Easter - Disillusioned But Not Done - Luke 24:13-33

Listen, while ago when I said many of you clean up really good, so when I walked back to my seat, somebody thought I was being sarcastic and facicious. I really do mean it. You clean up really, really well. And I hope you've taken a few minutes this morning as you're cleaned up to get a photo. Um, if you didn't do it at home with your family, we've got a photo booth right out there as you walk towards the coffee cafe. But to kind of just solidify this day is Easter 2026. And when you take that photo, I want you to know that you will be in the majority of people. I was doing a little research this past week and here's what I found out as far as when it comes to Easter photos. Um, here's what social media says. 30 million Easter posts will be made this year. So, if you don't make that, take that photo and you don't post it, you will be one of the minority. 30 million people. There's an increase of about 25% post today as people are posting Easter pictures. Now, let's just kind of take it off social media for a second and let's think about that photo with the Easter Bunny. Does anybody have a photo maybe when you're a kid or your kids or your grandkids with the Easter Bunny at home somewhere in a drawer in a closet somewhere? Yeah, most of us do. In fact, here's what statistics say that almost 50% over half of all people have an Easter Bunny photo somewhere. And here's the number that's going to just astound you. Every year when the Easter Bunny pops up at the mall or maybe a special event or somewhere for people to take pictures, over $300 million a year are spent on Easter bunny photos. That's the moment you're supposed to take your jaw and just kind of raise it just drop like that. $300 million a year in Easter bunny photos. And I started thinking about this. Think about the time that maybe you sat in the lap of the Easter Bunny or maybe you placed your child or you placed your grandchild in the lap of the Easter Bunny and you're like, "Smile so we can have a picture to last forever." How scary is it to put a child in the lap of a fullgrown full-size white albino Easter Bunny that has a pastel suit on and tell them to smile and act like they're having a good time, right? Like that just doesn't make sense. In fact, I found a few pictures of of kids that are like, "This is not what it's supposed to be." Look at this picture right there. Okay. Anybody look like one of your kids in the lab? Yeah. Here's another one. Yeah, that is not the photo. When mom placed those two kids in the arms of that Easter Bunny, here's what I'm thinking. Mom is a little disillusioned when she thought she would get a good picture. Yeah. Not only is mom a little disillusioned, the children get a little disillusioned. Look at this one right here. Yeah. I don't know which is scarier, the kid's face or the the rabbit that that child is sitting in the lap of. But here's the all all time. Okay. Like if if you think right now that you live many years ago as a child, look at that Easter Bunny. Thank goodness we have progressed in what the Easter Bunny looks like. Those children are probably going through counseling still today because of that photograph right there. Right. So Easter with a photo with the Easter Bunny can really create some disillusionment. But you know what? Probably, if we're all honest, we've all faced or facing some kind of disillusionment in our life. That disillusionment may not be coming from sitting in the Easter Bunny's lap. But that disillusionment is coming from just life that brings it. Maybe you're in the room today and your disillusionment comes from you married someone that said, "I do." But recently they said, "I don't." Or or maybe you're just in life right now and life is not what you thought it would be because the last time you went to see the doctor, the doctor used that C-word cancer as he or she was talking to you. And so just as you think about what your life is supposed to be right now, there is some disillusionment that comes with it. Maybe your disillusionment comes because your budget never balances. Maybe it's because you made a choice recently that you thought was a small choice that has turned into a big disastrous choice in there. So as you're just kind of looking at the scope of life, you're going, "This is not what I would thought it would be." But you're faced with disappointment. You're faced with discouragement. You're faced with this idea of just this disillusionment that comes from what you thought thought life would be. Or here's one for you. We can be disillusioned about our money. We can be disillusioned about our job. We can be disillusioned about the relationships in us. But I'm sure if we're really totally honest, there are some in here today that may be disillusioned even about God. that you've prayed a prayer and God didn't answer that prayer. God didn't show up like you thought God should. And so now as you think about life and as you think about God, you're just a little disillusioned by it. Here's what I want you to know here on Easter 2026. If you're sitting in an Easter service and you're feeling disillusioned, you are in the majority. In fact, here's what I would guess. If we all took off our Easter best and we kind of showed our life for what it really is, there probably many that would raise their hand going, "Keith, you just spoke my language. I'm here on Easter smiling and I'm going to take the picture of the Easter Bunny and act like everything's fine, but down deep, things aren't as good as what I want them to be. Things in my life aren't as good as I hoped them to be." And if you're really honest, there may be some in this room who say, "And God hasn't shown up in my life like I thought he would." But yet, we come to church week after week after week and we button our top button and we make everybody think it's fine. Here's what I want us all just to collectively agree today. Life is not always what we want it to be or what we hoped it would be. And God doesn't even always show up the way we think he should. Right? So, if that's you, you've come to a good place. In fact, today as we look at our message for today, I want to take you to a story in scripture about two men that were very disillusioned. And they were disillusioned about life, but I think if they got really honest, they were even disillusioned about how God didn't show up in their life like they thought. And so, we'll be looking at part of the Easter story. It comes after the resurrection, the day of the resurrection, but after the resurrection of Jesus. But two men aren't really understanding it like we might today. And so if you brought your Bible or we always put the scripture up on the screen or it's in your handout there. We'll be looking at Luke chapter 24. And here's what it says in Luke chap 24 verse 13. It says that same day meaning the same day that Jesus had resurrected. Okay, that Sunday, just like today, that same day, two of Jesus's followers were walking to the village of Emmas, seven miles from Jerusalem. And as they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened. So these two men were leaving Jerusalem, walking back to Mayus. And the reason they were in Jerusalem is they were gathered with literally thousands and thousands of other people. You see, in the Jewish faith back then um through two or three times a year, they would all take a pilgrimage and people would go back to Jerusalem for a big celebration, a big national, a big religious celebration. And it was called Passover. And so they had been in the city of Jerusalem for the past two or three days celebrating Passover with thousands and thousands of other people. And so when it says they were walking to Emmas, they were probably walking back home. And and here's what we think. Emmas was about seven miles from Jerusalem to now it also says this. They were talking about what had happened. Let me kind of catch us all up to make sure we're on the same page. What had happened? the Passover had happened and on the day of the Passover that's when Jesus came riding in on the donkey and we often call it the triumphal entry but but people started screaming and yelling and shouting and cheering hosana hosana the Jewish nation many of them had thought that he was the coming king that would deliver them from the Roman oppression and so on that Thursday they had declared him the next king Hosana but it didn't take long for things to take a U-turn in their lives and all of a sudden what had happened in the city of Jerusalem that Jesus had been arrested and then Jesus was put on that mock trial. And as these men were walking along then no doubt they were talking about how Jesus after his trial had been crucified. They might have actually been some of the people that sat there and saw him hanging on the cross. They were his followers. But things that did not turn out the way they thought they would. They thought he would be sitting on a on a throne, not laying in a tomb. And so they were disillusioned. They were disillusioned about how circumstances turned out in their life. They were disillusioned in what what had happened. They were disillusioned in the future. And so as they were walking along, no doubt they were talking about these things, the details. But if they're like you and I, they were probably given their opinion, too. Maybe their opinion included things like, "Why did he let the people turn on him like that? If he is the son of God, Jesus could have done something. So, let's just not talk about the facts. Let's talk about our feelings. Why didn't Jesus do something? He could have came down from the cross. Remember, it just been weeks and days earlier that he had raised Lazarus from the grave. Why didn't he come off the cross? And so, they were disillusioned not just about the facts of Jesus. They were disillusioned about how Jesus handled things. Anybody ever felt that way towards God before? God, I'm disillusioned on how you handled things or how you didn't handle things.

