Girls Gone Bible - Seeing Jesus Rightly | Girls Gone Bible

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

Hiii GGB This week, we're talking about what it means to see Jesus rightly—not through fear, shame, religious pressure, or our own past experiences, but for who He truly is. READ ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL STORIES OF THE BIBLE WITH US-- LUKE 24, THE ROAD TO EMMAUS. Teaching begins at 17:17 We love you so much. Jesus loves you more. -Ang & Ari SPONSORS NOCD — If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started at nocd.com/GGB Dose — Get 35% off at https://DoseDaily.co/GGB  Grand Canyon University — Learn more at https://GCU.edu  Olive & June — Shop at https://OliveAndJune.com/GGB  GET OUR BOOK Out of the Wilderness: 31 Devotions to Walk with God Through Your Hardest Seasons Available wherever books are sold. SEE US ON TOUR Get tickets and find a city near you at https://GirlsGoneBible.com Follow Girls Gone Bible: Instagram: @girlsgonebible TikTok: @girlsgonebible YouTube: @GirlsGoneBible

What if I came out and I say, hey, y'all. Would you get the ick if I said y'all? It's just so not us because we're East Coast. It's so not us. But I try to say it. No, I can't say it. Okay. You say it?

No, I said that I think you have, you did, because you're like a chameleon a little bit. Like if you hang around someone, you'll start. I mean, I do too. But I think you did say y'all one. I promise you. Are you sure? Was it me? I think it was actually you.

I've never once in my life said y'all. All right, I'll try. Yeah. go ahead. What are y'all doing? I think it fits. You try it. Try this.

Yo, I love this. Yo. Yo, you gotta hear this. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, go and hear this. Okay, really quick. I have a surprise. Okay. Oh, my gosh.

What is it? I wanted to share this with you. Because I was getting one for myself. And then I said, I'm going to get one for her too. And she's going to say, it has cancer. But I don't care because I want to drink one. with you. What is this?

You know it's going to be shaking up. I want to drink a Diet Coke with you. Honestly. Cheers. Wait, this is not, let's just say this is not sponsored. It should be, but it's not. Could you have gotten a regular Coke? Oh, shoot, you like regular?

Well, the thing is, you think you're drinking 60 grams of sugar coke. You think you're drinking a Diet Coke, but what you're drinking is a can of death. But cheers. I'm not just going to. No, why speak like in Jesus name? This is 7.11. This is kind of remind you on me?

No, it does. It's like a little. I could either get the full size or the small size. And I said, I want to get the small size. It's so funny how you are because you literally like even the protein bars, you see no sugar, no calories. And you're like, oh, yeah. This is so good for you.

I've seen you drink like five of these a day. And you do it with the protein bars. And it's like, okay, my diet is not diet. Diet Coke and protein bars. No, life in Jesus' name. Yeah. I'm going to start talking to the Diet Coke like I do to Shalom. You're so cute.

Can you see it? Why am I drinking it like this? It's creepy. He's gone. He hasn't come back. I haven't seen him. You guys. He hasn't come back.

I think you might have found a new home. She or he died. I'm sorry. You never know survival of the fittest out there. Could have. You think he found a new home? You think he would ever leave the nest you made for another home? I don't know.

I don't know. I just got back. So I don't know. Let's see. Oh, yeah. What if he was missing you? And he just went for a little vacay? Yeah.

To like Mexico. Yeah. What's going on? Not much. We were. on the East Coast, you just went to Boston for three weeks? I did. It was so beautiful.

I've never, never, I just, my, what is the word? When you appreciative, you know, like with family, you, present. No, like, you're. I hate this game. You want to dance. Like, you, I just want to sing. Like, when you just want to be. your family.

Nest. No. Hermit? Shelter. Like you're like you, like you. Oh, I know what the word is. Take for granted. Oh, that's a good word.

I just don't. I just don't take for granted time with family anymore. I got to be with my nan and. How's Nan? Oh, I just, I love her. We got little soft serve ice creams every night. And it's just so crazy. time is just flying like it felt like just yesterday she was like traveling to L.A. helping me get through

my stuff and now she's just getting older. She's going to she's 90. Time really flies like that and it's just so important to be present. Like I really kept thinking about that when I was home just to be present because time is flying. You're freaking me out. No, it's. I'm not. I don't. I'm sorry. I don't. I know. I'm scared. Like I, it's, it's September. Do you guys feel like more than ever right now, the days are just like flying by? It didn't feel like that when I was younger.

No, no. It feels like now, it's like where is time going? It's really crazy. I know. Jesus, can you stop time for a little bit? No, that's okay. We're going to be with Jesus one day. So I've just been trying to be really present and be with family and friends.

And it was so nice. I needed that rest. Yeah, totally. How was The Send? I didn't even get to talk to you about The Send. And now you're going on tour. Thank you. The Sun was amazing.

