Collierville First Baptist Church

[01:00:01:52 - 01:00:03:16]
O God we thank you for

[01:00:09:17 - 01:00:12:59]
You sending your Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins

[01:00:14:17 - 01:00:18:46]
For picking us up out of the miry clay and putting our feet on solid ground

[01:00:20:01 - 01:00:23:04]
God we thank you for the Holy Spirit who fills us

[01:00:24:26 - 01:00:30:43]
Lord it seals us for the day of your return Lord we will be glorified with you

[01:00:33:16 - 01:00:36:50]
Lord your spirit empowers us and moves us

[01:00:37:52 - 01:00:41:38]
And God we don't want to do anything on our own strength Lord so I pray

[01:00:43:15 - 01:00:55:27]
That God in this moment as we read your word that you will move around this place And your spirit will fall fresh on us Your spirit who dwells on us just help us be filled with your spirit Lord

[01:00:57:15 - 01:01:15:09]
As James says do not be drunk with wine, be filled with the Holy Spirit Lord Please take over, take control Lord, move us, guide us, direct us Lord Especially now as I open your word and I preach your word God I pray that my opinions won't come out And my thoughts won't come out Lord, guide me Lord by your word Because your word is the way to life

[01:01:17:34 - 01:01:23:23]
We need you, we love you, we praise you And it's in Jesus name I pray And all God's people said Amen

[01:01:25:07 - 01:02:47:24]
What a privilege to preach the word any day And to any church but particularly this day to you Call your whole First Baptist Church I just want to thank you for loving my family so well, for welcoming us so well We've been here for six months And I've met all of you and I've forgotten most of your names But we're still, you know, appreciate your patience Now I've come to love you and I just really I'm just so thankful for the love you've poured out on my wife and my family And I know that you genuinely pray for us, pray for our staff And join me as we pray weekly for Pastor Chuck This weekend Pastor Chuck has officiated a wedding of just a dear close family friend And so we'll miss him this weekend But we know that God knew exactly where Pastor Chuck would be And where I would be and where you would be this morning And so I just want to invite you to really lean into this sermon today As we read God's word, as we hear his word preached Each time we should know that God is working to shape us and mold us His word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword And divides between bone and marrow So we want him to convict us, to guide us, and lead us this morning

[01:02:48:56 - 01:02:53:54]
As we study his word So let's open our Bibles to John chapter 20

[01:02:55:07 - 01:03:15:05]
John chapter 20, we are continuing with the sermon series that Pastor Chuck has begun after Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday And we are going through the first words of the resurrected Christ We've heard about how Jesus spoke words of hope to Mary at the empty tomb

[01:03:16:06 - 01:03:48:54]
We've heard how Jesus met two disciples as they were walking away from Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus And he spoke a word of truth to them Last week Pastor Chuck preached this sermon and a word of peace to us As Jesus met with his disciples who were in a locked upper room And today our text brings us back to that same upper room Locked doors to hear a word of faith that Jesus brought to his disciple Thomas

[01:03:49:58 - 01:04:04:02]
We're going to look at Thomas, study Thomas, think about him And as we think about Thomas and as we go into this sermon I want to ask you the question Have you ever had serious doubts or questions about your faith?

[01:04:05:23 - 01:04:13:28]
Or have you ever had a moment of crisis, a moment of where you were going through trials with difficulty And you came to a place where you had some questions

[01:04:15:02 - 01:04:23:27]
Some hard questions for God And maybe your question was God, why aren't you answering?

[01:04:24:37 - 01:04:30:03]
So I just want to pose a few questions that maybe you can relate to this morning Maybe you've asked because here's the deal

[01:04:31:36 - 01:04:41:20]
We are not called to be plastic people who pretend like our faith is perfect and we have no problems That's not reality is it?

[01:04:42:26 - 01:04:58:33]
In this world we'll face many trials, we'll face tribulation, but Christ has overcome this world And so we want to be real people, we want to be authentic And right now as I'm coming up on this stage I've labored over this sermon I've written out pages on this sermon but I want to speak to your mind But I also want to speak to your heart

[01:04:59:44 - 01:05:14:38]
As somebody who is just a broken person who has been put back together by Jesus Christ in his grace in my life So can we be vulnerable today, can we be real today? Sometimes the questions that we ask is God, how could you let this happen?

