Thank you, thank you, good morning.
Always good to be back in Bridge and I love, love being here.
Can I just have the house lights up a little bit?
I like to see the lovely faces, if it's possible,
without spoiling the ambience of the room.
I do like to see you, I know you can see me,
so I love seeing you.
So it's great to be back.
I'm a great privilege, a great joy to share again.
We've had a wonderful summer,
being traveling and doing all sorts of things,
but always enjoy coming back to the Bridge.
And thank you so much again to the team here for the trust,
for the opportunity to share with you.
And they've done something amazing,
so you may have been aware of the bookstore that came in.
The team here have just made an opportunity for me
to promote my new book, so I brought out a new book in July.
I've got the opportunity to minister off it this morning.
So it's not, I'm not here to sell the book in that sense,
but I want to share a little bit of that.
If you're interested in that, you can come and see me
at the table afterwards,
and hopefully that will be a blessing to you.
So it's my joy to share the word of God,
and I'm gonna share from this absolutely beautiful story,
one of my favorite stories.
And I wanna speak this morning on this idea,
the hospitality of the heart.
We've had a fantastic time of worship,
where we've been led in Jesus-centric worship,
where we have been encouraged to open up our hearts,
open up our eyes, open up our hands, and welcome Jesus in.
Now there's a sense in which as followers of Jesus,
we understand Jesus is with us all the time.
He will not leave us and he will not forsake us.
So there's a sort of a tension that we manage
as followers of Jesus when it comes
to think about his presence in our world.
There's a sense in which if we love him, he is with us.
And we can say amen to that.
He will never leave us, he will never forsake us.
And then there's another sense in which we are encouraged
to actively engage with him.
There's a sense in which even though he's with us,
we're encouraged to be intentional in our thinking,
intentional in our words, intentional in our songs,
intentional even in our physicality.
And it's all about me literally intentionally making room
for him in a particular moment,
whether that's here in a worship service
or in a Monday morning before I go to work or whatever.
It's that sense of me being intentional
about the presence of the Lord.
And even as we were singing today, I will look up,
I will bow down, I will look back.
There are encouragements of intentionality.
That's encouraging me and you.
Yes, the Lord is here, whether I feel him or not,
he is here, but yet I'm being encouraged.
Come on, John, look up.
Look back, look around, look in, look at him
and intentionally welcome him in.
And in a sense in our story today,
we're gonna see that very thing.
We see this paradox of Jesus with two disciples
and yet there is a beautiful moment in the story
where they intentionally engage him and invite him in.
And as they invite him in, it changes the whole story.
And we could argue it changes the rest of their lives.
So I'm gonna take a reading from Luke chapter 24.
If you've got a Bible and you wanna follow with me,
then why don't you grab it and follow this amazing story.
Now, just for the sake of time,
I'll jump into verse 13 rather than read from verse one,
but just to set the scene for you,
this is a resurrection moment.
So all the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
they tell us about the resurrection of Jesus
because it is a central event
and something that is fundamental to our faith.
But all of them also beautifully,
although they tell essentially the same story,
all of them tell unique aspects to the resurrection.
They add their own little stories in for emphasis
to show certain things about Jesus.
And the story we're about to read from verse 13 of Luke 24
is unique to the Gospel of Luke.
No other Gospel writer has this.
Now, whenever you're reading the Gospels,
especially Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
and you come across a unique story in that Gospel,
we should pay just a little bit extra attention
to what the writer is trying to say to us.
So we should be paying attention to all of it, right?
So don't hear what I'm not saying.
But when Luke adds in a story that nobody else has,
that's Luke saying to me and you,
now I want you to pay really close attention
to something that I am uniquely saying to you about Jesus.
And this is one of those stories.
So the first part, up to verse 12,
all the Gospel writers sort of have that story.
The female disciples of Jesus going to the tomb,
discovering the tomb empty and reporting that back.
That's a pretty standard resurrection story
across the four Gospels.
But then Luke jumps into something else.
So the women, the female disciples have come back.
They've said Jesus is alive.
They've met some angels and there's all sorts of confusion.
In fact, the disciples in the room believe
that women are talking nonsense,
but Peter runs to the tomb to check that out.
And then we have this story right in the middle
of all of that.
So verse 13 says this.
Now that same day, two of them,
that's two of the bigger, wider group of disciples,
were going to a village called Ames
about seven miles from Jerusalem.
So let me just lay this up for you.
