December 14, 2025 • 45 mins
Listen to Pastor Chris for his weekly sermons and lessons. Enjoy his down-to-earth and experiential style of communicating the Truths of an Eternal Life with Christ, which starts now and continues throughout all eternity.
It is made complete not only by His Sacrificial Act of the Cross but also by the Love, Grace, and mercy He has demonstrated, and serves as the model of how we should treat each other daily!
https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/TNR
It is made complete not only by His Sacrificial Act of the Cross but also by the Love, Grace, and mercy He has demonstrated, and serves as the model of how we should treat each other daily!
https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/TNR
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But how are you doing on seeking him in the morning?
How are you doing and learning to walk in His ways?
How are you doing? Kind of rhetorical you don't necessarily
have to answer that, but that's a good place to start.
We're going to finish up with looking at Thomas and
(00:22):
I thought, boy, I could do a July fourth independence message,
you know, support be patriotic towards the government, and how
about being patriotic towards God? How about being honoring him
and giving him thanks for where we're at in our
(00:42):
lives today, you know, our country and the freedom that
we still have. Maybe not everything's perfect, because yeah, I
do hurt some and some in here are hurting, some physically,
some emotionally. Some of you might be hurting spiritually, you know.
So I think it's an important question to ask and
to answer, not before me, but before the throne of
(01:05):
grace and mercy, where God says, come boldly that you
might receive that, So that we go there we as
and how am I doing? God? Of course we know
pretty much how we're doing. Are we seeking him? Are
we learning to walk in His ways? And then it
says step by step, well, that's the process, you know,
(01:29):
is that we do it step by step, and that
means we do it where we're at. You see, when
you're molded by the master, that's where he takes you.
He's taking you to that point where he's molding and
shaping your life. And that's a step by step process
the Potter do just doesn't throw the clay on there
and hit that pedal and let that sucker spin. You'd
(01:50):
be a mess, you know, and the Potter would be
kind of dirty too. He doesn't do that. The Potter
takes his time. When we were at camp, it was
kind of neat Renee Thompson, Paul's wife. She's an artist
that's out of this world. And she made these mobiles
for the kids and teaching them how to make them.
(02:12):
And she just got Potter's clay and you'd kind of
make a circle out of it, and then she put
designs in. It was teaching the kids to put design
ours is hanging out. Of course. I only made one
little thing and then other people made the rest for me,
because I went, that's a lot of work. They're crazy
(02:33):
and fun, really a lot of work, but it was
And took a pine cone and I watched her for
a bit. So I went found a real small, tight
pine cone and I pressed the bottom of it in
the center of that little circle about that big of clay. Wow,
it looked really cool, and I thought, man, you know,
(02:53):
that's neat. And then I was watching one of the
boys and they went and got some dried grass. Oh,
that would really just and they had a whole lot,
but I just wanted a few pieces, so I took
some and pushed that grass into that clay. Man, and
it really looks cool. Of course, then I watched what
Renee did, and it's like, wow, mine looked like an infant,
(03:18):
and hers look like the master potter. You know when
the master part is working in your life. Man, he's
making something beautiful. He's making something that will last and
that will attract the world. And that's what I thought
about as I But it was one thing that I
could go to. I could go to the second things
in the morning. I didn't make the first because I
(03:39):
go and I start falling asleep in it. But I
watched that and I thought, man, lord, there's an example
that we can relate to of how that potter is working.
It's a step by step thing. She didn't just say Okay, kids,
here you go. Here's a block of Potter's clay. Do
something with it. She was helping them to learn the process,
and then they could see they can make some things
(04:01):
that have beauty. And they were all proud to get
them and take them home. And I say, I hung
mine up outside. I think it's something pretty cool. Thomas, boy,
he had problems with doubting in his life, and we
see in Today's which is the second part, that God
takes him from doubt to confidence and we find they're
(04:24):
the cure. So look at John chapter twenty. We're going
to be looking at verses nineteen through twenty nine. As
I said a few weeks back, Thomas became known as
the doubting Thomas, and I think that's kind of an
unfair label that he is. I'm not into much into labeling.
(04:44):
I wrote against that in college about mental health labeling.
There's some good parts about it. You can get some
funding when you label things, you can get some assistance.
But the problem with labeling is people tend to fall
into the label, and then they to behave according to
the label, and then they don't see that they can
ever rise above what they've been labeled. Tell y'all, boy,
(05:07):
I can't, man, I can't help myself. I'm add adhd actually,
and I've got some other problems, so I can't organize.
You know. I had him in the cabin last year too,
and I watched and by the end of the week
he got a little better. And this time he started
out better, and by the end of the week it
was like, just really incredible. The whole underneath his bunk
(05:30):
was not just oh, that's where you throw all your stuff,
but it was actually organized. It didn't take him a
long time to pack, and you got you rise above that.
Imagine being called a doubting Thomas all your life. And
I don't think that was. Like I said before. I
think Thomas was more of the e Or and Winnie
the Pooh. I think he was more pessimistic, anticipating sometimes
(05:53):
the worst. You know, and a lot of us can
be that way. We wait for the other shoe to drop,
and we stay stuck of seeing what God is doing,
the good things and the growth things in our lives.
The step by step man, we're always waiting for the
other foot to drop. We have lessons that we can
really learn from Thomas. Let's stand as we read John
(06:15):
twenty verses nineteen through twenty one, nineteen through twenty nine.
When therefore it was evening on that day, the first
day of the week, and when the doors were shut
where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus
came and stood in their mist and he said to them,
peace be with you. And when he had said this,
(06:37):
he showed them both his hands and his side. And
the disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus
therefore said to them again, peace be with you. As
the Father has sent me, I also send you. And
when he had said this, he breathed on them and
said to them received the Holy Spirit. If you forgive
the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them.
(07:00):
And if you retain the sins of any, they have
been retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus,
was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples
therefore were saying to him, we have seen the Lord.
But he said, unless I see his hands and the
imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the
place of the nails, and put my hand into his side,
(07:23):
I will not believe and after eight days again the
disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came
the doors having been shut, and stood in their mist
and said to them, and said, peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas, reach here your finger and
see my hands. Reach here your hand and put it
(07:45):
into my side, and be not unbelieving, but believing. Thomas
answered and said to him, my Lord and my God.
Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have
you believed? Blessed are those who did not see and
yet believe our Father and God. We asked that you
would continue to be with us and guide us, Lord,
(08:05):
as we look at how you move Thomas from doubting
to confidence, Lord, from pessimism the Lord to optimism in
seeing you, Lord, we asked that you would imprint the
lessons that we need in our individual lives today. Lord,
guide us. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen, please be seated.
(08:27):
In verse twenty four and twenty five, Thomas was there
when or wasn't there when Jesus appeared, And because of
his absence, he's saying, I refuse to believe Jesus is
alive unless somebody shows me differently. Boy, he must have
been from Missouri to show me state. I gotta know,
you know, boy, and some of us are that way. Boy.
(08:47):
Unless I see it, touch it, smell it with my
own hands, I'm just I'm not going to believe. And
yet we have God's word which continues to show us
how God works in our lives. Thomas Absence had a call.
He was discouraged, and he was disobedient because Jesus told
the disciples to meet him in Galilee. He had told
(09:08):
them that ahead of time, he had sent Mary to
tell them to meet them there. And his absence had
a cost. And I had said that last time when
we were looking at it. Our absence from the body
has a cost. We don't have the support of the body.
We don't have that support of one another. And Hebrews
ten twenty three through twenty five says to spur one
(09:30):
another on. When we're not with the body, we don't
have that being spurred on that we need because sometimes,
if we'll admit it, we're just stagnant people. We stay stuck. Man,
We wallow in the mire and we get on our pitypots,
and we're stuck, and we need one another to spur
us on, and Thomas didn't have that because he was
(09:53):
absent from where he needed to be. It affected his faith.
Thomas's faith was affected, his joy was affected, and surely
his witness was affected. But finally we let us see
that Thomas's absence, Oh, there was a cure. There was
a cure for what went on in Thomas's life. Twenty
(10:15):
five through twenty eight. The other disciples are saying, we
have seen the Lord. Man. Can you imagine? I just yeah,
that's just saying, man, Thomas, we have seen the Lord.
Imagine the excitement. Boy, you've seen somebody that you haven't
seen for a long time, and some of your other
friends and you say, oh, man, I just seen Jason.
You know, I haven't seen him for a long time.
The dude's looking good. I thought I was going to
(10:37):
say older. He's looking good, man, and boy he has
really grown and leading worship and it's just really incredible. Boy.
