12 - 3ABN Fall Camp Meeting 2017 - "Dark Moments" - John Bradshaw

[Music] welcome to 3abn s fall camp meeting homecoming 2017 featuring inspired messages from your 3abn family and featured speaker John Bradshaw all to prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord hello and welcome back to 3abn fall camp meeting or we sometimes also referred to it as 3abn homecoming thank you for joining us as you do each and every day hopefully you've been enjoying all of CAM eating we have here haven't we hey man I know that Jill and I have to I tell you those of us that work here at 3abn on a daily basis it's a blessing to be here but this is so exciting to have each one of you here it's a tremendous blessing hopefully you're encouraged but I want to say that we're encouraged having you all here it's it's neat to me each one of you face to face and I don't want to say shame on you cuz I know there's many reasons why you couldn't come here to 3abn but we hope someday if you've never been that you can come here and visit with us especially for the fall and spring camp meetings you're welcome any time of the year of course to come visit and tour the studios it's always a blessing to be able to meet each one of you I look forward to heaven don't you where someday we'll all be able to be there as one big family what a glorious day that will be hopefully you just enjoyed naps it's kind of instant naps right after lunch I was thinking about that naps but what a great organization right what they're doing I think about it's what Jesus did right going around and I don't know feet on the ground well they praise the Lord for that so we appreciate what naps is done and the relationship 3abn has had with them through the years I knew you all have been enjoying elder John Bradshaw haven't you and his messages the Lord boy he's given him a gift hasn't he Wow of breaking down the Word of God being able to explain it I'd say we just appreciate him and the work that he has done through the years but also for being here at at 3abn and joining us for a camp-meeting I tell you at this time we have a song before pastor Bradshaw joins us by brother Tim part and we appreciate him don't you appreciate his music that's inspiring I tell you when I hear in play it makes me want to take piano lessons then I realize I'll just forget it maybe heaven someday for brother Tim we appreciate you Jill and I and and the ministry that God has given you you know Tim is the same as you see him here always has a smile on his face behind the scenes he's the same but this but the song that he's going to play and sing for us is entitled in the meantime after that we'll be pastor John Bradshaw you know the Bible has a lot of examples of things that we go through and there's one character in the Old Testament that experienced some pain this is a song about job [Music] I am broken in a room alone where the only light is you and I am beaten by the days of tribulation I've walked through my life has been laid bare right before your eyes today my heart despairs and tomorrow I may down [Music] but in the meantime you're the lifter of my head and in the lean times you're the giver of my bread Lord your goodness is too wonderful for me I believe my redeemer is alive even in the meantime I have nothing you have given and you've taken it away oh but lord I thank you for all I really need is you and you have stayed you for me from the dust your spirit gave me breath I am yours in life and I am yours indeed but in the meantime you're the lifter of my head and in the lean times you're the giver of my bread Lord your goodness is too wonderful for me I believe my Redeemer is alive even in the meantime Lord your goodness is too wonderful for me I believe my Redeemer is alive even in the meantime [Music] [Applause] thank you Tim thank you good afternoon everyone that's about rages talent isn't it this is outrageous seems like seem like God took talent from like 20 of us imported into one person that's all right with me because it's all being used for God's glory and that's how it ought to be well I hope you've been blessed of you know we've got a little ground to cover before you can with the clear conscience turn around at home enough said this to you already but I'm going to remind you again because what's coming up on 3abn at the end of October special starting on the 23rd 23rd 9 nights in a row a series called 500 500 because this year marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation --zz Genesis it is written team traveled to a number of Reformation sites and perhaps sites that weren't strictly Reformation sites but were connected to the Reformation you know over the years now we've filmed programmes on location I was it's doing a quick count the other day and got to about 17 different countries and that surprised me but it might be more maybe it's less but I don't think so a lot of those programs have dealt with Reformation themes we've looked at Wickliffe and Wesley and Knox and Calvin and far l and Luther then others and when you start to talk about the Reformation you know you need to talk very directly about the cause of the Reformation of what was being reformed and all the reasons for that and so this year being the 500th anniversary we have a series that will show 9 nights straight not only will they include a 30-minute program but also discussions with experts and people like dr. Gerard armstech dr. leslie paulo dr. didrik blue dr. David trim many others besides dr. Michael hazel and of the judge Lake passed a Lincoln steed and look at me I probably forgot one but that's okay and this gives us the opportunity