They've been in the room when the women returned.
And then they make a decision,
even though the women have shared that Jesus is alive,
they make a decision to leave.
So it's an important moment in our story.
Verse 14, they were talking with each other
about everything that had happened as they talked
and discussed these things with each other.
Jesus himself came up and walked along with them,
but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, what are you discussing together
as you walk along?
They stood still, their faces downcast.
One of them named Clopis asked him,
are you only a visitor to Jerusalem
and do not know the things that have happened there
in these days? What things?
He asked about Jesus of Nazareth, they replied.
He was a prophet powerful in word indeed
before God and all the people.
The chief priests and our rulers handed him over
to be sentenced to death and they crucified him.
But we had hoped that he was the one
who was going to redeem Israel.
And what is more, it is the third day
since all this took place.
In addition to this, some of our women amazed us,
the NIV translator, a really strong transition would be,
some of our women freaked us out, blew our minds.
They went to the tomb early this morning,
but didn't find his body.
They came and told us that they'd seen a vision of angels
who said he was alive.
Then some of our companions went to the tomb
and found it just as the women had said,
but him they did not see.
He, that's Jesus said to them,
how foolish you are and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken.
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things
and then enter his glory?
And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures
concerning himself.
Wow, what a sermon that must have been.
Then verse 28 says this,
as they approached the village to which they were going,
Jesus acted as if he was going farther,
but they urged him strongly, stay with us
for it is nearly evening.
The day is almost over.
So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread,
he gave thanks, he broke it and began to give it to them.
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him
and he disappeared from their sight.
They asked each other,
were not our hearts burning within us
while he talked with us on the road
and opened the scriptures to us?
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem
where they found the 11 and those with them assembled together
and saying, it is true, the Lord has written,
risen and has appeared to Simon.
Then the two told what had happened on the way
and how Jesus was recognized by them
when he broke the bread with them.
Amazing story, beautiful story.
Now, Emmaus, the village in Luke 24
is only mentioned once in the whole of the New Testament.
It's a village we think about seven miles west
of Jerusalem and even though most of us
really don't know what that is
and most of us, including me in this room,
have never been to Emmaus, we all know where it is.
Emmaus is not just a geographic place in this story,
a literal village where these two disciples lived
but it's also a place that we go
when actually we're disappointed, when we're wounded,
when we're downcast, when anxiety grips our hearts
and these two wonderful disciples have left Jerusalem
to go back home because home, Emmaus,
is the place where life will make sense again.
They had hoped that Jesus was the one,
they had hoped that Jesus was going to be the Messiah
who would save the world
but they've just seen him brutally crucified,
they've heard some stuff from the women
that actually is alive but they don't believe it
and they leave Jerusalem,
something they were told not to do
and they head back home to Emmaus
and actually even though me and you have never been to Emmaus,
we all know where it is.
It's the place we go when we're disappointed,
it's the place we go when our hearts are broken,
it's the place we go when we're anxious,
it's the place we go when we're sad
and sometimes that's a good place we go
because it's a good safe place and a good belief system,
sometimes it's a dangerous place
because it can take us to somewhere that he doesn't want us to go.
When I finish today, I will,
even though I know the way home from Bolton
to my home in Luddington in Northlingeture,
I will probably turn my GPS on
and I will hit the home button.
There's just something really satisfying
about hitting your home button because I love going home
because home for me is a safe place,
home for me is a place I love to be,
home is a place of peace and a place of rest
and this is what it's sort of like for these two.
They're heading home because they've just had their world
turned upside down,
they've just seen Jesus brutally crucified
and none of it makes sense anymore
and so what they've decided to do
is leave all of that behind and just go home
and forget it all, go back to a mess
and just live an ordinary routine life
for the rest of their lives.
But the story of course is about Jesus joining them
on the road home, walking with them seven miles
in the wrong direction in order to save them,
in order to show them that although a mess is home,
it's not their destiny.
That actually Jerusalem and beyond is their destiny
and Jesus knows if he lets these two disciples go home
and stay at home, then they will never become all
that he has called them to be, to go to Jerusalem,
to go to Judea, to go to Samaria
and to go to the ends of the earth,
to be part of something that will revolutionize
and change the world and so what does Jesus do?