[01:05:16:06 - 01:05:19:01]
God, where are you in this? God, why me?

[01:05:20:01 - 01:05:23:05]
And not those people over there, right? How is this just?

[01:05:25:18 - 01:05:31:12]
God, how can anything good from the situation come from the situation I'm walking through right now?

[01:05:32:14 - 01:05:35:10]
God, did I do something wrong? What did I do? Will you show me Lord?

[01:05:36:18 - 01:05:38:01]
God, why won't you answer me?

[01:05:40:43 - 01:06:13:10]
Has anybody ever asked a question like that before I have? I've asked a question, I've asked questions. In those moments of just crisis and of struggle and pain and suffering We have to fight off and fight those questions off in faith But if you've had any questions like that you're not alone Some of the greatest men of faith in God's word have had similar questions I want to read those to you today King David wrote these questions in the Psalms Why O Lord do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

[01:06:16:00 - 01:06:19:20]
Why, why O Lord have you forsaken me?

[01:06:20:58 - 01:06:23:37]
How long O Lord will you forget me forever?

[01:06:24:57 - 01:06:30:19]
O Lord why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?

[01:06:31:22 - 01:06:37:42]
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

[01:06:39:24 - 01:06:57:33]
Job made this statement Though I cry violence I get no response Though I call for help there is no justice Habakkuk said, O Lord how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear?

[01:06:59:02 - 01:07:03:55]
Jeremiah asked this question, why does the way of the wicked prosper?

[01:07:05:10 - 01:07:08:02]
Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

[01:07:10:02 - 01:07:17:24]
John the Baptist who Jesus said was the greatest prophet ever to live as he was in prison

[01:07:18:51 - 01:07:27:00]
He asks Jesus through a letter it says, are you the one who is to come or shall I look for another?

[01:07:29:52 - 01:07:35:14]
Martha, she says Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died

[01:07:36:38 - 01:07:45:28]
And now Thomas, he says unless I see his hands, the mark of the nails I will never believe

[01:07:48:49 - 01:08:04:41]
Church, Jesus meets us in these most difficult questions, these most difficult places of faith And today's truth is this, Jesus is strong enough to handle your greatest doubts

[01:08:05:48 - 01:08:46:53]
Jesus is strong enough to handle your greatest doubts Maybe you're in here today and you've gone through trial after trial after trial and you can say amen to this message Maybe right now you're going through a trial right now and you look for an excuse not to be here today It was raining outside but you made it and God knows that you're here And I want you to hear this message today, maybe you need a message from the Lord Maybe you've been asking and praying what God is speaking through his word so I pray that you'll hear right now Maybe you don't have faith in Jesus, maybe you're here with your family or a friend that invited you Maybe you just come every Sunday because your family brought you

[01:08:48:21 - 01:09:08:43]
But you've never really given your life to Jesus and you don't have personal faith in our Lord Jesus Christ I want to invite you to lean in today to this sermon And listen to Thomas, think about what he experienced and listen to how Jesus met him In John chapter 20, I ask you to turn there, let's start with reading one verse John chapter 20 verse 27

[01:09:10:13 - 01:09:14:01]
John chapter 20 verse 27

[01:09:16:44 - 01:09:38:25]
We heard Thomas' statement, "Unless I see his hands in the mark of the nails I will never believe" And here's what Jesus says, it says, "Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands And put out your hand and place it in my side

[01:09:40:04 - 01:09:43:34]
Do not disbelieve, but believe"

[01:09:46:09 - 01:10:00:49]
What do we know about Thomas? Thomas was one of the original 12 disciples He had a nickname that the Bible says he had a nickname and it was "Twin" But we may know him as another nickname that we've given to him, what's that nickname?

