Season of Restoration

Praise God. Let us read from the Gospel according to Luke chapter 24 verses 52 and 53. Luke [Music] Luke 24 52 and 53. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. A blessed verse we have today. Those are the last verses of the Gospel according to Luke. After worshiping him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple complex praising God. Hallelujah. Praise God. Hallelujah. These are a people who were living in Jerusalem for a short time. They were in Jerusalem, but they were burdened. They were scared. They were weary. They were troubled. Praise the Lord. But now there is a difference. These people they are not quitters. They never quit. When we read through the Bible, they are a people who kept rowing against the wind for 9 hours and never quit. These are a people even though it is uncomfortable, even though it is nothing is going their way, even though all their hopes are being crushed. These are a people who kept to the task. Whatever the Lord tells them, even before they found the Lord, they were like that. All night they were fishing, caught nothing. But they came. Hallelujah. Again, clenched their clean their net. You know why? Tomorrow night we are going back. Hallelujah. These are the people. But there is a difference now. They are rejoicing. They’re happy. They are hopeful. There is a new life. I was praying to the Lord, give me a a verse for 2026 for the congregation. And that is what I would like to share with you. It is winter. We know right? It is winter. Today morning the sun rose at 7:30 and today evening the sun set at 5:30. Praise the Lord. Tomorrow also the same thing. Day after tomorrow it’s the same thing. 7:30 the sun will rise and 5:30 the sun will set. Suppose you wake up Friday morning you have to go to work right? Tomorrow is off day but on Friday morning you have to go to work. You wake up your room is flooded with light 9:00 you know and you jump up and then you just watch. Look at the time it’s 4:00 in the morning. What will you think? What happened to the sun? What happened to this earth? What is going on? Praise the Lord. That is what this chapter 24 of the book of Luke is. Same thing is happening. Something they never expected in life. Hallelujah. See there are three groups of people Jesus encounters in this chapter 24 of the gospel of Luke. Three groups of people one are the women the women who went to um anoint Jesus’ body. Second group is the two disciples who went to Amos. Third is the 11 disciples and some others who were with them. Praise the Lord. All these three groups of people, Jesus encounters them in during night. The background is dark. The background is night with the women. In chapter 24 verse1, we read it was deep dawn. Deep dawn. Uh in the book of John, the gospel according to John says you know in the night there was night the light has not yet come. In the book of Emo in the book of the disciples who are going to Emos by the time they reach Amos these people tell Jesus evening is at hand. See the sun is set and they walk back after seeing Jesus and they see the disciples 11 and others. It is middle of night. Praise the Lord. [Music] The son of righteousness will dawn for you in the middle of the night. That is our hope and that is what we read in the book of Luke. Chapter 24. Praise the Lord. You know, we remember those who were in Phoenix. You know, in Pittsburgh, it’s another story. In Phoenix, we we were going through summer and summers are really good here, really great. Okay. And then we are all praying for winter, waiting for winter. And what happens? One day there is some shade, some cool, and we are all happy. Oh, winter is coming, cold is coming finally. But the next day we are again get we again get baked. So one day hot the next day cold. One day hot next day cold. That is how seasons change. But God’s season God’s season is not like that. Chapter 22, chapter 23, we go through a deep darkness where there is no hope. Chapter 24 as it starts, it starts with a sudden rising of the sun. Hallelujah. Only God only needs this much time to change your life for the dawn to come in your life. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. That is my first point. the sunrise and the sunset, the seasons, God’s season, when it comes, it comes so powerfully. The second thing is when something goes wrong in our life, what do we do? What do we say to ourselves when something is you know going south or gone south. Our first question is why? Why? Why did this happen to me? That is our question. Hallelujah. Here the disciples also have the same questions. Praise the Lord. These three groups of people don’t forget. Hallelujah. the women the amos disciples and the 11 and 11 apostles. Praise the Lord. Verse 7 and 8 of this uh chapter we read Jesus angels it’s not Jesus but the angels encountering the women inside Jesus tomb. Angels come and talk to these women like this. the son of man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and rise on the third day. And verse 8 says like this, and they remembered his words. Praise the Lord. See [Music] [Music] me immediately. Praise the Lord. When we go to verse 26, same thing happens with these emo disciples. In 26 reads like this, didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into his glory? As soon as they hear the question, when we read verse 32, they say like this when he was speaking to us and explaining the scripture, our hearts were burning. Praise the Lord. See, Jesus is not only encountering them, but Jesus is giving the reason why you had to go through this pain, why you had to suffer. Hallelujah. We read a beautiful psalms here about God having our time in his hands. Our time is orchestrated by God. Hallelujah. At the right time, he is coming and he is telling these people. And verse 45 and 46, Jesus comes and opens the apostles minds and they