Walking away to Emmaus – Raymond Woodward – UPCA Conference 2018

if you would just stay where you are for just a moment such a beautiful and sacred presence of God in this room right now I'm grateful to be here with you and I have something to preach to you tonight but if we need to learn anything again in the Apostolic Church we need to learn the lesson that our pioneers and our elders taught us that you don't rush into or through or out of the moving of the presence of God [Music] I'm standing here tonight and I'm reminded of how big God's church actually is I'm so thankful to be with you but the great church in Australia is just a fraction of the Church of God around the world the church in Canada and America and all the countries when we're added together that's the church one month ago I was privileged to be in Malaysia and I met some friends I had never met them before our church sent a couple into Guangzhou China just a few years ago they built a wonderful Church there and these friends of mine came to Malaysia for the conference I had never met them before and I watched those believers they didn't have the opportunity like you've had to maybe receive the Holy Ghost and the powerful altar service most of them received the Holy Ghost in a small house meeting very quietly many of them they didn't have the opportunity that you've had to perhaps be baptized in your church or publicly in a river or a lake most of them were baptized in bathtubs when they worship they have to be very careful of the volume level and they have to be very careful of where they worship and all of that because their country's not as open as your country or my country and I watched him in that meeting one month ago as the worship team began to sing I am free to run I am free to dance I am free to live for you and I watched them just overwhelmed with this freedom that we enjoy and we take for granted the church is much larger than you or I your local church or the local church that unprivileged a pastor but the church is also much larger than a number we could put together on this earth because do you realize that there's already an incredible church in heaven awaiting us [Applause] I stand here tonight and I cannot help but think how proud brother boat would be to see this tonight and watch some of you young people that were not even born when he came to Australia and watch you worship God with passion and abandonment this may be the most important moment in the service for someone and I'd ask as they sing that song again a couple of times that you consciously pour out your praise upon the Lord right now everyone in this room you feel that there's an undergirding there's a surge of praise that just wants to break forth and break out and break loose let this wonderful worship team sing but you pour out your praise right now pour it out to the Lord [Music] Hunnicutt yo Tish yes now I want you to lift up your voice [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm not trying to prolong anything but I'd like you to reach over and lay your hand on someone or take them by the hand and in the name of Jesus I want you to begin to pray over their life you might not even know their name but pray God's blessing on them right now in the name of Jesus this is conference this is a meeting the devil is terrified on we're together we're in unity we're in one Accord their strength here in laborious italico yamasa level lucius available kya I'll lift up your voice and pray sabatello boy yes sir a Telugu yes so durable yes [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus [Applause] here it comes another wave of worship and deliverance and praise flowing from vessel to vessel to vessel in this room tonight and there's healing in that worship there's deliverance in that worship [Applause] is to show that about Karami hi Atticus so they buy leftover your buses if I were should be Jesus I worship you Jesus I worship you Jesus [Applause] I worship I worship you Jesus there should be done thank you Jesus thank you Jesus I worship you God ha well yes yes still given architects thank you Jesus I'm not delaying or stalling think about it precious people of God we we go through a lot of church services in the run of a year these are the moments that we do all of that for we don't do church services because it's a religious obligation we do it so we can be in the middle of a visitation of God's presence and power I'm intending to preach if we get there but the Bible says let the lifting of my hands be as the evening sacrifice let's give God an evening sacrifice of worship and praise honor and adoration [Applause] so that edible yes ABBA I worship you God yes yes yes ah yes Wow [Applause] if you have never received the baptism of the Holy Ghost which is Christ living in you the hope of glory if you've asked God to forgive you of your sins you're already right now a candidate to receive the Holy Ghost as easy as lifting up your hands right now and beginning to worship God with all of your heart at any moment you could receive the baptism of God's Holy Spirit any moment any moment any moment it's your gift he promised it to you something else that the elders taught us that we cannot lose I believe in order I thank God for the organized way in which this meeting has been put together that gives great credit to the church and great glory to God but the elders taught us that you have to make room for the Holy Ghost and can I tell you that we get disturbed we we sometimes think that preaching is supposed to be delivered to an audience that kind of sits there and is very attentive and that's a good thing but if the elders taught us anything from our past it was that you make room for the move of God there's nothing wrong with receiving preaching