February 7, 2021 - Open Eyes, Open Hearts // Luke 24:13–35

[Music] [Music] hey there welcome to summit online this is where you'll find the weekend worship experience coming right to where you are in fact we have two ways to watch first you can access the full worship service on demand on our youtube channel so don't forget to subscribe this is a great option for families watching together or maybe you miss the weekend service and want to catch up later in the week second we host a live service on sundays at 9 or 11 a.m at live.summitchurch.com we never want you to worship alone so this is an awesome opportunity to connect with a digital community through the live chat option plus we have hosts actual humans ready to connect with you answer any questions or pray with you in our digital chat rooms if this is your first time joining us i am so glad that you are here in fact i believe god has a purpose in you being here today here at the summit we exist to create a movement of disciple making disciples here in the raleigh-durham area and around the world we pray this worship service allows you to grow deeper as a disciple of jesus christ that's what this is all about the good news of jesus so our service will begin shortly but before it does i want to let you know about all the ways that you can engage with us today first our desire is that families would watch this service together so we offer resources for all ages including today's sermon transcript as well as kids and student notes for your families to follow along second you can give financially all that you give goes towards all that we do to propel the mission of god forward and finally we don't want you to worship alone so can you think of someone that might want to join you today go ahead and text a friend and ask them to tune in with you for resources ways to give opportunities to connect and a free download for our first time guests you can text next steps to 33933 or visit summitchurch.com nextsteps we look forward to worshiping with you [Music] today [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey summit family and a special greeting to our guest here in fact if you are new here i want you to pull out your phone right now and text the word welcome to 33933 so that we can follow up with you and get you connected to our church our staff would love to just say hey to you get to know you better and know how we can serve you now if you call the summit home i just want to say thank you to you for your ongoing generosity even in the midst of this pandemic and lockdown and all the confusion just this past year because of your generosity we've given over 300 thousand dollars through serve rdu to meet needs in our community we financially assisted 150 different families we've given over two hundred thousand dollars in financial assistance to people in our community seventy five thousand dollars to help with food resources and fifty thousand dollars to help struggling church plants um around the country that didn't have the luxury of having a big congregation to fall back on if you want to continue to give and be a part of these and many other exciting things you can set up a one-time gift or a recurring gift by texting the word give to 33933 well i also want to say to you happy black history month summit family you know we celebrate the beauty and the rich culture that our black brothers and sisters bring into our community and into our church to all of our black brothers and sisters i want you to know that we love you and we celebrate you and we're glad that we can all be one in christ jesus one family of different ethnicities united around the gospel of jesus christ i have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted every hill and mountains shall be made low the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the lord shall be revealed and all searched shall see it together this is our hope this is the faith that i go back to the software with this faith we will be able to work together to pray together to struggle together to go to jail together to stand up for freedom together it's from our differences which god gave to us as gifts that we can pursue the world dr king just described a precursor to revelation 7 where every tribe nation and tongue are united to god and one another as forever family it is out of this truth that we are able to sing these words together lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring ring with the harmonies let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies let it resound loud as the roaring sea sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us singing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us facing the rising sun of our new day begun let us march on to victory is one god of our weary's god of our silent tears thou who has brought us thus far on the way thou who has by thy might let us into the light keep us forever in the path we pray last our feet stray from the places our god where we met thee last our hearts drunk with the wine of the world we forgive thee shadowed beneath may we forever stand true to our god true to our native land who am i that the highest king wouldn't welcome me i was lost but he brought me in all his love for [Music] his grace runs deep while i was a slave to sin jesus died for me yes he died for [Music] yes i am [Applause] in my father's house there's a place [Applause] [Music] i am who you say i [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] there's a place [Applause] [Music] there's a place for me i'm a child of god yes i am i am a child of god [Music] i am not against i am [Music] amen amen summit family this is our mission whether you're uh an adult or a kid shout out to all the students all the kids and kids ministry who are tuning in right now this is our mission doesn't matter what age you are this is for all of us our mission is that following the holy spirit we exist to create a movement of disciple making disciples in rdu and around the world that's what we're all about here and today we're going to talk more about being a disciple making disciple see i believe that a christian is not just someone who worships jesus but someone who lives to see jesus