to go deeper and explore some really very important aspects of certain Reformation subjects will we have an overview of the Reformation this is a good be on 3abn the last nine nights of October which happens to begin tomorrow can you believe that and so we have an overview of the Reformation then one of the programmes will deal with in fact program to Patrick who was a reformer before the Reformation you know Patrick who was not a Roman Catholic Patrick who was not Irish Patrick who was a Sabbath keeper we talk about Patrick and then William Tyndale the English Bible translator who was just a genius and made a bigger contribution to your life than you realize if you've ever at a King James Version of the Bible then one of the Testaments is really just about 75 percent of his work and the other Testament 83 85 percent he was a giant executed for obeying God's call on his life we've a program dealing with the Roman Catholic Church which was the object of the Reformation a program dealing with Luther and so we go to Rome into the Vatican into Wittenberg Germany Iceland where Luther was born and where he died the sixth program deals with the Counter Reformation we talk about the men named in ego better known to you probably as Ignatius of Loyola who founded the Society of Jesus the Jesuit Order so we go to that place in Spain where he was born we talk about the work of the Jesuits I discuss with dr. Darvish Teague the Jesuits scholars who reinterpreted the prophecies of the Bible for the sole purpose of turning attention away from Rome and on to anybody that really met her it's a really interesting program seventh one we crossed the Atlantic Roger Williams in the Pilgrim Fathers eighth program we go to the William Miller farm in New York State ninth program we go to Washington New Hampshire my guest on that program is pastor Ted Wilson who is as you know the General Conference president the world church of seventh-day adventists so I think this is one of the most important television events that you could really ever see certainly of this year and my prayer is that you'll know about it watch it let others know about it 3abn will be broadcasting 500 brought to you by it is written the last nine nights of October well let's pray shall we let's pray and expect God to bless us as we open the Bible let's pray now our Father in Heaven we come in the name of Jesus we are grateful as we come to you today you didn't have to but you did you created this world out of out of love and when our original grandparents ran amuck instead of simply eliminating them and starting again you're set in motion this great plan of salvation where Jesus the lamb slain since the foundation of the world would come and live and die and offer us everlasting life well Lord today we are telling you he wanted today we are saying yes and thank you I pray that if there's anything the least bit shaky about our experience that we would take hold of you for strength today and make peace with you bless us during the sharing of the word of during the study of the world as we open our Bibles and look into Scripture that the Living Word would live in us guide us we pray with thanks in Jesus name police say Amen a lot of things that we don't understand a lot of things we look at nature nature again and again baffles us I'll go for a couple of obvious examples have you ever seen salmon running maybe in the Pacific Northwest have you ever seen the salmon the salmon when they're going up there's little streams to spawn they're like traffic on a freeway they're stopped it's gridlock they barely move there's hardly any room in the stream you know that those salmon originated way up where they're hitting and they hatched and they swam up down to the ocean and off they went to me it's a wonder that a fish can be freshwater and saltwater that's that's a wonder they swim out in the ocean some of them travel 2,500 miles and when it's time for them to lay eggs or fertilized eggs that have been laid they turn around and head back to the very stream where they were hatched in the first place explain that to me you cannot well well you could say evolution is a marvelous thing you know if that's evolution then evolution is faulty evolution should have figured out a much easier way for that see I'm gonna do its thing then having to swim all the way back and leap up waterfalls and dodge bridgely bears and all of that it's just a marvel I don't know that you can really figure out giraffe if I understand this right an animal like that the heart would have trouble pumping the blood all around the body and then when it bends down like that the rush of blood down to the head puts immense pressure or wood on the brain but somehow that animal survives ok Kenya can you explain to me a woodpecker you tried that honestly I don't even know why God would make a wood picker how'd he do that other than he did it for the same reasons as he made it roses and tulips I would have been happy with one or the other frankly tulips for me my dad drew them when I was a kid I just love them more than any other flower I would have been happy with tulips but he gave us tulips and roses and daffodils and pansies and and and carnations and there a lady here sorry but my knowledge of flower speak species or tides is not is not great I do know this men you ought to buy them oh yeah you ought to buy them and if you just buy them on Valentine's Day I don't think that means anything if you buy my birthdays that's good you shoesies buy them anytime just pick a day November the 3rd I don't know what that is just go buy some flowers oh this is for you I was in the supermarket