while you're on your face there's nothing wrong with receiving preaching while your hands are lifted or your standing in fact the only wrong response to preaching is to do nothing that's the only wrong response to preach it and so we're not going to stop this in fact we're not even going to change gears as it were I'm going to start and Jesus is welcome to do whatever he wants whenever he wants Jesus right now I pray one thing above all please do not let me get in your way do what you want as you want when you want you are not only welcome here you are honored here you are worshiped here you have preeminence and predominance here your name is the highest name in this building your person is the greatest person in this country [Applause] come kingdom of God and be done will of God in our midst in earth as it is in heaven for thine it's the kingdom and the power and the glory all of it all of it a stoker Yamaha s total ihara carry about yes sir suit Arriba token ah yes yes yes [Applause] so please continue to do exactly as you feel in the Holy Ghost yes yes [Applause] we're under the order of the spirit now we have an order of service but there's an order of the spirit Luke chapter 24 please remember that prayer never interrupts a sermon worship never is an interruption to a sermon you do exactly as the Lord leads you Luke 24 verse 13 and behold two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs and they talked together of all these things which had happened and it came to pass that while they commune together and reasoned Jesus himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were Holden that they should not know him someone is walking with us tonight in this room and in this service this is how it should be [Applause] he's walking these aisles tonight your eyes might not be open but he's walking these aisles tonight I'm not going to tell you to be seated or stand you can do exactly as you feel in the Holy Ghost I thank you Jesus as we open up Luke's passage it is three days after the crucifixion of Jesus the disciples are demoralized and many of them are in hiding all of their hopes and all of their dreams have been nailed viciously to a cruel cross and buried forever in a dark tomb for them it all ended when they saw Jesus died for them it all ended when they saw the stone rolled over the mouth of that tomb and the grave that they walked away from mocked their faith to them there is nothing left to live for because everything they've ever trusted in is gone somebody like that is in this room tonight and in the middle of this beautiful and powerful praise you feel like you've buried your dreams and your hopes and your life is dark you hear this and you see this and you feel something and you wonder if what these people are feeling could ever be true for you you wonder if what these people are experiencing is actually real because your life is dark and your life is dead and your life has been buried in a grave I'm here to declare to you tonight that the same Jesus who appeared to two disciples so discouraged so despondent they were walking away from Jerusalem they were walking away from the city they were headed away from the greatest miracle in human history and they didn't even know that they had been that close to such a miracle they didn't even realize it they had been there they had seen Jesus crucified they had seen his blood pour out of his body they had seen his body ripped from the cross and buried in disgrace in a tomb Jesus had told them all of his disciples you destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again but although they had heard those words over and over and over from Jesus something in them was so broken so harmed so discouraged so dark so dead they didn't dare to believe it and so they turned their back to Jerusalem and they began to walk home and while they were walking away from the greatest miracle in human history Jesus had such compassion that he joined them on the road to emmaus they were walking away nothing was right in their world they were talking to each other discouraging despondent words we've lost everything nothing matters anymore and then a stranger joins them on the road to their home you know who he is but they didn't know who he was their eyes were somehow blinded to the fact that Jesus was walking with them right in the middle of their darkest situation in the middle of this sovereign move of God I don't have a sermon for you I brought a sermon I have a word for you Jesus is walking beside you right now and you don't realize it's him because to you everything has been lost your sickness has frightened you so that you feel terrified to believe that there could ever be a miracle for you your home situation your marriage trouble you're backslidden children your family members that hate everything you live for and stand for it has discouraged you so much that you think that somehow you're walking alone but I came to this meeting tonight to tell you with Jesus you are never walking alone some young person some senior saint you feel like you're the only one you're not the only one and even if you were jesus promised I will never leave you nor forsake you he is as close to you right now as the nearest person who's standing beside you kneeling beside you or sitting beside you these disciples couldn't see who was with them and many times we can't either but please hear this preacher from Canada tonight Jesus is as close to you as the mention of his name you call on him he's right there to forgive you he's right there to heal you he's right there to deliver you he's right there to fill you with his spirit he's right there to lift you up above your enemies around about you he's closer to you than you can imagine a stranger joins them on the