Me and my pastor Darren spoke at The Send and we had like a session and just like all the people, all the leaders of the send, they're just amazing. I think as we've journeyed through ministry, my one desire has been to do everything relationally to not do things with people because. they're big or big names or they're celebratized, whatever. Like I want to do things with people that we trust, that we love, that we know, that we like, that we respect. And so, yeah, we had the best time at the send.

It's basically a conference where so many people, Gen Z, millennials, Gen Alpha, like just all the kids, all the young adults, all the adults, they come and then essentially they get sent out into the world to be on mission for Jesus. And the send, Lindy Kofer is one of my good friends. She leads worship with circuit riders and also at my church garden. But Lindy and I went on a walk and she's like, do you want to come on the tour on a tour with us for the send? It's going to be five cities in SoCal and in North Cal. And so it's just going to be like a short time where it's going to be worship and I'll preach a little bit and it'll just be really special.

What's so crazy about it is that I think what has it been through was it, three or four years ago, right when we got saved, we went to the send. Remember? Oh, right when we started Girls Gone Bible, yeah. And so that was our, no, it was your second conference, but my first conference. And yeah, we went to the Send, Nashville. Yeah. And I'll never forget it. You and I were like just on the floor together, weeping while they were worshiping. And this kid came up to us and he was like, he put his hand on our back. And he put his hand on our back. and he just started like prophesying over us. That was so crazy.

And he's like, you're going to, I think he said like you're going to be back here or something like that, like at a conference. Yeah, I'll never forget it. So it's just crazy that now you're going on tour for the send. It's so fun. It's really, I, if you guys are in California, please come. So we're just on the East Coast. We had tour in Salem.

I'm just going to. We had tour in Massachusetts. I can't get us to that coffee shop in Salem. I look at him like. No, our tour manager, Chris, took us to like a boba. Like, you guys know me, even though I drink Diet Coke, whatever. If you take me to a coffee shop that has eight grams of sugar, almond milk, I'll lose my life. She's got a call before we go.

It's a whole process. See, talk about who you do. It's the whole process. Whatever. These are things that make me happy. So I call every coffee shop. And I ask, do you have show. And like, so many of them do.

So why not just call and ask and get what you want? Right. But you know what? You're not, I'm more pickier than you. I am. If the coffee is even a touch too milky, I'm sending it back. I'm like one of those. I can't stand a milky coffee.

Why can't people just make it the right color? I know. You're really, really. Well, because you make such good coffee at home. So then when you go to a place, like they need to match up or we got to go. We got to go. Our tour manager, Chris, took us to a coffee shop that had like boba coffee. Skeletons everywhere.

And I said, Chris, do you think we would ever? Ari literally walks in and goes, yeah, let's go. We walk out. It was so funny. But we were on the East Coast and we were in Ari's freaking home state. That was so much fun. We went to the city. We had a tour in New Jersey.

It's just like the best. This year on the East Coast for tour has been just a dream. So special. Guys, we have three gatherings left. Three and then it's over. This is the craziest thing. I cannot believe it's been two years of, touring. Two years. It is so crazy. And I remember someone telling me, like, you're going to get to the

end of it and go, wait, it's over. We only just got the hang of it. Like, come on. We just hit our stride. Like, we just now feel like the Lord's always been moving in tour. He's always been healing. He's always been getting his word out there. But like for us, we kind of just hit our, yeah, like this is fun now. We're not really nervous anymore. Sometimes. Sometimes. But it's just been the most special thing in the special gift in the world to be able to just be with you guys as a family in person and love each other. And it's been so special.

Yeah. We'll find new ways to connect with you guys in person, though. I mean, Ari and I listen. And we want you guys to put this in the comments what you think about this. Ari and I want to do a conference. And we, this is like not even in talks really, but like we've thrown around the idea. And what do you guys think about Ari and I doing? We don't know if we would call it Girls Gone Bible, but a conference where we bring in all of your favorite people that we love trust and who we know love and follow Jesus and bring everyone and have like some sort of two, three day event conference where there's fellowship and preaching and things.

prayer and just like all of us gather together. Put in the comments if that's something you guys would want to see. Or things that you guys would want in this next season. Give us some ideas because communing with you guys in person, there's nothing better than that. And so let me tell you our next three dates. We have San Jose, California, Friday, August 21st. We have Pensacola, Florida.

September 11th. We have Lakeland, Florida, September 13th. Okay, you guys, we are so excited today to read this story, Luke chapter 24. This is a story called The Road to Amas. We want to have a whole episode on seeing Jesus rightly because Ari and I know firsthand what it's like to let our traumas or our circumstances or our mental health in the moment affect the way that we see Jesus. We understand what it's like to let bad things that either have happened or that are happening affect the way that we see him and what we believe about Jesus. And this story in Luke chapter 24 is all about that. It's all about the people who see something happen in the world with their physical eyes, but don't yet see with their spiritual eyes what God is doing through it.