worshipped the closer you follow christ the more god makes your heart like his and his heart is that his glory would fill the earth his heart is that all people would would be saved and would worship him like 1st timothy 2 verse 4 says so how does that happen the only way that happens is by the gospel the good news of jesus christ and what he's done for us in his life and his death and his resurrection in our place it's that news that's the only that's the only way people can be saved is through that news so the gospel is the key that unlocks the door of god being worshipped everywhere but for us to get that gospel to people we have to cherish it we have to make it it has to be the greatest treasure the obsession of our lives of our hearts first it's as we sing the gospel that's my hope for us that god would just cause us to be overwhelmed to be obsessed all over again [Music] in christ alone my hope is found he is my light my strength and my soul this cornerstone this solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm what heights of love what dance of peace when fears are still when striving cease my comforter my all in all hearing the love of christ i stand in christ alone who took on flesh in christ alone who took on flesh fullness of god in helpless bait this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to say till on that cross as jesus died the wrath of god was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in [Music] [Music] his body lay light of the world by darkness and bursting forth in glorious again [Applause] and as he says in victory since curse has lost he is no guilt in life no fear and death this is the power of christ in me from life's first cry till final breath jesus commands my destiny no power [Music] i said [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] summit family you know one thing i will never grow tired of and i i never ever want us to become numb to is seeing god's miraculous power to save at work in and through our community here listen to this just last weekend we know of at least 20 people who made professions of faith and committed their lives to jesus christ at least 20 people who repented of their sins and were saved could we just celebrate that for a moment one area i am personally thankful for in 2021 is that god has given us a clear vision of who we are as a church and who we are as disciple making disciples our mission our mission is following the holy spirit we exist to create a movement of disciple making disciples in the triangle and around the world every disciple of jesus is a worshiper a member of god's family a servant to others a steward of god's resources and a witness to the world as disciples of jesus christ we are the five identities simultaneously and each identity is important essential in our pursuit of the christian life in light of this clear vision and direction i am greatly expected of what god wants to do in and through us as disciples making disciples this year now very specifically here's what you need to know this february i am asking everyone i am calling everyone who calls the summit church home to make a commitment to being a disciple-making disciple we're calling this my discipleship commitment we believe this is a unique time for each of us to make a personal commitment to growing as a disciple-making disciple we've always been committed to this and i know many of you have been living this out for years so whether you're brand new to it or whether this is just a renewal let's commit together to being disciple making disciples and so towards the end of this month february i'm going to be calling our entire church during a weekend service to join me in making this commitment this renewal however before you commit i want to encourage you to take some time to prayerfully consider what this commitment means we're going to be talking about it in in our weekend services and in the weeks to come and our small groups but i want to give the holy spirit a chance to make this real to you today so i want you to join me over the next week or so to in asking the holy spirit to show us how he wants to use us as a disciple making disciples now while my discipleship commitment is going to be for everyone there is something coming up that is special for only the ladies of the summit church and that is our summit women's conference on march 5th and 6th this is an event for for for the women at all of our summit campuses of whatever age to grow together as worshipers of god and family members with one another there are both in-person and online options as we hear our our teacher and speaker jada edwards teach through the realities of our new life in christ and the joys the joys of abundant life that come through abiding in him you can get more info and you can register today at summitwomensconference.com now this weekend we are honored to welcome back one of our favorite all-time preachers here at the summit church who we actually haven't seen in quite a few years he is truly one of my best friends of going on over two decades you know real friends show their their faithfulness over time and clayton king has certainly done that for me clayton has been with me through thick and thin in fact when i first started preaching i wanted to be him he's one of the most unique individuals on the planet he is super funny he is wicked smart he is incredibly godly and really country i always say if jeff foxworthy billy graham and dwayne the rock johnson somehow had a kid together it would be clayton king now when you see him you might mistake him for another one of our favorite preachers and that is joby martin here let me show you so as you can see they're both bold and when you hear them you'll realize they are both extremely country and let's face it either of them could easily be mistaken in an airport for pro wrestler stone cold steve austin or maybe a bald garth brooks well listen there actually might be good reason for their similarities clayton was adopted as a baby and over the past couple of years he has begun finding members of his biological family through the course of discovering sisters aunts uncles nephews and nieces clayton discovered that he had a cousin who was a