road I wonder who this stranger could be and he says to them in verse 17 what manner of communications are these that you have one with another as you walk in are sad and one of those disciples whose name was Cleophus he said are you a stranger in Jerusalem have you not heard and known all the things that have come to pass in these days and the stranger who could he be he says what things are you talking about and they say you haven't heard concerning Jesus of Nazareth he was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people haven't you heard how the chief priests and our rulers they delivered him they handed him over to be crucified condemned to death they've crucified Him how that you heard that there's no reason to smile there's no reason to hope there's no reason to believe are you the only person that hasn't heard that it's bad times out there are you the only one that hasn't heard that it's a dark day how in the world could you be so oblivious clea puss and his companion are completely unaware of who is walking with them in this moment and they tell him you weren't here you didn't see Jesus of Nazareth delivered he was delivered over to the guards in Yosemite he was delivered from the guards over to the chief priests he was delivered from them over to the Sanhedrin he was delivered from them over to Pilate and the word they used there is a judicial word it means handed over put into custody delivered to be punished delivered even to death in Scripture it has the sense of being betrayed haven't you heard that really there's no reason to rejoice there's no reason to worship there's no reason to be happy or joyful we pinned all our hopes on Jesus and they handed him over to be crucified it's all over we would expect the Gospel writers to use that word often in light of all the persecution Jesus expiry and they do Jesus even uses that word about Judas he said he's going to betray me one of you that eats with me will betray me Judas do you betray the Son of man with a kiss do you hand him over to his enemies with a kiss for many months Jesus had warned his disciples I'm going to be handed over I'm going to be betrayed I'm going to be given to my enemies and not one of them understood it least of all the two on the road to Emmaus they thought it was all over because they watched with their eyes what had happened in Jerusalem let me fly in the face of all politically correct wisdom and tell you that your eyes and your evidence and your facts can lie to you there's a higher dimension than facts and that's the dimension of faith but the two disciples on the road to Emmaus they can't believe any of it when we saw Jesus hand it over delivered betrayed we felt like our Pope was handed over there's nothing left that's why we've turned our back on the city of Jerusalem and we're headed home they continue in verse 21 and it's all bad news we trusted that it would be him that would have redeemed Israel and besides all this today is the third day since these things were done and you know what happened this morning mister stranger certain women of our company they made us astonished because early this morning they went to the Sepulcher and they didn't find a body and they came and they told us we've seen a vision of angels and the angel said he's alive and certain of us went to the sepulchre and we found the empty tomb just like the woman had said we didn't see Jesus we didn't see his body can you imagine what a blow these people had taken then on the third day the day Jesus said it would be okay it would be all over he would rise he would be victorious it's the third day the women have been to the tomb the tomb is empty Angels have appeared but they are so hurt they are so destroyed they've seen so much pain with their eyes that they can't believe that this is the day of victory to them it just looks like another day of defeat they didn't even wait till the evening of the third day to see if what Jesus said would really come to pass they just said we give up too much hurt too much pain too much discouragement too much heartache and they turned their back on Jerusalem and started home but before you judge them too harshly please look at your own life and please realize that sometimes all of us are in that state and I believe somebody in the middle of this powerful divine sovereign move of God you too like to be in the middle of it you'd like to feel what others are feeling you would like to have that experience of depth and truth and joy with God but to you your life has been so hurt and so damaged and so destroyed and so I stand here to preach to you tonight Paul said in one place if I'm so it's for your cause I stand here tonight and say that the only reason I'm preaching is for you I could get lost in what we've experienced here and just enjoy this for a few hours actually but I stand here to preach to you tonight it's easy to feel alone it's easy to feel forsaken it's easy to feel like you're the only one it's easy to feel like you can never bounce back you can never rise up life will never be the same and it's easy to pour out out of your mouth and you've done it you've done it with your spouse you've done it with your parents you've done it with your siblings and your friends and out of your mouth have come horrible discouraging pain filled words and you've even said what they said it's all over it doesn't matter it will never be the same I can never rise above this and as that stranger that they do not recognize walks beside them and listens to everything they say finally the stranger has enough and he says o fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken don't you realize it was in the plan of God for Christ to have suffered all these things because after he suffered the cross after he