He joins them on the road and you have this mysterious moment
where they're kept from recognizing him, my goodness,
there's an awkward moment in the text,
literally it's the idea that they were kept physically
from seeing that it was Jesus
and yet Jesus walks with them on the road,
seven miles in the wrong direction
and by the end of this journey,
their eyes have been opened, their hearts are burning
and their lives have been revolutionized.
That's what Jesus wants to do for every single one of us.
In a sense, what Jesus did that day was,
he sort of changed the home button.
He stepped into their world and gave them
an alternative to their lives going forward.
Who were these two disciples on this road?
The artist who designed this picture for me,
originally designed it as two men walking with Jesus
because there is an unspoken bias
that the two disciples on the road to a mess were both men
but the text doesn't say that.
In fact, there's as much evidence that there were,
there's a man and a woman in the story
than there is two men.
We just assume that disciples were all male
but actually, if we read the gospel of Luke,
we have seen over and over again,
female disciples pop into the story.
We see female disciples following Jesus.
We see female disciples supporting Jesus.
We see female disciples at the cross.
We see female disciples at the resurrection.
We see female disciples doing a lot of ministry
in the gospel of Luke.
And listen, if it's two men in the story,
it doesn't fundamentally change the story
but if it's a man and a woman,
even a husband and wife in the story,
it has phenomenal echoes to each one of us.
There's an impact here that it can make on us
because number one, we get a beautiful picture
of Jesus walking alongside a man and a woman,
a redemptive issue for both male and female,
which is a beautiful conversation.
It's at the very heart of the gospel.
That fits with Luke's gospel brilliantly.
Luke references 67 women in his work directly.
Women are all over the gospel of Luke
and you see Jesus pulling women into his discipleship group.
You see Jesus ministering to women
and sending women and using women.
And every time you see a woman in the gospel of Luke,
she's a hero.
She's actually seen in a good light,
often, often in comparison to men.
It's very interesting.
And all through the gospel of Luke,
Luke does this male, female, male, female, male,
female connection all the way through the gospel.
So a man and a woman on this road
really fits with Luke's trajectory in the context of that.
But also I believe there is a beautiful garden
of Eden echo in this story.
If you know the story of the Garden of Eden,
it's a man and a woman who sin against God.
And the first thing they do is run away
from the presence of God.
And then what does God do?
God walks with them in the garden
and seeks to call them from their hiddenness
and redeem them and restore them.
He takes away the coverings they've made
and he kills an animal and clothes them
in a redemptive act of loving kindness.
And you see this beautiful picture in the Garden of Eden.
And the story of the Bible is God trying to recover
that Garden of Eden experience,
trying to bring humans back into intimacy with him.
And when you think about the Garden of Eden,
a man and a woman running from God
and God walking with a man and a woman
and seeking to bring the man and a woman
back into relationship with him,
we see this echo on the road to a mess.
A man and a woman possibly running from God,
running from Jerusalem,
running from the place that they should be.
What do we see?
A gracious, merciful savior drawing alongside them,
walking with them, talking with them,
giving them probably one of his greatest sermons ever
to one of the smallest audiences.
An amazing moment.
And then what does he do?
By the end of the story, he's turned them.
By the end of the story, he's revealed something to them.
By the end of the story, they've now got a message,
they've now got an understanding
and they've now got a revelation
that Jesus is the resurrected Messiah.
That He is the one we had hoped for
and they go back to Jerusalem
and their life changes forever.
And all of that, I think, is in this beautiful story.
And so when you read the road to a mess at one level,
it's a simple story of two disciples leaving somewhere,
trying to get somewhere and Jesus turning them around.
But at another level, it is an echo
of God's redemptive heart.
The Lord is constantly reaching out to humans,
constantly reaching out to people,
constantly wanting to walk with me and you.
What an incredible idea that is
that not only can we come into His presence,
but He wants us in His presence.
He wants to walk with us.
He wants to talk with us.
He wants to pour His life into us.
He wants to open our heart, open our eyes
and transform our lives
so that we are elevated above just the ordinary
every day of a mess.
And we understand that actually there is a God in heaven
who has a greater and most amazing plan for our lives.
So at one level, it's a simple story.
At another level, it's a massive macro story
that repeats over and over and over again in the gospels.
And it all, it turns on this particular text.
Look at what it says, these beautiful words.
It says this, as they approached the village
to which they were going,
Jesus continued on as if He were going farther,
but they urged Him strongly.
Stay with us for it is nearly evening.
The day is almost over.
So we went in to stay with Him.
This is the turning point of the story.