And it's a story about how what might look bad to us might be God doing something. Okay, so we're going to start at verses Luke chapter 24, verse 13. We're reading out of the NIV. What happens at the beginning of this chapter is this is the chapter where Jesus, he resurrects. After he is crucified and buried, Jesus has risen. And this is the moment where the women go to the tomb. They see the tomb rolled away. They go inside.

They see Jesus's clothes laying, but there's no body. There's no Jesus in there. So the girls are like, what is happening? They're female disciples, which Jesus is the ultimate feminist, not in the current society version, but Jesus loves women. I know. To think that's the first people to see Jesus was women resurrected and to go tell the boys about it. I read that one of the reasons why. the Lord did that on purpose was because during this time, if this was made up, if they like,

because, you know, the Jews at the time said that the disciples stole his body and put him away somewhere to fake the resurrection. And the Lord purposely used women because he knew during that time, if they like orchestrated that plan, they would have never used women to be the ones to tell. So God flip society upside down. He uses women. He trusts women. He loves women. What I think is so interesting even about this is that Peter, he ran to the tomb, he bent over, saw the strips of linen lying by themselves. He went away wondering to himself what had happened. Jesus himself told him, I am going to be crucified, I'll be buried, and on the third day, I'll raise again. Peter heard from Jesus himself what was going to happen, saw it with his own eyes, and still didn't believe him.

And so this is kind of the faith and lack of faith that all of us walk in. And this is the human condition where you could know with certainty because Jesus told you either prophetically or in his word what's going to take place and you see it happen and you still struggle to believe. We're human, you know? And then we get to verse 13. Now that same day, two of them were going to the village called Amas, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

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. He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopis, asked him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem

who does not know the things that have happened they are in these days? Let's pause really quick and see, what's happening here. So this is after the resurrection, but so many of the disciples, so many of the people who believed in Jesus, trusted in Jesus, saw him be crucified, and they were so discouraged. I mean, if you think about this, this is like so traumatizing, that the God man that you love, that you trusted, that you believed in, that you truly believe is the Messiah, was hung on a cross and killed. And so for them, like, naturally, they're so confused. They're so traumatized. They're so

discouraged that in this moment, they're walking away from Jerusalem. I love when he says, what are you discussing together as you walk along? Like Jesus obviously knows. But I love that moment because it just shows that Jesus invites you in to be vulnerable and he's not scared of your disappointment or your confusion. He wants you to come to him in that moment. He wants you to come him real and because that's when he gets to work. So I just love that moment so much. I love that too. And I just, I love in this moment, I think what I learned about this so much is that these are two disciples who know Jesus, know the scriptures, know what he said, and still don't recognize him when he walks up alongside them. You know what I mean? I think this is what grief. If I've learned

anything, and I think you've learned this too, that the last however long, the situation that I walk through, it's like, I know Jesus. I know who he is. I know what he's like. I know what he's capable of and I know how he moves. But when you're buried in grief, when your heart is full of disappointment, when your heart is full of fear, it is so hard to remember who Jesus is. it can screw up your perception of him so easily. And that's why, like, healing is a non-negotiable. And this whole story is going to be about how if you don't heal from trauma, if you don't heal from, there are so many people who walk around as Christians

who don't see Jesus rightly because they have not yet healed from a multitude of things that have happened. And so we have these two disciples. Yeah, and I don't blame them. They're so consumed by confusion and grief. And they're talking about Jesus. They're talking about what has taken place, not knowing that Jesus himself walked up next to them. That's also what happens when you're so consumed with your own situation. You don't even see him.

You don't even see what he could be doing. He's like knocking being like, hey, if you would just fix your eyes on me every time that I'm going through something. And I'm so caught up in the OCD and the fear and the blah, blah, blah, and the spiraling and the anxiety and the grief and whatever. every time Ari like told me I have this um orthodox prayer rope uh that I got I bought you one to it's from Greece it's from Mount Athos Greece it's from I bought them and I got you one to yeah did you go to Greece and no I got it all I got it online oh so this an orthodox prayer rope is basically just like it has these little beads on it and you do the Jesus prayer it's Lord Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on me a sinner and you do it one by one right and you do it one by one right

you could do like a little our father with the clear ones. But basically this for me is similar to like praying in tongues. It kind of is a tool to get, especially when you struggle with anxiety and getting like swept up in an OCD loop or swept up in like this fear. Anybody listening who has that where you can get anxious and then, man, you're just like into a spiral and you get set off course and you're all in your head. for me this because sometimes if I'm in like an OCD loop or something like that and I try to pray I just get really it's it's hard you're swirly up in your brain this is one thing that I do

it centers me it brings me back to truth and I just go one by one Lord Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on me a sinner they've been doing it for thousands and thousands of years I got you one too um and I think the monks bless it is that an angel I don't think so but maybe No, I think it's just the tie. But anyways, what I'm saying is the second you stop and get still before God and actually focus on him instead of your own perception of what might be happening in your life, you can find clarity. You can see clearly. But you have to get still enough to even be able to get there. And these disciples, again, I don't blame them.

