Jesus had 40 days He had set aside prior to His return to Heaven for all the encounters planned out from the foundations of the earth. These encounters would complete His earthly ministry before moving on to what He Himself self-describes in John 14 as leaving to prepare a place for us. Nothing about Jesus’ life and ministry was haphazard. He wasn’t here just winging it each day, hoping things would work out! He had a plan and each of these 40 days encounters were part of that plan…not just for those He encountered but for us. He knew the Holy Spirit was going to include these in the text of Scripture. These are encounters are for you and me. And although there are volumes of lessons we can find in this Emmaus encounter, I believe the one that is central to all of them is: death and resurrection. In verses 25 and 26 we read that Jesus tells His two companions that the Messiah had to suffer and die before entering His glory…death and resurrection. We love resurrection. We love the prize. We love the result. We love the glory. But like Jesus we too must endure a death. The central theme to tonight’s message is this: There is a death that we must be willing to embrace for the life that He created us to live, and in this message we will explore specifically ways we have to die to self in exchange for the life He intends for us to live. Thanks for taking time to share in this series with us!