preacher named you guessed it joby martin like the bible says the force must be extremely strong with his family or maybe that's not the bible but enough about jovi clayton is the president and founder of clayton king ministries a para church organization that serves churches and the next generation all over the country while also serving as one of the teaching pastors at new spring church in south carolina he and his wife shari have two boys jacob and joseph the oldest of which seems to be following in his father's footsteps again the force is strong here he is an anointed man of god he's one of the greatest evangelists of our generation in fact i know of multiple members of our church who came to know christ through clayton's preaching either here at the summit or somewhere that he engaged them in the community summit family would you put your hands together and help me welcome our friend pastor clayton king [Applause] it's good to be back at the summit i have so much history here pastor jd and i met in the 1900s he was a student at campbell and i just graduated from gardner-webb campbell is where you go when you don't have the grades to get into gardner-webb and jd and i became immediate friends and now for 25 years i can honestly say that pastor jd is one of the godliest and most consistent steadfast faithful and humble men of integrity i've ever met in my life and i knew this church when it was still called homestead heights back in the day so it is really really good to be back thank you jd for your friendship and for the way that you inspire me there's no better gospel preacher there's no better pastor the bible says that we should give honor to those who teach and preach and there is no better teacher and preacher of this book the bible than pastor jd and i am honored to be able to preach here at the summit today for the next two and a half to three hours so i hope that you are ready to hear a word from the lord i do greet you from new spring church also from the great state of south carolina my wife shari my two boys jacob and jojo said hello and uh this is just a real treat for me to get to get a phone call from jd to say hey give me uh some time and come and preach to our folks here at the summit i'm so proud of what god is doing here at this church i'm so proud of how god is using this church to be disciples who are making disciples and you are literally impacting the world uh you've already seen that joby martin and i are cousins also found this out if you if you take notes which i hope you take notes and if you're taking notes the title of my message is very simple open eyes open hearts that's what i want to talk about from the gospel loop we're in this series called in step where we're looking at jesus through the eyes of luke luke who by the way wrote um almost as much if not more by word count than the apostle paul in the new testament luke who wrote the gospel of luke and then finished it up with the part two which is called the book of acts or acts of the apostles i like to call it acts of the holy spirit myself and luke shows us some things about jesus from the perspective of a medical doctor with a king offered detail also from the perspective of potentially a gentile someone that was outside of the jewish faith and i am excited to be able to preach tonight this message from the gospel of luke as we continue in this series one of the things i found out i had my eyes and my heart opened recently when as pastor jd has already announced i was able to find and locate my biological family i always knew that i was adopted growing up i thought it was cool and special because my parents told me it was cool and special there was a bully in elementary school in the first grade and he was making fun of me one day i brought a polaroid picture to show and tell and i showed them the picture of my mom and dad and i told them that i was adopted i told them the whole story and this bully in the first grade he was an eighth grader that had been held back a few years and he was picking on me and he said i'll never forget this is exactly what he said right in the middle of class he said um you must have been the ugliest baby ever born because your mom took one look at you and said i don't want him and she gave you away now even as a first grader that hurt i had a pretty good self-esteem great mom and dad but that hurt my mom who adopted me my real mom she she picked me up at school that day now this was i don't know 1980 1981 and she drove a long yellow ford ltd it was registered in three counties it was so big and i got in the front seat with her no seat belt and uh she could tell i was upset she said what's wrong with you and i lied i said nothing and she said was it that big bully michael was he picking on you again because he had a habit of doing this i said yes ma'am she said what did he say to you i said well i took my picture for show and tell and i told the whole school my whole class at least about being adopted how wonderful that was and michael said i was an ugly baby and that my mom didn't want to keep me because i was so ugly and my mom was five foot four from fountain inn south carolina as country as cornbread married to a baptist deacon sang in the choir on sunday morning even used to wear a robe in the choir i want to paint a picture for this petite little gentle southern belle named jane king who looked at me and with all of the love and compassion and grace of a true southern mama she looked at me and she said i'll kill him tomorrow and once my mom calmed down and decided not to murder a first grader she said you go to school tomorrow and you tell that big bully that his parents got stuck with him and they couldn't give him back but we got to pick you out like going to the pet store and picking out the cutest puppy we took one look at you and we said we want that one right there now i was in the first grade and i want to i want to draw your attention to the scripture that i'm about to read with that true story my mom then spoke prophetically to me she did not know she was prophesying but she was and my mom said to me son you're ours we adopted you and there's going to come a moment in your life son where you're going to be adopted