[01:10:02:13 - 01:10:04:07]
Doubting Thomas, absolutely

[01:10:05:54 - 01:10:29:51]
Maybe you're with me and Pastor Chuck, as we've talked about this together We think Thomas had a bad rap, alright? You think he got a bad rap with that whole "doubting Thomas" nickname As I've looked at it, as I've really investigated Thomas and learned more about him The more I look into it, the more I believe that he's a lot like us In fact, I want to be like Thomas in many ways

[01:10:30:54 - 01:11:17:15]
And have the faith and the courage that Thomas had Thomas' first words recorded in scripture are when Jesus was told that Lazarus, his friend, had just passed away And so, Jesus said, "We're going to go back to Judea" And his disciples said, "Lord, they want to kill you there, I think it's best that we don't go I think we need to stay here and keep doing ministry here Let us not go there that the Jews are plotting to kill you And as Jesus said, "No, I must go" This is Thomas' first words in scripture in John 14.5 Thomas said to him, "Lord" He said to his disciples, "Let us go that we may die with him"

[01:11:18:40 - 01:12:15:19]
Sounds like a man of courage, a man of conviction, a man who is following Jesus in faith Let us go that we may die with And if Jesus isn't going to die, we're going to go die with him His next words recorded in John 14.5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?" And Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life No one comes to the Father except through me" You see, Thomas being real to ask his sincere questions Gave an opportunity for Jesus to give one of his most amazing revelations of who he is The way, the truth, and the life And now in John chapter 20, the passage we're studying today Let's go ahead and read more of that John chapter 20, verse 24 through 25 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord"

[01:12:16:37 - 01:12:28:58]
But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails And place my fingers into the mark of the nails And place my hand into his side, I will never believe"

[01:12:30:40 - 01:12:49:55]
Again, the more I study Thomas here, the more I realize that he wasn't just experiencing normal doubt Thomas was in a place of personal crisis And there is never a time when we need faith more than when we're going through times of personal crisis

[01:12:51:06 - 01:13:18:32]
A crisis can be when we're overwhelmed, we're completely stressed out, we're full of anxiety Maybe it's something that happened very quickly and we need to make some very real and quick decisions We could be experiencing fear, doubt, confusion, anger, grief, questions When things haven't gone as planned And everything spiraling out of control These experiences can lead to prolonged anxiety and feelings of depression

[01:13:22:37 - 01:13:44:46]
I believe this is what Thomas most likely was experiencing, an array of all these emotions And his question was just his deep desire to see Jesus To be comforted by his presence, as his friends were Think about it, when Thomas was experiencing, think about what he was experiencing

[01:13:46:28 - 01:14:04:19]
Thomas left his family, he left his occupation, he left everything to follow Jesus He left everything to go with him in ministry for three years And he saw some of the most amazing miracles happen He saw Jesus do miracle after miracle, what a privilege to be with Jesus, to be one of his twelve

[01:14:05:27 - 01:14:30:42]
He saw him heal the sick, he saw him cast out demons, he saw him feed the five thousand And now, what's the most recent thing that he saw of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ He saw him betrayed by one of their own, arrested, beaten, tortured, nailed to a cross, stripped naked, mocked, spit upon, dead and buried

[01:14:32:25 - 01:14:34:14]
Can you imagine the grief?

[01:14:35:33 - 01:14:38:18]
I mean, the grief you feel for a loved one that passes

[01:14:39:25 - 01:14:56:15]
Can you imagine the grief? Can you empathize with Thomas? And what he must be experiencing, to have seen this, to have witnessed this On our Good Friday sermons, we remember what Jesus went through We try to imagine it, Jesus went through it and Thomas saw it all

[01:14:57:30 - 01:15:07:35]
Thomas witnessed it, he lived it, he experienced it And on our Good Friday services, we're able to say, hey, this is Friday, he was put into the grave

[01:15:08:45 - 01:15:33:34]
But we also can know in hindsight that Sunday's coming For Thomas, he didn't know that Sunday was coming, he had not yet experienced Easter morning He had not witnessed the resurrected Christ yet, he's still grieving And he's in this upper room, the doors are locked, he's with the disciples, they're fearful for their lives They think if Jesus was crucified and we're his closest friends, we're next on the list

[01:15:34:43 - 01:15:46:22]
We're next on the execution list, they're coming for us They were fearful of the world outside of those walls And so they gathered together to encourage one another And as they're doing that, they hear a report from Mary, the tomb is empty

[01:15:47:26 - 01:15:51:56]
And I saw Jesus, but Thomas missed it, he wasn't there