receive, they understand why they had to go through this pain. When the Lord comes to you, when the Lord encounters you, the Lord will not just come and say God never comes and say it might happen like that. God will come and give you the reason the why. Praise the Lord. See, it is a privilege. Only in the New Testament, it happens. Book of Job, we read Job was complaining to God about everything that happened in his life. When God comes and encounters Job, he doesn’t give any answer why all this happened. We know what happened in the heavenly lands. We know. But when God speaks to uh Job, he says, “You think you’re so smart? You think you’re so intelligent? Let me ask you some questions. Do you know anything? Do you have any clue?” This is what the Lord says. You know, Hagar, when Abraham gives her one loaf of bread and just enough water to go one day, survive one day in the in the in the wilderness. After the water is over, she goes and cries, sits, puts the child uh about an arrow arrows distance and then she comes back and sits here and cries. The angel of the Lord comes to her. It’s a funny question. [Music] Why are you crying? You would have said, do you really want to know? Don’t you know what is happening in my life? Huh? And the Lord says go, there is water. God is going to bless you. It doesn’t give a reason why all this happened in your life. Even John the Baptist, the last one of the Old Testament, Jesus does not give a a a reason. But to his children, but to those who of the New Testament, each one of us, our Lord comes and he will give you an answer why you have to go through this problem. Hallelujah. You know there are kings and kings have children. This king’s children, the princess and the princesses are alpha kids, alpha children. They are the top children in the country. But when the king gets deposed, when he has to run for his life, when the king is murdered or executed, hallelujah, these children will be lost. They don’t know how to survive in the world. Hallelujah. Till then everything they used to get, now nobody’s there to care for them. Hallelujah. The king was lost. The king was removed. But this king is back. And the children are back in their places. They are back being alpha children. Praise the Lord. When the Lord comes to you, he will always come and speak to you. Why you had to go through this? One day we will be there with the Lord. Hallelujah. In eternity time ties. Hallelujah. We will be there. And the word of God says the first one of the things he’s going to do is come and he will come and wipe your tears. Hallelujah. Why all this had to happen? You know it is okay. I am with you now. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Now the third point. Hallelujah. So don’t forget the first point was the sunrise and sunset. The postresurrection appearance of the Lord in the background of the night. When the Lord comes, your night will change. Hallelujah. You will be happy. You will be rejoicing. Hallelujah. The second one was, hallelujah, God will answer all your questions and he will put your heart to rest. Praise the Lord. The third thing is when the Lord comes, he comes to unite the scattered ruins or to rebuild the scattered ruins into a powerful army to conquer. He will bring he will come and he will rebuild all the ruins. We know the prophet was taken to the valley of the dry bones very dry bones. The bones were so dry. So the lord comes tells the prophet to prophesy. The bones come together everything is good. They stand up as a great army. Now what is the purpose of this army? Left, right, left, left, right, left. And at the end of the day, oh, we did so much good work today. We were marching all the day. Is that what we call Lord? Made an army. The Lord made an army not to do a mob drill. The Lord made an army not to do just a parade. The Lord made an army to go and conquer. The Lord made an army to protect, to defend. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. When the Lord comes, he will build or rebuild the scattered ruins. Now, when we come to these people, these women, what happens? You know, they are asking who is going to remove the stone? Who is going to remove the stone? Jesus. The rock, the stone, the big stone in front of Jesus too. Who is going? Who should have removed it? The men with them. Hallelujah. Women are alone. The women are alone. Hallelujah. They are asking who is going to help us? Where is the men? They’re scattered. Praise the Lord. Ammo’s disciples. Two of them walk away from the apostles. They walk away from the crowd. They are walking on the path. And they are not even aligning themselves. They are disputing with each other. They’re actually arguing with each other. Heated argument. You know the word says heated argument. The 11 apostles and others they’re hiding away from everyone. Actually there were about a thousand people who were following Jesus Christ. Right? Hundreds of thousands of people were following Jesus Christ. Now, how many? A few. And they’re hiding. When the Lord comes, he is doing some work. Hallelujah. Jesus when he comes and starts working, he works something very deep into all levels of human experience. When the Lord starts working in our lives, he does something very deep. The words used there is carefully chosen by the Holy Spirit. You know the Amos disciples constrained Jesus. They forcefully told him, “You cannot go. Please don’t go. Do not go. You can stay with us. You have to stay with us.” Why did they do that? They did that because while Jesus was speaking to them on the road on the path, their hearts were burning. Their hearts were burning. Something was happening inside their hearts. And when they come to their house, they invite Jesus into their house. They force Jesus to come to their house. The word says like this. So he went into their house. So he went into their house to stay with