again you're going to be adopted in the family of god my mom said there's going to come a time in your life and we're praying that it's soon where the holy spirit opens your eyes to the love of jesus and opens your heart to the gospel and when that happens you're gonna get saved and she said me and your dad can already see a call on your life we know that god's hand is on you and when he opens your eyes and he opens your heart you'll understand what it really means to follow jesus that was one of the first memories i have of my in my entire life of feeling the holy spirit begin to open up my understanding like you know in the old cartoons when when the little when the little light bulb would pop up over somebody's head and they just began to understand it that was a moment for me where i began to listen for to look for to try to somehow as much as i could as a little kid discern what it was going to be like for me to one day be adopted into the family of god i knew how special it was to have the love of my mom and the love of my dad i knew how special it was that they chose me i didn't choose them that they picked me i didn't pick them and i began to dream about what it might feel like one day to know that kind of love from god and so that's what i want to do in this series today at summit church is i want to for every single campus and for those of you watching at home right now if you need to put your coffee down and go get a copy of your bible if you need to get out your phone if you're watching on your ipad or whatever i if you have a copy of god's word i want you to read this along with me because this is literally my favorite story in the bible and i'm not saying that because i'm just preaching it tonight this is literally my go-to passage i love this scripture i'm going to read it straight through from luke chapter 24 verses 13 and following and we're going to see how jesus opens hearts and how jesus opens eyes and it's so fun for me because this series is called in step and we're literally going to see jesus take thousands of steps with two men who need to have their eyes and their hearts opened in this passage of scripture thousands of literal physical steps as they walk seven miles side by side on resurrection sunday okay luke chapter 24 verse 13. now that same day two of them were going to a village called emmaus about seven miles from jerusalem side note this is a real place i've been there i've been to israel nine or ten times now and this is a real place and that road is still there at least in parts today verse 14 these two men were talking with each other about everything that had happened and 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 in last week's message we heard the story of zacchaeus and how zacchaeus climbed up in a tree to try to see jesus and in luke's gospel when he tells stories about people who meet jesus there always seems to be something between that person and jesus there always seems to be a distraction or a roadblock or something that a barricade of sorts these two men are walking home from jerusalem to their city their village of emmaus it's a seven mile walk and this is let me set the tone for you before i continue this is resurrection sunday jesus has literally just raised from the dead this is not like the second easter the 10th easter the 2000th easter this is the original this is the easter morning now before i go a little bit further i want to draw your attention to this if i were trying to save the world build a platform if i was trying to preach a good news message the gospel i would just in my own flesh i would think if if i am raised from the dead i do not spend my victory lap walking with two random guys to a no-name village seven miles from jerusalem if i wake up alive on easter sunday morning after i was just crucified and murdered by sinners three days earlier i'm going to the temple i'm going to appear on the steps i'm going to show the whole world here's who i am i'm going to announce to the whole world right here right now that i am the son of god that i am resurrected from the dead but you know that's the difference between you and jesus and me and jesus he's god we're not he decided to go pursue two guys and spend the whole day with them and the irony is they're talking about jesus when jesus just happens to appear and walk with them and as they walked and talked together about these things jesus appeared in verse 16 says they were kept from recognizing him now we understand the awkwardness of the moment we also understand that jesus is about to actually do the original jesus juke he is about to go in for their sake and for ours verse 17 jesus asked them what are you discussing together as you walk along um i just want to point this out jesus knew exactly what they were talking about jesus never asks you a question because he needs you to tell him something he doesn't know he's god he knows it all he knows everything he is sovereign he is omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient there is nothing that jesus doesn't know he even understands math which blows my mind because i think math is like a tool of satan to destroy the universe because it's so confusing and i think all the answers are 666 i'm just not a math guy jesus is not asking them this question for his sake he's asking it for their sake and they answer the bible says they stood still their faces downcast and one of them answered his name was cleopas he's the only one that's named and he asked jesus a question are you only a visitor to jerusalem and you do not know the things that have happened there in these days what things jesus asked and the story begins to progress and they respond to jesus question 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's the third day since all this took place in addition some of our women amazed us they went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body they came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive then some of our companions we know that was peter and john and some of the disciples so these men were well acquainted with the 12 disciples they were probably among the 70 plus disciples they had already heard the story