And so, they were walking along. But here's what I believe. They were doing more than just walking and talking. They were trying to escape. They were trying to escape from their sort of disillusionment. Now, no doubt if they lived in Emmas, they had to go back home to sometimes. But I I believe this as they were walking back those seven miles, they just want to put everything that took place in the rearview mirror and act like it didn't happen. We probably do that lots as well, don't we? We may not may not take a seven mile walk to Mayas, but we tried to escape our disillusionment. Now, we may not try to escape from with a walk, but we may try to escape with binge watching or scrolling mindlessly. Or maybe there's some kind of substance that we're drawn to and we find some kind of escape in the substance abuse that we dig into. Or maybe we pour into our jobs or maybe we pour into a hobby. But anything to take our mind off what we're really discouraged about down deep in our soul. And so these two men were walking, but I think they were walking to escape. And then the Bible says this in verse 15. And as they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly remember Jesus, he had been crucified, put in the grave. They had heard that he had been resurrected, but they didn't know for sure. And all of a sudden, Jesus appears. And as they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came up and he began walking with him. It would make sense. The scripture right here says, and they're like, "Wow, Jesus, where'd you come from?" But here's what we discover. They don't even recognize him. Here's the one. They're so discouraged that he didn't do the things that they thought that he should do, and he's walking beside them as they're trying to escape, and they don't even recognize it's him. Disillusionment will do that to us. It will blind us to God being in our lives. that sometimes we're so discouraged, sometimes we're so depressed, sometimes we're so disillusioned that God may be right there with us, but we don't even sense the presence of him being with us. Sometimes in our disillusionment, it turns our eyes so inward that we don't see outward. That God is right there with us. He's never left us. He may not have given us the answer we wanted. He may not have delivered the circumstances we desired, but he's right there with us. But in our disillusionment, in our discouragement, we are so inwardly focused that we can't see what's going on around us. And I think that's exactly what's taking place with these two men right here. But here's what I love about this story. They're looking inward. They they've kind of put God in their rearview mirror and they're walking to Emmas. They're trying to get away from the very thing that just so discouraged them. But here's what I love about this good story is that Jesus initiated the conversation with them. Like sometimes I'm going, Jesus, if I would have been you, I'd been sitting in Jerusalem going, "Guys, if that's the way you're going to play this game, y'all just take off if you want to. Keith, if you're going to just turn your back on me, if you're no longer going to believe in me and have hope in me, and that's the way you're going to think, then you keep on thinking that way. Yet, in the story of these two men walking to Emmas, Jesus didn't do that. He initiated. He went to them. He made the contact with them in order to have had their eyes opened up.