suffered the death after he suffered the tomb he then entered into his glory sometimes you're only one morning from a resurrection you're only one morning from the greatest miracle you've ever experienced you're just a few hours from the most powerful deliverance you could ever imagine but they've turned their back and they've walked away but God is so merciful that even when you've turned your back and you've walked away and you're cold and indifferent toward him and his spirit he still chases you down even when you're walking in the wrong direction and that's why we have been visited in such a marked way by God's presence here I don't believe it was just so we can all get Pentecostal chill bumps I don't believe it's just so we can have a good feeling and walk home no I believe it's because Jesus has just stepped up beside someone wherever you are walking and whatever you're walking through and tonight is the night that it all turns around for you the Bible says in Luke's account that this stranger that they do not know he begins at Moses and all the prophets and he expounds unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself he begins in what we call the Old Testament and he walks them through Scripture what a sermon that would have been and he points out Jesus on every page you don't understand disciples I know you're discouraged and I know you're hurting but what you don't understand is that God has always been there he's always been reaching he's always been revealing himself in Genesis he was the breath of life that was breathed in the man and he became a living soul an exodus he was the Passover lamb that shed his blood for us in Leviticus he's the high priest offering the ultimate sacrifice in numbers he's the fire by night that leads us through the wilderness in Deuteronomy he's the voice of Moses leading us toward the Promised Land in Joshua he's the Conqueror and rude judges he's our lawgiver and in Ruth he's our kinsman redeemer that finds us when we have nothing and he redeems us to himself what a sermon that would have been in Samuel he's our prophet in kings and chronicles he's our king of kings in Ezra he's the true and the faithful scribe in Nehemiah he's the rebuilder not just of walls but the rebuilder of our broken hearts and broken homes and broken lives in Esther he's the voice and the courage of Mordecai in job he's our Redeemer that takes our worst day that makes it into our double portion in Psalms he's the morning song in Proverbs he's wisdoms cry in Ecclesiastes he's with us in all the times and the seasons of our lives in the Song of Solomon he's our lover and we are his beloved beginning at Moses and all the prophets he walked through every page of their own scripture they should have seen it but they didn't see it in Isaiah he's the Prince of Peace in Jeremiah he's the weeping prophet in lamentations he's the cry for Israel in Ezekiel he's the call away from sin in Daniel he's the stranger who walks with us into the fire and when he walks into the fire we get to walk out of the fire unharmed in Hosea he's ever faithful even when we're not in Joel he's the spirits power that is poured out upon us in Amos he's the arms that carry us in Obadiah he's the Lord our Savior in Jonah he's the great missionary reaching and calling for us in Micah he's the promise of peace in Nahum he's our strength and he's our shield and Habakkuk and Zephaniah he's the voice pleading for his people to experience revival and Zechariah he's the fountain opened up in the house of David and in Malachi he's the son of righteousness arising with healing in his wings this stranger who in the world could he be he walks through their own scriptures he shows them Jesus on every page and then they come near to their village where they live and the stranger acts like he's going to go beyond them to another place perhaps and they constrain him they say no please you've been so kind come on in and tarry with us and it comes to pass that he sits at meet with them and he takes bread and he blesses it and he breaks it and he gives it to them and when they suddenly see nail-pierced hands break bread and give it to them all of a sudden their eyes were opened and they knew who it was and Jesus vanished out of their sight then they really knew who it was the Bible tells us that they looked at each other and they said didn't our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way didn't our heart burn within us while he opened to us the scripture and they rose up that same hour and they returned back now the opposite direction to Jerusalem and they found the other 11 disciples gathered together and these two that had been walking in the wrong direction away from the miracle now they ran into the room and they said the Lord is risen indeed with all of the rest they told them what happened Judas had handed over Jesus to the guards in the garden and the guards in the garden had handed over Jesus to the chief priests and they'd handed over Jesus to the Sanhedrin and they had handed over Jesus to Pilate the pilot put him to death but then on the cross before Jesus breathed his last he said this John 19:30 when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar he said it is finished and he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost and in English we don't notice it but it's very evident Luke uses the very same word that he used for handed over delivered betrayed in the same way that those guards pass Jesus over into custody and the guards past him to the Sanhedrin and the Sanhedrin gave him over to Pilate now Jesus on the cross he hands over his life that wasn't a murder victim that wasn't a martyrdom that was God manifest in flesh and he wasn't being killed he was offering his life a sacrifice