here after the service, and you can find them right here at the front of the auditorium. Timberline, thank you so much for trusting God in your giving. When giving today, we wanna remind you that you are helping us to continue to or convoy of hope that's in Ukraine right now with a refugee effort. When giving today, you can do so through the offering containers, locate in the back of the auditorium, or use one of the method that it's displayed on the screen. We also wanna let you know about Summit. Summit's gonna be next week, and it's a great opportunity for anybody who wants to learn a little bit more about the history and mission of Timberline Church. Lunch, as well as childcare is included. So, you can register by either using your connection card or use the app. You can get yourself ready for Summits. When you leave today, don't forget to stop by the mall tables and see what's available for you and your family. God bless you Timberline, as you go in peace.