some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said but they didn't see jesus and then jesus said to them verse 25 how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken did not the christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory verse 27 and beginning with moses now moses when he when they begin with moses that means genesis genesis exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy the first five books the torah the pentateuch i just i just read i'm not i'm not boasting because i don't think i retained any of it but one of our pastors at our church brad challenged some of our pastors to do this thing at the beginning of the year because at new spring where i'm a pastor we're calling this the year of the bible and and we have over almost 20 000 people in our church who are reading the bible this year and we expect to see a revival like we've never experienced at new spring church because of it and brad challenged us to do this thing called the 30-day shred we read the whole bible a group of us in 30 days 30 days now i didn't read all of it i also got a guy on the youversion app to read it to me in a scottish accent it's a lot easier to do it that way if you get tired of scottish go to british if you get tired of british go to irish and you get tired of that there's all kind of other accents to pick and one of the things that i realized reading through the books of moses is there's already a foreshadowing about jesus starting in genesis chapter 3. when the prophecy is spoken that the serpent will will bruise his heel but he will crush his head jesus starts in genesis and starts right there in the books of moses and he gives them a bible study beginning with moses and all the prophets he explained to them what was said and all the scriptures concerning himself they had a personal bible study from the god that wrote the bible this is really ironic to me jesus who is the gospel is preaching the gospel to cleopas and his friend the gospel declares the gospel to these men they get a bible study from jesus but then the seven miles is up there at their house their destination is there supper's on the table they're hungry verse 28 says as they approach the village to which they were going jesus acted as if he were going to go farther but they urged him strongly stay with us for it is nearly evening the day is almost over so jesus went in to stay with them they invited jesus in and jesus said yes jesus will always come where he's invited jesus will always say yes when he's asked romans 10 13 says anyone that calls on the name of the lord will be saved so jesus comes into their home and this is where the story gets extremely powerful when he was at the table with them verse 30 jesus took bread gave thanks 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 then they got up and returned at once to jerusalem and then they found the eleven and those with them assembled together and saying it is true the lord has risen and has appeared to simon and then these two told what happened to them on the way and how jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread there's so much i could say and so little time to say it all so i hope the spirit of god will guide me to say the most important things for you watching at home for you at a summit campus today because in this passage of scripture we see eyes and we see hearts we see their eyes open we see their hearts burning their eyes are open their hearts are burning this is how god works god has to open our blind eyes to his love god has to stir up our hearts people ask me all the time why are you a christian and i could go into a long apologetic discourse but the quick answer i give people i'm a christian for two reasons i learned this in seminary from one of my professors because it makes sense and it feels right it just makes sense and it just feels right and no one can be a christian unless god through his spirit opens eyes and touches hearts we know that to be true but the point of this story is how jesus was willing in his please i'll miss this jesus was willing in his mercy and his grace to go after two guys who wanted to know the truth he could have walked right into the middle of the pharisees and the sadducees big quorum meeting he could have walked into the temple and he could have called down angels he could have stirred up a storm he could have called down fire jesus had all authority all power but instead of showing off his glory which was rightly his that day by a show of force and power he showed off his glory that day by going after two men whose hearts were burdened and whose eyes were blinded and i'm telling you i've seen it for 35 years in my life i've seen jesus still do this still to this day he does this i want to point out a few things to you from this scripture number one talking about jesus doesn't mean you know jesus talking about jesus doesn't mean you know jesus these two guys are talking about jesus they do not know jesus in 1995 the year i graduated from college i went to louisiana i was preaching a revival at walker baptist church and i'm in a car with my friend named jared jared was a rugby player for a little while jared you know my bill big guy and jared and i are in the car and and and we saw a hitchhiker in louisiana and i said jared let's pull over and pick up the hitchhiker he's like oh you don't pick up hitchhikers in louisiana they'll kill you and i'm like what would jesus do that's why jesus juked him we pick up the hitchhiker hitchhiker gets in the front seat i get in the back seat because i convinced jared that if the hitchhiker tried anything because i watched pro wrestling growing up i would know exactly how to put him out of his misery i'd do the ric flair figure four from the back seat i put him in the sleeper hole like hulk hogan i know how to protect myself in louisiana they're scared of hitchhikers in south carolina we ain't scared long story short the guy's name was joe we start talking i asked joe where he's from he said angola now you don't know this if you're not from louisiana but there's only one thing called angola in louisiana it's the state penitentiary where the death row inmates are held i said how long have you been gone from angola