for our sin and he handed over his life he said in the book of John chapter 10 verse 18 no man takes my life from me I lay it down of myself I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it again jesus said I am NOT a weakling I am NOT a victim this is all in God's purpose I'm handing over my life you think that the devil has one and he's handed me over to be betrayed you think that Judas and the Sanhedrin and the guards you think that Pilate in his court and all the Roman soldiers you think they've won because all you can see with your eyes is that they handed me over to be betrayed and killed crucified but what you couldn't see with your eyes was what was happening in heavens will I wasn't being handed over I was handing myself over I was in control the entire time it looked like the worst day of human history but actually it was the best day of human history it looked like everything was over but really everything was just beginning it looked like it was going to be one eternally dark night but we were just hours away from the sunrise of Resurrection morning after his crucifixion Jesus went into the grave and the Old Testament the realm of death was controlled by the devil ever since the fall of man in the garden but the Bible says that Jesus preached to those spirits that were in prison that's another sermon I would have loved to have heard he declared in the grave his victory over sin the devil death hell and the grave and then in the grave he said to the devil you thought you were handing me over but I was handing myself over now you see those keys hand them over I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am Alive for evermore amen and I have the keys of hell and of death the devil had held those keys for centuries but when Jesus went into the grave he said I fooled you devil this was all in my master plan now those keys that have locked my people up hand them over the Bible tells me that the last enemy the greatest enemy of the human family that will ever be defeated the last enemy is death think with me Jesus conquered your worst enemy your greatest enemy and your last enemy he conquered that enemy first he conquered that enemy 2,000 years ago if he conquered your worst 2,000 years ago there is nothing you are facing that is too big for our God [Applause] furthermore if the devil doesn't even have the keys to his own domain why in the world would you allow the devil to lock you up in bondage he doesn't even have the keys to his own house anymore I would like every person in this room right now I will not apologize for the state of the servant because we're on holy ground here tonight [Applause] the only reason the only reason that we pause to preach is because in the middle of this powerful move of God somebody is like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus you're walking in the wrong direction you're walking away from the miracle you're walking away from all your hope and your future and you think it's just the way it's going to be forever in your life I came to this room and to this meeting tonight to tell you that is absolutely untrue and what you have not seen while you've been fumbling and stumbling is that Jesus has stepped up beside you and he's walking in his mercy beside you right now every picture of those disciples that's ever been done that I know of in the history of religious artwork gets a major detail wrong including that picture because the Bible tells us that standing at the cross was Mary the wife of Cleophas that wasn't two men walking to Emmaus that was a husband and wife walking home they had seen everything with their eyes the reason they invited Jesus into that home was because that was their own somebody here your home doesn't feel like this your home isn't filled with joy and peace your home isn't filled with a confidence in God and Jesus wants to walk home with you from this conference this year I'd like every person that would help me right now in this entire building to stand to your feet the music team's going to come back in just a moment but before we ever hit a note or sing a song I'm going to ask everybody to lift up your hands one more time and lift up your voice right now and begin to pray all over this building there is a river of sovereign deliverance in this room tonight I speak to a troubled divided home tonight is your night to be healed in the name of Jesus I speak to a fractured marriage relationship conference this year is going to be more than a few sermons conference is going to be a turnaround for your marriage I speak to someone that there is a vixen and bondage present in your home and for a few people it's you but tonight is your night when Jesus steps up beside you and sets you free they're beginning to walk to the altar tears are flowing that's beautiful and powerful would you join us everybody that can would you step out of your seat and would you make your way now you're not walking away from the miracle you're walking to learn the miracle you're not walking away from Jesus you're walking toward Jesus a netbook enough is something of us now it's not time to observe it's not time to look around it's time to pray Jesus is walking through this altar Jesus is walking in this building he wants to show you that he's been walking with you for the last month why you said there's no hope he wants you to know that for the last week why you've been scared of that doctor's diagnosis he's been walking with you

Channel: UPCAustralia

Views: 135

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: UPCA, Conference, Jesus, Pentecostal, UPCAustralia, United Pentecostal Church of Australia, God, Gospel, Preaching

Id: SY6KeoH5UZE

Length: 59min 18sec (3558 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 29 2020