Fresh Manna 2021

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Strong Tower Radio

Fresh Manna By Garhett Morgan

Garhett Morgan

Via Dolorosa

Fresh manna fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was fresh from the ovens of heaven, baked by the master baker himself.

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and the smell of each morning's delivery!

Just like the Israelites, you too can now experience the taste and the smell of fresh manna.

Today you will be listening to Garrett Morgan, pastor of Big Rapids, Bristol, and Reed City Seventh-day Adventist churches.

We're going through 7 different roads in the Bible.

Now we want to be clear, and we mentioned this on week 1, that there is only 1 way to salvation, amen?

But we're going to be looking at 7 specific roads in the Bible.

Now, the 1 before the message we're going to have today is the Messianic Road.

And by that, I mean the road that Jesus took from raising Lazarus from the dead and coming to Jerusalem for the Passover, and the crowd shouting, Hosanna, right?

Did you know that he probably passed Gethsemane by only a few feet as he was coming into Jerusalem there on that donkey?

Just what that must have meant in his mind.

And that Jesus passed under the same gate that all of the lambs and the doves and the cattle, the sacrificial animals were as well.

But this week what we're gonna be taking a look at is 1 that's really important to me, and that is the way of suffering, or the song, the Via Dolorosa, Jesus from Pilate to Golgotha, and the road that he took.

Now, I'll be honest with you, when I was writing this message, I had a different plan in mind on how it was going to go, but that changed very quickly.

And as I was writing this message I became a little bit nervous because I'll be honest with you it's not 1 that makes me comfortable, which I think is a good thing.

It's not 1 that will agree with your political views.

It's touchy, especially in the climate that we're living in today, whether it be a social climate or political climate or whatever climate you might be thinking of.

There's some other roads we're gonna be taking a look at as well, the road to Emmaus, We're going to be looking at Saul's conversion, and then finally, this is what I'm really looking forward to, we're going to be looking at the saints' half-hour trip.

By God's grace, all of us are going to be traveling on the road to heaven, and what that is going to look like.

But we're going to pick up in a story, we're going to pick up in the story of Jesus being marched into Jerusalem and the crowd is singing Hosanna.

Do you know that Hosanna is where we get the word hurrah today?

It means, oh save, oh save, oh save, oh save the king.

And the crowd was shouting Hosannas and praises and accolades to Jesus, the son of God.

And the disciples must have been thinking, finally, Jesus is getting the recognition that he deserves.

Finally, people are accepting that this is the man that is going to save us from the whip of the Romans.

This is the 1 that we have been looking for and they are going to finally crown Jesus king.

However, just a few days later, the same crowd in the same city with the same Jesus was saying something drastically different.

If you'd go with me to Luke, Luke chapter 23.

We're gonna take a look here at verse 18.

Luke 23 18, the same crowd that was singing, God save King Jesus, is now saying something drastically different.

And they cried out all at once, saying, away with this man and release unto us Barabbas, who for a certain sedition made in the city and for murder was cast into prison.

Pilate therefore willing to release Jesus spoke again to them, but they cried, saying, crucify him, crucify him.

The crowd that was singing God save Jesus, only a few short days later, is now calling for him to be executed in a horrific way.

What in this crowd's mind changed for them to be loving Jesus 1 day and to be asking for his execution the next in place for a common criminal or what they thought was a common criminal?

Well there's more here than meets the eye, but I'd like to read you a quote here from Desire of Ages that sheds a little bit more light on this, and it makes a lot more sense.

It says, Like the bellowing of wild beasts came the answer of the mob, Release unto us Barabbas.

Louder and louder swelled the cry, Barabbas, Barabbas.

Thinking that the people had not understood his question, Pilate asked, Will you that I release unto you the king of the Jews?

But they cried out again, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas.

What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ?

Again the surging multitude roared like what?

Demons themselves in human form were in the crowd and what could be expected but the answer, let him be crucified.

In other words, this mob and this mob mentality that was so easily swayed into shouting crucify him was just as easily swayed by demons themselves in yelling crucify him.

In other words, the crowd was just going along with what felt good in the day of it.

And friends, today that's what Christianity is doing.

Christianity today, I believe, is still the dominant religion in the United States of America and a lot of first world countries today But friends often our relationship with Jesus is not a relationship at all.

It's a relationship with sensation It's a relationship with emotion that we think is a relationship with Christ, but in reality it's a dangerous game.