They're caught up in the mess of what they believe just happened. Jesus died, not good. So are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? Jesus says, what things? He asked. He invites them into finding interpretation about Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all his people.

The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and may crucise him, but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all of this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning, but they didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the woman had said, but they did not see Jesus. We'll finish this and then we'll go back. He said to them, how foolish you are,

and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. This moment in verse 21. but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. This right here, these disciples had hoped. Sometimes what we hope with all of our might and all of our will and all of our being

is not God's will for our lives. And things get so screwed up when that word we hoped. I can't tell you how many times I've said, but I hoped it would happen like this, but I hoped that it was going to end like this and it didn't end like that. And when I am so stuck on what I think should take place, on what I hope is going to happen, of course I'm going to sit there and look at the Redeemer in his face and say, I thought he was going to redeem everything.

They are sick over the fact that the redemption didn't take place when the Redeemer himself is walking with them. That is what happens. I have shared so little about the last few months of my life while also kind of sharing some stuff. And if I have learned anything, every bit of pain that I walk through, I remember I'd wake up every day. And I'd say, Jesus, I know you, so I know you're doing something insane through this. I know, I would be like, even though I'd be stuck. in like this pain and blah blah and it was dark and I whatever I would literally be like

what is being produced in me now that I'm going to see later and I am so grateful to Jesus for every bit of it that he uprooted every plan that I had and turned my life upside down so I could now read Luke 24 and be like I get it I finally understand what it means to hold your life loosely I finally understand what it means that if I truly want to be a follower of Jesus, I have to believe that God is good and sovereign even when things don't go my way. Even when I can't see what's happening. I have never had more fun studying a scripture than this one because of what I've previously walked through.

Had I read this story one year ago, I would not have the same. visceral reaction to it that I've had this past week studying it. This came to life in my life. I understand them. You know what I mean? Because when they had an expectation of what the Messiah would look like, they had an expectation of what redemption should look like. They thought it should look like the Roman Empire being overthrown in Jerusalem

being back into their own power, into being an independent state. But what it actually ended up looking like was the man in power. the king dying being murdered, put to shame, being absolutely tortured and humiliated in front of all of Israel. Yeah. That is so confusing. And for me, when my life took a major turn and everything was upside down and it was so hard to trust Jesus, I read this story now and I'm like, he's been doing this since the very beginning. He has been doing this from the very beginning, you know? It's so crazy how, yeah, it's so crazy how you know. It's so crazy how you go through something where you have so much faith and then all of a sudden you go through something

very tragic where you're like, wait a minute. Yeah. When I read this, when I saw when he says he was a prophet, a powerful powerful in the word indeed before God and all the people, I just think how that relates to us today, how so many people call them, you know, they're Christians, they wear crosses, they go to church, but they're so dead in their faith that their hearts are so far. They don't know. him. And so there's that disconnect. Another thing about this one moment of like what they had hoped it would be like, I wrote this down. Because the story did not unfold the way they expected, they assumed that their hope had failed. But the irony is that the very thing they thought disproved Jesus was actually the thing proving who Jesus was. So so often he works in these opposite ways of like, oh yeah,

you think it's supposed to go like this. Well, let me do something different so I could really show you my glory through it. It's so funny. I wrote, sometimes we act like he's not alive, like we are alone. Is your heart at rest knowing Jesus is by your side? Do you find yourself falling more in love with faith or fear? Are you living a life and fear and acting like he's dead? No, I just, when I read about how he looked at Jesus, it was more like he knew he was a prophet.

He knew that he was resurrected, yet he didn't know the true Jesus. He knew all the theology. They knew the scripture. Like, they knew what it was supposed to be like. But because of the tragedy, it skewed their perception of what they knew. Like, they already had all the information about Jesus. Were they truly surrendered to Jesus? When I read this, I read someone who knew the scriptures, who knew he was a prophet.

But you never hear him say, this is the Messiah. the man who was resurrected from the dead. When I read this, I hear he was a prophet, a powerful and word indeed before God and all the people. It reminds me of today of people who go to church, but they're not fully submitted to the Lord. They're looking at their circumstances more than they know who Jesus is. A thousand percent. And I mean him saying what things. When he says Jesus of Nazareth, and then he doesn't describe him as, you're absolutely right,

he doesn't describe him as Lord. He says he was a prophet. powerful in word and deed before God. Yeah. And so I think that's the difference between knowing Jesus as powerful and in saying all these things, but actually being surrendered to him. Yeah. Living a surrender life to Jesus.