he said well what time is it and and we didn't know if this guy had been let out of angola or if he'd escaped from angola and then he starts asking us for drugs he's like you guys got any weed you guys got any shrooms you got any you got any acid how about cocaine and you know i'm a preacher and i'm always looking for a good story i'm also an evangelist and so from the back seat i'm like joe we don't we don't have any weed but we got something way better than weed and jared who's a pastor's son is looking at me in the rearview mirror like what have you been hiding from me clayton and uh and joe goes what do you have i said better than weed he goes oh man you you guys got cocaine i'll ride the white horse i'm like this is better than cocaine and at this point jared's just shaking his head like oh all of my faith in god has just been rattled clayton king is a drug dealer i wasn't a drug dealer i was just trying to get joe to listen to me because i want to share the gospel with him and so one thing leads to another and he's like well come on man i haven't had anything in so long and i'm ready to get high and party with you young guys what do you guys have and i said joe what we have is free of charge and you never come down and it just keeps getting better and better and better and it's actually called jesus and i i thought i was going to have this epic moment where i get to lead this guy to jesus right there in the card and joe looks at me from he turns around in the seat looks at me and goes jesus i've been in the pen a long time i've never heard of him and roll it up and i'll smoke it with you boys he literally he literally thought jesus was a drug that that's that's my hitchhiker's story but for a lot of people maybe you that's your jesus story we talk a lot about jesus democrats talk about jesus republicans talk about jesus former president trump talked about jesus current president biden talks about jesus ronald reagan talked about jesus george washington talked about jesus everybody talks about jesus but if this story proves anything it should prove to you that talking about jesus doesn't mean that you know him it doesn't mean you know him i can talk about calculus i don't know it don't understand it don't want to and the same is true when it comes to the son of the living god these men are talking about jesus but they didn't have a full understanding of the good news of the gospel and so jesus pursues them which brings me to my second point and i don't want you to miss this if you're looking for jesus he will show himself to you if you're looking if you want to see jesus if you want to hear jesus if you want to experience jesus maybe one of our campuses today or maybe you're like in the passenger seat of a car watching this on a phone or maybe you're in your bedroom or you're sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of hot chocolate or tea or coffee whatever if you really want jesus to reveal himself to you i give you my word based on the scripture he will find a way to reveal himself to you i can tell you story after story i've been to 50 countries not 15 50 5-0 i'm into 50 countries and i have seen holy men that have studied their whole lives in tibetan buddhism in the in the in the mountains of the himalayas in north india i've walked into their villages and they have asked us are you the people who have come to tell us about jesus and did you bring his book and we knew missionaries had never been there why did jesus appear to that tibetan buddhist monk in a dream because that tibetan buddhist monk really wanted to know god he was open these men want to know jesus they're open to it and jesus appears jesus comes to them jesus reveals himself he shows himself to them if you really want to know jesus he'll reveal himself if you really want to find life jesus is the source peace jesus is the source forgiveness jesus is the source hope jesus is the source and he'll reveal himself to you so my full name is clayton ryan king it's the name that my parents gave me when i was adopted when i was 14 i gave my life to jesus and i was on my knees um on at an altar in a small little pentecostal church in greer south carolina and i'm praying to receive christ and while i am literally literally asking jesus to save me from my sins i sensed i actually i was gonna say it i heard a voice tell me to preach the gospel and i didn't know any better so i said yes i'll do it so i'm 14 i'm in the eighth grade and my great aunt had a prison ministry because i went to church i was just lost i didn't know jesus i knew about jesus so my great-aunt invites me to go to the prisons with her maximum and minimum security prisons so i'm 14 years old and i'm walking in to prison to like teach bible studies to inmates and one night at a small prison in my home near my hometown my aunt says get up and give your testimony tonight get up and preach so i'll get up and share my testimony and preach and i just gave an invitation i'd seen my pastor do it before so i gave an invitation and some men came down this is how god will reveal himself to you i just want to show it to you in my own life i was really struggling with whether or not god had called me to to preach or be an evangelist and i and i just needed something i needed god to affirm it to me in some way because i had other dreams i was pursuing sports and specifically football and i had my life planned out and then here comes the gospel and here comes the grace of god and now i'm like um there's no preachers in my family but i'm up there preaching and i give an invitation and these prisoners come forward to the altar and so i ended up praying with one of them so there were men that started praying with the prisoners from our team and i pray with a guy long long curly hair and we sat down on the ground and i let him in the sinners prayer and when we get done praying i said hey man congratulations you need to get baptized now by the way what's your name i never asked him his name i said what's your name he said well my name's ryan i said that's cool my middle name is ryan and he goes really well wow because your name's clayton right i said yeah he goes my middle name is clayton i was like what are the chances