line one day standing there holding some flowers and the lady in front of me she she noticed and she turned around and she said Oh what have you done wrong oh yeah I said lady I have discovered that if I buy enough of these I can do no wrong I can't figure out these marvels of nature let me share one with it that you don't know about it's the longfin eel of New Zealand these eels get pretty big you know at least they can it breeds once at the end of its life and then sorry before that when it's about to breed it swims from New Zealand to tongue on an island nation out in the Pacific now depending on which part of New Zealand you're traveling from that could be 1200 1400 1600 miles so this eel swims twelve fourteen sixteen hundred miles to Tonga to the warm waters around the islands of Tonga the eggs are laid the eggs are fertilized get this then the eggs drift they drift in the ocean most of the way back to New Zealand they hatch and then when those longfin eels get to the place that they're going to procreate they swim back to a place they'd never even been not like the salmon that were actually hatched in that stream they weren't just the eggs were laid and then the ocean carried them away hundreds of miles how does that happen it can only happen because God is marvelous that's the only reason now I have a confession to make I have no idea how this works I have no idea to me it's just a marvel I could press some buttons on here they're not even buttons you just press the screen on my goodness and before long I could be talking to my mother in New Zealand or my wife back in Chattanooga Tennessee to me it's just a marble now if you are electronically inclined or you're a techie of some sort then you gonna be able to explain that well I wouldn't even know where to begin you gonna be able to explain that this happens and that happens over I don't even understand how grass grows I mean I know that it does but but could you make it grow there's something to do with the earth and water and nutrients and the warmth of the Sun and the help from water but ultimately you've got to put this down to the fact it is a miracle of nature and it speaks to an Almighty God there are some things we just don't understand and then you know sometimes our lack of understanding can cause us challenges our lack of understanding our inability to see things from God's perspective sometimes trips us up our inability not God does but our inability or sometimes even our unwillingness to see things the way God sees things so I wonder if you would turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 24 the theme for camp meeting this year is sacrifice his and ours and so I want to gather around the the crucifixion story there are some men walking along a Judean Road 2,000 years ago it is Sunday Jesus had died on the Friday and the Word of God says in Luke chapter 24 beginning in verse 13 behold two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs a furlong as roughly 200 yards we're talking about 1200 yards call it 12 kilometers in American that's about seven and a half miles they were walking from Jerusalem back home seven or eight miles and they talked together of all these things which had happened and it came to pass that while they communed together and reason the Bible says that Jesus himself drew near you noticed this Jesus himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were Holden that should not know him now I don't want to fold them here it says their eyes will Holden you might extrapolate from that that God intervened and caused them to be unable to recognize that Jesus was with them you might think that whatever the reason they did not perceive that this was Jesus with them now this ought to make us stop and think how is it that Jesus can be walking alongside you to the exfol at rail he maybe even bumped against him his clothing would have switched against theirs and they didn't know that it was Jesus who was with them come on now are there times that Jesus is in your midst and you are uncertain you are unaware that Jesus is with you Jesus is working out his purposes in your life and you are and yet you are discouraged by what you see God is actively working and there are times that you will say why doesn't God even love me your wonder why you are in a mess when it's not a mess it's God's purposes being worked out in your life does the Potter tell the clay how it should be molded think of that pottery process end up in a kiln incredible heat now it's only clay and inanimate it's not feeling anything but but what a process and at the end of that process an unshapely lump of mud has been turned into something beautiful and useful and maybe very valuable think of Joseph Joseph who was in prison was God with Joseph yes or no was God with Joseph when his brothers sold him into slavery yeah was God with Joseph when Joseph was heading down there to Egypt sure he was was he with Joseph when he got the job at Potiphar's house yes was he with Joseph when that wicked woman tried it on yes he was was he with Joseph when he resisted temptation sure he was was he with Joseph when he got sent to prison oh absolutely was he with Joseph as Joseph was getting old sure he was was he with Joseph when he interpreted the dreams yes then when the men whose dreams he interpreted forgotten about him at least the one of them the one of them who wasn't thinking about much of anything after giving one time yes God was with Joseph and all of that but if that was you how might you been tempted to feel what in the world my family is against me what was taking place God's purposes were being worked out