Easter 2026

Welcome to the Generations Church podcast. We're so glad you've chosen to join us today.

Whether you're listening on your way to work, at home, or wherever you are,

our prayer is that this message would encourage your heart, strengthen your

faith, and help you take your next step with Jesus.

At Generations Church, we exist to help people know God, grow in Christ, and live on mission.

As you listen today, we invite you to open your heart, Lean into what God may

be speaking to you and allow his word to shape your life. Let's jump into today's message.

In 2014, actor Harrison Ford walked into a small restaurant in New York City.

He sat down, he ordered some food, he had a ball cap on, and he spent time talking

with the staff at the little diner where he ate lunch.

They spent hours together and they were laughing and talking and telling stories and telling jokes.

And what's crazy is they had no idea who he was.

They chatted with him like he was just another customer.

They served him. They interacted with him. All of the while,

they were completely unaware that they were sitting across from one of the most

recognizable faces in the world.

It wasn't until later after he had left that, that someone realized,

wasn't that Harrison Ford that you guys were just talking with and hanging out with?

And suddenly everything changed for them, right? What? That was Harrison Ford?

Are you kidding me? We didn't take pictures. I didn't get his autograph.

Everything changed in their hearts and in their minds. And they thought,

man, I got bragging rights now.

I can go home and say, hey, guess who I was hanging out with today?

I hung out with Harrison Ford for two hours.

We talked to him. We were with him. how did they not recognize him?

How can someone be right in front of you and you don't even realize who they are?

And then later you look back and you just wonder, how did I miss that?

And that's exactly what happens in Luke 24 on the evening of the resurrection.

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn with me to Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 24. If you didn't bring it, I'll have it up on the screen for you.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

But Luke 24 is split into four different sections in the chapter.

And this morning, we're going to look at the first two.

Easter morning is in verses 1 through

12. And then Easter later and then afternoon is verses 13 through 34.

It's a lot of scripture, but we're going to cover it today.

Follow along as I read this. Luke 24, 1 through 34.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb

bringing the spices they had prepared.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in,

but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes.

Probably scared the bejeebies out of them.

The women were terrified, and rightly so, and they bowed to the ground and said,

Why are you looking for the living among the dead? asked the man.

He's not here, but he has risen.

Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying,

It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men,

be crucified, and rise on the third day.

And they remembered his words.

Returning from the tomb, they repeated all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

That was the rest of the disciples minus Judas.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them

were telling the apostles these things.

But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women.

Verse 12. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. And when he stopped to

look in, he saw only the linen clothes.

So he went away amazed at what had happened.

It's interesting. I was reading this account in all the four different gospels.

And John, it's funny because John does a little bragging on himself.

And he includes himself with Peter as the ones that are running to the tomb

that day. And John actually says, Peter and the other one, because he was trying to stay humble.

Peter and the other one referring to himself. And then he adds this in,

the other one got there first.

Like he says, the other one, I'm not bragging, but I beat Peter to the tomb that day.

Verse 13, later on in that day.

Now that same day, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus,

which is about seven miles from Jerusalem.

Together, they were discussing everything that had taken place.

And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and began to walk with him.

Jesus just strolls on up. He's right there with them, right in their midst.

Verse 16, but they were prevented from recognizing him.

Then he asked them, what's this dispute that you're having with each other as you're walking?

Why are you arguing with each other?

It's obvious you guys are emotionally heated. What's going on?

What are you talking about?

Verse 18, the one named Cleopas answered him, are you the only visitor in Jerusalem

who doesn't know the things that happened in these past days? He's a little snarky.

Don't you? What have you been living in a hole? You don't know what's going on.

And he said, what things? He asked them. So they said to him that things concerning

Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet,

powerful in action and speech before God and all the people and how our chief

priest and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him.

But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel.

You can just hear the sadness in their voice. We were hoping he was the one to redeem us.

Besides all of this, it's the third day since these things happened.

Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the

tomb and they didn't find his body.

They came and they reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.

Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women

said, but they didn't see him.

He said to them, how foolish you are and how slow to believe all the prophets have spoken.

Wasn't it necessary? And this is Jesus speaking here.

Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?

Then beginning with Moses, I love this. Jesus is just taking them back through all the Old Testament.

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted from the things

for them, the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

They came near the village where they were going, and he gave the impression

that he was going farther, that he was going to keep on walking.