No matter what my circumstances and what I'm going through. I feel like it's a story about like our hearts being divided when tragedy hits. I remember I was always like I had the gift of faith. I was the most faith-filled person. the worst things could happen. And I was never, ever, ever, ever, ever questioning the sovereignty of God, the goodness of God. And then one thing happened that confused me and it threw me off track. And it was the first time that tragedy hit and it affected the way that I see God.

Yes, yes. Yeah. No, exactly. Like something detrimental happens in your life and then your mind is skewed. disappointment makes you look at Jesus in a different light, of course. Mine was the opposite. I found him at the bottom and then he saved my life. And so this past like coming on four years has been for me like I've seen what he does through being at the pit. Yeah. And so everything has changed for me. But yeah, I guess when I read about him and just seeing how he talked about Jesus,

I don't think he fully knew. Yeah. I agree completely. He was. Yeah. Because when he says, we had hoped, when you surrender to Jesus, it's not, I asked Jesus to follow my plans. It's I surrender to Jesus to follow his plans. That's what I wanted to say. A thousand percent. And that's what it means when God has authority over your life.

It's not you who lives. It's he who lives in you. Period. And so it's not so much about what we want. It's about following the leading on the Holy Spirit. Yes. and to go off of what you're saying 100% that verse 21, but we had hope that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. Yeah, Jesus didn't just come.

The whole issue was that they thought this is so good for us because I am so guilty of putting God in a box and being like, hi, you're here to do the things that I think should happen in my life when I am this big. this I'm a small spec very valuable and important to Jesus but really unimportant in the grand scheme of things you're important to him no I know I'm important to him but like in the grand scheme of things I'm a small part in this massive story my life is connected to a million different things the lord has this massive plan for the entire universe including me but for me to put him in a box saying that he should do this one thing that I want him to do when he's the creator and the savior and the holder of the galaxies. It's like this guy saying we had hope that he was going to redeem Israel. All the Jewish people at the time were hoping that the Messiah would come

and overthrow the Roman government, free the people of Israel, let them be their own state. And Jesus came and said, sorry, I'm not doing things the way that you wanted me to do. I didn't come to overthrow Rome, I came to overthrow sin. Yeah. And so this is such exactly what you're talking about are that, yeah, it's not just about what Jesus can do for us, actually. We need to be servants in his master plan for the entire universe. Yeah. That's a process when you give your life to Jesus, but it's a life. It's surrender. We have to surrender. Thank you for saying that. This isn't happen overnight. It doesn't. You and I haven't figured it out. When you've lived your whole life and survival mode, having control and letting that control and trusting something you've never known.

That is a process. Then we move to Jesus says to them, verse 25. So basically they completely are throwing away everything Jesus said and saying he failed essentially. Verse 25, Jesus says to them, how foolish you are and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things? then enter his glory.

And then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. So in this moment, Jesus, first of all, I love how patient he is. Jesus is patient with them. Even in the wrong understanding, he walks with them. He doesn't immediately rebuke them and say, you're wrong. He asks them questions. He inquires. He leads them into their own hearts.

And then he corrects them. Yeah. And I think this is really important because I think sometimes we're often asking, like, I know I've been in seasons of like being confused or needing to hear God's voice and being like, why can't you just answer right now? Like we want things to be instant. What if God wants to walk with you through something? What if he wants to walk side by side while you walk something out yourself and come to this clarity and like revelation yourself with him rather than him just like magically dropping it? You know? And then verse 28 says, as they approach the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, stay with us. For it is nearly evening. The day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. I highlighted stay with us. And so he went in to stay with them because I thought it was so sweet that Jesus was like, oh yeah, I'm leaving. That's so much what he does now.

And then they're like, no, stay with me. And immediately he's like, I'll come in and dine with you. You take one step towards God. God takes a thousand steps towards you. Draw near to me and I will draw near to you. If you say the word Jesus come, you really think he's not coming? That's crazy. Verse 30.

Do you want to read? No, you read. Verse 30. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave things, 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,

we're not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us? So as you guys see, Jesus takes bread. It mimics the last supper where he took the bread. He gave thanks. He broke it. He gave it to them. And when they saw the broken bread, which symbolizes the broken body of Jesus, only then when they saw their Lord's body broken in the bread, their eyes were opened.

Verse 33, they got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 and those with them assembled together and saying, it is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. Then the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. This means so much to me because first we see the disciples couldn't recognize him. They didn't see that it was Jesus. What is Jesus' first line of defense when people can't see him, have no trust in him, are full of grief and confusion and don't understand what's going on?

He opens the scriptures. He opens the scriptures to them. He first opens the scriptures to them. And then he brings them into the home. He takes bread. He blesses the bread. He breaks the bread. And then he gives the bread.