This crowd started the chants of crucify him, not by mere man, but demon themselves in human forms started the chance of crucify the Son of God.

But we're going to take a break here in the story, because there's a few other things here that I'd like you to know as we continue.

When Jesus chose the disciples, who were all present at this time, when Jesus chose the disciples, he chose them from all different walks of life, didn't he?

From common blue-collar laborers, from tax collectors, and doctors.

But 1 type of disciple that we don't talk about very much because we don't know a lot about them is rather mysterious, and it's actually a secret society of sorts.

Luke chapter 6 talks about what 1 of these disciples, and we don't really know much about this disciple by the name of Simon, not to be confused with Simon Peter.

We see him referenced a few times in the Gospels, really just in the introduction, and he's also mentioned after the crucifixion in the book of Acts.

But we find this about this Simon character.

Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotis, or a zealot.

You know what a zealot was in the time of Jesus?

A zealot in the time of Jesus was a hero in the mind of a Jew and he was a terrorist in the mind of a Roman.

Especially during the time of Passover, which was when this was all taking place, there were crowds of people that were in Jerusalem And the Zealots were Jewish people that could not stand being under Roman oppression.

And so what they would do was not only verbally speak against the Romans, but they took it, let's just say, physically as well.

The Zealots were known for creating big diversions in the town and as the Roman guards were going here and there to try and put down the diversion, the Zealots would kill as many Roman legions as possible.

And it's interesting to note that Jesus chose 1 of these zealots as a part of his disciples.

You could say that being a zealot was an extreme political leaning.

It's also interesting to notice here that he includes this zealot in the same sentence as Matthew.

Matthew was considered a sellout in the Jewish mind.

Matthew was 1 that basically sold his soul, if you will, to get paid well by the Romans.

In fact, it's very possible that Matthew had a Roman citizenship.

Often the Romans would trade citizenship for them doing things that, well, like tax collecting, was not seen good in that culture.

So we have somebody that thinks of 1 thing politically, And then we have the zealot, Simon, who is completely opposite, and yet they were both in the 12 disciples of Jesus.

It's almost like Simon put the kingdom of God before Jerusalem.

It's almost like Matthew put the kingdom of God before his wealth and riches.

The Emmaus Road

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and the smell of each morning's delivery.

Today you will be listening to Garrett Morgan, pastor of Big Rapids, Bristol, and Reed City Seventh-Day Adventist churches.

It's always a blessing to be here in the house of God with you.

You know, I was remembering when I was a lot younger than I am now, I remember preaching for the first few times, and the excitement that that was, and in my young mind I don't think I understood the responsibility that it carried.

And I remember going to a little country church very similar to this 1 in a small town called Leavenworth, Washington, and getting behind the pulpit there, and right behind the pulpit where only those that are on the platform can see it, there was a plaque, and the plaque simply said, Sir, that we would see Jesus.

That's all it said, Sir, that we would see Jesus.

We're not here to see the pastor, we're not here to see 1 another, although that is important, I'm not trying to lessen that, but the real reason that we are here is to worship God.

He is the reason for coming together, although I know that fellowshipping with each other is important, and I enjoy that just as much as the next guy, but I know that as we read the Word of God, He is literally talking to us.

Let's have a word of prayer before we get started this morning.

Father, Lord, we thank you so much for not only bringing us through this past year, but Father, being with us the entire time, teaching us lessons through trials and triumphs.

Father, speaking to us as individuals and as a church.

Lord, as we open this Word today, the living Word of God, we ask that we would understand the lessons that come from on high.

And Father, we just ask that we would leave this place not just feeling good, but feeling convicted and wishing to do something about it.

Not because We simply want to check something off of a list, but because we're motivated by our love for you.

All right, well, the past few weeks we have been taking a look at different roads in the Bible.

And today we're going to be taking a look at the Emmaus Road this week.

And we've gone through some really important topics.

We took a look at Jesus being the only way to salvation.

We took a look at the Messianic Road, them shouting, Hosanna.

I don't think we did that here, but last time I was here, we took a look at Jesus Christ going from being praised and adored by the crowds to that same crowd yelling, crucify him, crucify him.

As he was paraded before the Sanhedrin and as he was there before Pontius Pilate, the question was asked, would you prefer Jesus Barabbas or Jesus of Nazareth.

