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HEARTS
AFIRE Introduction:
Every person needs to move their faith from their head to their
heart. (Illus: many kinds of heads today… figure heads; big heads, sore
heads, dead heads, and hot heads - but what we need is some hot hearts).
What these men experienced you can experience and what they experienced we
all need to experience. Jesus wants to so stir you that He becomes more
that a creed, more than a religious icon, but that we enter into a
personal flaming relationship that totally changes our life! There a lot
of people with cold hearts today (expound on causes – hard times;
religion; un-confessed sin). How can I tell if my experience on the inside
is frozen instead of flaming? How do I know if my heart is cold? I. WHEN THERE IS NO REALITY IN YOUR EXPERIENCE (VV.14-18)
A.
Information But No Inspiration (vv.14-16) They were having a theological discussion about Jesus, yet they had no personal knowledge of Him, no reality that Jesus walks and talks with us. All of there hopes and dreams were buried in that grave. (Illus: sometimes God buries our dreams to resurrect them in His time).
B.
Life But No “Communication” = an animated discussion. Why are you so sad? When
there is no reality (inspiration) in my personal walk there is going to be
sadness on my countenance. When my heart is cold then my face is bitter. II. WHEN THERE IS NO EXPECTATION IN YOUR EXPERIENCE (VV.19-24)
A.
Facts But No Foresight (vv.19-23) They had there own ideas about Jesus (v.21). Their fallacy was that they had the facts right but they didn’t expect Jesus to rise from the grave (v.23)
B.
View But No Vision (v.24) Even
though the women say He’s gone, and even though the Angle’s say He’s
gone – they’re not sure His gone…they were not expecting Him to be
gone. (Illus: you don’t get what you do not expect). They talked about
the promises but, they didn’t believe He’d show up and do them (see
Acts III. WHEN THERE IS NO FAITH
IN YOUR EXPERIENCE (VV.25-)
A.
Reading But Not Relying (vv.25-26) It’s not enough to just read it, you’ve got to heed it and that means you receive it into your heart and then walking in it. (Illus: if you just Bible facts in your brain you’ll become puffed up and arrogant). There is a need to move that head fact to a heart truth! B. Hearing But Not Heeding (v.27) Jesus
begins to preach to them. Jesus just hauled off and Jesus to them. (Illus:
Indicator of a cold heart - so many today enjoy everything about Church
but preaching). IV. WHEN THERE IS NO WARMTH
IN YOUR EXPERIENCE (V.32) · Open your Bible and look for Jesus. · Find some warm hearted Christians and fellowship with them about the subject of Jesus. (That’s why we need to come to church!) · Examine yourself and ask yourself, do I have expectation? · Make time for Jesus. (vv.28-29) The implication here is that if they had not invited Him to stay He would have moved on. You have to make time for God! Conclusion:
Leonard Ravenhill said the great enemy to revival is time the
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