[01:15:53:00 - 01:16:34:16]
And then he's there, and he hears these disciples come in from the road to Emmaus And they say, we saw Jesus on the road, and he explained so much to us But Thomas missed it, he's still grieving, and he hasn't experienced, he hasn't seen this And then I don't know where Thomas was in the upper room when Jesus came and appeared But Thomas missed it, and all the other disciples saw Jesus in the flesh And were invited to touch his hands and touch his side Maybe Thomas was out getting groceries, maybe he was getting food and supplies, maybe he was trying to serve I don't know why he wasn't there, but he missed it How could you imagine how he must have felt to have missed the most important day of his entire life?

[01:16:35:24 - 01:16:54:01]
And to wonder and doubt, like with regret and confusion, like why was I there? If Jesus really did come, why would he wait till I was there? I mean, all these things that you and I would probably wrestling with, Thomas wrestled And yet, Thomas remained

[01:16:55:50 - 01:16:57:06]
He remained in the upper room

[01:16:58:27 - 01:17:22:21]
You know, we call him "doubting Thomas" but listen, he remained He remained, that's much more than a lot of people when they doubt He remained, he didn't give up, he didn't give in, he remained It says he was there for eight days, continuing to be in there until Jesus came to reveal himself So listen, when people face the hardest times in life, they respond in two ways spiritually

[01:17:23:35 - 01:17:45:44]
They either push away from God or they draw near to him Have you seen this before? When people are experiencing hardships, they push away from God They run away from him or they draw near to him Thomas drew near Listen, some say, "If God is so good, why would he let this happen to me?"

[01:17:47:14 - 01:17:55:11]
And then others say, "I don't know why this happened to me, but I know that God is good." Amen

[01:17:58:13 - 01:18:01:53]
James chapter 4, 7th through 8th says this

[01:18:03:13 - 01:18:27:10]
Resist the devil and he will flee from you Draw near to God and he will draw near to you We just heard a word about how the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy Nobody wants to use a crisis more to your detriment than Satan He wants you to be confused, he wants you to have a crisis of faith that leads to you running from God

[01:18:28:11 - 01:19:10:13]
Pushing him away, saying, "How could you do this to me?" He wants to steal from you He wants to kill you, he wants to destroy you But listen, in that time of suffering and crisis, draw near to God I want to share a little bit of our personal story and testimony You know, real quick, from New Orleans, but my first job out of seminary My first job after my Masters of Divinity was to move to Tennessee Tech University in Cookville, Tennessee Where I was the Baptist Collegiate Ministry Director for Tennessee Tech University And so we loved it, we loved our ministry, but during that time God was calling me to prepare for something new

[01:19:11:15 - 01:19:56:57]
And I just was taking his steps and waiting and I began to work on a doctorate And as I was working on that doctorate, I started learning and reading how churches are dying and closing All across America at a very alarming rate And God laid on my heart a conviction that, "Here I am, who will go for me?" Basically, and here I said, "Here I am, send me" I told Emily, I said, "I think we need to pray that God will lead us to a church that's in crisis We need to pray for God to lead us to a church that's struggling And she said, "Okay, I'll pray with you" And we began to pray and pray and pray and just kind of look at positions that are out there And different postings from churches who were looking for a pastor And God laid one church on our heart in Houston, Texas

[01:19:58:37 - 01:20:07:32]
And we were ready just to just... So I applied and we went through a whole process And the personnel committee came back to me after six months and said

[01:20:09:05 - 01:20:54:14]
"We don't know why, but you're the guy that God has called And we believe God's calling you, would you come and view the call?" And I was like, "Yes, let's go" And so I went with so much excitement We were going to change the world, we were going to make this church Just going to turn around, God's going to do this miracle And it's just going to be amazing like that, right? Just going to turn around overnight But I'm telling you, that was not the easy street that God gave us It got worse before it got better, it got difficult It got hard, there was some moral failings from... The few staff I had both went through failings And I was left after about eight months I was the only staff member there to lead And it was confusing and difficult

[01:20:57:02 - 01:21:12:56]
Later on, within the next year, my sister passed away Who was my biggest encouragement, my biggest fan My sister passed away, I didn't have her counsel And I wasn't able to help the situation We were in Houston, she was in Louisiana, I felt so helpless

[01:21:15:13 - 01:21:34:59]
Then we experienced Hurricane Harvey Trying to get this church turned around and off the ground And then there's a hurricane right in the middle And business as usual, we can't do ministry For four months, we're now just a mission organization To our community that was hurting God used that, it was amazing I lost all my grandparents in those few years

[01:21:36:00 - 01:21:44:02]
And just things were... It was just thing after thing after thing Burden after burden, difficulty after difficulty And then COVID happened, right?