And that excitement builds. That's how I hear this when
I read that we have seen the Lord, not just huh, yeah,
we've seen the Lord. Emily Praise God, Hallelijah. Yeah, man,
(10:58):
like a bunch of stick in the MUDs. There should
be a joy in our lives, and I believe they
had that joy. And he said to them unless I
see his hands and sometimes we can be that way. Well,
he hasn't touched my life that way. How can I
believe He's doing that in other's lives? And we miss
some important things that God is doing. There's two remedies
(11:20):
for Thomas's doubts that I find in these verses, and
the first one on your outline is a testimony of faith.
A A testimony of faith. Verse twenty five tells us
the other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen
the Lord. I think they would have been just as
excited and eager to share that good news. You know,
one of my favorite terms is I think they have
(11:40):
been giving him some whoop of glories. Oh man, we
have seen Jesus, hallelujah. I think that excitement would build,
and yet it didn't build in Thomas because Thomas was
at that time still pessimistic. He had some doubts that
he was dealing with. He knew he wasn't where he
was support to be at that time. Don't we know
(12:02):
it when we're not with the body and we know
that Lord is telling us to be at the body. Man.
We know that. Man, what kind of out of sinc
with God. I need to get back and sink. I
need to have And I've said that to you numerous times.
I need you well, I need you to spur me
on and you know I need your encouragement. I need
to hear what God is doing in your life. Man.
(12:22):
When we're sharing the praises of what God has done. Man,
it's a great thing because it encourages us on that
we can see, you know, what God is working in
their lives. Man, I need to be looking a little
closer to see what God is doing in my life
because you know what, He's not quit working. He is
continuing to work in our lives every day. I can
(12:43):
imagine that each time they saw Thomas during the week,
they recounted with great joy, full assurance of faith that
Christ had been a risen from the dead. I don't
think their conversations with him was about everyday issues of life.
I don't think that's what they're focusing on. Oh you know, boy,
this has been a tough day for us, Thomas. I think, boy,
(13:04):
they were focusing on Jesus as alive. Man. He said,
peace be with you how many of you can use
a dose of peace today? I would think a number
of us can use that dose of peace, and boy,
that would be important to share it. He said, don't
be afraid. Peace be with you, and man, I need
that peace in my life. They had experienced the Lord's
(13:26):
presence and they wanted to share it with Thomas. There's
a lesson for us there. Have you experienced the Lord's presence? Man,
I've experienced it over and over. I experienced it again
this week. Went to the doctor to have them. I
thought I still had stitches in me, and they informed
me that no. They stitched me up with dissolvable stitches.
(13:49):
That's pretty cool. Man. In the physician's assistance did the stitching,
and man, she did a great job. I just got
hairlined scars here and around the back and it was
really impressive. And then she said to me, you know,
Chris Man, do you remember talking to me in the
old R I said, well, I remember kind of. She said, Man,
(14:10):
everybody in ther was Christians but me she's agnostic. And
she said, you went on and on. You're talking about
Jesus the whole time, and everybody else in the is
amen in you and you just kept it up. You
know what, I knew it wasn't me. I knew it
had to be the Holy Spirit, man, because man, you
(14:31):
get enough of that pain, medication and other stuff in
you twilight sleep, you know. But I have to imagine
that's God working. But there was an excitement. And when
she shared that with me, man, Lord, thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you. Man. My arm hurt, and you
know it still does. But I can give God thanks
(14:51):
that he has done a good thing and he is sharing.
And glory came in the room. And I don't think
Casey is very far. I can't wait to go. I
don't need another surgery, heard me, Lord, please? But I
go back to see her in a month, and then
a month after that, and you know, I'm kind of
excited to see her and to push her a little further,
(15:12):
to drag her a little further, to encourage her a
little further. I think that's what they did. Man. Thomas
was still in the dumps. If you know a believer
that's in the dumps today, will you encourage them now?
Would you give him a holy handshake, give him a
half a hug, gi'm a hug, Give him a word man.
You know, God said to me my quiet time this week, boy,
(15:33):
give them a little Jesus. And I think that's what
they would were doing at that time. Of all the
arguments that Jesus is alive, none is better than the
testimony of one Christian that's excited about experiencing his presence.
Nothing's better than that. When God wanted to authenticate himself
to the ancient world, what did he do? Boy? He
(15:56):
called upon the nation of Israel, and he put them
right in the center of travel or the of the
ancient world, that they would be at their crossroads to
share with people. Look at what he says in Isaiah
forty three, Verse ten. Should be up on the wall.
Here you are, my witnesses, declares the Lord. You are
not you know you might be, or would you be?
(16:19):
You are. I'm the God that's worked in your life.
You know he's not changed. He's still the God that's
working in our lives. So read this for yourself. You
are my witnesses and my servant, whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me and understand
that I am He. Boy, experience him and know that
(16:40):
he is God. Know that he is Elohim, the God
that creates and still creating in our lives, the God
that's doing everything that needed to be done and had
the ability to do that. Know those things. Before me,
there is no God formed, and there will be none
after me. He is God. The people of God served
(17:02):
as an undeniable proof of God's existence, and that's what
the Body of Christ should be today. That's the church's
call that we are to be an undeniable proof to
the world. Folks, When we don't rise above our circumstances,
when we wallow extended times in the mire, how are
we being that to the world around us? What do
(17:25):
they see? Do they see a hope in us? Do
they see that? Yes, you know, circumstances are tough. This
is a bad day. I've experienced some bad things. Boy,
tough things are going on. But my God is still God.
My God is still working, and my God will help
me to rise above. You know sounds forty verses one
through three, You know, I love them versus Boy, he
(17:47):
has heard my cry, is taking me out of the
myri clay, set me on a solid rock. And then
he doesn't just quit there. He puts a new song
into their lives. What's that song? Man? My country tis
of thee. Praise God be exalted, Oh God. It's a
new song of my love and admiration for my God,
(18:08):
and I will exalt his name. God's people still offer
the most basic and best proof of God. What I
would offer. A change life is still the best testimony
you can fill in the blank. A change life is
still the best testimony of God's power. Well, I know
God's working. Nobody can deny the fact that God has
(18:30):
worked in my life, because I'm telling you I'm not
what I used to be. Praise God. He has worked
and I see that, and others around me have and
hopefully you see that that I'm still growing. Man, Folks,
if I get stagnant, you know, give me a spur,
you know, give me a kick, give me something. But
don't let me stay stagnant. I need to be spurred on.
(18:52):
Divine love reflected in the Christian heart, which accepts us
and that accepts, forgives, and loves the unlovable. You know what,
It's easy to love your neighbor, Jesus said, It's easy
to love those that love you. Boy, Well, maybe it's
not easy to love your neighbor because there it's not nice.
Maybe they're the unlovable, but it better get easier for
(19:13):
us because we're loving with his kind of love and
we accept them, accept them where they are. I don't
have to accept the behavior because their behavior greats on
my nerves. You know, I wanted to go to sleep
last night, and some of my neighbors thought it was
already the fourth of July. Boom boom. Think man, you know,
come on, folks, you know, wait till tomorrow when it
(19:34):
is the fourth of July. If it's after midnight, okay,
I know you got to do it a little early.
But they were just they were starting at what eight o'clock,
boom boom, And I don't thinking, Man, I'm going to
go to bed. I'm going to try to get some
sleep tonight with booming going on. I don't do that
very well. But I you know, that's where they're at.
And so I said, Lord, help me to sleep. I
(19:56):
didn't say blow them up, get them God, Lord them
the peace of no. You know, Lord helped me to
get the rest that I need and help me to
forgive they're inconveniencing me because sometimes you know, we feel inconvenienced,
and we forgive people, and when they sin against this, Lord,
help me to forgive, because that love that we give
(20:20):
to the unlovable is still the best witness of the
nature of God. It's the witness of the nature of God. Man,
if we condemn everybody and we're quick, like when I
was lost and people would jump down my throat and
say you're going to you know, Hades, and they were
just real adamant about it, and they didn't have anything
kind to say. H I didn't want their god. Man,
(20:42):
when the pastor's wife came up to me and hugged
me after I had swore in front of all these
nice Christian young people and women, and you know, instead,
it's okay, Chris, we all slip. And I tell you
that statement did more for me and leading me to
the Lord than all the other people that through Jesus
in my face and told me how ugly a person
(21:03):
I was. And the world needs that today, and that
witness shows God's nature. And then hope that will not
die is the best proof of eternal life. A hope
that will not die. Well, I have a hope of
what's ahead. Doing the services for PEG's dad and knowing that, boy,
there's unbelievers there and there's one that been praying for
(21:25):
for a long time. And you know what hope because
you know when people are hope are hopeless, aren't they mean?
Don't they tend to be negative? And boy, find fault
and things and offering that hope touching the lives, that's
what it's about. And then faith, which cannot be shaken,
even in the face of death, is still the best
(21:47):
demonstration of the immutability of God's promises. We who have
been granted the privilege of our taking and that divine nature,
are to share that divine nature with the world, not
to share what Satan is trying to push into our lives,
not sharing some of the things that the world has,
but that divine nature of an almighty God. Books, lessons, sermons,
(22:13):
and reason all have their place, and they all do.