But here's what we're about to find. We read the next verse. Interesting. It was more than just disillusionment that kept them from recognizing Jesus. Read with me the next verse. Verse 16. It says this, "But God kept them from recognizing him." Okay, this is when my understanding of God just gets a little blurry. Okay, can I be honest with you? Like I thought God wants everybody to see him and know him and recognize him and reach out to him. But this scripture says, "But God kept them from recognizing him." My God, why would you keep like Jesus, if you're showing up, wouldn't you want their eyes to be opened up automatically going, "Whoa, Jesus." But the scripture says, "But God kept them from recognizing him. He kept their eyes from him." Here's what I want to suggest. This wasn't God playing hideand seek from them. more importantly or more clearly, it was divine restraint. Now watch this. And the reason it's so important to understand this in their story because this may be the exact thing that's going on in some of your stories that they were in this middle of disillusionment. They were in the middle of this discouragement in life. They couldn't understand why things didn't work out the way they had hoped they worked out. They were ready just to kind of turn their back on God and go a different way. And some may even cry, "And I turned my back on God because I felt like he turned my back his back on me." But Jesus was in the middle of arranging circumstances. He was in the middle of arranging the the timing of things. Why? So they could have a new perspective of Jesus. You see, what they were looking for is the human Jesus. They were looking for the human Jesus that would sit on a throne and be the king of all the country and that would put the Jewish people in charge of themselves and take them out from underneath the Roman rule. So they had their self-made man-made vision of who Jesus should be. But Jesus never intended to be that. He meant to be the eternal king, the savior, the messiah of our lives from our sins, not from our problems. And so Jesus had to go through this moment of them not recognizing him because they were changing their perspective. He was changing their perspective. He was giving divine restraint so they could see him in a different light. And sometimes in our lives when we think God is missing, he's not missing. He just may be a little bit more silent because we originally had the wrong perspective of who he is. And he's going to change our perspective of who he is. Verse 17. And so Jesus asked them, he said, 'Guys, what are you discussing so intently as you walk along? And then they stopped short, sadness written across their faces as Jesus asked this question. And then one of them, his name was Cleopus, Cleopus replied, "You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all these things that have happened in all the last few days. So Jesus going, "What are y'all talking about?" And Clipus Clippus goes, "Dude, where have you been?" Do you like that translation? Dude, where have you been? You know how come that translation comes so easy to me? It is the same prayer that I pray to God too many times. Dude, where have you been? Where have you been when my loved one was sick? Where have you been when my family began to crumble? Where have you been when there's not been enough money in the bank to pay the bills? Where have you been when we cried out over and over and over, "God, could we please have a baby? God, where have you been filling your blank?" Anybody ever prayed that prayer? It's not the prayer that we usually pray in church, is it? But on this day, Cleopus says, "Are you clueless to been what's been going on? Are you not paying attention to my life? Don't you see, God? What's happening?" That's exactly where Cleopus and his friend were when Jesus said, "What's going on?