This mimics the last supper where Jesus said, this is my body and my blood. Take this in remembrance of me. Take this as much as you can. We've had a lot of conversations around communion recently. I think I was absolutely rocked, especially last night when I was reading this. because I realized two things. One, when these disciples couldn't see who Jesus is, first he opened up their understanding in the scriptures. And then he showed them after they began to familiarize with themselves with who Jesus is,

he then broke the bread, symbolizing his body being broken. And then they finally could see him in the crucifixion, in what happened. And I truly believe that the reason why these disciples could not see Jesus clearly or rightly is because they believed in a gospel that was a void of suffering. They could not believe that their Messiah had to suffer in order to achieve glory. And Jesus literally says this in verse 25, how foolish are you? Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? There are so many people who believe in a gospel that is void of the wounds of Jesus. You will never see Jesus if you don't know why he does.

you will never see Jesus if you don't feel the weight of the revelation of the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ should literally be alive inside of you every single day. If I am ever, if I, not lukewarm, if I am ever not on fire in my heart, I open Isaiah 53, the suffering servant and I open up the story of the crucifixion. Those are the moments. And yes, he received victory. We received victory in his resurrection. but you don't get to the resurrection without getting through the crucifixion first.

And I just wanted to read something that I wrote. They had a version of the Messiah that did not include suffering. And that's why so many people, by the way, become Christians. And then they ditch Jesus. They abandon Jesus when they go through something. Because if they don't see his suffering rightly, they'll never be able to see their own suffering rightly. So many people give up on Jesus because the world is unfair. There's so much sickness and evil.

Jesus had to reinterpret their entire understanding of the Messiah through suffering, through scripture, and ultimately his broken body. We talk about suffering on here more than anything because it plagues the world. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And thank you, Jesus, that we follow a God who bore everything we go through in his own body. Some people only see Jesus as gentle but never holy.

Some only see Him as holy but never compassionate. Some see him as a therapist, some see him as a life coach, some see him as a political symbol. Some see him as someone who exists primarily to make their lives easier. But the Jesus of Scripture is bigger than every category you can ever try to put him in. He is the lamb and the lion. He is gentle and authoritative. He is Savior and He is Lord. He comforts the broken and he confronts.

sin both at the same time. He's going to comfort your broken heart and he's also going to call out the sin that's in you. He wash his feet and he flips tables. He dies for sinners and he calls sinners to repentance. To see Jesus rightly, we have to let the Bible destroy our counterfeit versions of him. I love this moment so much because I'm like, they saw him when they saw his broken body. They familiarized with the scriptures, but then the second they understood, oh, he had to die. That's when their eyes were open. So many people call themselves Christians. They go to churches on the weekend.

We went to church growing up, and I had no theology as to the suffering of Jesus. I had no theology as to why Jesus' body was up on a cross during mass there. I had no idea what that was all about, but now I know, and it changed my entire life. part is so personal for me too because my life, my eyes didn't open until I opened to the Word of God. I knew Jesus as my father and the guy who picked me up off my bathroom floor and brought me from death to life. But there was no reverence. There was no full understanding and transformation until I opened the Word of God. And when it says, when it talks about your slow to be, believe it's, I feel that it's really a heart issue. Wow. It is not until you humble yourself,

until you get out of, I don't know why we think our beliefs and opinion of man is more important and more intellectual than the word of God. And part of having faith is putting your faith more into this than you do about your own beliefs and your own opinions. And that's the problem that we're all having is that we're all saying, well, I feel and I believe. Yeah. And for as long as you do that is as long as as you're going to be stunted in your walk with Jesus. To have faith, to see Jesus rightly is to put 100% of your faith into the Word of God. And I can tell you from living in the world and doing what the world said my whole life, I've tested this thing front and back and it all remains true. When scripture says meditate on the law day and night because that is where true transformation happens.

That is when your eyes opens to Jesus and who he is. But it must, we have to, for our hearts to burn, like these men did not our hearts burn. When you read the Bible, you have to read for the person of Jesus. You cannot do it to just study and have head knowledge. These disciples had that head knowledge. Imagine Jesus. Imagine sitting with Jesus and him going from Genesis to Exodus. Sitting with Jesus and having him go through. Genesis, all the things that he did, testing Abraham's faith, Moses in the Burning Bush.

So crazy. Parting the Red Sea. Can you imagine? And it's like, yes, we can imagine it because we can do that now. Like I remember when I first started my faith, and I remember, even looking at you how much you knew the Bible and when you would read it to me. And I remember thinking, how will I ever read the Bible? How will I ever understand it? And you have no idea. This is living and active, living water. And it truly, it's healed my mind. It's changed my life. When I want to

talk to Jesus, when I want to know the person to Jesus, I open up the scriptures. And so I just, this is so personal for me because the Bible is my life, my world, my map guide, my living water. It's everything to me. And so I just relate so much when he says to them, how foolish you, how slow to believe because we want to believe certain things in the Bible, but we still want to believe that we can still sit in sin because we like our sin more than we want to follow Jesus. They ask each other, we're not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us. When it talks about hearts burning, it is describing an inner awakening as Jesus revealed the truth and the scriptures to them.

