A TRIP WITH JESUS- PART 3: PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 30TH APRIL, 2023.
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE WITH PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER, INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: A TRIP WITH JESUS – PART 3 (CONVERTED)
DATE: 30TH APRIL 2023
BIBLE TEXT: LUKE 24:28-32
Let us rise up together as we make our “DECLARATION OF GATHERING” in this “YEAR OF GATHERING”.
Are you ready? Say with me:
I Proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. The Lord is the Shepherd of my Soul, my Shelter by Day, my Light by Night.
In His Name, we Plough our fields, by His Spirit we gather the Harvest, in His Light we seek and find.
In this Year of Gathering, the Lord of the Harvest has commanded: Launch Out into the Deep. At His Words, we cast our Nets, we gather in Souls and Substance for God’s Kingdom.
The Lord is our Reward; in this Season I received God’s Portion set aside for me: Full Measure, Pressed down, Shaking together and running over.
Nothing is Lost and Nothing is wasted in Jesus Name – Amen!
Today I am doing the Final Part of the Series I started two weeks ago. I titled it: “Taking a Trip with Jesus” and this is Part 3. The Sub-Title is “Converted”.
We started on Easter Sunday, looking at a Story related to Easter.
Two (2) of Jesus’ Disciples are walking to Emmaus. It’s a 7-mile Journey. And as they were going back on that day, they are very confused about what has happened that day.
Of course, prior to the Resurrection Morning, Christ had been Crucified. So they are very confused about everything that had happened. And then they heard before they left Jerusalem that morning, some People reporting that Christ was risen.
And that was a bit confusing and Perplexing to them. Whilst they were having this Conversation, Jesus joined them, and asked what they were talking about. They narrated their dissappointment to Jesus; and He took time to to teach and instruct them in the Word of God. And their hearts were Convicted as they heard the Word of God.
Now, we are going to see how the Story ends, as we go back to Luke’s Gospel – Luke 24:28-32 (NKJV):
28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.
29 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.
30 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.
31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 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?”
Well, Jesus went home with these two (2) Disciples of His; as they sat at the table to have a Meal with Jesus; the Passage says that “they sat at table with Jesus.”
You have to understand that in those days, they didn’t sit at table as we do now – Where we have a table that is Probably about one (1) meter high and we sit round with chairs.
That is not how the Jews sat at table!
Normally, the table was very Low and they would lean Sideways on the table. And usually, whey they reclined at table to eat, the head of the family would be the one who bless the table, so that they would eat as we do now.
Normally, when we are about to eat (I hope you do that); we Pray before we eat. Some of you just sit at table and move down the food; as if it is an enemy that must be vanquished in a moment of time. But it is always important to Pause and give Thanks to the Lord. And normally, it is the head of the family that would lead that Prayer.
But Jesus (Who is supposed to be a Stranger to them) because at this Point they are still not very sure that it is Jesus. He takes the Leadership of what is going on at the table.
And it is very, very instructive that Jesus took Charge over the Blessing. And He took Charge literally, over their home.
This gives you a Picture of what happens when we invite Jesus into our lives – He doesn’t come as a Guest, He becomes the Host of our lives. When Jesus comes into our lives He becomes Head of our home.
When we are children, there was a Plaque that uses to hang on many homes. I don’t know of many homes; I don’t know whether it still hangs in many homes. But I remembered in my home, there was a Plaque there that says “Christ is the Unseen Guest at every meal.”
He wasn’t a Guest at this Meal; He was the Host of the Meal: and He came in to take Charge!
And so, when you give your Life to Jesus Christ, He doesn’t come to Perch in a corner of your Life; He comes to take Charge of your Life. He comes to be the Host of our lives, of our Business, of our Marriage. He doesn’t just come to be a Guest.
So, we see Jesus at table here; and there are Four (4) Things He did that I want to bring your attention to, when He was at the table:
- The first thing is that He took the Bread and that speaks of Surrender.
The Bread (for Jesus Christ), it represented His Body that had been Surrendered to God. So, the taking of the bread signifies Surrender.
You remember in the feeding of the five thousand (5,000), a Young boy brought his Lunch to Jesus Christ – He surrendered it.
It was his, but he Surrendered it to Jesus Christ.
Jesus took it, blessed it and used it to feed five thousand (5,000).
So the taking of the Bread, speaks of Surrender.
And it speaks of our Christian Life also – That we put our lives in the hands of Jesus Christ when we come to Him and we Surrender to Him.
There are many of us who have Bread, but we are Bread on the table! We are Bread who have not been put into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ want our lives Surrendered into His Hands! Just like He Surrendered His Life into the hands of the Father.