And the crowd was faced with the dilemma and the choice of whether they valued a political savior or they valued a spiritual savior.

And the demons in that crowd influenced them to shout, give us Barabbas, and also blame the future generations for their decision as well.

But today we're going to be taking a look at the road to Emmaus, or the Emmaus Road.

And there's so much that we can learn here.

I'm really excited to look at this with you guys today.

Next time that we're here, we'll take a look at the Gaza road.

This is the road of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

And then the Damascus Road, the conversion of Saul.

And then finally, the saints' half-hour trip to heaven, whereby God's grace, all of us will be.

So anyway, let's go ahead and take a look here.

Picture, if you will, the disciples had just seen their Savior, their best friend, the 1 in who all their hope had been, crucified, and his body had disappeared.

Now, for quite some time, Jesus had been telling his disciples in symbols, but also very clearly where there was no black and white, but just right to the edge, he had been telling them what his purpose on earth was.

He had been telling them explicitly, I have come here for 1 purpose, and that purpose is to die for the salvation of my children.

And the disciples, either that went straight over their head or they were not willing to listen to it or they thought it meant something else but when Jesus was crucified the promise of his resurrection and the promise of his death as well had been largely forgotten by his closest disciples, his closest confidants.

However, we do know that there were some people that were listening that weren't necessarily a part of the inner circle of the disciples.

It says, Now the next day, Jesus is dead now, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together to pile it.

So these religious leaders are coming together to talk what would be considered to be a very secular topic.

So you can see that their observance of the Sabbath here is kind of shaking a little bit.

They're more worried about something else.

So they come together and they have a meeting and they say this, Sir, we remember that the deceiver said while he was yet alive, After 3 days I will rise again.

Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say to the people, he has risen from the dead, so the last error shall be worse than the first." Now this is fascinating.

These men do not claim at all that they believe that Jesus is going to resurrect.

Now, deep inside their mind, they might think this could happen, but that's not what they let on.

They say the disciples may come and steal his body, which I guess would have been a theory, but I find it very interesting that Christ's enemies were listening to Jesus even more than his disciples were.

I mean, Jesus had been speaking these things to his inner circle, and they should have been counting down the days until the resurrection of their Savior, but instead, they were in despair and in a terrible depression.

And the enemies of Christ, in fact, I believe, had more faith in the resurrection of their enemy than the disciples did their best friend.

What a lesson that we can learn from that today as well, can't we?

Friends, we have been given so much truth.

We have been given these miraculous things that give us so much detail on what is to come.

And I'll tell you this much, our adversary the devil has been studying just as much as you have.

In fact, he has not been studying just as much as you have, he has been studying a lot more than you have, because he's had a lot more time to do so.

Our enemy knows exactly what's going to be taking place, and friends, let us not fall into the same deception as the disciples of Jesus did, where our enemy has more faith in what God is going to do than God's own chosen people.

But Jesus, of course, is resurrected on that third day, and we praise God for that.

But then we pick up this story in Luke chapter 24.

We're going to turn there today, Luke chapter 24, and it may be a pretty large passage of Scripture, but I want to read this with you so we get the whole point.

And when I use the word disciple today, I'm not talking about the inner 12 disciples of Jesus.

I'm just talking about the followers of Christ in general.

Just wanted to clarify that because we're all called to be disciples of Jesus.

So Luke chapter 24, and we're going to start here in verse 13.

And behold, 2 of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which from Jerusalem was about 3 score furlong, so about 7, 8 miles about that.

And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

So they had just seen who died, their Savior.

They had just heard a rumor that He had been resurrected.

And so these 2 friends or disciples of Christ, they're talking about the happenings.

Verse 15, And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

But their eyes were Holden that they should not know him.

So they didn't know that Jesus was walking with them.

And he said to them, what manner of communications are these that you have 1 to another, as you walk and are what?

And 1 of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said unto him, Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem?

And hast thou not known the things which are come to pass therein these days?

And they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him.

The Damascus Road

Today you will be listening to Garrett Morgan, pastor of Big Rapids, Bristol and Reed City Seventh-day Adventist churches.

It's such a blessing to see all of you here.

I know that it can be when you wake up and you see that wonderful winter wonderland out there, it can be tempting to stay home, can't it?

I know that it can be for me as well, but I'm just praising the Lord that you're in God's house today.