But they urged him and said, stay with us because it's almost evening and now

the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them.

Verse 30, it was as he reclined at the table with them that he took the bread.

This is starting to sound familiar, isn't it? He took the bread,

he blessed and broke it and gave it to them.

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight.

They said to each other, weren't our hearts burning within us while he was talking

with us on the road and explaining the scriptures to us?

That very hour, they got up and returned to Jerusalem.

They found the 11 and those with them gathered who said, the Lord has truly

been raised and has appeared to Simon.

This morning, I want to give you four simple truths from this passage in regards to knowing Christ.

In regards to knowing Christ, I want you to walk away today with these four things.

Number one, you can be around Jesus and still not know him.

You can be around Jesus and still not know him.

Verse 15 says, they were discussing and arguing and Jesus himself came near

and began to walk with him, but they were prevented from recognizing him.

The Greek word here for discussing is antiballot, which means to throw back and forth.

It's where we get our word antiballistic, which means to throw around in a violent manner.

Our kids are a little anti-ballistic sometimes. They throw their words around

in violent manners, but that's what they were doing.

And the word is important because it gives us an idea of the tone of the conversation

between Cleopas and this anonymous

follower of Jesus that were walking together on the road that day.

They were not having a pleasant stroll through the countryside,

enjoying a polite, enjoyable conversation.

Their words were heated.

Their conversation was emotional. It was intense.

It was an emotional exchange of their fiery ideas and opinions of what has been going on with Jesus.

Is he really God? Because it seems like maybe he's not.

He's dead. He's gone.

Maybe someone's stolen his body. And they're trying to understand.

You see, Jesus was their rabbi and their teacher. And they had hoped that he was their Messiah.

But their hopes have come to a crashing end with the crucifixion three days earlier.

Think about how wild that is, that they're walking with Jesus,

they're talking with Jesus, they're listening to him, and yet they don't know who he is.

They weren't enemies of Christ. They had been followers.

They'd been with him, and yet they didn't recognize him.

And here's what that means for us. You can be around Jesus and still not know Jesus.

Let me say that again, especially on a day like Easter.

You can be around Jesus your whole life and still not actually know him.

You can grow up in the church. You can go to Sunday school. You can hear Bible stories.

You can go to a Christian camp. You can give financially. You can even serve at a church.

Maybe you go to Easter or Christmas every year.

You might know all about Jesus, but you may not have a relationship with him.

And there's a huge difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Jesus.

You see, knowing about Jesus, that's information.

Oh, there's a lot of people that have information about Jesus,

but actually knowing Jesus, that's transformation.

When you know Jesus and you surrender to him, his life transforms you.

Have you known about Jesus this morning, or have you been transformed by Jesus?

It's like knowing a celebrity. You may know everything about them.

Our kids, they collect sports cards, football cards,

and they can quote a lot of things about them and give you stats and where they

went to college and how much they weigh and how many tackles they had last year

and what they eat for nutrition.

It's crazy what you can know about famous people, but that's not the same thing as knowing them.

And some of us, I want to challenge you because maybe that's where you are this

morning. You know a lot about him.

You've been around him. You've heard about him. You know a lot of things,

but you really don't know about him.

And being around Jesus is not the same as knowing Jesus.

And if the reason some of you feel stuck spiritually today, it's not because Jesus is distant.

It's not because Jesus isn't revealing himself to you.

It's because you've never actually stepped into a relationship with him.

You know a lot about him, but you don't actually know him.

You know what made it even harder for these two guys as they're walking along

the road wasn't just that they were around him.

It was what they were carrying inside of them. They were full of pain and agony,

but most of all, they were full of disappointment.

And disappointment has a way of blinding you and I to what God is doing right in front of you.

And so when it comes to seeing Jesus, it's important that you,

number two, that you don't let disappointment blind you.

You don't let disappointment blind you. Oftentimes in our lives,

we have all these expectations of who we think Jesus is and what we want to

get out of him and what we think he should do.

And we fail to recognize who he really is.

And Jesus talked with these two followers on the road and he asks them what

they're arguing back and forth about.

And he says, what things?

And they begin to tell him the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth and what's happened.

And verse 21 is so powerful. It says, but we were hoping that he was the one

who was about to redeem Israel.