This is the moment where actually their reaction
determines what's about to happen next.
And when we look at this verse very carefully,
there are three gorgeous elements
that I just want to highlight to you
that I think are part of this turning point.
And maybe they speak to us
in terms of our everyday lives in the 21st century.
The first thing I want you to say,
a bit of an awkward thing.
There's a bit of a ruse going on here.
Don't know if you noticed this,
it's pretty awkward, this language.
And it says this, that Jesus pretended or acted
continued on as if He were going further.
That's the NIV.
Jesus continued as if He was going further.
Now, just trust me on this.
When you dig into the language of Dr. Luke,
it really is pretty awkward.
And in fact, if we were to translate this
sort of as literally as we could,
Dr. Luke is sort of suggesting
that Jesus is pretending to go further.
The implication of the words is,
Jesus wants to stay with them,
but He will not presume on them.
Yeah, yeah.
That's the implication, it's awkward.
Awkward, there's a couple of awkward moments in this story.
They were kept from recognizing Him.
Wow, that'll make your head hurt.
That's an awkward moment.
This is another awkward moment.
Jesus has walked with Him for the guts of seven miles,
unpacked this amazing sermon,
which unfortunately, with no details on
in the Gospel of Luke, when I get to Heaven, Luke,
why didn't you put the sermon in, man?
That would have been really helpful.
And at the end of this journey,
Jesus is acting as if He is going further.
Now, He can't be deceitful
because that would be against the nature of the Lord.
But His body language is presenting
to the two disciples, two men, or husband and wife,
it's presenting the idea that He is going to carry on
this journey to wherever, wherever.
And so there's an awkward moment here.
What will they do?
Will they let Him go?
Or will they invite Him in?
Now, there's two ways to think about this
in the context of our story.
One is we could think about it
in terms of cultural protocol.
And in the world of Jesus,
you wouldn't invite yourself into somebody's house.
Now, Aaron referenced Zikaius.
In fact, Zikaius is the only example of Jesus
inviting himself into somebody's house in the gospels.
All right?
But of course, if you study the story of Zikaius,
you'll know why.
Because Zikaius was not only small,
he was a chief text collector in the city of Jericho.
And he knew cultural protocol meant
he could not invite Jesus a rabbi into his house.
He would embarrass Jesus,
he would make life difficult for Jesus,
and he probably suspected no rabbi
is gonna visit my house because I'm a text collector
and as far as my own people are concerned,
I'm the sort of scum of the earth.
I live on the margins of Jewish society.
So Zikaius can't invite Jesus in and Jesus knows that.
Jesus knows he can't invite me in.
So here's what I'll do.
I'll invite myself in to Zikaius' house.
And that's the only time we have Jesus inviting himself in.
In Jewish protocol, the idea would be
I couldn't invite myself to your house, you invite me in.
So it would be like, you know, me and Aaron,
walking past his house,
I wouldn't just presume to walk into the house with him,
even though I'm with him, his house.
I would sort of act as if I'm going on
in the hope that he's going to invite me in, all right?
And one of the ways to read this moment
is it's just good Jewish hospitality.
This is what Jewish people would do in a first century world,
especially to a stranger as evening is coming.
They would invite him in.
And that's perfectly fine.
But I think if you settle there,
you're missing something powerful in the story.
I think what you've got here is not cultural protocol.
I think what you've got here is scriptural provocation.
What do I mean by that?
Well, if we read the story together,
we were listening to the story.
Jesus is unpacking the scriptures.
And as he unpacks the scriptures,
we find out later that our hearts were burning within them.
So these two disciples have now got attention.
In their head, they believe that Jesus is dead,
but in their hearts, their hearts are burning
like that's Jesus.
We've heard this before.
We've sensed this before.
We've felt this before.
This feels like Jesus,
but our heads are telling us Jesus is dead.
So their eyes are closed
and their minds are telling them that Jesus is dead,
but their hearts are burning.
Something supernatural is going on inside them.
There's a burning.
Now we don't know that until their eyes get open.
If we're just reading the story,
at this point, we don't know that.
But we know from the information later
that as they're walking along, burning hearts,
something's going on inside them.
It's like the deep of the scripture
is calling to the deep of their heart.
And they can't understand it.
So here's what I'm suggesting.
Here's what I'm suggesting is the reason why Jesus
is going a little bit farther,
because Jesus knows their hearts are burning.
And he wants to know what they will do in response to that.
Will they let him go?