What things?" Jesus asked. And listen to their answer. The things that happened to Jesus. So, okay, keep this in mind, okay? They are walking down the road. Two men they don't realize it's Jesus. And they're about to tell Jesus about Jesus. Okay. Don't you wish you could have a sidebar conversation. Jesus, what were you thinking during this time? I mean, they're not telling you anything new. Right? They're not surprising you anything. You're probably just going, "Duh." Right? This is how they respond. They said the things that happened to Jesus. So, this is what they were saying. the man from Nazareth. They said he was a prophet who did mere powerful miracles and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God. And all the people, do you see? They're describing Jesus, but they're not describing him as a risen savior. They keep going on. But our leading priests and other religious leaders, they handed him over to be condemned to death and they crucified him. Do you see their disillusionment? Do you see their despair? We had hoped. That's where delus disillusionment steps in when we had hoped doesn't match our reality. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago and then they went on. Then some women from our group of our followers were at his tomb early this morning and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing. And they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive. And some of our men ran out to see. And sure enough, his body was gone just as a woman had said. Like they had the details. They had the data of the whole story of Jesus, didn't they? They even had the data and the details of the story of his resurrection. But here's what I want you to see. Information doesn't lead to transformation. Let me say that again. Information doesn't lead to transformation. They had all the facts. They had all the figures. They had all the information of everything about Jesus, his death, his burial, and even his resurrection. But at this point, all it was was information. So because of their information that had not led to transformation, they found themselves in a spirit in a place of disillusionment.

Here's why that's so important. Because sometimes we can do the God thing. Sometimes we can come to church week after week after week. Sometimes we can do all the church stuff. We can read the Bible. We can pray. But all it is is head knowledge. It's nothing more than information. I want you to see these two men are walking in the presence of Jesus, the resurrected Jesus. But everything they knew about him, everything they understood about him was up here and not in here. It was data. It was details. It was information. And none of that ever leads to our personal transformation. No matter how much they knew about Jesus, it would not change their heart. It would not change their perspective. It would not change anything because it was nothing more than information. Even when the very presence of a holy God, Jesus right there. Anybody tracking with the story? And when I ask you the question, are you tracking the story? Not the story here, but the story here. Am I speaking anybody's story? Not Cleopus' story, but maybe your story. Verse 25. And then Jesus said to them, "You foolish people." Now hang on to that term foolish people. Okay? That's like Jesus, chill. Okay? like you're not revealing yourself to them. Like hang on to that that that term. It seems kind of harsh. You foolish people. You find it so hard to believe that all the prophets wrote in the scriptures. Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory? And then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets explaining from all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So when he called them, you foolish people, he wasn't looking and going, you're ignorant. That was not the expression he was saying with this terminology. He wasn't looking at them and using the sword that you never let your kids use, right? You're stupid. If you take the Greek phrase, you foolish people, here's what he was really saying in in terminology that we might connect with more that's more realistic with what Jesus was saying. He's going, "Guys, you're just not connecting the dots." He goes, "The dots are here and here and here, and there's all pieces of this, but you haven't yet connected the dots." So, here's what he does for them. He helps them connect the dots to move forward, but he needed to take them back to connect the dots. And sometimes in our life, we can become so disillusioned with our current circumstances is all that we're seeing is right now. But sometimes to connect the dots in what God might be doing in your life, you've got to look back in the back in the past in order to connect the dots to move you towards the future. And that's exactly what Jesus started doing. In fact, these these two men are experiencing what I refer to as a disillusionment syndrome. Okay, disillusionment syndrome. Let me explain. And it's kind of maybe maybe you're here today and you're experiencing the same syndrome. Every Easter, churches are filled with people who show up on Easter. We might see them again Christmas, but they don't come in between. And here's why. Not because they're bad. They're really disillusioned. That at some point, God was a part of their life. At some point, going to church regularly was part of their life. At some point, praying to God and trusting God was part of their life. But they've hit this disillusionment in their life, and it's created this syndrome, and it's like, I I just can't find God. Maybe they've been disillusioned. Maybe this is you been disillusioned because somebody or the church some way somehow hurt them in the past. And so because of that previous hurt, you just can't move forward because of that deep hurt. And here's what I want to do. If that's you, I validate that. Some of the meanest, ugliest, most vilest people I've ever met have sat in the seats at churches. Just because they come to church doesn't make them nice. So, if you've been hurt by somebody at church, I validate your feelings or or maybe there's been somebody in your life close to you that you thought loved and lived like Jesus, but they so made choices that you're going, if that's who a follower, who or what a follower of Jesus is, you don't want to have anything to do with it. And this individual so skewed your mind of what it means to be a Christian.