That is why we're so passionate about the Word of God. Why every episode we talk about you need to open the Word of God because real change will not happen until you are in this. you cannot be in relationship with Jesus, but not read the Word of God. And it is not an occasional thing. It is not read a Psalm once in a while, read a devotion. To know the person of Jesus, to hear from Jesus, to be in true close relationship with Jesus. You have to rely on this Word of God. You have to read the Word of God, because this is Jesus. And this is where your soul awakens. This is where you find life. This is where you find comfort. This is where you find freedom. This is where when I feel depressed and I don't feel right, I think to myself, have I been in the word of God? Yeah. And so I just love when they say that where

where our hearts not burning. Basically, and it's not saying were they. They're saying they were. Our hearts were burning when he opened up the scriptures to us. And I love two things about that. One, when we're reading the Bible, our heart should be burning. When I was reading this story, when I was studying this story, my heart was burning. And I can tell the difference between when I'm reading something and like it is truly coming to life within me, verse when I'm just reading to read. And there are times where you're being fed and like I'm not saying that every single time you read the Bible has to be this profound spiritual experience because I don't want you guys striving for something.

But they're like you read the Bible with the intention of encountering Jesus. You read the Bible, even in the Old Testament, looking for Jesus. You read Leviticus, what feels like the most random book of the Bible, that never mentions Jesus or anything that you even think could point to him. And it's literally all pointing to him. And so that's what we mean. Like your heart should be burning. You're reading for a purpose. And the purpose is to know Jesus, to love Jesus more, to encounter him, to become more like him.

And something that was really actually encouraging for me in this was, where our hearts not burning within us while he talked on the road with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us, their hearts burned before their eyes opened. And what I realize is that so many of us seek Jesus and we're like, when is something going to happen? When is something going to change? When is my anxiety going to go away? When am I going to feel better? When am I going to realize this? There is a slow burn when it comes to true transformation. There's a slow burn when it comes to sanctification. When I look back on the beginning of our journey, people were walking with us and seeing us read the Bible and still continue to like act certain ways or speak certain ways or like just whatever in certain ways, not knowing that our hearts were burning even if it wasn't on display yet. Our hearts, your heart will begin to burn sometimes before your eyes open.

So you don't need to judge where you are in your walk, ow. You don't need to judge where you are in your walk based on. what you see happening externally because something can be, Jesus can be working on you without you even knowing it when you're in this, you know? Yeah. It doesn't have to be this massive overnight change that's taking place. Well, that's what I love about the beginning of this story. He's walking aside of them and have their face down and sadness with all hope loss when really he was walking beside them the whole time. Exactly. And with a greater plan. Yeah. I'm going to say it again, you have to humble yourself.

Pride is a killer. And if we have any bit of pride, we are going to go by our own beliefs, go in our own way. You have to humble yourself. You have to say, Jesus, I want to rely on this more than I rely on my own beliefs. Humble yourself.

Ask God, if you don't understand the scriptures, if it just feels like head knowledge, ask the Holy Spirit to help you. I say it all the time. You read in the Bible, I'll have tears. I won't even know what I'm reading. I'll tear streaming down my face. That's what the Bible does.

He works through you. He helps you. He guides you. And he teaches you. So good. One of the reasons I love this so much, theologically, is like when it comes to communion, when it comes to the body and blood of Jesus Christ,

there's a huge debate. Many people think it's just symbolic. This is a journey that God has taken me on that I feel strongly. strongly, strongly, strongly, that communion is not symbolic, that it is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ, read John 6, do research, it's what the early church believed from the very beginning. I think that when you look at communion as a symbol, I think you are missing out on so much that God intended for us on earth.

this story Jesus reveals himself in two ways it's in the word and in the bread and I don't think he literally says in the last verse verse 35 Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread

I think truly in communion that is recognized as not symbolic but the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and is revered as such I think has the ability to open our eyes to the person of Jesus in a way that nothing else can except the word. And so I just like want people to ponder that

to do their own research, to read as much as they can on communion and read the Bible on what Jesus himself said about his body and blood. Read John 6th. I just don't know how anybody can read that and interpret it as symbolic. It's insane to me. Anyways, you can't see Jesus rightly without understanding his broken body. They misunderstood Jesus because they could not understand why the Messiah had to suffer. Listen to this and see how the disciples felt this towards Jesus, but we also feel this way ourselves. They wanted the glory, but they didn't understand the suffering. Scripture literally says if we, what does it say?

if we share oh yeah scripture literally says if we share in his suffering then we'll share in his glory the means to glory for the Lord Jesus was suffering that was the vehicle through which he got glory what vehicle it's like a means like the way it was the means by which he received glory and so much of us so many of us in our lives will see glory And a lot of the time, suffering is the way that we'll get there. The breaking, the crushing, the pruning, the uncomfortability of... All of us. Yeah.