Will they leave him?
Or will they respond to him?
And I believe this,
that Jesus wanted to know what they would do.
You see, brothers and sisters,
there's a sense in which his presence is with us all the time.
But there's another sense in which sometimes
God wants to know what you want.
He wants to know what you want.
And every now and again,
he will make life a little bit awkward for us
to find out what we want.
There's a sense in which in this story,
Jesus is with them.
He's with them, he's right there.
But of course, at this stage, they don't know it's him.
There's just something burning in their hearts.
And he wants to know,
are you going to allow the logic of your brain to lead you?
Are you going to allow the burning of your heart to lead you?
Are you going to rely on what you think has just happened,
that Jesus is still dead?
Or are you going to respond to deep calling to deep?
You see, being a follower of Jesus
is not simply an intellectual exercise.
It's not a simple exercise
of just learning some biblical information
and repeating it in Solomon.
It is about our hearts connecting to his heart.
It's about who I am burning in the presence of the Lord.
It's about something of him connecting to the depths of who I am.
And sometimes, sometimes our brain is saying one thing
and our hearts are saying another.
There's something inside me calling out to him,
calling out for more, calling out for deeper,
calling out for more intimate, calling out for greater.
And here I am on the front row.
And I know theologically he's in the room.
I know his presence is here.
I know he will never leave me or forsake me.
And yet there's something inside me calling for more,
wanting something deeper, something more intimate,
something that actually the depths of my being actually needs.
We sang it today, Lord, I need you.
I need you.
And we don't just need him to help us
to get through life in the 21st century.
We need him because we are not complete without him.
We need him because he makes sense of our lives.
He makes sense of the brokenness.
He makes sense of the chaos.
He makes sense of who I am as John Andrews.
When he is at the center, everything makes sense.
Are you with me?
He's gone to a church and sometimes the Lord wants to know
what we know.
Sometimes the Lord wants to know what we're going to do.
There's a sense of what he already knows what I know,
and he already knows what I'm going to do cause he's God,
but there's sense of which sometimes he creates scenarios
where he wants to know, John, what do you want?
Are you gonna just put up with a casual walk?
Or are you going to invite me in?
What are you going to do?
like that this morning, at least in Germany. We've been led and worshipped by a wonderful
band. Worship is not dependent on how good they are. Worship this morning was not dependent
on anything they did. Worship this morning was dependent on what you want. We're going
to turn up, sing a few songs, be entertained, have a sermon, hope it doesn't go on too long
and then go home. Are we going to lean in? Are we going to just leave it to a sort of
an intellectual experience? Are we going to actually open up our hearts and push towards
the presence of God? Are you with me? Does that make sense to you? And Jesus pretends
to say, He's going further. Why? Because He wants to know, are they going to respond to
the burning heart that's within them? Are they going to let deep speak to deep? Or are
they going to pour water on it and forget the whole thing? Does that make sense? I don't
know, that's awkward. But every now and again, the Lord will pretend to go further in your
life because He wants to know what you want. Do you want Him or not? Come on, are you with
me? That makes sense to you. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Here's the second thing,
the request. Gorgeous moment. Look at this. They see these amazing words that remind you
of them. They say this, but they urged Him strongly. Stay with us. They urged Him strongly.
Now this is really, really strong language. The NIV tries to convey this as powerfully
as it can. This is like verbally, this is like grabbing someone by the scruff of the
neck and bringing them in your house. It's really, really strong. It's interesting that
both of them say stay with us. It's not clopus who's speaking now, they're both speaking.
So something's going on inside them to the point where they both say to the stranger
who's lit their hearts on this walk, they both say stay with us. Come in and stay with
us. And the NIV and the ESC translated that way. The complete word study Bible translates
it. They constrained Him. I like that. Trying to convey the strength of the word here. And
I love how the complete Jewish Bible, this is David Stern's translation. He puts it,
they held Him back. So you've got this really dynamic and interesting language. They're
not touching Him, but their words are constraining Him. If their words became action, they would
literally be grabbing Him and pulling Him in. So what they're not saying is, look, you've
had a long walk. Maybe you want to come in for a week last, a wine or a cup of tea,
take a load off, have a moment, like it's up to you, feel free. This is not that. This
is stay with us. Don't go. We don't know what's going on, but you need to stay. You have to
stay. Please, we really, really, really, really, really, really want you to stay. Come on,
ladies and gentlemen, this is hunger now speaking. Now, their brain still hasn't caught up with
us. They still don't understand fully what's going on, but they are, they have the wisdom
to respond to the spirit that's going on them. They've got the wisdom to respond to the burning
heart and they're going, please, you have to stay. Don't go. Don't leave us. Something's
going on inside us. You need to stay at our house tonight. Please come in. Please, please
stay. And what's absolutely striking here, and again, it's not obvious in our language,
but when they say stay, in the language of Dr. Luke, it's a verbal imperative. It's the
closest thing to a command you're going to get. Now, they can't command him to stay,
but they're doing everything but commanding him to stay. There's an urgency. There's a
hunger. There's a thirst. There's something inside him saying, this man, whoever he is,
can't go. We need him to stay and stay in our world. Ladies and gentlemen, that's what Jesus
is after. The Bible teaches us that when we hunger and we thirst for him, he responds.