Or maybe, as we've mentioned before, somewhere in your life, God just didn't come through. You prayed with everything you had. You believed with everything you knew, but God did not come through. And because you had hope in somebody or you had hope in the church or you had hope in God himself and that hope was not manifested into reality, you've been so disillusioned. Much like the two men, you follow the disillusionment syndrome.

I keep going back to verse 21. When they were talking to Jesus, they said those words, "We had hoped." We had hoped. But

so in their disillusionment, they walked away. Jesus was here in Jerusalem. It all happened here. So discouraged, so disappointed, and they're walking away to us.

People often walk away from God. Not because they've seen too little of God. They walk away from God because he didn't match what they expected. Can I say that again? Let it sink in. Too many people walk away from God not because they've seen too little of God, because he didn't match what they expected of God. And maybe that's you here today. In reality, I mentioned these people that come a couple of times a year. There are folks that I know that come to church every single week, but they're disillusioned with God. They just show up. But down deep, they feel just like Cleopus and his friend. But here's the part of the story I love. Look what Jesus does. He doesn't shame him. You would think at this point he's going, "Come on, guys. Really? like I walked and did miracles and I taught and I did all these things and and you've heard your friends talk about a resurre you would think he would just like really this is how you going to respond but he doesn't shame him at all Jesus takes the time and says let me connect the dots for you here's what I want you to know today whether you suffer from disillusionment syndrome or just whatever God loves you and God cares for you enough and God wants to be intimate with you so much that he wants to take the time and help you connect the dots. May not understand every dot that he's connecting and you may not even agree with every dot that he's connecting. But God is not some big powerful God up in heaven going, "Well, when you figure it out, let me know." He's like the father who takes their little three-year-old has no idea one, two, three, and how to do the dot to dot in the coloring book and he takes his hand says, "Let me help you connect the dots."

He had to help him understand things in the past so they could move forward as he connected the dots.

Then in verse 28, as they're walking, they're talking, connecting the dots. He's reaching out with grace. He's reaching out with caring. He's reaching out with just such simplicity to connect with him. Says this, "By the time they were nearing Emmas in the end of the journey, Jesus acted as if he was going on past Emmas." But they begged him, "Stay the night with us since it's getting late." And so he went home with him. And as they sat down to eat, now watch this. The best part of the whole story, okay? Like if you're like, "I'm getting hungry. The Easter eggs are waiting for me to go find them right now." Stick with me right here. Are you ready? Because this is the best part. So he went home with them and as they sat down to eat, he took the bread and he blessed it and he broke it and he gave it to them. And suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized him. They're sitting at the dinner table. He breaks the bread. He prays for it. He blesses them. And all of a sudden they're going, "Whoa, Jesus, it's you. You're the one we've been walking with. You're the one we've been talking with. All it's you, Jesus." So the question comes to my mind why what happened right there that their eyes were opened and here's what I believe because they stepped from the information and stepped into the relationship. Now think about this. What is the most personal thing you can do with somebody? Sit down and have dinner with them. Okay? I love you all but you're not invited to my house for lunch today. Okay? We have a relationship, but not that kind of personal relationship.

Sitting and eating. If I walked up to you after the service, hey, can we grab lunch next week? You might going, that'd be great. Eating and dining together is just a relaxed personal connection with one another. So they finally recognized Jesus when they sat down and they stepped out of themselves and stopped thinking about their disillusionment and relaxed enough and they sat down and experienced this amazing emotional personal relationship with Jesus. They took themselves and they put it on him. This is where they moved from theformational to the transformational. They moved there when they simply sat down and in this conversation in the breaking of the bread as in asking God to bless it. They moved there and they were able to say this Jesus we believe because remember when's the last time they saw him on the cross. Maybe they saw him carry their body and put him in the tomb and rolled the rock over it. They had heard the stories of his resurrection. the women who came and told they never went to the tomb. They weren't a part of the inner circle. They weren't disciples. They were followers but not disciples.

And so this moment they're sitting at the table and it's like for the first time they're like, "Jesus, we believe you're more than stories. You exceed our expectations. You didn't match our expectations, but what you're doing is better than what we even thought you could do.