There's a lot of great books. But don't preach the
latest book that you've been reading. You know, share the
word of God. Share what God is doing in his
word in your life, because it's still what God is
doing in my life is the best witness that God
(22:34):
is real, that he's working in my life today. And
if that proof is not clear and consistent and constant.
Everything else will be hearsay. It would be here saying
unless they see it in our lives Verse twenty. The
last part of it tells us the disciples therefore rejoiced
when they saw the Lord, and that joy was something
(22:55):
that they couldn't keep them themselves. That joy was something
that was bubbling over. Man, he's filled my cup and
it's spilling out. And they wanted Thomas and others to
know about that. Real joy can't be confined. It's contagious
and it must be communicated. Someone has said joy is
the most infallible sign of the presence of the Lord.
(23:17):
And Jesus said he came to make our joy complete.
How complete is your joy today? How full is your
tank today? Because if it's on the empty side, or
you feel it going down, run to the Lord. Go
to the Lord. Ask a Christian brother or sister to
pray with you. Man, I need my tank filled them
(23:37):
I'm kind of running on load today. And then when
they pray for you, believe that God is going to work.
Don't say oh, thank you very much, be an he
or man. Yeah, that was good prayer. But you know
what was me. The shoe's gonna fall. I'll be okay,
don't worry. Why do we do that? In the mere man,
(24:01):
he is lifting us out of the meyer, He's putting
us on a rock. Let the new song flow into you.
But you know what, if we block in the new song,
it ain't never going to flow. We see the cure,
the testimony of the disciples, but also the testimony of
facts verse twenty five. Be on your outline, the testimony
of facts. Thomas said in verse twenty five. Unless I
(24:24):
see his hands in the imprint of the nails and
put my finger in the place of the nails and
put my hand into his side, I will not believe
what's he saying. He's saying he wants proof. I need proof.
I need proof of the resurrection. I need proof that
the Lord is real, that he has arisen. And in
verse twenty seven, what does Jesus do slaps him up
(24:47):
side the head, say you idiot, Why do you have
to ask for that? No, he doesn't you know what
he didn't do that? Did he? What did he do?
He offered Thomas what he needed. He offered him proof.
Reach here with your finger. You know what nobody had
to tell him that, well, he already knew what was
in Thomas's Hardy knows what's in your heart today. He
knows what's in your mind. He knows if you're trying
(25:09):
to put on a good face and you're wallowing in
the mire. He knows that you might hide it from
the rest of us. Doesn't do you any good. I
think there's that point of being honest. But we know
he knows. He says, reach here with your finger and
see my hands, and reach here with your hand and
put it into my side. Man, I got to tell
you what I'm not going there. You know I don't
(25:31):
want to do that. Lord, thank you very much. But
and then what does he say? Man, He reaches out
in love Thomas. Don't be unbelieving. Don't hear it as
him scolding Thomas. Here It has him loving Thomas, giving
Thomas what he needed at that moment to take him
to where he needed to be. You see, that gave
him what he needed to take him to where he
(25:52):
needed to be. You don't slam dunk somebody to get
him where they need to be. Although we try that,
and know what, I've never found it. The work. You
don't take like professor, my Jewish professor in psych one,
oh one, I totally found out I was a Christian.
I was giving a speech on Jesus says he, or
isn't he a son of God? And he says, oh,
(26:13):
you're one. Then Bible thumpers. Now Jeredet thumped with a man.
This is a big Bible. It's pretty heavy, boy, and
knock your senseless. And we do that sometimes by not
loving on people. Well, we need to be loving on them.
And Jesus shows us. He takes Thomas right where he's at. Thomas,
you need proof, come and get it. You need proof
(26:35):
of the Lord's love. Yeah, he'll give it to you,
but you got to be open to see it. You
got to see it that he's doing it with the
hands of other people. He's doing it with the encouragement
of other people. And as I found in my life,
God will even use lost people to encourage me, lost
(26:56):
people to spur me on. Jesus says Thomas, and I
think he says to us, stop being unbelieving. Show yourself
today to be a believer. Rise above the circumstances. You
know what, God, it's tough what I'm going through right now.
Maybe that's where you're at. God is painful. But Lord,
(27:16):
thank you for being with me. Thank you that I
know I will come above this situation, that I will
come up on the other side. I keep saying, Boy,
yeah it hurts now, but you know what I know
about this hurt versus the hurt before surgery. This hurt's
going to go away the hurt before surgery. Boy, had
(27:37):
I not had this, I'd have been a wreck for
a long time and it wouldn't have gotten any better
on its own. It needed to be repaired. These words,
they focus the failure of Thomas. That he and he
received that apostolic witness and that's the basis of his faith.
(27:57):
But he needed to be spurred on. He needed that
touch of the Lord when you need it call. There's
two things happen when Jesus confronted him here. Thomas was convicted.
I need to be convicted. Convicted that you know what, man,
I've been wallowing in the mire. You need to be convicted,
and so do I. We need to be spurred on,
and that's why we're called to spur one another on.
(28:19):
Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God,
and know Jesus's tenderness. Man, he understands his weakness. He
understands where you're at. He understands your struggles, and he'll
meet you there. Look at Hebrews four fourteen through sixteen,
and be al. I believe it's on the wall Hebrews
(28:40):
four fourteen through sixteen. Since then we have a great
high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for
we do not have a high priest who cannot what
sympathize with our weakness. He understands where you're at. He
(29:01):
understands that. That pastor's wife understood that I was a
lost person man, And I think she probably read on
my face. I don't embarrass very easily, but boy, I
was horribly embarrassed that day. And she didn't. Boy, what's
the matter with you swearing like that in front of
these nice young women and people here and say that.
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I couldn't believe. She said, we all slip sometimes, because
you've heard this before. The only thing I thought, is, man,
the only thing that slipped was any good words that
might have said before that, Because that's the way I talked.
I mean I was in the military. I grew up
around people that swore all the time. They swore in
my home, they swore in the neighborhood. Everybody was swearing.
And that's how I was talking. And she just loved
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me right where I was. She was Jesus to me,
And man, it made a big difference. He knows he
sympathizes with our weakness. But one who has been tempted,
he's been tempted in all things, and yet without sin,
So he can give me the strength I need to
make it beyond where I'm at. Let us, therefore, look
at that verse sixteen, draw near with confidence to the
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Throne of Grace. And why because we need his mercy,
We need his grace that we can continue on. And
when does he give it? Gives it to you and
your time, and need you know, if you don't need
it that specific grace, he's not going to give it
to you until you need it. And who knows what
kind of grace we're all going to need the rest
of this day, and that he will be there. Man,
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And I say that very carefully because the last one
of the times I said that was right here, and
that afternoon found out that my mother had died. And
I didn't need that kind of grace before that didn't
need it, But boy, I needed it that afternoon when
Gloria told me. My brother in law was on the
phone and he said, boy, Chris Ron found mom dead. Man.
(30:55):
You know, pushed me over by breathing on me. You know.
It was a shock. And yet his grace was sufficient
to carry me through. And his grace will be sufficient
to carry you through no matter what you're facing. Go
to that throne and go with confidence. What kind of confidence?
Confidence that he wants you there, Confidence that he wants
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you to minister to you where you're at, and the
pain and the hurts that you might be experiencing, He
wants to be there. What about when I'm in sin
He wants you to come so that he can forgive you.
He wants you to acknowledge it. You remember that, he
says in Romans five to eight, he demonstrated his love
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Man,
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if he did it when we were sinners, will he
not do it for us as believers? And will he
not give us the grace to carry on? He understands
our doubts. He understands our fears, he understands our pain,
and he sympathizes with our uncertainties. Patient, even with our
(32:02):
e or mentality and our pessimism. He's patient with us.
And he meets us where we're at. He doesn't stand
above us, condemning us. Man. He was as he say,
suffer the children to me, you know, bring them to me,
and the pictures he has them on his lap and
his blessing to the tribe of Benjamin. Come here and
sit between my shoulders. That's up here, man, that's that
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place where we give hugs. That's that place where my
heart is. And he says, come here and let me
bless you, even in our uncertainties. As an incredible god
that we have, it's an incredible God that the world needs.
And what happened to Thomas because of Jesus is tenderness,
because of his love, because of a meeting where he's at. Boy,
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Thomas was convinced, you see, he was convicted, and then
he was convinced that Jesus was that he had risen.
Jesus comes in and sees Thomas and he addresses him,
addresses him and desiring him to come to him, desires him, Thomas,
come put your fingers in the nail. Prince Thomas was
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perfectly satisfied at that moment with the reality of the
Lord's resurrection. And look what his answer is, replied to Jesus's.