my family is against me how can my brothers do this to me I'll never see my father again what in the world what have I done wrong how have I offended you so badly that you are allowing this to happen to me can you imagine that ride that long ride from from there and Cain and all the way down to Egypt can you imagine how he felt Oh God why are you letting this happen to me can you imagine how he felt he gets down there he's working hard as boss loves him and then boss's wife does something she should not have done there's no way Joseph was gonna act we asked it to her demands her repeated demands how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God oh no hear what he's saying I am doing the right thing in the sight of God and then he winds up in prison how would you feel how would you feel to be wrongly accused to be imprisoned for something you hadn't done because you did what was right in the sight of God how would you feel oh here's an opportunity I'll do some guys a favor God has given me a gift and then you forgotten if God had said to Joseph listen I want to use you in an incredible way in a truly remarkable way maybe like I've never used anybody before but you're gonna go through some real hardship you're gonna go through rejection your family's gonna reject you you're gonna wind up in prison you're gonna be forgotten you're gonna feel like you forgot but I'm with you I'm with you the whole way and ultimately amazing things are gonna happen Joseph would have said poof okay happy to do it happy to do it and the whole time he's in prison he'd be like he had God is with me uh no God explained this to me on the way down in Egypt now as a slave it's okay because God's gonna do something great but God hadn't given him that assurance so how about you if God had said to you I've got something great for you to do but in the meantime you're gonna go through some hardship you would say that's all right bring it on your family will reject you but if it means I can do something great for your Lord that's okay with me you may end up in prison that's okay if it means I can do something great for you for you you're gonna save a nation the family is gonna come back together you'll do something so dramatic but thousands of years later they'll be talking about it at camp meeting you would say sign me up so how is it that we can know we are children of God and then have experiences and lives we just forget that and we become disconsolate and discouraged and depressed as a matter of fact God has already told you that his plan is to do something great in you and through you he's told you that he has assured you of that you've read Revelation chapter 18 verse 1 says though the whole world is lit up with a manifestation of the character of God God has said I want to use you to show the world what I'm like I want to use you to take the gospel to the world I want you to be exhibit a before the universe of what the grace of God can do in the life of a broken person God has given us that assurance we are on a journey towards heaven we are in the palm of God's hand we ought never ever let appearances suggest to us or convince us that God is not working God is working we read Romans 8 and verse 28 that says all things work together for good for those who love God those who are called according to his purpose do we believe it yes or no all right we're gonna act like we believe it how many things work together for good for good all things work together for good and you get the bad news that you are sick you have some illness you wonder whether you gonna make it will that work together for good yes or no yes it will doesn't mean you need to enjoy the experience but you don't need to believe for a moment that God is not with you you might suffer some kind of loss is God with you yes God is with you then you don't know how God is working it out you know I met a lady one day a tornado had ripped through her home I saw the home it was it was a mess walk in the kitchen and it's like walking outside there's roof is missing in a wall is missing the house is destroyed she lost everything worse not that long before her husband had died can you imagine her husband had died and now a tornado destroys the home and she and her children wonder what's gonna happen next well you know when a tornado comes folks can be helpful and somebody drove up and said is there anything I can do for you a man drove up and said is there anything I can do for you now if you're thinking you ought to see where the story is going now a tornado gotta be about the worst thing that can possibly happen in your life you know it's bad news house is destroyed the man said can I help and she said yeah you could help and so he helped and he came back his head can I help you again and she said yeah you can help again and and then he came up one day and said will you marry me and she said absolutely I've missed out some of the details here but what's God working in that tornado oh yeah I don't think she wants to go back pre tornado you see God God has purposes he's working them out it may not always feel that way but he is working them out you know when we ever get to the place that we can look back over our lives from an eternal perspective we would not choose to change anything we would say God got it right he got it all right and so we believe that God is getting it all right that's what we believe they were talking about these things which had happened their eyes were holding that they did not know Jesus was in image and so he said to them in verse 17 of Luke chapter 24 what manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad what are you talking about you deepened discussion here strangest sidles up alongside of him walks on that rocky road so what are you talking about and one of them whose name was clear pass answering said to him these are some of those who remarkable words in the whole Bible they absolutely are are you only a stranger in Jerusalem don't you know the things that have happened here in these last few days he was asking the star of the show don't you know what's happened here recently and I just wonder Jesus had a sense of humor and a sense of the moment I just wonder if he looked down the scars in his hands and thought to himself you know I do have a fair idea don't you even know what's happened out here man don't you know and so jesus answered and said what things what's happened explain tell on Wise Ones and they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth now you got to notice their words here concerning Jesus of Nazareth which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people ooh those words must have stung Jesus and now the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him but we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel and beside this today is the third day since all of these things were done they even go on to say yay and certain women also of our company made us astonished which were early at the sepulchre and when they found not as body they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive and certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it even so as the woman had said but him they saw not they weren't even listening to themselves were they there walking with Jesus and they are completely crestfallen and they're sad jesus said you are sad what's going on they said you don't know he said uh don't know what there was this man Jesus he was a prophet prophet are you kidding he was a prophet but he was more than that he was the Messiah they said we thought he was the one who would have redeemed Israel these were dark moments for clearpass and his friend dark moments but they need not have been dark moments they're talking through this thing this is the third day since it happened the third day you know what the third day in the Bible in Matthew chapter 27 I'll read you from verse 62 it says now the next day that followed the day of the preparation the chief priests and Pharisees came together to Pilate and they said sir we remember that the deceiver said while he was yet alive after three days I will rise again we need a watch of soldiers to go down and secure the tomb so that somebody can come and steal the body the heathens said after three days he had promised he would rise Jesus best friends didn't remember that at all they should have been saying hallelujah this is the day this is the third day they went down to the two he was not here he promised us that he would rise we don't know where he is but he's around here somewhere we're looking we're gonna see Jesus this should have been the happiest walk of their lives thanks to the Lord for the spring in their step oh man we're gonna seal again because this is day three can you believe it and they even said they went down to the tube and angels said that he was risen and somehow they just blocked that out of their intelligence they were so filled with their own discouragement that they could no longer hear the plainest statements of Jesus remarkable this remarkable how wrong were they now I understand there are some things that you find difficult to understand that's something sure and let me speak to that just for a moment I don't want to get off on too many tangents here but I'll say this there are some things in the Bible that are difficult to understand no question about it where did God come from okay you can't explain that one can you and it's just as well that you can't because if you could explain God he would suddenly be explainable he would be small he wouldn't be vast he wouldn't be supreme we just know that God has always been if you start to try and explain things that you don't have the ability to explain you end up getting in a your head doesn't mean we shouldn't think about these things we don't know much about heaven other than what we read in the Bible we don't know how it can be exactly where we don't know all of that but we accept it the plan of salvation how could Jesus enter somehow into the to the womb of a woman and grow as a baby as a as a fetus and then be born how in the world could that happen we don't know but we accept it we know it happened how it happened let God know he'll explain it to us one day if we need to know here's one way people get really upside down and that's on the subject of the Godhead or the Trinity this is unexplainable other than to say the the Godhead is a unity of three Co eternal persons the father has existed forever the son has existed forever the Holy Spirit has existed forever they are three individual beings yet they comprise one God if you leave it at that you can understand that but once you say mmm but how hmm but who mmm but really and you know what happens once you step off the platform of the word of God you're standing on very thin ice and it's not long before you're gonna break through unless you get to solid ground if there's something in the Word of God that you find difficult to understand take a run at it pray about it study it but don't let it cause you to doubt anything in the world it's as sure as night follows day that Jesus existed that God is in heaven that Jesus is coming again that the Word of God is reliable I'm not I'm not encouraging anybody who embrace ignorance and remain in the