… So that’s the first thing we see: He takes Bread. It speaks of Surrender.
- And then the Second Thing He did (after He took the Bread) is that, He Blessed it – He Consecrated it.
He Prayed over the Bread, and the Bread that is received, is received in Gratitude – And it would be blessed.
Now, when the Bible says that Jesus had blessed the Bread, He didn’t have an All-Night Prayer on the Bread.
You know, many times when People have to Pray over the food, it becomes a whole Production – And they cast out demons from the food and they Pray against all kinds of Witches who Prepared the food;
“And if they’ve turned this food into blood, we reversed it back into food. We Sanctify it and we declare it whatever…” And sometimes we can Pray for thirty (30) Minutes over food!
I admire the enthusiasm we have about that. And it’s good to Pray for a long time. But Praying over food is not so that we will cast out demons from the food.
But so that we would receive the food with Gratitude – That’s all the Prayer is for.
It is to say Father, Thank You! That’s all.
When you Pray over food, it’s basically a Thanksgiving; it is a Prayer of Gratitude – Lord, You are the Provider and I Thank You for it.
And Jesus Christ Prayed such a Prayer.
You know, Jesus was a Jew, and normally the Jews when they were Praying over food would Pray a very typical Blessing – “Blessed are You Oh LORD, King of the Universe, Who brings forth Bread from the Earth.” And that’s all.
And once they’ve Prayed that Prayer – The Bread is Consecrated to the Lord.
And if you’ve Participated in Holy Communion here, you know that anytime we break the Bread, we Pray the same prayer – “Blessed are You Oh LORD, King of the Universe, Who has brought Bread out of the Earth.” And we say LORD, we Thank You for this Bread!
That’s the kind of Prayer that Jesus Prayed – It is a Prayer of Consecration. “This Bread is dedicated to You.” The Life that is in God’s Hands must be Dedicated and Consecrated to Him.
So, when we put our lives into the Hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, He blesses it, He dedicates it, He consecrates it.
- Third Thing He did is that, He Broke it – Brokenness is a very important Part of it.
The Bread is broken!
The Bread is one, but if it is one, it feeds only one Person. If it is broken, it feeds many People.
When God wants to use our lives to do something big for Him, He breaks us. He doesn’t break us to destroy us; He breaks us so that we can become a lot, so that we can touch a lot more lives.
… So Jesus Christ took the Bread, and He broke it.
- And then the fourth (4th) Thing He did is that He gave it – And that means Service.
These are the Four (4) Things Jesus did:
- He Took the Bread,
- Be Blessed it,
- He Broke it, and
- He gave it out to Serve.
And the Bread is now shared amongst us.
In essence, it talks about the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. At another Level, is the Life of the Believer.
It is the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ because He put His Life as Bread, in the Hands of the Father – Dedicated, Consecrated to the Father, broken through His Suffering and Crucifixion. But now given to the world for the Salvation of Mankind.
The Body of Jesus Christ – Taken, Broken, Blessed and Shared.
The same thing He does to our bodies – When we give our lives to Him, He takes us, He blesses our lives. He takes us – We go through all kinds of disciplines, so that we can be shared to the Nation’s of the world; so we can be a Blessing to People.
When God separates us, takes us through difficulty; when we go through Sufferings as Christians, it is not to destroy us, but it is to open us up, so we can be a Blessing to as many People as Possible.
I don’t know what you are going through – Maybe you are at the Stage of Brokenness, when it looks like things are just not going well in your Life; I just want you to know, God is not about to destroy you. He doesn’t destroy His Children. God is Preparing you to give you to the World!
Your Life is about to Multiply; your Impact is about to Multiply; your Effectiveness is about to Multiply – Amen!.
Because the Lord will take you as a Single and make you into many, so that so much more can benefit from you.
And that’s what Jesus did when He sat at table – He has been speaking for a long time on the road to Emmaus. And now He just takes the Bread, gives Thanks, breaks it, gives it to the two (2) Disciples and something remarkable happens when He does that:
The Bible says, “Their eyes were opened!” Something broke in their lives and they had a Complete Understanding of who Jesus Christ was.
May the Lord open our eyes today- Amen!
But the opening that is talked about is the Word that is used in relation to “making way and giving access”.
That means something had blocked their Understanding (their eyes) and God opened it. He made a way for them.
The same word is used in Acts 7:56 concerning Stephen when he was being stoned. He said, “Look! I see the Heavens opened and the Son of Man Standing at the Right Hand of God!”