And that needs to be ours. My Lord and my God,
My Lord, my God, the God that loves me where
I'm at, the God that will lead me to where
I need to be, The God that wants to write
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my relationship with the Almighty Father, the God that wants
to encourage my life, the God that wants to be
Jehovah Jirah to me, my provider, the God that is
the God of love, who wants to love me even
when the world might not, even when I don't love myself.
This Almighty God loves me and desires me to come
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into his presence that he might raise me above my circumstances.
And that's what he does to Thomas. Maybe you're thinking
I'd be convinced if I had that kind of evidence
as well. And don't worry, man, I give me a
little Jesus with skin. Yeah, let me see his finger,
Let me put my finger in his hands. We might
not say it that way, but we do say, well,
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I just need somebody with skin on, you know, I
need to have a God that can actually physically hug me,
and we miss all the other hugs that it gives us.
Look what Jesus gives him and gives us as an
answer in verses twenty nine through thirty one. John Chapter twenty,
Jesus said to him he speaking to Thomas still, and
then hear him speaking to us. Because you have seen me,
(34:32):
you have believed. Blessed are they who do not see
and yet believe many other signs. Therefore, Jesus also performed
in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book, but these have been written that you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, the Messiah,
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the Son of God. And then that believing you might
have life in his name. Folks, well, we might have
life in his name, but we come by asking him.
You know, show me yourself, Lord, Lord. I sometimes don't
see you, Lord, help me to see you. You know,
(35:15):
we pray well in my quiet time this week, looking
at the fruit of the spirit. How many times have
you prayed? Oh Lord, give me patience? Anybody ever pray
that show a hands. Anybody pray that, Lord boy, give
me a little bit more self control. Anybody, Lord boy,
give me a little more love in my life? Yeah,
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you need you know what. I come to realize as
I was going through the fruit of the spirit. That's
not what I need. I don't need more patience. Yeah,
I don't need more love. I don't need more self control.
I need more Jesus. I need more Jesus. Folks, where
you're at today, you're uncertain. Life's been tough this week,
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life's been tough for the past. I don't know year two, three,
four years. Man, things have hurt, You've been hurt. What
you need is more Jesus. We'll never write above our circumstances.
I don't need more faith. I need more Jesus. And
that's what I really like, Fernando Otego song. You know,
(36:23):
give me Jesus in the morning, man in the morning,
give me Jesus in the afternoon, give me Jesus. And
when I come to die, boy, give me Jesus. Do
you need more Jesus? Thomas needed more Jesus. Maybe you're
there today, Maybe you've been kind of wallowing in the
(36:44):
mire for a while. Maybe you've been struggling with your life,
struggling with your circumstances, struggling with fear, struggling with physical
abnormalities and pain, struggling with more month and and less money.
We struggle with all sorts of things. And I don't
belittle any of that because it's all real. Folks. If
(37:05):
you're struggling, it's real to you. What you need is
more of Jesus. See, Thomas was struggling, he was doubting
his faith. Who took a shot his joy took a
shot His joy meter was probably running pretty close to
empty at this time, and he needed the cure. And
the cure was Jesus. That's the cure, and that's what
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we need in our lives. Have you watched TV and
seen the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Boy?
There's some great parallels into people today. With that show.
They have what's called lifelines. I think about that lifelines,
and the consistant could call upon them when they were
uncertain about an answer, when they were struggling with getting
(37:51):
that answer out or with the facts, Get me a lifeline.
And those lifelines symbolize how people today think about ultimate
questions about God. Some want to go fifty to fifty.
They hope that they will make it to heaven. I
want a fifty to fifty. Why, you know what, If
I can be good enough, I'm going to get to heaven.
I'll halujah. That's my lifeline. And so they try it
(38:11):
all along, trying to get it together, trying to be better.
Some want a phone a friend, boy, and they think, well, hey,
that's where my friends are at. You know, that's what
they think, and they count on their friends. Man, I'm
gonna get there because I have friends that are Christian
and they like me. Well that's good. I have enemies
that are non Christians that like me too. They ain't
gonna get me anywhere. I don't need a fifty to fifty.
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I don't need a phone a friend. And then some
people want to ask the audience. They'll just accept what
anybody out there is saying. Boy, they'll accept anything that
might sound good. And in this new age world that
we live in, there's a lot of stuff that sounds good.
But Jesus says, I'm the way the truth in the life,
not a fifty to fifty lifeline, not a phone of friend,
(38:54):
and not trying to check out with the audience, what
it's going to be. What's your lifeline? What is your
lifeline today? Maybe you've lost sight of the lifeline. Maybe
you kind of got like Thomas where you didn't see
it and it was hard to believe your friends. But
Jesus steps into the middle of your world. You see,
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Jesus is the ultimate resource. Jesus is the ultimate lifeline.
He's the only lifeline because he is the only way
truth and life. You see, if you want to have
real life, you need to go to Jesus, because the
rest isn't real life, folks. This is kind of stumbling
along the way hoping that well, something good might happen
(39:34):
at the end, or or believe in like some Well
you're dead. You're dead and that's the end of it.
No God says, there is eternity, and how will you
face eternity? That lifeline of Jesus took Thomas from doubting
the confidence, and it was the cure that he needed.
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For those who believe no explanation is needed. For those
who do not believe, ve no explanation is enough. Franz
Warfel wrote that someone wrote, you'll see it up on
the wall. Fill in your blanks. Doubts see the obstacles.
Faith sees the way, doubts see the darkest night, Faith
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sees the day. Doubt dreads to take a step. Faith
soars on high. Doubt questions who believes? Faith answers, I
do you believe today? Have you called upon Jesus's Lord?
Have you called upon him as savior? You know, we
(40:39):
celebrate Independence Day and we think, boy, that's what I
want to just be independent, and we run in the
muck in the mire because we're always trying to do
it our way, and Jesus says, let me show you
my way. My way is good, my way is right,
My way will lead you to joy into peace. The
world's way has never led to peace, and my way
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has never led to peace at last, never made it
to joy. That has filled me to where I didn't
need more to get me more joy. Do you see
a lot of yourself and Thomas? Well, I've seen myself
and him. I think we need to be honest if
we're there. Are you overcome with doubt? Are you being
(41:24):
overcome in your faith? Are you being tossed about by waves?
As James says of doubt one John five to four
New living translation, for every child of God defeats this
evil world. And we achieve this victory through our faith,
through our faith in a person, through our faith in
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Jesus Christ, who has overcome death. So Paul says, oh, Death,
where is your victory? Well, Death, where is your sting? Well?
We just looked at that the other day. Where is
the things of your life today? Where are you at?
Are you walking with him? Is it step by step?
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If not, that's where we need to be. We need
to move in that position where what I need is
more of Jesus. John the Baptist had it right all
them years ago. It's still right today. Less of me,
more of Jesus. I must decrease that he would increase
in my life. The life that I now live, I
live by faith in the Son of God who died
(42:33):
for me that I might live. Let's pray, Almighty God,
we come in that name, the name of Jesus, who
overcame life struggles, who made it through the worst temptations
that could be imagined, who suffered and died and yet
did not. Boyd did not find fault with those that
(42:53):
were persecuting and killing him. But on that cross he
said to them. It is Finn to you is finished,
and he forgave them. Lord, what love Lord, to cure
for doubts? Is Jesus. I don't know where you're at today.
(43:17):
I don't know what struggles you've been facing. I don't
know if everybody in here has asked Jesus to be
Lord and savior. But I'm telling you that he is
here for the calling. You call upon him. Says, call
upon me, and you will find me. He says, call
and I will tell you great and mighty things, Boy,
(43:38):
the things of real life. Will you call upon him today?
We admit that, Lord, I'm a sinner. Lord, I've been
trying to do it my own way. And Lord, I
need Jesus. I need you. I need a savior, because Lord,
everything I've done to save myself's had not worked. If
you will come to that point and admit it, and
if you will call upon him and say, Jesus, I
(43:59):
need you, he will come into your life. Well. You'll
still have difficulties and struggles, but you will have the
only means to overcome those, and that's in Jesus. And
if your believer that's struggling in your walk, struggling with
the things that have been happening. What call upon him,
Call upon the body of Christ to pray with you,
(44:20):
to lift you up, to spur you on. Allow yourself
to be open to people spurring you on, and watch
what God will do in your life. Will you call
upon Him now? If you are don't know Him as
Lord and Savior, I'd love to pray with you and
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show you how to ask Him into your life and
make a little more sense out of that. If you're
a believer that's struggling in your walk and you need prayer,
what come down to the altar and kneel before, not
the praise team or me, but kneel before Almighty God.
Admit your need, call upon Him in this time and need.
Go to that throne boldly that he wants you their
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confidence that he wants you there. And he says, if
in this time of need, I would give you grace
and mercy, and I believe each of us have a
time of need. Will you come, Will you acknowledge him?