dark I don't mean that but when there's something that you find difficult to understand you ought to say hallelujah God is higher above me then then the heavens are above me we shouldn't be able to understand every last thing about God and when we start to make a muddle out of biblical mysteries we are resting the scriptures to our own destroy and so there are some questions that we'll have that we find hard to understand I don't mean mysteries now did you expect that you would have lived this long and Jesus still hadn't returned we all thought that Jesus would have been back before this and yet he hasn't come back does that mean he's not going to return he's still going to return when's Jesus gonna come back soon that's the right answer how soon is soon soon enough soon enough the timing of the second coming of Jesus is not our concern it doesn't matter now now hear me carefully it don't matter if Jesus doesn't come back for a thousand years I think that's impossible but if he chose to wait a thousand years we would simply say Amen and hallelujah why because Jesus himself told us what to do about the second coming of Jesus he tells a story it says he tells the story to a group of people this is Luke 19 who believed that the kingdom of God should immediately appear that would make them by definition Adventists right so he tells a group of Adventists a story they're expecting the kingdom any day now and he speaks of a nobleman who went into a far country and before he left he gathered his servants together and he gave them ten pounds and he said to them occupy till I come he didn't say when he was coming back he just said whenever it is you occupy now that word occupies the Greek word pragmatic you are mighty and it means be about your father's business or or or trade with these or be in business until Jesus comes all the nobleman comes back speaking about his own return Jesus didn't give us the time he said you'll see sign so that you can know it's near even at the doors but the issue isn't the question of timing that the issue is what do you do while you wait and Jesus said occupy if Jesus comes back next week and you are occupying you are about your father's business amen if it's five years and you are living for Jesus for those five years or ten or twenty or whatever it is it's immaterial let God decide on the timing we decide that we will be about our father's business on to Jesus comes back whenever that is can you say man don't need to get discouraged you don't need to lose heart you don't need to lose hope I've been waiting for decades and preachers said that he would have come back 50 years ago well thank the Lord he didn't because in those 50 years a whole lot more people got saved thank the Lord he didn't because this means that you can still pray for your children or your grandchildren who aren't in the faith you can still work for your neighbor you can still be an active part of the church sharing light and truth with your community amen we want Jesus to come back right away but if he does if he waits it just gives us time to be about his business what do you say no question about it he says occupy we don't want to get distracted we have not followed cunningly devised fables the Word of God is true these guys lost their hope they're walking to Emmaus that 7 mile journey this was a dark moment for them should have been a time of rejoicing there was a dark moment the Bible says that Jesus had to get their attention he said to them in verse 25 of Luke 24 Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken or not Christ have suffered these things and to enter into his glory what Messiah was supposed to go through the things that you've witnessed over the last couple of days really I mean how would they to know right all they had was the Old Testament but the Old Testament speaks about Jesus just as clearly as the New Testament does and he showed them that the Word of God says beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them and all the Scriptures the things concerning himself where did he start he started at Moses Moses wrote Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy and job not only Moses but who all the prophets who would that be be Daniel that be Isaiah that would be Jeremiah that would be Malachi right Malachi and so we went through the the first books of the Old Testament all the way through to the end starting at Moses and all the prophets he showed himself to them from the scriptures he started at Genesis where do you see Jesus in Genesis in the beginning God did what Jesus is the creator he's also the promised Redeemer of Genesis 3 and verse 15 Jesus is in the book of Genesis you turn to Exodus where do you see Jesus in Exodus Jesus was the Passover lamb in the book of Exodus Jesus it says was the rock even Paul writing to the Corinthians said the rock that followed them was Christ Jesus was the Lamb Jesus was the rock Jesus is in the book of Exodus and so clear pastner's and his brother they're listening oh how about that sure and then they get to the Book of Leviticus Jesus is the high priest in the Book of Leviticus there are 39 books in the Old Testament I'm not going to touch on every one of them but I'll touch on a few of them for you they get to Joshua where was Jesus in Joshua he was the captain of the Lord's host in judges he is the deliverer in Ruth he is the kinsman redeemer in Nehemiah he is building up what had been broken down he's the restorer of his people in Esther he's the protector in job Jesus is the Redeemer in Psalms he is comfort he is hope and he is the Messiah the crucified Messiah of Psalm 22 in proverbs