We were hoping. That's their mind and their heart and their emotions are so

full of disappointment.

We hoped he was the one that would come rescue us, that would come save us, that would heal us.

We were hoping that he would be the one that would make things different.

You see, they weren't confused about what had happened. They weren't confused

about what was going on with the death and the burial.

They were just disappointed.

It didn't happen the way that they expected it to happen.

Anybody ever been there with your relationship with God? God,

I thought this relationship would work out.

God, I thought this job was the one for me, that this would be the perfect fit for my life.

God, I thought that the finances were going to be here now and we'd be able to be okay.

I thought that you would heal him. I thought this diagnosis was not too big

for you and that you'd come through.

God, I thought you would make my situation turn around by now.

God, I thought that you would make everything better in my life.

And when God doesn't meet our expectations, we start questioning his presence in our life.

We've got expectations of what we think God should be doing for us.

And when that doesn't happen and we think he's not coming through,

we start questioning him.

They're walking with Jesus. They're talking about all these things,

but they're disappointed.

And their disappointment kept them blind to what was going on.

Some of us, if we're honest, maybe we're not far from God. We're just disappointed with God.

Maybe your emotions and your feelings and what you're going through right now

have blinded you To his presence And so,

Because you're disappointed You just want to give up You just want to give in

What good is it anyway If you're not going to come through How I think you need to come through.

Listen, God is still working in your situation. God is still working and he's active in your life.

Even when you don't understand. Listen, don't let what you don't understand

cause you to miss what God is doing.

Maybe you haven't come to this realization yet, but God's ways are not the same as ours.

God's ways are so much higher than ours. That's why Isaiah said this.

He said, my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord,

and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than

your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

Don't let what you don't understand cause you to miss what God is doing.

And here's what Jesus does next. He doesn't shame them.

He doesn't scold them. What he does is he teaches them.

Have you ever noticed that when Jesus defended himself or would try to address

misbelief with the Pharisees, the high priests, the Sadducees, he always,

always, always pointed people back to scripture.

He says to them, how foolish you are, how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Some of you, you're being slow to all that God has spoken.

And he says, wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?

And then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them

all the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

Number three, we have to let the Bible show us who Jesus really is.

What does Scripture say? Do you trust the Word of God? Or do you trust your feelings?

Do you trust your friends? Or do you trust those around you?

Or do you trust God's Word?

And Jesus, through the Word of God, begins connecting the dots from the beginning

all the way through Scripture.

Showing them that he always has a plan.

Listen, you may feel completely lost. You may feel like you have no idea what

God is doing in your situation.

You may not understand why you're having these physical things or these spiritual

challenges or these financial issues.

Don't miss that God is still at work in your life. He's still present. He's still present.

Problem with these guys was not that Jesus failed them, it's that they misunderstood him.

And if you misunderstand Jesus, you're simply going to miss him.

You can listen to different religious leaders. You can read every book that

so-called religious people have written.

But until the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to you, you'll always misunderstand

Jesus and you'll miss him.

That's why reading the Bible matters. It matters.

We need to be in the word of God every day, soaking ourself in it,

immersing ourself in it, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal things through the word of God.

Stop letting anyone or anything but Scripture reveal who he actually is.

He doesn't need anyone else to reveal to you who he is. You don't need a seminary degree.

You don't need education.

Just open the Word of God and say, Jesus, show me who you are.

And he will. He'll do that.

And as you get into the word of God consistently, and the key is consistence,

your life and things that are going on in your life will begin to shift.

And they'll become a moment where everything changes.

And you'll invite Jesus in personally, number four.

We must invite Jesus into our lives personally.

These men were walking with Jesus as he spoke to them and teaching them from the scriptures.

And it was almost evening, so they came to the house and they asked Jesus, hey, it's getting late.

It's almost the end of day. Why don't you come in and stay with us?

Come eat with us. And that's exactly what Jesus did.

Verse 30, it was as he reclined at the table with them that he took the bread,

blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.

Then their eyes were open and they recognized him and he disappeared from their

sight. Don't miss this, guys.

They had walked with him. They had talked with him.

They had listened to him, but they didn't recognize him until they invited him in.

There was a moment in their lives where they went from talking with him and

conversing with him to inviting him in to do life with him.