Will you call upon him? As the praise Team leads
us in a song to hymn of Invitation, will you
(45:24):
answer his invitation
But how are you doing on seeking him in the morning?
How are you doing and learning to walk in His ways?
How are you doing? Kind of rhetorical you don't necessarily
have to answer that, but that's a good place to start.
We're going to finish up with looking at Thomas and
(00:22):
I thought, boy, I could do a July fourth independence message,
you know, support be patriotic towards the government, and how
about being patriotic towards God? How about being honoring him
and giving him thanks for where we're at in our
(00:42):
lives today, you know, our country and the freedom that
we still have. Maybe not everything's perfect, because yeah, I
do hurt some and some in here are hurting, some physically,
some emotionally. Some of you might be hurting spiritually, you know.
So I think it's an important question to ask and
to answer, not before me, but before the throne of
(01:05):
grace and mercy, where God says, come boldly that you
might receive that, So that we go there we as
and how am I doing? God? Of course we know
pretty much how we're doing. Are we seeking him? Are
we learning to walk in His ways? And then it
says step by step, well, that's the process, you know,
(01:29):
is that we do it step by step, and that
means we do it where we're at. You see, when
you're molded by the master, that's where he takes you.
He's taking you to that point where he's molding and
shaping your life. And that's a step by step process
the Potter do just doesn't throw the clay on there
and hit that pedal and let that sucker spin. You'd
(01:50):
be a mess, you know, and the Potter would be
kind of dirty too. He doesn't do that. The Potter
takes his time. When we were at camp, it was
kind of neat Renee Thompson, Paul's wife. She's an artist
that's out of this world. And she made these mobiles
for the kids and teaching them how to make them.
(02:12):
And she just got Potter's clay and you'd kind of
make a circle out of it, and then she put
designs in. It was teaching the kids to put design
ours is hanging out. Of course. I only made one
little thing and then other people made the rest for me,
because I went, that's a lot of work. They're crazy
(02:33):
and fun, really a lot of work, but it was
And took a pine cone and I watched her for
a bit. So I went found a real small, tight
pine cone and I pressed the bottom of it in
the center of that little circle about that big of clay. Wow,
it looked really cool, and I thought, man, you know,
(02:53):
that's neat. And then I was watching one of the
boys and they went and got some dried grass. Oh,
that would really just and they had a whole lot,
but I just wanted a few pieces, so I took
some and pushed that grass into that clay. Man, and
it really looks cool. Of course, then I watched what
Renee did, and it's like, wow, mine looked like an infant,
(03:18):
and hers look like the master potter. You know when
the master part is working in your life. Man, he's
making something beautiful. He's making something that will last and
that will attract the world. And that's what I thought
about as I But it was one thing that I
could go to. I could go to the second things
in the morning. I didn't make the first because I
(03:39):
go and I start falling asleep in it. But I
watched that and I thought, man, lord, there's an example
that we can relate to of how that potter is working.
It's a step by step thing. She didn't just say Okay, kids,
here you go. Here's a block of Potter's clay. Do
something with it. She was helping them to learn the process,
and then they could see they can make some things
(04:01):
that have beauty. And they were all proud to get
them and take them home. And I say, I hung
mine up outside. I think it's something pretty cool. Thomas, boy,
he had problems with doubting in his life, and we
see in Today's which is the second part, that God
takes him from doubt to confidence and we find they're
(04:24):
the cure. So look at John chapter twenty. We're going
to be looking at verses nineteen through twenty nine. As
I said a few weeks back, Thomas became known as
the doubting Thomas, and I think that's kind of an
unfair label that he is. I'm not into much into labeling.
(04:44):
I wrote against that in college about mental health labeling.
There's some good parts about it. You can get some
funding when you label things, you can get some assistance.
But the problem with labeling is people tend to fall
into the label, and then they to behave according to
the label, and then they don't see that they can
ever rise above what they've been labeled. Tell y'all, boy,
(05:07):
I can't, man, I can't help myself. I'm add adhd actually,
and I've got some other problems, so I can't organize.
You know. I had him in the cabin last year too,
and I watched and by the end of the week
he got a little better. And this time he started
out better, and by the end of the week it
was like, just really incredible. The whole underneath his bunk
(05:30):
was not just oh, that's where you throw all your stuff,
but it was actually organized. It didn't take him a
long time to pack, and you got you rise above that.
Imagine being called a doubting Thomas all your life. And
I don't think that was. Like I said before. I
think Thomas was more of the e Or and Winnie
the Pooh. I think he was more pessimistic, anticipating sometimes
(05:53):
the worst. You know, and a lot of us can
be that way. We wait for the other shoe to drop,
and we stay stuck of seeing what God is doing,
the good things and the growth things in our lives.
The step by step man, we're always waiting for the
other foot to drop. We have lessons that we can
really learn from Thomas. Let's stand as we read John
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twenty verses nineteen through twenty one, nineteen through twenty nine.
When therefore it was evening on that day, the first
day of the week, and when the doors were shut
where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus
came and stood in their mist and he said to them,
peace be with you. And when he had said this,
(06:37):
he showed them both his hands and his side. And
the disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus
therefore said to them again, peace be with you. As
the Father has sent me, I also send you. And
when he had said this, he breathed on them and
said to them received the Holy Spirit. If you forgive
the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them.
(07:00):
And if you retain the sins of any, they have
been retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus,
was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples
therefore were saying to him, we have seen the Lord.
But he said, unless I see his hands and the
imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the
place of the nails, and put my hand into his side,
(07:23):
I will not believe and after eight days again the
disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came
the doors having been shut, and stood in their mist
and said to them, and said, peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas, reach here your finger and
see my hands. Reach here your hand and put it
(07:45):
into my side, and be not unbelieving, but believing. Thomas
answered and said to him, my Lord and my God.
Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have
you believed? Blessed are those who did not see and
yet believe our Father and God. We asked that you
would continue to be with us and guide us, Lord,
(08:05):
as we look at how you move Thomas from doubting
to confidence, Lord, from pessimism the Lord to optimism in
seeing you, Lord, we asked that you would imprint the
lessons that we need in our individual lives today. Lord,
guide us. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen, please be seated.
(08:27):
In verse twenty four and twenty five, Thomas was there
when or wasn't there when Jesus appeared, And because of
his absence, he's saying, I refuse to believe Jesus is
alive unless somebody shows me differently. Boy, he must have
been from Missouri to show me state. I gotta know,
you know, boy, and some of us are that way. Boy.
(08:47):
Unless I see it, touch it, smell it with my
own hands, I'm just I'm not going to believe. And
yet we have God's word which continues to show us
how God works in our lives. Thomas Absence had a call.
He was discouraged, and he was disobedient because Jesus told
the disciples to meet him in Galilee. He had told
(09:08):
them that ahead of time, he had sent Mary to
tell them to meet them there. And his absence had
a cost. And I had said that last time when
we were looking at it. Our absence from the body
has a cost. We don't have the support of the body.
We don't have that support of one another. And Hebrews
ten twenty three through twenty five says to spur one
(09:30):
another on. When we're not with the body, we don't
have that being spurred on that we need because sometimes,
if we'll admit it, we're just stagnant people. We stay stuck. Man,
We wallow in the mire and we get on our pitypots,
and we're stuck, and we need one another to spur
us on, and Thomas didn't have that because he was
(09:53):
absent from where he needed to be. It affected his faith.
Thomas's faith was affected, his joy was affected, and surely
his witness was affected. But finally we let us see
that Thomas's absence, Oh, there was a cure. There was
a cure for what went on in Thomas's life. Twenty
(10:15):
five through twenty eight. The other disciples are saying, we
have seen the Lord. Man. Can you imagine? I just yeah,
that's just saying, man, Thomas, we have seen the Lord.
Imagine the excitement. Boy, you've seen somebody that you haven't
seen for a long time, and some of your other
friends and you say, oh, man, I just seen Jason.
You know, I haven't seen him for a long time.
The dude's looking good. I thought I was going to
(10:37):
say older. He's looking good, man, and boy he has
really grown and leading worship and it's just really incredible. Boy.
And that excitement builds. That's how I hear this when
I read that we have seen the Lord, not just huh, yeah,
we've seen the Lord. Emily Praise God, Hallelijah. Yeah, man,
(10:58):
like a bunch of stick in the MUDs. There should
be a joy in our lives, and I believe they
had that joy. And he said to them unless I
see his hands and sometimes we can be that way. Well,
he hasn't touched my life that way. How can I
believe He's doing that in other's lives? And we miss
some important things that God is doing. There's two remedies
(11:20):
for Thomas's doubts that I find in these verses, and
the first one on your outline is a testimony of faith.