and then just just for kicks and giggles i said what's your last name he said king and you can just say that that's the circumstance or that that's just you know kind of random but i know in my heart that my good heavenly father was pursuing me in step with me my whole entire life from the moment i was i was spared from abortion when my mom got pregnant with me and knew that she couldn't keep me and decided to give me a life and not take my life god had been walking with me jesus had been in step with me the whole entire time and my name is clayton ryan king and the first person i got to lead to jesus was ryan clayton king you know what i could stay here all night and tell you more stories just like that bigger crazier weirder that would blow your mind but nothing tops the one in luke 24 where jesus himself spends the whole day with these guys because he wants to explain to them so that their eyes can be opened and that is the final point i want to make from this scripture no matter how close jesus is you're blind until your eyes are opened and that's not a bad thing it's just true no matter how close jesus is i grew up close to jesus my whole life but i did not see him my eyes were blind i went to church my whole life my dad was a deacon and i went to a baptist church as a kid my parents were southern baptists my i went to a presbyterian christian school for 11 years my grandfather was pentecostal can we just pause for a second and can y'all just let that sink in i was raised baptist presbyterian and pentecostal i need serious counseling and therapy if i being baptist presbyterian pentecostal you know what it means right i was predestined to speak in tongues while eating fried chicken and drinking wine at an elder's meeting oh come on people that's funny i don't care what campus you're at but my eyes were blo literally like these guys my eyes were blind until i heard the gospel until i heard the good news until god did something in me my eyes were open my heart was open and i responded and that's what happens to these guys but i want to show you how this is what i believe happened i believe this with all my heart jesus comes inside their home when they open the door revelation 3 20. jesus himself says i stand at the door and i knock and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i will come in and have fellowship with them they invite jesus in and he comes he always says yes he sits at the table with them a sign of trust a sign of intimacy a sign of friendship and here's here's where it really gets interesting the bible says jesus took the bread he prayed and gave thanks he broke the bread and he gave it to them when were their eyes open when was their heart open i don't know when this moment was for you for me i was 14 at an altar in greer i don't know if it's for you tonight like today like right here in your life like you might be watching this three weeks after i preach it at midnight because you're an insomniac you you might be watching this two years after i preach it or you might be at one of our campuses right now sitting in that seat right there and something is beginning to stir in your heart you know what these men said did our hearts not burn within us when he opened the scriptures to us as we walked along the road but the moment that their hearts were open their hearts had been burning inside of them but their eyes were open and the scales fell off their heart was completely open to the gospel when jesus breaks the bread and gives it to them and i can't prove it but i just have a hunch that here's what happened the bread of life jesus christ takes the bread and breaks it how crazy is that jesus the bread of life breaks the bread and gives it to them but i just want you to watch my hands just watch me this is not rocket science this occurred to me one morning in a deer stand seriously i'm i'm reading this and i have a mental image of what it looked like in the moment that jesus did this he he breaks the bread and he he hands it to them and what do they see they see the scars of a roman crucifixion on his wrists they see the only human being [Music] to ever walk around breathing after nine inch long rusted bloody recycled railroad spikes were driven through his wrists they see the scars the same ones that thomas will be invited by jesus to touch with his own hands they see the scars the same ones that john will say in 1st john chapter 1 that which we have seen with our eyes heard with our ears touched with our hands we proclaimed to you when they saw the scars of a crucifixion boom like a lightning bolt their eyes are open their hearts are open and they realize this is him and everything he said is true and he is alive and he kept his promise and these men get up at dark and walk seven miles right back to where they just came from to testify as witnesses we've seen the risen christ the women were right peter and john were right we've seen him he's the king of kings and he's the lord of lords [Music] and i believe that while i've been preaching this message tonight that by the grace of god not my delivery of it somebody's heart has been opened somebody's eyes have been opened and it might be you and what i'm telling you is do not ignore what you've been feeling in your heart do not step over or dismiss the king of kings and lord of lords because he will go to great lengths to get you to find you to track you down he's been tracking you in step with you from the moment you were conceived in your mother's womb and the moment that you find yourself in right now could be the defining moment of your life because you can have your sins washed away you can have a brand new start you can be reconciled with god and then reconcile with people i'm telling you i bet my life that this is true because it's true for me it's true for thousands of people right here in this church and billions of people around the earth the question is is it true for you like is it true for you is it true for you [Music] so what i want to invite you to do right now at every location today every one of our summit campuses watching online watching at home watching in a coffee shop watching an automobile i'm going to ask you if you would to close your eyes and