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LUKE 24: 32

"THE CHANGE OF HEART"

I. A BURNING HEART IS THE SUPREME NEED OF THE CHURCH TODAY.
        A. Millions attending services around world today.
                1. Many for their semi-annual visit.
                2. They acknowledge their belief in God.
                3. They confess their faith in Christ.
                4. They lack not knowledge but emotion.
                        a. Their hearts do not burn with a love or  fervency.
        B. These men on road to Emmaus in that same condition.
                1. They had lost something vital in their relationship with God.
                2. They had lost not their love but their devotion, their fervency, their fire.

II. WHAT THEY POSSESSED.
        A. A love for Jesus, a faith in Him.
                1. They still talked about Him as they walked.
                        a. When Jesus joined them and asked what they were talking about that
                           made them sad.
                        b. What things? The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, "a prophet
                           mighty in deed and word."
                        c. Even though He was beaten and crucified, they still loved Him.
        B. What they lacked, "We had hoped..."
                1. They had lost their hope.
                        a. The hope for salvation had been burning in their hearts. For a
                           better life, a better world.
                        b. Now a sadness in their tone, the fire is burning low, no victory, 
                           no excitement.
        C. They are a picture of much of the church today.
                1. Loyalty to Jesus, personal belief.
                        a. Lack of passion, commitment.
                2. He is here in the midst of us, but we do not see Him. Our eyes are holden.
                        a. There is an appalling lack of a clear vision of Christ in the
                           church today.

Ill. HOW DOES JESUS DEAL WITH THEM?
        A. He comes to them.
                1. He comes to rekindle the fire.
        B. What was His method?
                1. Not revealing new truth.
                2. Bringing new light on old truths.
                3. Their hearts burned not when they talked to Him but when He began to talk
                   to them.
                4. He began with Moses and went through the prophets and interpreted the
                   scriptures that related to Him.
                        a. Gen., Abraham & Isaac.
                        b. Lev., the perfect sacrifice.
                        c. Joshua, the captain of the Lord's host.
                        d. Isaiah's child, yet to be despised and rejected.
                        e. Jeremiah', branch of righteousness.
                        f. Daniel's stone not cut with hands.
                        g. Zech., the faithful shepherd who was smitten.
                        h. Malachi's sun of righteousness.
        C. What caused their hearts to burn?
                1. The thrill of a new discovery of their Lord.
                        a. Church has become a habit.
                        b. Service a chore.