And of course, that Word ‘opened’ is the same Word that is used in Luke 24 – When their eyes were opened.
There is something that happens when we come before the table of the Lord: there is an Opening.
For the Disciples, their eyes opened! For Stephen he said, “Look! I see the heavens opened…”
I don’t know what is Closed in your Life this morning, but that there will be an Opening – Amen.
Somebody say: There will be an Opening – Amen!
Today, there will be an Opening:
I. Something that has been shut will open (Amen).
II. Something that has been Prevented would be released – Amen.
III. Something you cannot see would be seen – Amen.
IV. Something that has been withheld would be released – Amen.
Their eyes were Opened.
May the Lord give us an Open Heaven this Morning – Amen.
May the Lord give us an Opening in every area of our lives, in the Name of Jesus – Amen!
And then the Bible says, they knew Him: they fully recognized that “this is Jesus Christ.”
For the first time, the Disciples said, Woooooow! It was Jesus all along.
He is the One Who was talking to us. And they said, obviously, because when He was talking to us, we felt something in our hearts – “Our Hearts burned within us.”
They knew! Everything came to pieces came together.
There are times in Life things are happening but the Pieces are scattered. And then another moment, all the Pieces come together.
You say Wooow! Now I see it. I get it, I understand it – That’s what happened to them.
May God bring you to such an Experience this Morning – That the Pieces will come together – Amen!
Things you couldn’t connect would be connected: dots would be connected – Amen.
Because there would be Fullness of Understanding; there would be eyes Opened; there would be Fullness recognition, when we come before the Lord.
And then, let us consider: WHAT THEY DID AFTERWARDS.
Luke 24:32-36; 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?” So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of Bread. Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.”
What a Remark Experience of two (2) Disciples of Jesus, who believed that He would be a Political Messiah but now He is Crucified by the Politicians. And they are wondering, “is He really the One?”
Then this Stranger comes their way, starts talking to them. They feel something in their Hearts, but their eyes are shut. And then they go to table with Him, their eyes Opened! And everything becomes clear, and they decide, “we must Testify about this!”
I Pray that this Morning you would also have something to Testify about – Amen!
… They rushed back to Jerusalem that Evening.
Now, you have to Understand the Sequence of time here.
So, about the time these People were going to Emmaus would be about Noon time – Either late Morning or Noon. Probably about 11 O’clock in the Morning, and going to Noon thereabout.
And the Journey would have taken them about an hour and half. 7-Mile Journey, those People walked faster than us.
So, by the time they are getting to Emmaus, it would be about 3p.m. To the Jews, about 3pm, the day is ended! The New day is about to start.
Because the Jewish day starts in the Evening, into the Morning. Our day starts in the Morning; their day starts in the Evening.
So, once the day is getting to an end (it’s afternoon), it’s about the end of the day.
When they said to Jesus Christ, “the day is almost ended” it’s not night (by 7p.m our time). It’s about 3pm. Sun is still up but to the Jews the day is ended. A New day is about to happen in the Evening.
Because they take their clue from Genesis 1 – “So the Evening and the Morning were the first day.”
Starts from Evening to Morning – That’s how the day starts.
Now, they say okay, our eyes are opened, we know it’s Jesus. We have to go back to Jerusalem. So, they start back from Emmaus to Jerusalem, Probably about an hour and half.
Meaning if they left at about 4pm from Emmaus, they’ll Probably get back to Jerusalem, almost at the beginning of the New day – Which would be probably, 5:30pm
They got back to where the Disciples were; when they opened the door the Disciples said, “He is Risen!”
The last time they left Jerusalem, everybody said, “we don’t know what happened.” But by the time they get back the Disciples are convinced, He is Risen! He has appeared to Peter.
And then they said, Yes we know He is Risen! We saw Him too. He walked with us on the road to Emmaus. And whilst they are talking about all of these, Jesus shows up!
I like that Testimony! – The Disciples Testified, the women Testified, and Jesus Testified – He showed up in the midst of them.
… And that moment, they knew without any shadow of doubt, that He is Alive!
CLOSING PRAYER:
I Pray this morning, that Jesus would show up in our Testimony; as we declare, and remember Him!
As we declare and confess, “He is Alive!
That’s what Communion is all about. He says, “Do this in Remembrance of me.”
As a Church we are shouting, “He is Alive!” He died, but He is Alive.
And as we Testify, may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself manifest in our midst!
May He Stand in our midst!
May He show us His Power!
May He show us His Glory!
May He bring Peace into our situation.
And we Pray that we would have a Supernatural Encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ – AMEN!
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