Let's have a word of prayer and then we'll get started on today's message.

Father, Lord, we thank you for the beautiful, wonderful words of life.

Lord, today we don't want to see Pastor Garrett, but we want to see your truth.

And Father, I pray that as we read your word that we would understand, that you would give us the spirit of understanding, for spiritual things are spiritually discerned.

Lord, if we're cloudy today, because sometimes we wake up a little bit cloudy in the morning, Father, I ask that you would clear our minds, that we can understand these heavenly truths.

Father, you are so good to us, and Lord, we just want to worship and honor you.

Well, we've been on this journey, and we only have 1 more week left.

Today we're going to be covering the road to Damascus, and then next week we will be taking a look at the Saints half an hour trip.

I'm looking forward to doing that with each and every 1 of you.

Here's what we've gone through thus far, for those of you that are new and maybe haven't been here before.

The first week we took a look at salvation's only entrance, and of course we know the only way to salvation is through who?

There is only 1 way to heaven, only 1 way to eternal life, and that is Jesus Christ.

The next week we took a look at the Messianic Road and how the crowds in Jerusalem as they were gathered there for the Passover sang Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest.

And the next week we took a look at the Via Dolorosa, or the Way of Suffering, and we found that that crowd that had been singing praises was now saying, crucify him, crucify him.

And then we took a look at the road to Emmaus and the 2 disciples that were walking with Jesus, and they didn't even realize that it was Jesus until they had come to their house.

We took a look at Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza.

And finally, this week we'll be on the Damascus Road, and we will close next week with the Saints half an hour trip.

But I'm always excited to talk about the conversion of Saul because it's just an amazing story that we can learn from ourselves.

But before we get into that, I'd like to tell you a story.

This is a familiar scene, not just to me, but to maybe some people here.

When I was a Bible worker in Lansing, I had the privilege of being a volunteer chaplain at the Jackson State Prison there in Jackson.

I believe that Mike was also there, and he helped out with that as well.

And I'll tell you, and I think I may have mentioned this before, I've been in quite a few jails and prisons since then, and it's very interesting because you come and you walk across the yard and you see men exercising and walking laps or shooting hoops or something like that, and you walk across the yard to the classroom that serves as your chapel of the day, and you have your worship service with them, and then you come back the next week, and then you leave again, and you go and do your business, and you come back the next week, and they're still there.

You come back 7 days later, and guess what?

Week after week after week after week, these people are still there.

And it's a different world when you're behind not necessarily bars but coils of barbed wire.

And I remember these worship services and trust me I love worshipping here with all of you, but I remember that these men had been trying to get hymnals for years so that they could sing together and they just weren't coming.

And finally, 1 of our church elders realized that they needed hymnals and he was able to get some.

And I remember the first time that they opened those hymnals and were able to sing together in the tears that were running down their cheeks as they were able to sing Amazing Grace.

As they were able to sing all to Jesus I surrender.

And you know, not all of those men sung on tune, let me tell you.

I can't say that any of them sang quietly, they all sang pretty loud.

And it wasn't necessarily on key, It wasn't a choir by any means, but I think it's some of the most beautiful music that I've ever heard in my life because these people were truly getting to know their Savior even in such a dark place.

And this story that I'm about to tell this morning before we get into our message has to do with a full-time chaplain back in the early 1900s.

He had been the chaplain for a few years at a state prison, And it was not just a low security prison like the 1 that I have served at, but it was very high security.

The men that were in this prison tended to have committed some very, let's just say, violent crime.

But every Saturday he would have worship service for those that chose to worship then.

On Sunday he would have worship service for those that chose to worship then.

Midweek he would have a meeting, or what we would call prayer meeting, for those that chose to come.

And he also would meet with as many inmates as was possible or as his time would permit.

The first few weeks of being a chaplain in that prison, it was very eerie to him.

And it is quite something when the door closes behind you and you recognize, okay, this is not just society, this is very different.

But after a few weeks, he began to get a little bit more comfortable with being in this environment, and it began to kind of be like a little bit of a home to him, even as a prison chaplain.

Every week he would get up and he would present his message and he would see the same faces, although a few new ones would come and pop up and for that they praise the Lord.

And then every once in a while, there would be a praise that 1 of them would be out on parole and they would have special prayer for that man.

Series

Fresh Manna By Garhett Morgan

Via Dolorosa

Transcript

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