"Exploring the danger of holding God responsible for unrealized hopes."
Recorded on: Sunday, 04/19/2026 at 10:00 AM
Description:
Delivered during the Sunday Morning Worship Service, 4/19/2026. In this message we turn to the second great encounter in Luke's Resurrection narrative, between Jesus and two disciples on the road to Emmaus. In one sense, these disciples represent all Jesus' followers at this point in the narrative who feel their hopes in a Redeemer have been crushed by His Crucifixion and death. The great irony of course is that by not remembering the words and promises of Jesus and anchoring their reality in the "eyes of the flesh", they fail to "see" the Resurrected Lord who is right before them. Our focus will be on the "hope" they have placed in a Messiah of their own making rather than the Messiah Jesus and the prophets of old clearly taught. We will realize that God is under no obligation to fulfill such misguided hopes and the true failure is in the nature of the hope itself rather than the eternal decree of God. We will apply this principle to the myriad times we as Christians lose hope by placing that hope in our own designs rather than the good, wise and sovereign designs of God. Ultimately we will come to the blessed conclusion that with God, there is no such thing as an unrequited hope.