The uncomfortability of what it means to walk out our salvation with fear and trembling. And by situations that uproot the dirt and the impurity that's within us, Jesus takes it out and then brings us into Christ-likeness. That is the glory that we're all looking for. You think the glory you want is the job, the money, the relationship, the marriage, the guy, the girl, whatever the heck. But really, what we are all longing for, what we were created for was the glory that we see in Jesus. And then the glory that is displayed in us journeying into Christ-likeness, adopting Christ-likeness. And so they wanted the glory, but they didn't understand the suffering.

So many of us who want the amazing things that God is promising without. out the uncomfortability and hard things that we have to go through to get there. But you cannot understand Jesus rightly if you remove the cross. The cross is not an unfortunate interruption in the story of Jesus. And by the way, it's also not like a reaction from Jesus. The cross wasn't like Jesus saying, oh, man, I don't know what to do. Sin entered the world. And now everything is a mess.

And Rome has invaded Israel. Ah, okay. You know what? I'll send my guy Jesus. He'll take care of it. The cross, what is the scripture? Jesus was crucified before the foundations of the earth. The cross was plan A. God is not reactive. God never is like, oh man, this happened. Now what am I going to do? The cross was never a backup plan. Jesus was crucified before the foundations of the earth. It was always the plan. He did it on purpose to display his love for us because it's the ultimate. display of love. The cross reveals the heart of Jesus. The broken bread points to the broken body.

When the bread is broken, their eyes open. We begin to see Jesus rightly when we understand the meaning of his brokenness. He came to give himself. He came to be broken. He came to pour himself out. He came as the Lamb of God. The glory of Jesus is inseparable from the self-giving love of Jesus. the glory of Jesus, the glory of God is found in the face of Jesus. But not just in the resurrected victorious Jesus. He's still bloody even though he's resurrected. He's still wounded even though he's resurrected. We know a lot of Christians who believe that Jesus isn't still on the cross.

Of course he's not. I can go so. The fact that so many people are offended at a crucifix because Jesus's body is up on a cross and they say he's not on the cross. anymore. That's offensive. He's resurrected. He is the lamb that was slain, but is standing. He's the wounded and reigning king. When we meet Jesus, he's going to have holes in his hands and it peers in his side. We're not going to get there. And we heard the most diabolical fin recently, and I'm just going to say it. I text her. I was like, take a deep breath. This is how a lot of Christians think.

We heard somebody say, because we want to put Jesus's crown of thorns on everything that we do. You know, they want to put pictures of us. We say, put his crown of thorns on, put the back of his head on there because it's about him. We had someone say, when I see Jesus, I don't see him on the cross. I see a king resurrected. He's not wearing the crown of thorns anymore. So you're telling me because Jesus was resurrected. First of all, by the way, he was still king on the cross. He didn't become king because God did this miraculous thing and raised him from the dead. He was king on the cross and he's king off the cross. He was king as a baby and he's king in heaven. And then this person said that the crown of thorns essentially he's wearing a different crown now so what you're

trying to say is that the crown of there is a crown a king's crown of higher honor than the crown of thorns the crown of thorns is the highest honor anyways yeah can i can i say something though i and i know and i think i said this to you recently that one thing i've always and i'm still i think and i wonder if many of you have this, but it has been such a process for me to fully understand what he did on the cross. Of course. And it's been such, it's just been a process. And I, I think I said to Anne recently, like, I don't know if it's my nervous system of

not wanting to face what happened to him and the pain that he went through. And so a lot of times when I read what he went through, I'll almost like, my nervous system will go into shock a little bit and I'll just kind of block it out. Yeah. Because he's my dad and I don't want to like face the pain that he went through. And I wonder if any of you guys feel like that. But recently actually, I've really just wanted to understand what he did on the cross because I love that you just explained at all.

That's so beautiful because we do have to really grasp what he did in order to really understand. And so I was led back to John. I read all of John recently, and it was so sweet. I literally was in my closet, and I was at the end of John because I said, Jesus, I want to really understand what you went through. Like, open my heart to really feel it and understand it. And at the very end, it was the part where the sponge going to his lips because Jesus said he was thirsty. And I was wailing. And I, like, sat there for like an hour and I just, it just opened my eyes of everything that happened to him.

And so I just want to let you know if some of you are having a tough time understanding the death of Jesus, it's really been a process for me as well. And I would just encourage you to go back to John and read through and ask him to open your eyes to the death of Jesus. And he will. This is a journey. I was a Catholic. I was Christian my whole, you know, I knew Jesus my whole life. It wasn't maybe in my, like mid-20s is when I finally understood. Yeah.

So it's one of the most complicated things to possibly understand. And that's why you can't understand it without the Holy Spirit. Yes. I love you guys so much. Thank you for being with us. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. may he turn his face towards you and give you peace.

Shalom, shalom. We love you.