Help! My dreams are shattered

Help! My dreams are shattered Luke 24: 13 – 35

Sunday 29th May 2011

Theme: For the listener to respond to the living hope that is found in Jesus’ resurrection and put their renewed hope in Him.

Key Text: “But we had hoped.”

 Introduction A resume of the context of the meeting on the Road to Emmaus, including a summary of what happened before.

1. Do we live in a world of shattered dreams and hopes? What do we hope for? Good weather, the right football result, long lives, riches etc. What does the world hope for? Peace, economic success, fairness, equality. We live longer but we still die, the only certainty this world offers. We hope for peace but there still wars. We hope for fairness and equality but many are rich whilst others remain poor. Perhaps give a topical news illustration of failed hope and, possibly, an anecdotal one from your own experience The hope that the world offers is significantly different to the picture that the Bible paints of hope.

2. What does the Bible say about hope? i] Jesus said that the men were slow of heart. [v25] In the ancient world the ‘heart’ was the ‘centre of the physical, emotional, intellectual and psychological person’ [Dict of NT Theology Vol 2 pgs 180 – 184] ii] Jesus [re]explains the scriptures to them. Through new eyes they gain hope by seeing what they already saw but from a different perspective. [v27] It is a hope that goes beyond what we feel. Reminding us of Job who, despite terrible circumstances, put his hope in God and waited in expectation. [Job 13: 15] No one will regret putting their hope in God. “No one who puts their hope in the Lord will ever be put to shame.” [Psalm 25: 3] It is a living hope. Peter uses the word living = breathing. It is Spirit-­‐inspired. Our hope is one of expectation, not ‘possible’ but ‘certain’! iii] Hope is found when we discover who Jesus is! Note that it says “their hearts burned” [v32]. An encounter with Jesus transformed their hearts and, therefore, their whole being. They were renewed, cleansed by fire in a ‘holy/wholly encounter. The truth set them free to hope again.

3. Learning to hope again. It would be good for someone to give a testimony of how they had once lost hope but then were able to put their hope in Jesus. What would be our biggest dream if we dared to hope it? The travellers in the story turned around, they went from desperation to proclamation. Why does the cross offer us hope? Why does the resurrection of Jesus offer us hope? How do we put our hope in Jesus?

Conclusion May we offer some practical steps on how to put your hope in Jesus: Prayer – hope, in expectation, that God will listen Bible – hope, in expectation, that God will speak Church/Fellowship -­‐ hope, in expectation, that God has a place/ plan for me God can and will renew our hope if we will trust Him just as He did for the Emmaus road travellers