"Encountering the Presence of Jesus" (Luke 24:13-16)

Redemption Bible Church Sermon Audio

SERMON NOTES

Sermon Series: Encountering the Risen Jesus

Sermon Title: Encountering the Presence of Jesus

Passage: Luke 24:13-16

The Journey (v13-14)

1st Question: What do we learn from the travelers? That our journey of spiritual formation requires:

• Our Togetherness

• Our Openness - with ourselves, with others, with God

The Encounter (v15-16)

2nd Question: What do we learn about Jesus? That he has drawn near and is always present.

We encounter the presence of Jesus:

• By creating space for an encounter

• By gathering with his people

• By reading the words of Scripture

3rd Question: What do we learn from Jesus? How to lover others who are unable to see him, through the power of our:

• Presence with them

• Prayers for them

• Patience as we wait with them

SERMON FOOTNOTES

• “Spiritual formation is a process of being formed int the image of Christ for the sake of others.” - Robert Mulholland Jr (Invitation to a Journey, p16)

• "Spiritual transformation is the process by which Christ is formed in us - for the glory of God, for the abundance of our own lives, and for the sake of others; it results in an increasing capacity to discern and do the will of God.” - Ruth Haley Barton (Life Together in Christ, p11-12)

• “Only in Jesus Christ are we one, only through him are we bound together…Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done…The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the only thing that is vital between us.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together, p24,25,26)

• “To grieve is to allow our losses to tear apart feelings of security and safety and lead us to the painful truth of our brokenness. Our grief makes us experience the abyss of our own life in which noting is settled, clear, or obvious, but everything constantly shifting and changing.” - Henri Nouwen (With Burning Hearts, p27-28)

• “So spiritual formation is not something that we do to ourselves or for ourselves, but something we allow God to do in us and for us as we yield ourselves to the work of God’s transforming grace.” - Robert Mulholland Jr (Invitation to a Journey, p38)

• “Sometimes I consider myself there as a stone before a carver, where of he is to make a statue; presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to form His perfect image in my soul, and make me entirely like Himself.” - Brother Lawrence (Practicing the Presence of God, p36)

Recommended Reading:

• The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality by Ronald Rotheiser

• Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

• Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

• Life Together in Christ: Experiencing Transformation in Community by Ruth Haley Barton (based on the story of the road to Emmaus)

• Opening to God: Lectio Divina and Life as Prayer by David Benner

• The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

• With Burning Hearts: A Meditation on the Eucharistic Life by Henri Nouwen (reflection on the the story of the road to Emmaus)