[01:21:45:21 - 01:21:57:12]
But listen, those are trials that we went through But in the midst of those trials, we had to really ask some questions Emily asked, she was like, "John, Aaron, do we make a mistake? Are we going to get through this?"

[01:22:00:18 - 01:22:07:57]
I'm like, "Emily..." I had to pause And I had to pray and search the Lord for confidence And to be strengthened, I said, "Yes, we will"

[01:22:09:10 - 01:22:59:54]
Because we were clearly called here by God And he's with us And he's going to bring us through this And he did God helped our church become healthier Even through all those trials, we became a healthy, vibrant, biblically faithful I believe church health follows biblical faithfulness We preached the word faithfully We stayed, we served, we loved And this church didn't become a mega church But it became a healthy church A God-glorifying church, and it was so amazing A couple years ago, we felt like the Lord was turning our... That chapter of our life was turning the page And we didn't understand it, but I just came home one Sunday and said, "Emily, I think... I think it's time to maybe start passing this church off to our associate pastor I think the Lord is leading us somewhere else I don't know why or where or how, but I just think we need to start praying about this And so we start... we started discerning that

[01:23:01:12 - 01:23:12:25]
And we became confident that I think that our season was ending And it was time to turn that page And it was in that season that we believed the Lord was moving us That my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer

[01:23:14:54 - 01:23:23:08]
So we were confused, "Lord, I thought you were moving us, and here this is happening We can't go anywhere And what's going on?" So we...

[01:23:26:24 - 01:23:41:30]
I'm just telling you When she turned 40 and took... and I asked Emily permission to share with you this morning And she wants her wounds to be used for God's glory So we're going to share So she turns 40, she takes her mammogram And that first mammogram shows up something

[01:23:42:52 - 01:23:58:24]
And I have to comfort her, "Hey, it's probably nothing. We don't know We go in for more tests, and we wait, we wait And then she's supposed to get a phone call, so I take off work And I'm at home with her, and she's off work And she gets a phone call, our kids are at school

[01:23:59:51 - 01:24:11:21]
And so we sit down in our closet on the floor She puts it on speakerphone, they say, "Emily, we're sorry to tell you that you have breast cancer And here's where we're going to go from here

[01:24:12:50 - 01:24:17:05]
There's nothing that can prepare you for knowing how to handle that crisis

[01:24:18:50 - 01:24:29:09]
Just in that moment, we hang up the phone, and I'm just at a loss I don't know how to leave my wife, I don't know how to deal with this bad news I was praying it wouldn't happen, but the Lord allowed it to happen

[01:24:30:43 - 01:24:47:12]
And so in that moment, we just stopped and prayed and said, "God, we know you're with us We trust you to bring purpose from this We ask for your healing, but your will be done Lord, would you just bring glory through this circumstance?"

[01:24:48:48 - 01:25:19:03]
And so that's what we went through there And I'll tell you just a long story short, the Lord brought her through chemotherapy treatments for months and months and months Surgery that was successful And radiation, days and weeks of radiation Many of you can probably, you all know someone who's gone through this You've gone through it yourself You've had other experiences that are like this And God brought her out on the other side where she's cancer free today, amen And we're going to go in a couple of weeks, praise God for that

[01:25:20:46 - 01:25:48:21]
We're going to go in a couple of weeks for those checkups And every time it's a faith journey Because we don't know what God holds But we don't know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future Listen, in your darkest hours, draw near to God Bring your biggest questions to Him, your deepest struggles, your greatest pain to God who is even greater So eight days later, Jesus came back just for Thomas