In fact, God loves humility. He loves hunger. He loves honesty. He loves it when me and
you cry from the depths of our heart and say, Lord, I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not
sure I understand everything, but here's what I know. You need to stay. You need to stay
with us. We need you to stay. We need you not to go. You must stay in our home. You must
stay in our house. Whatever this is, we want more of it. Please stay. Please stay.
Ladies and gentlemen, if there's something I believe that Jesus is doing in his church
in the United Kingdom today, is that he's stirring in us a hunger and a hunger for him.
If the recent events of our country are not stirring us in hunger towards the presence
of God, ladies and gentlemen, we are in serious trouble. We can't just carry on like life
is normal. We can't just carry on like nothing happened. There should be something stirring
in us that says, Lord Jesus, please stay. Please come to us. If you're not here in bridge,
we have nothing. If you're not here in our lives, we have nothing. If you're not here
in our homes, we have nothing. And he's looking for that hunger. And when he finds that hunger,
he responds. When he finds that hunger, he reacts. When he finds that hunger, he moves
towards us. Met a pastor in the summer. I want to tell you where, but a mega church, huge
church ministry, got everything. I mean, his, the screen at the front of this church was
bigger than the front of this church, mega church, hundreds, thousands of people attending
the church, completely discontent. Here's what he said. He said, my, my people are settling
for performance. They're settling for just turning up, getting something and going home.
He said, there's got to be more than that. There's got to be more than that. Now you
look at his church on the surface and at everything that we think is successful. And
here's a leader saying, I'm not sure we really want Jesus. I'm not sure we're really hungry
for Jesus. I'm not sure we're really thirsty for Jesus. We're settling for all the stuff.
And there's nothing wrong with the stuff. As long as we don't believe the stuff is enough.
Ladies and gentlemen, we could live without all the stuff if Jesus is at the table. But
if we've got all the stuff and Jesus is not at the table, we've just got a sort of a superficial
religious experience, which will never satisfy you, never satisfy me. I'm not interested
in it. Are you with me? Sometimes we just have to grasp the moment. These two disciples
didn't know what it was, but they knew they had to grab it. Come on, stay with us. Stay
with us. And then look at the response. One of the greatest lines in the story, and it
says this, so he went in to stay with them. You see, ladies and gentlemen, when he joined
them on the road, he always wanted to go in and stay with them. But he wanted to know
the day want him to stay. The heart of the Lord has always been to stay with us. He
loves you. You are his beloved with all our brokenness and feelings. We are his beloved.
He loves us passionately. He went to the cross and died for us. He gave everything for us.
He conquered death for us. Why would he do all of that and not want to come in and stay
with you? Why would he do all of that and not want to sit at your table? Why would he
do all of that and not want to walk with you? Even though we feel inadequate sometimes, we
are still his beloved. We're still his children. We're still loved by him. And this is one
of the greatest. And when I was writing the book, I literally had to walk away from the
computer and compose myself because I couldn't stop crying because here's a God who wants
to come in and stay with me. I know me. I live with me every day. I know what I'm capable
of. The good, the bad and the ugly. And yet there is a God in heaven who says, I want to
come in and stay with you. I want to live with you. I want to sit at your table. I want
to be in your marriage. I want to be in your kids. I want to be in your business. I want
to be in your life. I want to be every part of your world. That's what I want. But I'm
waiting for you to say, stay. And Jesus said, yes, when invited. And this is a beautiful
pattern in the gospel of Luke. And for those of you that want to hunt this, this is worth.