A A testimony of faith. Verse twenty five tells us
the other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen
the Lord. I think they would have been just as
excited and eager to share that good news. You know,
one of my favorite terms is I think they have
(11:40):
been giving him some whoop of glories. Oh man, we
have seen Jesus, hallelujah. I think that excitement would build,
and yet it didn't build in Thomas because Thomas was
at that time still pessimistic. He had some doubts that
he was dealing with. He knew he wasn't where he
was support to be at that time. Don't we know
(12:02):
it when we're not with the body and we know
that Lord is telling us to be at the body. Man.
We know that. Man, what kind of out of sinc
with God. I need to get back and sink. I
need to have And I've said that to you numerous times.
I need you well, I need you to spur me
on and you know I need your encouragement. I need
to hear what God is doing in your life. Man.
(12:22):
When we're sharing the praises of what God has done. Man,
it's a great thing because it encourages us on that
we can see, you know, what God is working in
their lives. Man, I need to be looking a little
closer to see what God is doing in my life
because you know what, He's not quit working. He is
continuing to work in our lives every day. I can
(12:43):
imagine that each time they saw Thomas during the week,
they recounted with great joy, full assurance of faith that
Christ had been a risen from the dead. I don't
think their conversations with him was about everyday issues of life.
I don't think that's what they're focusing on. Oh you know, boy,
this has been a tough day for us, Thomas. I think, boy,
(13:04):
they were focusing on Jesus as alive. Man. He said,
peace be with you how many of you can use
a dose of peace today? I would think a number
of us can use that dose of peace, and boy,
that would be important to share it. He said, don't
be afraid. Peace be with you, and man, I need
that peace in my life. They had experienced the Lord's
(13:26):
presence and they wanted to share it with Thomas. There's
a lesson for us there. Have you experienced the Lord's presence? Man,
I've experienced it over and over. I experienced it again
this week. Went to the doctor to have them. I
thought I still had stitches in me, and they informed
me that no. They stitched me up with dissolvable stitches.
(13:49):
That's pretty cool. Man. In the physician's assistance did the stitching,
and man, she did a great job. I just got
hairlined scars here and around the back and it was
really impressive. And then she said to me, you know,
Chris Man, do you remember talking to me in the
old R I said, well, I remember kind of. She said, Man,
(14:10):
everybody in ther was Christians but me she's agnostic. And
she said, you went on and on. You're talking about
Jesus the whole time, and everybody else in the is
amen in you and you just kept it up. You
know what, I knew it wasn't me. I knew it
had to be the Holy Spirit, man, because man, you
(14:31):
get enough of that pain, medication and other stuff in
you twilight sleep, you know. But I have to imagine
that's God working. But there was an excitement. And when
she shared that with me, man, Lord, thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you. Man. My arm hurt, and you
know it still does. But I can give God thanks
(14:51):
that he has done a good thing and he is sharing.
And glory came in the room. And I don't think
Casey is very far. I can't wait to go. I
don't need another surgery, heard me, Lord, please? But I
go back to see her in a month, and then
a month after that, and you know, I'm kind of
excited to see her and to push her a little further,
(15:12):
to drag her a little further, to encourage her a
little further. I think that's what they did. Man. Thomas
was still in the dumps. If you know a believer
that's in the dumps today, will you encourage them now?
Would you give him a holy handshake, give him a
half a hug, gi'm a hug, Give him a word man.
You know, God said to me my quiet time this week, boy,
(15:33):
give them a little Jesus. And I think that's what
they would were doing at that time. Of all the
arguments that Jesus is alive, none is better than the
testimony of one Christian that's excited about experiencing his presence.
Nothing's better than that. When God wanted to authenticate himself
to the ancient world, what did he do? Boy? He
(15:56):
called upon the nation of Israel, and he put them
right in the center of travel or the of the
ancient world, that they would be at their crossroads to
share with people. Look at what he says in Isaiah
forty three, Verse ten. Should be up on the wall.
Here you are, my witnesses, declares the Lord. You are
not you know you might be, or would you be?
(16:19):
You are. I'm the God that's worked in your life.
You know he's not changed. He's still the God that's
working in our lives. So read this for yourself. You
are my witnesses and my servant, whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me and understand
that I am He. Boy, experience him and know that
(16:40):
he is God. Know that he is Elohim, the God
that creates and still creating in our lives, the God
that's doing everything that needed to be done and had
the ability to do that. Know those things. Before me,
there is no God formed, and there will be none
after me. He is God. The people of God served
(17:02):
as an undeniable proof of God's existence, and that's what
the Body of Christ should be today. That's the church's
call that we are to be an undeniable proof to
the world. Folks, When we don't rise above our circumstances,
when we wallow extended times in the mire, how are
we being that to the world around us? What do
(17:25):
they see? Do they see a hope in us? Do
they see that? Yes, you know, circumstances are tough. This
is a bad day. I've experienced some bad things. Boy,
tough things are going on. But my God is still God.
My God is still working, and my God will help
me to rise above. You know sounds forty verses one
through three, You know, I love them versus Boy, he
(17:47):
has heard my cry, is taking me out of the
myri clay, set me on a solid rock. And then
he doesn't just quit there. He puts a new song
into their lives. What's that song? Man? My country tis
of thee. Praise God be exalted, Oh God. It's a
new song of my love and admiration for my God,
(18:08):
and I will exalt his name. God's people still offer
the most basic and best proof of God. What I
would offer. A change life is still the best testimony
you can fill in the blank. A change life is
still the best testimony of God's power. Well, I know
God's working. Nobody can deny the fact that God has
(18:30):
worked in my life, because I'm telling you I'm not
what I used to be. Praise God. He has worked
and I see that, and others around me have and
hopefully you see that that I'm still growing. Man, Folks,
if I get stagnant, you know, give me a spur,
you know, give me a kick, give me something. But
don't let me stay stagnant. I need to be spurred on.
(18:52):
Divine love reflected in the Christian heart, which accepts us
and that accepts, forgives, and loves the unlovable. You know what,
It's easy to love your neighbor, Jesus said, It's easy
to love those that love you. Boy, Well, maybe it's
not easy to love your neighbor because there it's not nice.
Maybe they're the unlovable, but it better get easier for
(19:13):
us because we're loving with his kind of love and
we accept them, accept them where they are. I don't
have to accept the behavior because their behavior greats on
my nerves. You know, I wanted to go to sleep
last night, and some of my neighbors thought it was
already the fourth of July. Boom boom. Think man, you know,
come on, folks, you know, wait till tomorrow when it
(19:34):
is the fourth of July. If it's after midnight, okay,
I know you got to do it a little early.
But they were just they were starting at what eight o'clock,
boom boom, And I don't thinking, Man, I'm going to
go to bed. I'm going to try to get some
sleep tonight with booming going on. I don't do that
very well. But I you know, that's where they're at.
And so I said, Lord, help me to sleep. I
(19:56):
didn't say blow them up, get them God, Lord them
the peace of no. You know, Lord helped me to
get the rest that I need and help me to
forgive they're inconveniencing me because sometimes you know, we feel inconvenienced,
and we forgive people, and when they sin against this, Lord,
help me to forgive, because that love that we give
(20:20):
to the unlovable is still the best witness of the
nature of God. It's the witness of the nature of God. Man,
if we condemn everybody and we're quick, like when I
was lost and people would jump down my throat and
say you're going to you know, Hades, and they were
just real adamant about it, and they didn't have anything
kind to say. H I didn't want their god. Man,
(20:42):
when the pastor's wife came up to me and hugged
me after I had swore in front of all these
nice Christian young people and women, and you know, instead,
it's okay, Chris, we all slip. And I tell you
that statement did more for me and leading me to
the Lord than all the other people that through Jesus
in my face and told me how ugly a person
(21:03):
I was. And the world needs that today, and that
witness shows God's nature. And then hope that will not
die is the best proof of eternal life. A hope
that will not die. Well, I have a hope of
what's ahead. Doing the services for PEG's dad and knowing that, boy,
there's unbelievers there and there's one that been praying for
(21:25):
for a long time. And you know what hope because
you know when people are hope are hopeless, aren't they mean?
Don't they tend to be negative? And boy, find fault
and things and offering that hope touching the lives, that's
what it's about. And then faith, which cannot be shaken,
even in the face of death, is still the best
(21:47):
demonstration of the immutability of God's promises. We who have
been granted the privilege of our taking and that divine nature,
are to share that divine nature with the world, not
to share what Satan is trying to push into our lives,
not sharing some of the things that the world has,
but that divine nature of an almighty God. Books, lessons, sermons,
(22:13):
and reason all have their place, and they all do.
There's a lot of great books. But don't preach the
latest book that you've been reading. You know, share the
word of God. Share what God is doing in his
word in your life, because it's still what God is
doing in my life is the best witness that God
(22:34):
is real, that he's working in my life today. And
if that proof is not clear and consistent and constant.
