Today our campus pastors concluded our series What if It's True? and we witnessed the beauty of baptism. In conclusion of the series, our pastors emphasized our human need for hope. It is something we all need and crave, and yet, often, we can find it runs dry in our lives. So how do we find and keep hope? 

1. Expect God in Unexpected places

God can do the extraordinary, but He's also very much in the ordinary. In Luke 24:13-16 we see two followers of Jesus walking when He came and joined with them. They didn't know who He was, though. The beauty of this encounter is that it was resurrection Sunday—Jesus had just accomplished the greatest event of all of history, conquering death, and here He is walking on a road with two people we know virtually nothing about to a town we know equally little about. Here is the truth: God often shows up in unexpected ways in unexpected places. 

2. Embrace the Journey  

In Luke 24:17-19 we see Jesus asking these two followers what they are talking about. To them, this is the craziest question—after all, everyone is talking about Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, so of course, that's what they are discussing. When we take notice of their conversation, we see that they are focusing on the sadness of Friday and less on the hope of Sunday. In other words, they were so focused on the past that they didn't see Jesus in the present. The truth is, discouragement and disappointment can blind us to hope. They did not recognize Him because things did not go as they expected. If God always met our expectations, He never have the opportunity to exceed them. 

3. Experience life with Hope 

In Luke 24:30-32, we see that when Jesus broke the bread, their eyes were opened, and they knew it was Him. Consider the following illustration: Look at these letters GODISNOWHERE. What do you see? Some of us saw GOD IS NOWHERE , and others of us saw GOD IS NOW HERE. Although God may not seem to be anywhere, He might very well be right in the middle of it, a place you least expect it. For the travelers on the Road to Emmaus, God felt like He was nowhere, but He was now here! 

The travelers on the road to Emmaus went from hopeless to full of hope. Everything was now different as they viewed the recent events through the lens of the resurrection. And we can walk in this hope too. Thanks to the resurrection, nothing in this life is final. There is hope! And this hope is found in Jesus. 

At the conclusion of today's message, we viewed this video from Pastor Shawn at the Jordan River.