The Burning Heart Series

Folks, I don’t know that lady, but you can write this down. She is a member of the “Burning Heart” class of the church of God. And when you and I go into our prayer closets, open the very Word of God and let the risen Jesus speak to us through the Holy Spirit, Who leads us into all truth, we will have it too.

William James used to say Christianity, to people, was either a dull habit or an acute fever. If it is a religion to you - rituals and rules - it’s a dull habit. If it’s a relationship with a living Christ, kept alive and growing through Bible study, prayer and daily obedience and forgiveness, it will be an acute fever.

And Christians with burning hearts is what this lost world needs. They don’t want to belong to a Sunday School class or church, they belong to twice as many things as they have time for now. They don’t want to go to church. They are on the go from Monday morning until Saturday night. They certainly don’t want to give up their Sundays. That’s the only day they can cruise in neutral for awhile and not “have” to be somewhere or do something.

What they need are some Christian friends like these two laymen, who may not have all their Bible questions answered. Jesus called them “foolish. . .and. . .slow to believe. . .” (24:25). They may be far from perfect. They were rude to a stranger (Jesus) when he asked what was wrong (24:18).

They were depressed (24:17) even though some women in their disciple group had said they had seen Jesus. No, they were not perfect. But they were real, they were sincere and the burning conviction of their lives, the truth they ran eight miles to tell, was that Jesus was alive, He had died to forgive our sins (Isa. 53) and He had come to them - two nobodies.

Illustration: The community church caught on fire and a large crowd gathered. The Pastor saw one member he hadn’t seen for a long while and said, “Bill, I haven’t seen you at church in years.” Bill said, “I know. This church hasn’t been on fire in years.” Well, certainly Bill’s excuse won’t satisfy God, but neither does a cold, mechanical, lifeless church that has nothing but rites, rituals and rules and lectures on religious subjects. How did these men experience the burning heat?

I. THE COLDNESS

1. Faith Is Weak. These two as they headed west, seven miles, were the epitome of coldness. Their faith was weak. Isaiah 53 said the Messiah would die for our sins. It said he would survive death and “see the light of life” (53:11). Jesus had taught this for a year.

They knew He had raised the dead and now they couldn’t believe He had been raised. Application: When we give in to despondency over life’s troubles and do not believe God will do what He promises in His word we live as though God does not exist. And the result is. . .

2. Hope Is Gone. No God in control. No purpose in all this madness we call life. No guiding hand! The loss of faith leads to the loss of hope. They said, “We had hoped. . .” (24:21). And when this happens to us we find. . .