[01:25:49:29 - 01:26:00:44]
He didn't rebuke him, he didn't shame him, he loved him He gave him a grace-filled invitation to draw close and to see the truth for himself

[01:26:01:44 - 01:26:44:46]
So let's look at this passage together and find five reminders to strengthen your faith in times of crisis I want you to write this down, five reminders to strengthen your faith in times of crisis Number one, Jesus guides us by His word At the end of this passage about Thomas, it says this in John chapter 20 verse 30 It says, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God And that by believing you may have life in His name"

[01:26:46:54 - 01:27:16:29]
By believing you may have life in His name Faith in Jesus is a matter of life and death Listen, if you're not a believer, if you're not following Jesus as your Lord and Savior Today could be the day of salvation Faith in Jesus is a matter of life and death The Bible says there is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death John says here that those who believe in Jesus will have life in His name

[01:27:17:50 - 01:27:20:10]
Have you ever heard of someone drowning in shallow water?

[01:27:22:22 - 01:27:35:04]
Have you ever seen someone just swimming and trying to and just struggling to swim And they think they're going to drown and then you say, "Hey, stand up" And they stand up and they realize, "Oh, I can just stand up in this water. I'm not drowning after all, right?"

[01:27:36:22 - 01:28:09:52]
There are divers who maybe have an issue with their tank and they're gasping for air And they get disoriented about which way is up and which way is down And they think they're going up, but they're swimming down instead and they lose their life Listen, it could be so disorienting when you're in a time of crisis But God's Word is our guide God's Word orients us in these times of crisis What do we do when we can't tell which way is up? We stand on the Word of God, amen Hold on to His Word, hold on to His promises

[01:28:11:36 - 01:28:22:53]
When you don't know what to do or what to say, read the Word Pray His promises in the midst of chaos, in the midst of crisis Have faith in God

[01:28:24:35 - 01:29:09:42]
It's easy to say you trust God when everything is going great, but it's in these moments That your faith becomes real and visible These words, His Word, are our compass when life disorients us Psalm 119 says, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" Psalm 7 says, well Matthew 7 says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock" Listen, Scripture is not just a book of religious rules, it's a living testimony of Jesus

[01:29:10:52 - 01:29:25:47]
Written so that you can know Him, follow Him, and find life in Him Oswald Chambers says this, he says, "Faith never knows where it's being led but it loves and knows the one who is leading"

[01:29:27:39 - 01:29:42:05]
We love Jesus, you love Jesus, then by faith follow His Word Hold on to His Word, trust in Him, you don't need to know all the answers You need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ You draw near to Him who is the way, the truth, and the life

[01:29:43:31 - 01:29:58:21]
When you feel lost, open your Bible When you can't see ahead, let His Word be a lamp into your feet and a light into your path Number 2, to be strengthened, a reminder to be strengthened in time of crisis Jesus has overcome the world

[01:29:59:30 - 01:30:12:07]
In John chapter 20 verse 26, eight days later, His disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you"

[01:30:13:47 - 01:30:20:09]
Listen, after the trauma of this crucifixion, the disciples were paralyzed by fear and they needed that word of peace

[01:30:21:28 - 01:30:44:15]
They were in need of seeing Jesus and Jesus showed up and He said, "Peace be with you" This wasn't the first time that they had heard this They heard Him say, "Peace be still" when Jesus calmed the storm They were in a boat, the water was swamping over the boat in that storm They said, "Jesus, don't you care about us?" Where was Jesus? Do you remember?

[01:30:45:33 - 01:31:01:25]
He was lying asleep on a cushion, He was at peace He knew that His time had not come, He wasn't going to die and they should have known that they were with Him, that Jesus was with them But He stood up and He said, "Peace be still" and in that moment, the wind and the waves obeyed and it was calm

[01:31:02:26 - 01:31:33:05]
And so Jesus stepped into that room and He calmed their hearts and they had gladness That same voice that calmed the storm now calms their hearts The same Jesus speaks today The same Jesus who walked through locked doors can walk into your fear, your confusion and strengthen your faith in midst of crisis Listen, peace is not the absence of trouble It's the presence of Jesus in the midst of it

[01:31:34:50 - 01:31:53:22]
John 16, 33, Jesus says, "I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace In the world you will face tribulation but take heart, I have overcome the world" People say God won't give them more than they can handle Have you heard that before?

