Journey to Pentecost

April 6, 2010     May 6, 2010

The Emmaus Two!  These two men, Cleophas and another disciple were headed out of town.  They were gettin’ out of Dodge!   Things had been rough in Jerusalem.  Jesus suffered at the hands of angry men.  Endured a fraudulent trial.  Suffered a horrendous beating.  Died on the cross which was a cruel way to die.   Then rumor had it that He was now alive!  It was too much for them to deal with.  The path of least resistence was to get out while the gettin’ was good.

Not so fast there Lone Ranger’s!!   Jesus had a different plan for them.  He appears to them on their way to Emmaus.   What was in Emmaus?  The word implies “warm baths”.  In other words they were headed to the Hilton for a warm jacuzzi!   Going to take advantage of a place where they can enjoy the warm and fuzzy side of life.   Who wants to stay in Jerusalem with Emmaus just seven miles away?  Not these two guys.  They were chasing a better path, a different journey!  Something a little less controversial and all of a sudden Jesus is there walking with them.  They wouldn’t recognize it was Him until He broke bread with them and they obviously saw the scars in His hands.   Then they would be overwhelmed with all He had said to them (He had shared all the prophets from Moses to the present day).  They would remark, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He shared with us?”   Then the unexpected happened. 

They would change direction and head back to Jerusalem.  Oh, Emmaus was the place of warm baths and non-confrontational atmosphere.  But Jerusalem would be the place of promise.  Supernatural promise.  Jerusalem would be the place  of the upper room experience.  Jerusalem would change men and women and men and women would then change the world.  

Is there a difficult place you would rather leave than stay at?  Have you ever considered inviting Jesus into your journey?  Let Him share with you by reading the Word.  Find comfort and consolation in the Word.  And in so doing you will have your heart set on fire.  He will burn within you as you focus on the future and not the past.   The Emmaus Two couldn’t get out of the past and see the promise of the future.  Jesus would change all that for them.   They would go back to Jerusalem.  They would go back to the place they were running from.  It starts with an invitation for Jesus to stay with you through His Word.  Then it progresses to a fire that is ignited by His word.  Then it progresses to going to a place of promise.   The place of promise for the Emmaus Two was the place of receiving the fullness of the Spirit.

I preached this past Sunday on the strategy of Satan to hinder and deter men and women from going to Jerusalem.  As soon as Jesus took in a celestial breath – the enemy started with an opposing spirit to keep His followers from two things.  First, not obeying His word.   He had told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise.  In a nutshell He told them to sit down, shut up and wait.  Second, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit baptism.   Satan set a plan in motion to keep people from Jerusalem.  

Where is it Satan is keeping you from?  What are you running from?  Are you moving away from an experience in the Spirit of God?  Are you second guessing the need for the fullness?  Are you debating the issue of tongues?  Would it be easier for you to live without tongues and just settle for Emmaus – warm fuzzy feelings that don’t offer power to live?  I want to challenge you to move toward your spiritual “Jerusalem.”   Stop the running and debating.  Settle in and seek the true experience of Pentecost.   Sit down, stop whining, arguing and debating and pray for the Gift.  He will give it to you at your request.  

Trade a warm inner feeling for what a warm external bath will do for you.  The external warm bath is momentary.  The inward heat and warmth of the fullness of the Spirit is eternal.