Everything else will be hearsay. It would be here saying
unless they see it in our lives Verse twenty. The
last part of it tells us the disciples therefore rejoiced
when they saw the Lord, and that joy was something
(22:55):
that they couldn't keep them themselves. That joy was something
that was bubbling over. Man, he's filled my cup and
it's spilling out. And they wanted Thomas and others to
know about that. Real joy can't be confined. It's contagious
and it must be communicated. Someone has said joy is
the most infallible sign of the presence of the Lord.
(23:17):
And Jesus said he came to make our joy complete.
How complete is your joy today? How full is your
tank today? Because if it's on the empty side, or
you feel it going down, run to the Lord. Go
to the Lord. Ask a Christian brother or sister to
pray with you. Man, I need my tank filled them
(23:37):
I'm kind of running on load today. And then when
they pray for you, believe that God is going to work.
Don't say oh, thank you very much, be an he
or man. Yeah, that was good prayer. But you know
what was me. The shoe's gonna fall. I'll be okay,
don't worry. Why do we do that? In the mere man,
(24:01):
he is lifting us out of the meyer, He's putting
us on a rock. Let the new song flow into you.
But you know what, if we block in the new song,
it ain't never going to flow. We see the cure,
the testimony of the disciples, but also the testimony of
facts verse twenty five. Be on your outline, the testimony
of facts. Thomas said in verse twenty five. Unless I
(24:24):
see his hands in the imprint of the nails and
put my finger in the place of the nails and
put my hand into his side, I will not believe
what's he saying. He's saying he wants proof. I need proof.
I need proof of the resurrection. I need proof that
the Lord is real, that he has arisen. And in
verse twenty seven, what does Jesus do slaps him up
(24:47):
side the head, say you idiot, Why do you have
to ask for that? No, he doesn't you know what
he didn't do that? Did he? What did he do?
He offered Thomas what he needed. He offered him proof.
Reach here with your finger. You know what nobody had
to tell him that, well, he already knew what was
in Thomas's Hardy knows what's in your heart today. He
knows what's in your mind. He knows if you're trying
(25:09):
to put on a good face and you're wallowing in
the mire. He knows that you might hide it from
the rest of us. Doesn't do you any good. I
think there's that point of being honest. But we know
he knows. He says, reach here with your finger and
see my hands, and reach here with your hand and
put it into my side. Man, I got to tell
you what I'm not going there. You know I don't
(25:31):
want to do that. Lord, thank you very much. But
and then what does he say? Man, He reaches out
in love Thomas. Don't be unbelieving. Don't hear it as
him scolding Thomas. Here It has him loving Thomas, giving
Thomas what he needed at that moment to take him
to where he needed to be. You see, that gave
him what he needed to take him to where he
(25:52):
needed to be. You don't slam dunk somebody to get
him where they need to be. Although we try that,
and know what, I've never found it. The work. You
don't take like professor, my Jewish professor in psych one,
oh one, I totally found out I was a Christian.
I was giving a speech on Jesus says he, or
isn't he a son of God? And he says, oh,
(26:13):
you're one. Then Bible thumpers. Now Jeredet thumped with a man.
This is a big Bible. It's pretty heavy, boy, and
knock your senseless. And we do that sometimes by not
loving on people. Well, we need to be loving on them.
And Jesus shows us. He takes Thomas right where he's at. Thomas,
you need proof, come and get it. You need proof
(26:35):
of the Lord's love. Yeah, he'll give it to you,
but you got to be open to see it. You
got to see it that he's doing it with the
hands of other people. He's doing it with the encouragement
of other people. And as I found in my life,
God will even use lost people to encourage me, lost
(26:56):
people to spur me on. Jesus says Thomas, and I
think he says to us, stop being unbelieving. Show yourself
today to be a believer. Rise above the circumstances. You
know what, God, it's tough what I'm going through right now.
Maybe that's where you're at. God is painful. But Lord,
(27:16):
thank you for being with me. Thank you that I
know I will come above this situation, that I will
come up on the other side. I keep saying, Boy,
yeah it hurts now, but you know what I know
about this hurt versus the hurt before surgery. This hurt's
going to go away the hurt before surgery. Boy, had
(27:37):
I not had this, I'd have been a wreck for
a long time and it wouldn't have gotten any better
on its own. It needed to be repaired. These words,
they focus the failure of Thomas. That he and he
received that apostolic witness and that's the basis of his faith.
(27:57):
But he needed to be spurred on. He needed that
touch of the Lord when you need it call. There's
two things happen when Jesus confronted him here. Thomas was convicted.
I need to be convicted. Convicted that you know what, man,
I've been wallowing in the mire. You need to be convicted,
and so do I. We need to be spurred on,
and that's why we're called to spur one another on.
(28:19):
Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God,
and know Jesus's tenderness. Man, he understands his weakness. He
understands where you're at. He understands your struggles, and he'll
meet you there. Look at Hebrews four fourteen through sixteen,
and be al. I believe it's on the wall Hebrews
(28:40):
four fourteen through sixteen. Since then we have a great
high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for
we do not have a high priest who cannot what
sympathize with our weakness. He understands where you're at. He
(29:01):
understands that. That pastor's wife understood that I was a
lost person man, And I think she probably read on
my face. I don't embarrass very easily, but boy, I
was horribly embarrassed that day. And she didn't. Boy, what's
the matter with you swearing like that in front of
these nice young women and people here and say that.
(29:22):
I couldn't believe. She said, we all slip sometimes, because
you've heard this before. The only thing I thought, is, man,
the only thing that slipped was any good words that
might have said before that, Because that's the way I talked.
I mean I was in the military. I grew up
around people that swore all the time. They swore in
my home, they swore in the neighborhood. Everybody was swearing.
And that's how I was talking. And she just loved
(29:45):
me right where I was. She was Jesus to me,
And man, it made a big difference. He knows he
sympathizes with our weakness. But one who has been tempted,
he's been tempted in all things, and yet without sin,
So he can give me the strength I need to
make it beyond where I'm at. Let us, therefore, look
at that verse sixteen, draw near with confidence to the
(30:08):
Throne of Grace. And why because we need his mercy,
We need his grace that we can continue on. And
when does he give it? Gives it to you and
your time, and need you know, if you don't need
it that specific grace, he's not going to give it
to you until you need it. And who knows what
kind of grace we're all going to need the rest
of this day, and that he will be there. Man,
(30:32):
And I say that very carefully because the last one
of the times I said that was right here, and
that afternoon found out that my mother had died. And
I didn't need that kind of grace before that didn't
need it, But boy, I needed it that afternoon when
Gloria told me. My brother in law was on the
phone and he said, boy, Chris Ron found mom dead. Man.
(30:55):
You know, pushed me over by breathing on me. You know.
It was a shock. And yet his grace was sufficient
to carry me through. And his grace will be sufficient
to carry you through no matter what you're facing. Go
to that throne and go with confidence. What kind of confidence?
Confidence that he wants you there, Confidence that he wants
(31:17):
you to minister to you where you're at, and the
pain and the hurts that you might be experiencing, He
wants to be there. What about when I'm in sin
He wants you to come so that he can forgive you.
He wants you to acknowledge it. You remember that, he
says in Romans five to eight, he demonstrated his love
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Man,
(31:38):
if he did it when we were sinners, will he
not do it for us as believers? And will he
not give us the grace to carry on? He understands
our doubts. He understands our fears, he understands our pain,
and he sympathizes with our uncertainties. Patient, even with our
(32:02):
e or mentality and our pessimism. He's patient with us.
And he meets us where we're at. He doesn't stand
above us, condemning us. Man. He was as he say,
suffer the children to me, you know, bring them to me,
and the pictures he has them on his lap and
his blessing to the tribe of Benjamin. Come here and
sit between my shoulders. That's up here, man, that's that
(32:25):
place where we give hugs. That's that place where my
heart is. And he says, come here and let me
bless you, even in our uncertainties. As an incredible god
that we have, it's an incredible God that the world needs.
And what happened to Thomas because of Jesus is tenderness,
because of his love, because of a meeting where he's at. Boy,
(32:46):
Thomas was convinced, you see, he was convicted, and then
he was convinced that Jesus was that he had risen.
Jesus comes in and sees Thomas and he addresses him,
addresses him and desiring him to come to him, desires him, Thomas,
come put your fingers in the nail. Prince Thomas was
(33:06):
perfectly satisfied at that moment with the reality of the
Lord's resurrection. And look what his answer is, replied to Jesus's.
And that needs to be ours. My Lord and my God,
My Lord, my God, the God that loves me where
I'm at, the God that will lead me to where
I need to be, The God that wants to write
(33:27):
my relationship with the Almighty Father, the God that wants
to encourage my life, the God that wants to be
Jehovah Jirah to me, my provider, the God that is
the God of love, who wants to love me even
when the world might not, even when I don't love myself.