he is wisdom in Ecclesiastes he is what is truly important in the Song of Solomon he is the one who loves us dearly in the Book of Isaiah he is the Messiah he's also a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief they're listening now he was despised and rejected of men they're listening now it pleased the Lord to bruise him the lights are coming on you mean that's Messiah surely he's right there for you to see in the old testament scriptures in Jeremiah lamentations he is the weeping prophet in Ezekiel he is the heart surgeon who says a new heart also will I give you he promises life in the place of death and a heart of flesh in the place of a heart of stone in the Book of Daniel where's Messiah he is the judge and where do you see Jesus they're out there on the plain of Dura they will not bow down there cast into a fiery furnace and where is Christ he's right there in the fire with his people Jesus identifies with you and when you are going through a hard time look around when you are having a dark moment Jesus is there he hasn't abandoned you his Providence has led you to that place and his deliverance will ultimately lead you from that place Jesus is there all the way through the Book of Daniel where else is Jesus in the book of Hosea he is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful in Joel He pours out his spirit honest people in a mosque he is the God of all nations in Micah he's the one who was born in Bethlehem in Haggai here's the desire of all nations in Zechariah he is the fountain for cleansing in Malachi he is the Sun of righteousness can you imagine what's going through their hearts now man how did we miss it we memorized that we taught it to our children we shared it with our friends surely this was Messiah all the time they had looked upon the death of Jesus as the destruction of all of their hopes not realizing that the death of Jesus was the fulfillment of all of their hopes Jesus showed them from the writings of the prophets that what had gone on over the last couple of days was the greatest evidence that they could ever hope for that he indeed the Messiah Jesus valued the Old Testament so much that he said if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead he's saying there's enough in the Old Testament to convinced him that I am the Messiah and here in the dark moments clear pass and his friend were walking the road to Emmaus the bottom had fallen out of their world listen to their language we thought that he was the one who was gonna deliver right there in their words was the unspoken thought you could even call it the spoken for how wrong were we our hopes had been in this Jesus but because it didn't turn out the way we thought it should clearly we were wrong imagine imagine all those great Saints and pioneers who died having spent their whole life proclaiming the return of Jesus well he hadn't come back was there something wrong with their understanding no no they understood right Jesus was coming back soon was there something wrong with their interpretation of the Bible no no no certainly Jesus was going to come back to this earth there was nothing wrong other than they didn't have the ability to see from God's perspective that's all and when you can't see from God's perspective that doesn't mean that you ought to abandon your hope hang on to your hope the Word of God doesn't suddenly turn from a truth teller to a liar I remember heading home from 3abn this is when it is written was still in California a novice I was flying we can drive here from Chattanooga I like that had to fly all the way to Los Angeles you know and so I was I was hidden back it was a Sunday morning I guess and I don't know for whatever reason I was running short on time and I had a rental car to return and I did not know where to find the rental car place I didn't have a clue you know often you can just drive and say I think I know where that is not this time then I would had to drop off the radio car deal with the rental car agency get on the bus take the bus over to st. Louis st. Louis like the security lines are you would even believe them I don't understand how some airports can be so efficient and others can be so inefficient st. Louis often those lines are long as long can be so I thought to myself I cannot afford to waste time I cannot be late I cannot miss this thing and so I called my wife I said Melissa I'm heading towards st. Louis I got to get the car back to the rental car place I don't know where it is could you please tell me so she opened up the computer open up the maps and typed in where I was typed in st. Louis found the rental car agency and she said okay you're gonna get down to this road I forget what number when you get it go south I said no no no don't come on now no the rental car agency is on the north side of the freeway if you know the lay of st. Louis you know what's that freeway that runs you is at 80 70 80 it's 70 are you sure at 70 all right whatever let's call it 70 if I'm reppin if I'm wrong it's their fault and she get on 70 and go towards the airport and the airport is on the north side of 70 my wife is telling me go south I said no honey I can't be going south it's north no no I'm I'm looking at it right here go south my wife how to put this delicately she not great with maps if I could just put it that way not great with maps if she was a salmon she would never find that stream not happy and so I'm a little skeptical she said you gotta go south I said Melissa it's north so can you find me a road that goes north she said no the road definitely goes south I'm looking at a map right here I said yeah but maybe