Sermon Notes:

Series: On the Road Again

April 12, 2026 "Catch Up!" 

By: Pastor Joel Philbrook


Consider this...

We all tell ourselves a story about God.

Sometimes it’s shaped by what we’ve been taught, what we’ve experienced, or what we hoped would be true. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, we can know Scripture and still miss the full picture. We focus on the parts we understand and quietly ignore the parts that challenge us. Especially when God doesn’t meet our expectations.


But Jesus doesn’t leave us in our misunderstanding. In love, He meets us on the road and gently corrects us, opening the Scriptures and revealing that His way, even suffering, is not a mistake, but part of a greater story of redemption.

What if the disconnect isn’t that God is absent but that we’re seeing Him through the wrong lens?


This week is an invitation to shift from

“I thought I knew what God was doing” to
“Jesus, help me see what You’re actually doing.”

  • Luke 24:13-34


    Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, 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 Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified 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 this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but 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 women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” 


    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. 


    As they approached 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. 


    When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, 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, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

  • The Practice: 

    Ask Jesus one honest question each day in Scripture.


    Take a few minutes to read a passage (start with Luke 24 or a Gospel story), 

    and simply pray:

    “Jesus, help me see what I’ve been missing.”

    Then sit with it. Let Him reshape how you see.



  • -Where might my expectations of God be shaping how I see Him more than Scripture is?

  • -Have I been resisting something God is trying to show me because it doesn’t match what I hoped for?

  • -Am I willing to let Jesus correct my understanding, even if it changes how I see everything?

What's Coming Next in "On the Road Again"

In the moments after Jesus’s death, His followers were living in a fog of confusion and despair. Two of them were walking away from Jerusalem—and from everything they had hoped for—when a stranger joined them on the road. They were so blinded by their grief that they didn’t recognize the resurrected Jesus walking right beside them.

But as this stranger explained the Scriptures, their hearts began to burn. In a moment of sacred fellowship, their eyes were opened, and they finally saw Him the unmistakable Jesus. Immediately, their despair turned into an urgency to go back and share the good news.

Yet, their journey was not over. In a locked room with the other disciples, Jesus appeared again, calming their fear and proving His reality by showing them His scars and sharing a meal. He opened their minds to truly understand the Scriptures and His purpose. He then gave them a divine mission and promised them the power of the Holy Spirit to complete it.

This series is a journey from confusion to clarity, from doubt to destiny. We will walk the road from despair to the radical hope of the Resurrection, discovering how Jesus, through His Word and His presence, reveals Himself to us. He is not just a historical figure; He is the living Lord who meets us in our doubts, opens our minds to His truth, and empowers us to be His witnesses in the world.


  • Join us for...

    Week 1: 4/12 "The Walk of Disappointment" 

    Luke 24:13-24 by Pastor Joel

    Week 2: 4/19 "Catch Up!" 

    Luke 24:25-27 by Pastor Joel

    Week 3: 4/26 "Stay WITH US" 

    Luke 24:28-35 by Pastor Justin

    Week 4: 5/3 "Peace be WITH YOU" 

    Luke 24:36-44 by Caroline Carpenter

    Week 5: 5/10 "Time to GO!" 

    Luke 24:45-49 by Val Burgard


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