Come eat with us. Come stay with us. We know that we want to develop this relationship with you.

And each one of us needs to have a shift from a conversation with God to a revelation from God.

They no longer just knew about him. They saw him, they knew him,

and they were transformed.

You can grow up in church, you can hear about Jesus your entire life and still

never know him personally.

Jesus becomes real when the relationship becomes personal.

I'm not going to heaven because my grandparents were strong Christians and loved the Lord.

I'm not going to heaven because my mom and dad loved the Lord and are Christians.

I'm going to heaven and I've been freed from my penalty of sin,

my penalty of death and hell and eternal damnation because I've accepted the

free gift that he wanted to give me.

And I've accepted a personal relationship with Jesus.

When you talk to him and when you finally surrender your life to him and you

invite him into your everyday life, your eyes will be open and suddenly they're

not just stories from a book anymore. It's real.

Notice their reaction when they finally realized that Jesus had been with them.

Said to each other, weren't our hearts burning within us while he was talking

with us on the road and explaining the scriptures to us?

Some of you right now, there's a burning in your heart and God is trying to

get your attention. He's saying, I want you to move.

Knowing about me to knowing me. And I want to have a relationship with you.

I don't want you to have just religion. I want to have a relationship.

I want you to know me personally.

I love what's going on in their hearts because when there's this burning in

your heart, your soul catches fire and you can't help but having the response

that they're going to have.

Verse 33, that very hour, They got up and they returned to Jerusalem.

They found the 11 and those with them gathered together who said,

the Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon.

Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how he was made

known to them in the breaking of the bread.

They got up. They went and they told the good news of the gospel that Christ had died,

that he'd been buried, that he really is alive, that he was no longer in the

grave, that he's our resurrected King. Why?

Because once your life has been changed, you can't help but telling others.

You can't help but say, like the apostles that we talked about last week,

I've seen him, I've walked with

him, my life has changed and so I am gonna live my entire life for him.

Let me ask you a question today.

If Jesus sat across from you, if he walked beside you this week,

would you know him personally?

Do you know him?

Have you been around him? Have you been hearing him? Maybe you've been close

to him in proximity, going to church, throwing up a prayer every once in a while

when you need something.

And if that's you today, today's the day for your eyes to be opened,

not just to know about him, but to know him, to invite him in and to start a

real relationship with him.

Now, I don't want to rush this moment because for some of you,

this isn't just another sermon.

This isn't just another Easter. This is your moment.

You're not here by mistake.

Maybe you've been around Jesus your entire life and you haven't really known him.

You've heard about him. You've never responded to him. And today something's different. You feel it.

There's a stirring in you. There's a burning inside you.

That sense that God is speaking to you right now. Let me tell you what that is.

That's Jesus.

That's the Holy Spirit.

He's been walking with you. He's been pursuing you. He's been drawing you and

right now he wants to open your eyes.

And just like the man on the road, you have a choice.

Will you keep walking past him or will

you invite him in this is

what scripture says in romans 10 9 that if you confess with

your mouth jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from

the dead you will be saved you will be not might be not hopefully not maybe

you will be saved and So here's what I want to do.

If you're here today and you're saying, man, that's me.

I don't want to just know about Jesus anymore.

I want to know him personally.

I'm ready to stop keeping him at a distance, and I want to invite him into my

life. I'm ready to surrender my life to him.

I want to pray with you. I'm going to ask you to do something bold.

Not to embarrass you, but because this moment matters.

To invite you all to bow your heads, close your eyes. No one looking around.

But if that's you right now and you're like, Pastor Jeff, I want to know him.

I don't want to just know about him. I want to know him. That's me.

Would you just lift your hand right now? I'm not going to embarrass you. I won't call you out.

Awesome.

That's what Resurrection Sunday is all about.

You can put your hands down. And I want you to repeat this prayer with me if

you raise your hand, or even if you didn't raise your hand, but you know you should have.

I want you to pray this from your heart.

Just say, Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God.

I believe you died for my sins, that you were crucified, buried, and rose again.

And today I stop wanting to just know about you I choose to know you and so I give you my life,

I surrender my sin I surrender my past I give you my future God I ask that you

would forgive me that you would change me that you would make me new from this day forward,

I want you to be in charge of my life you are my Lord You are my Savior, and I want to follow you.

In Jesus' name, amen.