you're holding the computer upside down she's a no go south I looked at the sign this road that she's talking about is one mile away and the speed I was driving is about 20 seconds I said sweetie I don't have time for to be wrong here you better be right and she said get on that road you go south she said there's one thing you're forgetting she said I can see the big picture okay I got up there I took a left I went south and you know an amazing thing happened she said now you see what's up ahead I didn't say anything she said you see it don't you I didn't say anything she said you go ahead and you take that road so I went south I got off the off-ramp and turned around and went north how about that she could see the big picture God sees the big picture these brothers were walking to Emmaus they said we thought this was the one who's going to redeem Israel oh man how long could we be they had the prophecies they had the angels they had the women they said some of our brothers went on down to the tomb and he wasn't there they should have been able to put two and two together and celebrate but instead they were discouraged because of what they saw they couldn't understand how how a seven can find its way back so they said must be evolution instead of trusting that what God says is right and that what God predicts will be carried out they abandoned their hope ran off with a fable ran off with a lie a lie of the devil it's the devil who wanted them to believe that Jesus was not with them when he was right there beside them verse 28 they drew nigh unto the village whether they went and as he made and he made as though he would have gone further but they constrained him saying abide with us they constrained him they compelled him they Timm some of us we don't urge Jesus to stay we don't go to the Bible and we don't say like Jacob I will not make you go unless you bless me we miss so many blessings and so he came in abide it stalled evening the day as far spent he went in to tarry with them it came to pass as he sat at meet with him set to eat with them he took bread and blessed and broke and gave it to them and said oh my goodness that's like what Jesus used to do he handed them bread what did they see nail prints how can you believe it can you believe it their eyes were open they knew it was him I imagine they rushed to fall at his feet the Bible says he vanished out of their sight now all those started to make sense they said to each other did our heart not burn with us didn't our hearts burn with us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened us up to us the scriptures man now we understand that was Jesus the whole time of course it was his voice his mannerisms his his form how could we miss him you miss a lot when you allow yourself to get dragged down into discouragement you miss a lot when you allow dark moments to overtake your lives this is not to say that we shouldn't mourn of course we should mourn when it's time to mourn we think that in doers for a night joy comes in the morning God is good you struggle with diagnosis you struggle with financial situations you struggle with rejection these are dark moments but up above the darkness of the sky there sits God and all his brilliant splendor there sits God above the circle of the earth he is still God irrespective of where we find ourselves dark moments they were simply looking at it all the wrong way dark moments what did they do they rose up the same hour they got up and they went back to Jerusalem their just walked seven miles and they turn around and walk seven miles again I think maybe this time they ran and you know they'd already said stay it's getting dark now stay in the dark they didn't have flashlights they couldn't take out their cell phone and put on that little spotlight thing I don't know how they navigated that that path in the dark but they did and they found the 11 together and then that were with them and they said the Lord is risen indeed he's appeared to Simon and they told what things were done in the way and how he was known of them in breaking of bread 1 if you'd open your eyes and look around around your circumstances around your life and see where Jesus is is he with you yes or no and when they discovered it was really Jesus what did they do they got up they ran at some difficulty it must be added and they told others he's alive He is risen he's really with us coming out whatever life has done with you whatever dark moments you have had you've come to this place where you know that he is alive and he is with you and if we would be true to this passage of Scripture what's incumbent upon us is to get up and go tell somebody that he's alive let's tell somebody that he's alive Jesus is coming back soon when we don't know but between now and then we know he's alive he's with us our hearts have burned he's with us let's follow the example of these brothers go tell somebody he's alive come on let's pray we're out of time let's pray our Father we thank you today that in our dark moments you are with us in our challenges you are there even when we can't see you we can know you we're encouraged by this story he's alive drive us to tell somebody he's alive and let us live by that hope we pray with thanks and love in our hearts towards you and Jesus name let's say amen amen and amen [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 8,833

Rating: 4.9540229 out of 5

Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, John Bradshaw, it is written, Bible Study, preaching, Danny Shelton

Id: aNBSdR1FPMQ

Length: 58min 16sec (3496 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 13 2017