This is again, Dr. Luke's doing something really clever. It's not a random story. This
story is part of a big story that he's telling. And Dr. Luke shows us in his gospel every
single time Jesus got an invite. He said, yes. Come on. That's good news. Every single
time in the gospel of Luke, somebody said to Jesus, come into my house. He went in to
Levi, the tax collector, to the Pharisee, to Martha, to another Pharisee. And yet another
Pharisee, he went into there every time he was invited. He went, yeah, I'll come. Why?
Because that's his heart. That's what he wants. He wants to come into our world. He wants
to touch us. He wants to be with us. And this is what the Emmaus story is all about. That
not only does he join them on the road, but he waits to hear what they want. And when they
tell him what he wants, he says, yes, yes, yes, I will come into you. And I know I'm
speaking to people who've been a Christian a million years like me, and I know this all
sounds very familiar, but we must never become familiar with the idea that the Son of God
wants to sit at our table. It's an amazing idea. It's an amazing thought that Jesus not
only loved me and died for me and rose from the dead. He actually likes me. He actually
wants to walk with me. He wants to sit at my table. He wants to be in my world. And that's
an amazing idea. And when we forget that, when we become familiar with that, then worship
becomes entertainment. The Bible becomes a book. This community becomes a social club.
All of those things happen because we've lost the awesome understanding that there is a
God in heaven who wants to come in and stay with us. I don't know if that makes sense,
or I'm just ranting on, but it's a transformational idea. This is my wife Dawn. I am genuinely
married. I know I've been here a million times. He keeps talking about Dawn and I've never
seen her. I think it's a figment of his imagination. No, she really does exist. We celebrated 36
years of marriage in July and love each other. Thank you. That's very kind. She deserves
the applause, not me at all. And I met her in Bible college. When I met Dawn in Bible
college, I was a third year. She was a first year and she had a broken leg. A couple of
weeks before, she had been parachuting, snapped her ankle when she hit the ground. So she
hobbled into Bible college with a broken leg. And I remember noticing her. I was a senior
student. I was greeting the students and helping them get to their rooms. And in this case,
a definite blessing. And she walked in and I noticed her. I thought, she's gorgeous.
She's lovely. Now, not in a lustful sort of way. Just noticed she was really pretty.
I thought she's really lovely. And then over the next couple of weeks, we got to know each
other, started talking. And two weeks into the term, at my third year, I couldn't eat
and I couldn't sleep. Thinking about Dawn. Okay. This is the truth. Couldn't eat, couldn't
sleep. And I got to the end of the second week and I made a decision, a drastic decision.
I was going to ask this woman out, genuinely believing she would say no. So I was a skinny,
gangly, insecure, spotty 19 year old at the time. And I was absolutely convinced this
girl turned me down flat. She's too classy for me. So she's going to turn me down, but
I just need to get it over with because I need to eat and I need to have some food.
Right. And so I thought, right, let's just go and ask her out. And so I found out she
was over in the teaching block Friday night. It's October. It's dark. It's freezing cold.
She has a broken leg. And I thought, right, I'll go and find her and talk to her. And
as I got to the teaching block, she was coming down the stairs hobbling. I was going up the
stairs. We met halfway on the stairs. I had rehearsed this moment for forever. And I said
to her, and these were the words that came out of my mouth. I said, would you like to
go for a walk? What a numpty. I asked capital numpty, numpty, right? Even as the words have
come out of my mouth, I'm going, you numpty head, what on earth? The woman's got a broken
leg. And I said, would you like to go for a walk? And she said, yes. And the rest is
history. 36 years, three children, two grandchildren, two sausage dogs later. We're still together.
And I learned something that night, ladies and gentlemen. And I want to remind you of
this as we go. Is the bond you want to come and join us? You want to? I learned something
that night. Passion is not enough. Their hearts were burning within them. But what turned the
burning heart into a transformational moment was action. Stay with us. Stay with us. I
had passion for dawn, 100%. Couldn't go to bed without thinking about our struggling
to eat. But if I just left it as passion and didn't translate that to action, then actually
nothing would change. And passion must become action. I learned that way back then. And
even in our relationship with the Lord, it's the same thing. Passion that actually says
to him, stay with us. Come into our world. Come into my life. Lord Jesus, I know you're
with me because your promise is that your presence is always with me. But I want to
be intentional about welcoming you into my world. I want to be intentional in my worship
corporately. I want to be intentional on a Monday morning. I want to be intentional with
my life, my family. I want to be intentional with every part of the world that I have. I
want to make sure that I am constantly translating what I believe is a passion for you, Lord Jesus,
to an action that will honor you. The other thing I learned that night was she actually
wanted to say yes, believe it or not. I still struggle to believe it. She was just, she
was just waiting to be asked. You serve a Savior who wants to say yes. And often He is
just waiting to be asked. Often He's just looking for me and you to be open, intentional,
deliberate. That He's looking for me and you to be men and women that literally are
metaphorically will swing a door open and say, please come in. Please come into my world.