them. [Music] the house to stay with them. When uh Jesus comes amongst the disciples, praise the Lord. There is some seat here over in the front if you want. Praise the Lord. He comes and stands in their midst. Verse 36. He comes and stands in their midst. Praise the Lord. When Jesus comes, he comes into your life, into your heart, into your marriage, into your family, into your workplace, into your church. You know why? To build and rebuild the scattered hopes, the scattered ruins into a mighty army. The Lord doesn’t want you to wither away. The Lord doesn’t want us to no whine and in pain. The Lord wants us to stand as an army. These women go into the tomb. The word says like this. The angels st stood beside them. You know tomb is not like like this hall that is not how spacious Jesus tomb was. They they went you know like Peter and John went and bend down and look. So it is small they went inside the tomb and they could stand inside. It is a very small place and there is the angels standing close to them. When the Lord comes when the Lord encounters hallelujah he will be so close to us. Praise the Lord. And what happens now? They are disciples. Jesus sits with them for his first meal after his resurrection. The first meal is shared with Emo’s disciples. And then [Music] the second one is Jesus does his second communion. Almost does the second communion because when Jesus takes the bread, he blesses it. He breaks it and he gives to them. He fed the 5,000 and the 7,000 that is also happened. But here for them they are suddenly reminded of the communion. Hallelujah. See these are not the main apostles we’re speaking of. These are the women. These are one of the guy’s name is Cleopas. Cleopas. We only read about him in that part. See, they are not Peter. This is not uh uh James. This is not John. These are the disciples whom nobody at first even knew about. But Jesus saw them. Jesus sees your pain. Jesus knows that you are struggling. But Jesus knows that you haven’t quit. Praise the Lord. I am talking to a crowd. In spite of your trouble, in spite of the problems, I know you. You have been holding on faithfully to this Lord. Hallelujah. Praise him. I pray. Hallelujah. The Lord will change. Hallelujah. like he changed the circumstance of these apostles, these disciples that he will come into your life and he will change the circumstances in your life and 2026 will be a time like the apostles. You will be worshiping the Lord. Like the apostles, you will be rejoicing in the Lord. Hallelujah. Like the apostles, all the scattered ruins will unify and stand as an army. Like the apostles, the Lord will be coming and explaining to you like a father to his children what is going on. Hallelujah. May 2026 bring this joy into your life. Praise the Lord. Another characteristics of uh this unifying the scattered ruins. First we read women women. Second we read two disciples walk to a moose. One’s name is given Cleopas. When the Lord asks them what are you speaking of? Cleopus is of course the leader. He just turns around and you know gives a response. Then there are the 11 apostles and the other crowd with them. But when we read in the end, the word doesn’t say Cleopas. The word doesn’t say Peter. The word doesn’t say give any names. The word only says they and them. An army is coming up. Hallelujah. From the mount of Oliv and you are looking there. Where is Peter? He’s somewhere there. Hallelujah. Where is Pastor Manu? Hallelujah. Pastor Manu is somewhere there. Where is Pastor Daniel? He’s somewhere there. Where is this guy? Where is that guy? They might be there. They are there. Hallelujah. Who is coming up then? They are coming. The church is coming. Hallelujah. Variants of God are coming. There’s and a army of God is coming. Hallelujah. They are coming together. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. When the Lord comes, he will unify the scattered. Hallelujah. So tonight let us take strength in this Lord. You know what when the first verse we read the key words and they were continually in the temple complex praising God. The temple is still ruled by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They don’t care. For them the temple is the house of the Lord. Praise the Lord. You know you are hearing we are hearing a lot of stories here and there how this is not right that how that is going on there how politics is happening there but for them only one thing the temple is the house of the lord and we are going to praise God and we are going to continually stay here hallelujah hallelujah we don’t care about anything else because This is the house of the Lord. This is where the Lord took the whip, made the whip and chased away everybody. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Tonight, may 2026 bring this in our lives. May the scattered ruins be rebuilt. May the Lord come into come into our lives, our marriages, our family, into the church. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Wherever there is a ruin, wherever there is an unraveling, may the Lord come into it. Let us be able like the emo disciples, let us be able to, you know, constrain the Lord, divert that trajectory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The Lord wants to walk showing off. He’s walking away. They are forcing the Lord to come and stay with them. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. So may the season change in our lives from the house of the Lord we bless you. Let there be a change in 2026. Praise the Lord. May Lord’s season, may the son of righteousness dawn upon your life, dawn upon your life. Every ruin the enemy has made, may the Lord gather it and make you stand as an army, your family as an army, the ch this church as an army. Hallelujah. May there be rejoicing and lots of thanksgiving. May we spend the time in the temple worshiping the Lord. May the Lord bless us