open your heart to jesus right now everybody just do this we're going to pray together i want to invite you to to close your eyes your physical eyes and open your spiritual heart [Music] and i want to invite you to invite jesus inside when cleopas and his friend invited jesus in he came because jesus always comes when he's invited he's already said yes so just like they asked jesus to walk through the door of their home i want to invite you to ask jesus to walk through the door of your heart open it up to him and the minute you invite him to come into your heart your eyes will be fully open you'll see him for who he is so if that's you and you're ready you are ready right now to repent of your sin to bring your brokenness your shame your past your regrets to bring all of that to jesus and trust his grace given to you through christ to believe he was crucified in your place to take god's wrath away to believe he was raised from the dead to give you a new life if you are willing to believe that and i know some of you are because jesus is drawing you pray this to him right where you are eyes closed hearts open and you don't have to pray it out loud you can pray it in your heart he can hear you he's waiting on you he's waiting on you to ask him in right now pray this to him in your heart whoever you are [Music] jesus i need you can't be saved without you [Music] so i invite you in i open my heart to you jesus please save me right now [Music] i repent of my sin i give you control [Music] you are lord and i'm yours rescue me jesus i give you my past my shame my future my eternity i give you everything jesus my eyes are opened my heart is yours [Music] i'm all in in jesus name let me ask you to keep your eyes closed and your heart's open every campus every location watching online you might be the only person in the room you're in or you might be on a road sitting with your family and your friends i'm going to ask you to do something right now eyes closed hearts open if you just prayed that prayer to jesus of nazareth and you trusted him you just prayed that prayer to him not to me to jesus i want you to do something right now do not hesitate don't delay don't make an excuse i want you to indicate that you just gave your life to jesus by raising your hand straight up above your head right now would you do that at every campus and every location and would you keep them up for just a moment just keep them up keep your hands up just keep your hands up every location in a coffee shop and a car in your house in your bedroom i want you to raise your hands right now [Music] now with your hand up you have just indicated to jesus that that you're his and we've got some next steps that someone's going to tell you about in a few moments because at the summit we want to help you become a disciple that makes disciples you can put your hands down lord i want to pray and i want to thank you for every person in this room and the rooms all around our campuses in bedrooms and living rooms and kitchens coffee shops wherever the people who just prayed to receive you just met you thank you that you pursued them all the way to that spot and revealed to them your love and your grace and your mercy and so right now i want to say to you jesus you are worthy to receive the reward of your suffering thank you for everyone that you just saved satan in the name of jesus you've lost another great number to the kingdom of god they've been bought with a price they belong to jesus now not you and god we know that you'll keep them in the palm of your hand according to john 10 we trust your grace to sustain every new believer that just opened their eyes and opened their hearts by your grace in jesus name we pray amen one with god the lord most high you're hidden glory in creation now revealed in you are christ what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus christ my king what a beautiful name it is nothing compares to this what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus [Music] so jesus you brought heaven down [Music] [Music] what a wonderful name it is what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus christ my king what a wonderful name nothing compares to this what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus [Music] and death could not hold you the veil tore before you you silenced of sin and grace of your glory for you [Music] yours is [Music] of jesus christ my king what a powerful name [Music] nothing can stand against what a powerful name it is [Applause] yours is [Music] what a powerful name it is the name of jesus what a powerful name [Music] well thank you for joining us uh today so that we could worship together listen if you made a decision to follow jesus or you have questions about it or i just want to talk to somebody about it i want you to text the word ready r-e-a-d-y to 33933 we would love to have a conversation with you an actual live human will get back up with you and we can help you explore what it means to to become a follower of jesus and to be saved by him and also listen we're still available to pray with you by clicking request prayer if you're watching live or or just click the button that says request prayer or you can email us at prayer summitchurch.com now before we go parents did you know that we've got a video resource called family worship that we put out every week that you can watch together as a family after you do something online it helps you read and pray and sing in your living room while recapping what we learned this weekend with our church family you can find that and and other resources for your family at summitchurch.com kids summit family we serve a savior who is risen a savior who calls us to follow him and gives us the power to do it not just to live the christian life but also to be a blessing and an impact to others so go with the understanding of that authority and that blessing and that knowledge be blessed and flourish in all that you do summit church you are set [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Summit RDU

Views: 6,670

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Id: yYX3FmQE1XM

Length: 72min 12sec (4332 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021