Come and sit with us and ladies and gentlemen and I don't want to put any guilt on anybody
or pressure anybody. But the question comes down to do we actually want Him, not the bridge,
not this, not the stuff. The stuff's great. The stuff's great. And I thank God for the
stuff and I love the stuff and I love what we do here and I love this church and I love
all that we do. But do we want Him? If all of this got shut down, would we want Him?
If we lost our job, would we still want Him? If the shadow of sickness comes on, as do
we still want Him? Him and life will bring us to places where actually do you still want
me? Do you want me? And actually that's the cry of the Ames rule. What do you want? Will
you make room for Him? I sat with the guy on a plane, go on to Singapore, said he wasn't
religious, by the end of the conversation we were talking deeply about Jesus. And I
said to him, I said, well on your free time, your spare time, what do you do? And he said,
well some of my friends and I, we've bought some 14 acres of land in Australia and we've
planted a forest. I said, what'd you do that for? He said, well we just wanted an eco-project
to bless the kids with and allow people to enjoy forests and just look after the environment
and this guy's not a Christian, not religious at all. And I said to him, I felt like I had
a little moment and I said to him, I said, Andrew, when you're in your forest, how does
it make you feel? He said this, he said what he said to me, he said, I feel connected to
something bigger. That's what he said. That's all a bit like touchy-feely, a bit like some
of us might be put off by that. And I said to him, Andrew, would you do me a favour?
He said, of course I will. He said, I said, next time you're in your forest and you feel
like that, will you do me one favour? He said, I will. I said, lift up your eyes and say,
Lord Jesus, if you are there, come in, come in, come in. Dare God to be a part of your
world. Here's what he said to me and a man who told me at the beginning of the journey,
put his hand up and said, I'm not religious. Here's what he said to me, I will. He got
all emotional and he got, why? Because there's something in him, deeps calling. He knows
that like whatever he's doing, it's just not enough. And something deep inside him is yearning
for something deeper, greater, bigger. No, we've already got that. And Jesus, as he
pretends to go by, says, what do you want? Come on, will you stand with me? The band
are going to lead us in a final song. Time is gone. We're brothers and sisters. There's
a sense in which the Lord is with us and never will leave us or forsake us. There's another
sense in which the Lord responds to our invitation. He responds to our hunger. He responds to
our cry. He responds to our hearts. He responds to the deep calling to deep. And the two people
that day husband or wife or two brothers or two friends, whoever they were, their lives
were transformed forever. Their eyes were opened because they cried out to him. May we never
become familiar with the idea of the God who wants to come in and be with us. And so Lord
Jesus, we welcome you into our lives. We welcome you into this place. We welcome you into our
hearts. Lord Jesus, I pray for every man and woman in this place. I pray for every person
online that Lord, there would be a burning heart within each one of us that yearns for
you, yearns for your presence, yearns for your love, yearns for your word, yearns, oh
God, for you and for you alone. Lord, forgive us for the moments when we have settled for
the stuff. Forgive us for the moments when we have settled for the superficial. Forgive
us for the moments of Lord when we have become familiar with the sacred. But Lord, I pray
that in your church, I pray that in each one of us as individuals, I pray that in families
and marriages and singles and people in this room and people online and people across this
wonderful church that Lord, you would stare a hunger within us for you. A hunger for your
presence, a hunger for your word, a hunger for your life, a hunger that says stay with
us, stay with us. And that Lord as we open up our hearts, as we open up our lives, we
pray, we know, we believe that you will enter in, that you will come in, you will sit with
us, you will eat with us, you will commune with us and you will transform us by your
grace and by your mercy. So Lord Jesus, come in. Lord Jesus, stay with us. Lord Jesus,
reveal yourself to us. Lord Jesus, walk with us and may we as men and women with our hearts
burning and our eyes open carry your presence to the world. In Jesus' name, Amen.