This Almighty God loves me and desires me to come
(33:48):
into his presence that he might raise me above my circumstances.
And that's what he does to Thomas. Maybe you're thinking
I'd be convinced if I had that kind of evidence
as well. And don't worry, man, I give me a
little Jesus with skin. Yeah, let me see his finger,
Let me put my finger in his hands. We might
not say it that way, but we do say, well,
(34:10):
I just need somebody with skin on, you know, I
need to have a God that can actually physically hug me,
and we miss all the other hugs that it gives us.
Look what Jesus gives him and gives us as an
answer in verses twenty nine through thirty one. John Chapter twenty,
Jesus said to him he speaking to Thomas still, and
then hear him speaking to us. Because you have seen me,
(34:32):
you have believed. Blessed are they who do not see
and yet believe many other signs. Therefore, Jesus also performed
in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book, but these have been written that you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, the Messiah,
(34:54):
the Son of God. And then that believing you might
have life in his name. Folks, well, we might have
life in his name, but we come by asking him.
You know, show me yourself, Lord, Lord. I sometimes don't
see you, Lord, help me to see you. You know,
(35:15):
we pray well in my quiet time this week, looking
at the fruit of the spirit. How many times have
you prayed? Oh Lord, give me patience? Anybody ever pray
that show a hands. Anybody pray that, Lord boy, give
me a little bit more self control. Anybody, Lord boy,
give me a little more love in my life? Yeah,
(35:40):
you need you know what. I come to realize as
I was going through the fruit of the spirit. That's
not what I need. I don't need more patience. Yeah,
I don't need more love. I don't need more self control.
I need more Jesus. I need more Jesus. Folks, where
you're at today, you're uncertain. Life's been tough this week,
(36:03):
life's been tough for the past. I don't know year two, three,
four years. Man, things have hurt, You've been hurt. What
you need is more Jesus. We'll never write above our circumstances.
I don't need more faith. I need more Jesus. And
that's what I really like, Fernando Otego song. You know,
(36:23):
give me Jesus in the morning, man in the morning,
give me Jesus in the afternoon, give me Jesus. And
when I come to die, boy, give me Jesus. Do
you need more Jesus? Thomas needed more Jesus. Maybe you're
there today, Maybe you've been kind of wallowing in the
(36:44):
mire for a while. Maybe you've been struggling with your life,
struggling with your circumstances, struggling with fear, struggling with physical
abnormalities and pain, struggling with more month and and less money.
We struggle with all sorts of things. And I don't
belittle any of that because it's all real. Folks. If
(37:05):
you're struggling, it's real to you. What you need is
more of Jesus. See, Thomas was struggling, he was doubting
his faith. Who took a shot his joy took a
shot His joy meter was probably running pretty close to
empty at this time, and he needed the cure. And
the cure was Jesus. That's the cure, and that's what
(37:28):
we need in our lives. Have you watched TV and
seen the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Boy?
There's some great parallels into people today. With that show.
They have what's called lifelines. I think about that lifelines,
and the consistant could call upon them when they were
uncertain about an answer, when they were struggling with getting
(37:51):
that answer out or with the facts, Get me a lifeline.
And those lifelines symbolize how people today think about ultimate
questions about God. Some want to go fifty to fifty.
They hope that they will make it to heaven. I
want a fifty to fifty. Why, you know what, If
I can be good enough, I'm going to get to heaven.
I'll halujah. That's my lifeline. And so they try it
(38:11):
all along, trying to get it together, trying to be better.
Some want a phone a friend, boy, and they think, well, hey,
that's where my friends are at. You know, that's what
they think, and they count on their friends. Man, I'm
gonna get there because I have friends that are Christian
and they like me. Well that's good. I have enemies
that are non Christians that like me too. They ain't
gonna get me anywhere. I don't need a fifty to fifty.
(38:33):
I don't need a phone a friend. And then some
people want to ask the audience. They'll just accept what
anybody out there is saying. Boy, they'll accept anything that
might sound good. And in this new age world that
we live in, there's a lot of stuff that sounds good.
But Jesus says, I'm the way the truth in the life,
not a fifty to fifty lifeline, not a phone of friend,
(38:54):
and not trying to check out with the audience, what
it's going to be. What's your lifeline? What is your
lifeline today? Maybe you've lost sight of the lifeline. Maybe
you kind of got like Thomas where you didn't see
it and it was hard to believe your friends. But
Jesus steps into the middle of your world. You see,
(39:14):
Jesus is the ultimate resource. Jesus is the ultimate lifeline.
He's the only lifeline because he is the only way
truth and life. You see, if you want to have
real life, you need to go to Jesus, because the
rest isn't real life, folks. This is kind of stumbling
along the way hoping that well, something good might happen
(39:34):
at the end, or or believe in like some Well
you're dead. You're dead and that's the end of it.
No God says, there is eternity, and how will you
face eternity? That lifeline of Jesus took Thomas from doubting
the confidence, and it was the cure that he needed.
(39:55):
For those who believe no explanation is needed. For those
who do not believe, ve no explanation is enough. Franz
Warfel wrote that someone wrote, you'll see it up on
the wall. Fill in your blanks. Doubts see the obstacles.
Faith sees the way, doubts see the darkest night, Faith
(40:17):
sees the day. Doubt dreads to take a step. Faith
soars on high. Doubt questions who believes? Faith answers, I
do you believe today? Have you called upon Jesus's Lord?
Have you called upon him as savior? You know, we
(40:39):
celebrate Independence Day and we think, boy, that's what I
want to just be independent, and we run in the
muck in the mire because we're always trying to do
it our way, and Jesus says, let me show you
my way. My way is good, my way is right,
My way will lead you to joy into peace. The
world's way has never led to peace, and my way
(41:01):
has never led to peace at last, never made it
to joy. That has filled me to where I didn't
need more to get me more joy. Do you see
a lot of yourself and Thomas? Well, I've seen myself
and him. I think we need to be honest if
we're there. Are you overcome with doubt? Are you being
(41:24):
overcome in your faith? Are you being tossed about by waves?
As James says of doubt one John five to four
New living translation, for every child of God defeats this
evil world. And we achieve this victory through our faith,
through our faith in a person, through our faith in
(41:46):
Jesus Christ, who has overcome death. So Paul says, oh, Death,
where is your victory? Well, Death, where is your sting? Well?
We just looked at that the other day. Where is
the things of your life today? Where are you at?
Are you walking with him? Is it step by step?
(42:09):
If not, that's where we need to be. We need
to move in that position where what I need is
more of Jesus. John the Baptist had it right all
them years ago. It's still right today. Less of me,
more of Jesus. I must decrease that he would increase
in my life. The life that I now live, I
live by faith in the Son of God who died
(42:33):
for me that I might live. Let's pray, Almighty God,
we come in that name, the name of Jesus, who
overcame life struggles, who made it through the worst temptations
that could be imagined, who suffered and died and yet
did not. Boyd did not find fault with those that
(42:53):
were persecuting and killing him. But on that cross he
said to them. It is Finn to you is finished,
and he forgave them. Lord, what love Lord, to cure
for doubts? Is Jesus. I don't know where you're at today.
(43:17):
I don't know what struggles you've been facing. I don't
know if everybody in here has asked Jesus to be
Lord and savior. But I'm telling you that he is
here for the calling. You call upon him. Says, call
upon me, and you will find me. He says, call
and I will tell you great and mighty things, Boy,
(43:38):
the things of real life. Will you call upon him today?
We admit that, Lord, I'm a sinner. Lord, I've been
trying to do it my own way. And Lord, I
need Jesus. I need you. I need a savior, because Lord,
everything I've done to save myself's had not worked. If
you will come to that point and admit it, and
if you will call upon him and say, Jesus, I
(43:59):
need you, he will come into your life. Well. You'll
still have difficulties and struggles, but you will have the
only means to overcome those, and that's in Jesus. And
if your believer that's struggling in your walk, struggling with
the things that have been happening. What call upon him,
Call upon the body of Christ to pray with you,
(44:20):
to lift you up, to spur you on. Allow yourself
to be open to people spurring you on, and watch
what God will do in your life. Will you call
upon Him now? If you are don't know Him as
Lord and Savior, I'd love to pray with you and
(44:40):
show you how to ask Him into your life and
make a little more sense out of that. If you're
a believer that's struggling in your walk and you need prayer,
what come down to the altar and kneel before, not
the praise team or me, but kneel before Almighty God.
Admit your need, call upon Him in this time and need.
Go to that throne boldly that he wants you their
(45:03):
confidence that he wants you there. And he says, if
in this time of need, I would give you grace
and mercy, and I believe each of us have a
time of need. Will you come, Will you acknowledge him?
Will you call upon him? As the praise Team leads
us in a song to hymn of Invitation, will you
(45:24):
answer his invitation
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