1. Luke 10:23-24 (NKJV) 23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”

2. Stop & Smell The Roses Luke 10:23-24

3. Stop & Smell The Roses “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it” Some have said it like this… “Stop and smell the roses” We all understand what that means, but do we heed it?

4. Stop & Smell The Roses Some will say that it’s meaning is to slow down and enjoy life Others might say that it’s meaning is to be thankful for our blessings Still others point to the need to recognize the blessings around us

5. Stop & Smell The Roses Truth be told, we all need to slow down in this fast pace world every once in a while We could probably all use an extra dose of thankfulness Then again, how many times do we miss blessings in this life?

6. Stop & Smell The Roses Would this idea carry more weight if it came from Jesus? Would we heed this saying if it came from God and not others? Can we do our best to be sure that we aren’t missing the blessings of life in 2014?

7. Our Text Jesus is thanking the Father in Luke 10:21-22 He then turns to His disciples and says the following to them in private… Do you see here what Jesus is saying to the disciples?

8. Our Text He begins by telling them just how blessed they are to see what they were seeing I’m sure the life of a disciple was a fast paced life We know from scriptures that Jesus had to take measures just to be alone

9. Our Text It was probably easy for a close disciple of Jesus to be so busy with the work that they never stopped to realize what was really happening Jesus here is reminding them of just how blessed they were to be seeing Jesus in the flesh, and all that accompanied it

10. Our Text He then tells them that many prophets and kings wanted to live long enough to see Jesus in the flesh and hear Him speak, but did not What they were potentially taking for granted, many who came before them and after them desired greatly

11. Our Text It’s basically Jesus’ way of telling them to stop and smell the roses He wanted them to appreciate the time they were living in He wanted them to be thankful for the spiritual blessings that they had surrounding them

12. Life Moves Pretty Fast James explains that life can be over in the blink of an eye (Js. 4:14) Jesus wisely prayed for the needs of that particular day (Matt. 6:11) How often do we stop and think about the blessings of any given day?

13. Life Moves Pretty Fast “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24) How many times have we stopped to rejoice in a day? How many times have we decided to be glad just because we were alive?

14. Life Moves Pretty Fast What Jesus wanted was for His disciples to stop and think about the moment He wanted them to recognize the blessing of what they were seeing and hearing Do we recognize our spiritual blessings?

15. Our Spiritual Blessings What about the blessings we enjoy in Christ? We have the blessing of knowing the gospel, so that we could obey it Are we thankful for that? Do we share it with others through various means?

16. Our Spiritual Blessings What about the blessing of God’s word? We show how thankful we are for it by how much time we spend in it Think about those who do not have God’s word, or those who have to read it in secret

17. Our Spiritual Blessings Are we thankful for the time God has allowed us to gather to worship Him? Do we take that for granted? How many people, even in this country, would love to gather to worship and be encouraged, yet they are not able

18. All Good Things… “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more…” (Jn. 14:19) Their time with Jesus on this earth would come to an end There will come a time in this life when we gather with the saints to worship Him one last time…