Jesus, we believe.

If you're here today and you're on, Keith, you've been talking my language the whole day. I'm disillusioned. I'm frustrated. I'm discouraged. Could it be that you're putting all of your faith in information, but you've never moved to the transformation? You see Jesus as a figure, but not as a relationship. And today, Easter 2026, Jesus wants to sit at your table and break bread with you relationally. And all that he asks and requires back for you from you is simply to say Jesus I believe. I don't think these guys had it all figured out. They had had no idea what the future looked like. They couldn't explain exactly what had just taken place. Even Jesus had to remind them all this the historical biblical stuff they should have known. They would didn't have it all in their hands like I got this thing and put a bow on it. I got to figure it out figured out. No. But all they had to do is come to the point going, "Jesus, I believe." And if you're here today and you've never reached that point, it's been information, but not transformation. To get to the point of transformation, of Jesus changing how you think, to take you out of your disillusionment and put you where he is, it's simply praying. I believe. Let me wrap up. Let me show you what happens next. At that moment that their eyes were opened, it says in verse 31, "And at that moment he disappeared, they said to each other, "Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and he explained the scripture to us." They're going, "Before we said it, before our eyes were opened up, we were burning inside. Something was going on that we were leaning forward. We just didn't understand completely what it was." Here's what I think maybe today. There's some of you as we've done this whole story, the Holy Spirit is pulling you to God and you're burning inside. You're not even sure what it is, but something inside of you is going on. And it's the point that you're going, "Wow, today my eyes are opened." And I believe. And then it wraps up with this. And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. Within the hour they were on their way back Jerusalem. Now watch this because this is important part of the story. Once they believed, they didn't stay in their disillusionment. They did a complete U-turn and went back the opposite way. See, I think this there may be some who have this this spirit. You're living in this disillusionment of life and and maybe maybe you believe in Jesus, but you're going, "But I'm still so disillusioned." Here's what we've got to do. You got to quit walking the direction you're walking. You see, they turned around and went a different direction. They changed their thinking. They changed their decisions. They changed their lifestyle. They did a complete U-turn. And I just want to tell you, it wasn't convenient. Remember said they got there in the evening, they said, "Jesus, stay." When they went back to Jerusalem, it might have already been dark. In those days, you didn't walk on the roads while it was dark because of the dangers that'd be awaiting you. So, they didn't wait for it's convenient to turn around. They're like, I got to turn around right now. So, maybe this year, Easter, maybe you're here and your prayer is, Jesus, I believe. Maybe your prayer is, "Jesus, I've been believing, but I've been walking in the wrong direction. I'm turning around."

But Jesus brings us hope. That's what the resurrection story is all about. He brings us hope. One of the ways that we're reminded of the resurrection, one of the ways that we're reminded of Jesus's death and his burial and his resurrection is when we take communion together. I'm going to invite you now as we wrap up to take out your communion cup. If you're a guest with us here today, here's what we believe about communion. It is open to all followers of Jesus. So, if you're joining us from another church, if you're a follower of Jesus, you are invited to participate because it's our way to remember Jesus is more than information. He's transformation. And so, you're invited. If you're here today and you've never believed, this could be the day that you take communion for the first time from really believing. That simple prayer before you take communion is Jesus I believe. And when we take communion, Jesus gave the instructions, do this in remembrance of me. I think when we remember him, it should lead us no matter who or where what we are in life to turn around and do things his way.

And so on that night that Jesus was with his disciples, he took the bread and he said, "This represents my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way, he took the drink and he said, "This is my blood shed for you." And we know without the shedding of the blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. That's when we can believe he forgives our sins. He said, "Do this in remembrance of me.

I believe if you're here this morning and maybe you prayed that prayer for the first time in your yellow card, your guest card, I would love love to connect with you this next week. So, if you prayed today for the first time, I believe, if you'll take that yellow card and on the back side, there's a spot on there that you can just check off, I believe. and you can hand it as you leave. Or maybe you just need to say, "I'm turning around. I'm changing my direction." Mark that as well on there. But that way, me, myself, someone can come around you and we can help you in that.

Will you do me a favor? Will you stand where you are? We're going to sing one last song. Lord Jesus, thank you. Thank you that you give us hope. Thank you that your hope is greater than our hope. That whatever ideas that we have that you should do in our lives, God, your ways are greater than our ways. And so Jesus, we will leave here today trusting, believing in your resurrection. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.