[01:31:54:32 - 01:31:57:01]
Let's not say that anymore, can we do that?

[01:31:58:23 - 01:32:20:42]
Instead, the truth is God will never give you more than He can handle God always gives me more than I can handle He gives it to me and He drives me to my knees, drives me to His word I call out for His presence but in my weakness He is made strong He never gives me more than He can handle

[01:32:22:21 - 01:33:14:43]
For Mother's Day, that year, prior to Emily's diagnosis, the kids and I gave Emily a Mother's Day gift of a heart necklace Just to show her how much we love her Then, just a few weeks later, she got that breast cancer diagnosis My wife is brave, she is strong, she has faith, she was beautiful She shined through the whole process but we had nights where she was struggling and vulnerable and crying More nights than not, we would just be brave all day and then in the night, just me and her and the Lord Praying, weeping, crying And that heart necklace became something different It was a reminder of our love for her but of Jesus' love for her And I would just touch that heart on her necklace and say, "Take heart, take heart"

[01:33:16:45 - 01:33:39:15]
In this world, we're facing trouble but take heart Jesus has overcome the world He's overcome the world Billy Graham says, "Faith is simple Trust in God whether we understand it or not Trust in God whether we understand it or not We have a big God who promises never leave us or forsake us

[01:33:40:16 - 01:33:46:08]
Corrie Timboom, a young Christian survivor of the Holocaust

[01:33:47:16 - 01:33:55:53]
She said, "Never be afraid to trust in an unknown future Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God"

[01:33:58:32 - 01:33:59:36]
Aren't you glad you know Jesus?

[01:34:00:42 - 01:34:24:54]
Aren't you glad you can go to him in your biggest struggles with your biggest questions and know that he's strong enough? Number three, Jesus bears the scars from his wounds Jesus bears the scars from his wounds In verse 27 of John chapter 20 it says, "Then he said to Thomas, "Put your fingers here and see my hands And put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve but believe"

[01:34:26:12 - 01:35:05:33]
After his resurrection, Jesus did not hide his scars He did not cover the marks left by the nails and the spear He revealed them He invited Thomas to touch him, touch his scars Listen, think about it, Jesus kept the scars Jesus, in his risen body, he could have had a perfect body free of any scars He wasn't wounded and bleeding from these scars They were healed, he wasn't wounded by them anymore But he left the scars He left them there because they speak of a testimony of who he is That Jesus is a God who suffers Jesus is a God who sympathizes And Jesus is our Lord and Savior

[01:35:07:01 - 01:35:47:00]
In Isaiah chapter 53 it says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions He was crushed for our iniquities Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace And with his wounds we are healed" Listen, what parent would not go on a...if they were on a vacation in paradise If they got a phone call, their kid was in a car crash If a parent would not leave paradise, leave their vacation And run home to be with their child We have a God who left heaven in glory Who stepped into earth to suffer and die for us And he didn't just suffer, he continues to suffer Like a parent who grieves for a child that's rebelling

[01:35:48:00 - 01:36:13:34]
Jesus suffers when we fall into sin, suffers when we go prodigal He is grieving for us, he loves us so much For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son That whoever believes in him will not perish But of everlasting life, he suffered, he died He bore our sins in his body on the tree So that by his wounds you could be healed His souvenirs from coming to heaven, that he brought... Coming to earth, that he brought to heaven were his scars

[01:36:15:07 - 01:36:29:51]
And they share that he suffered for us, that he can sympathize with us He is worthy of a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses And he saves us By our wounds he is healed

[01:36:31:06 - 01:36:33:36]
So number four, Jesus is worthy of all of our worship

[01:36:34:56 - 01:37:12:54]
Thomas answered him in this passage in chapter 20 Thomas answered, "My Lord and my God" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed" When Thomas finally touched the wounds, the scars He didn't just say, "Okay" He started worshiping He said, "My Lord and my God" He worshiped Jesus He saw him clearly for who he was and worshiped him as his master, his ruler As God, as the divine and eternal one This is the clearest confession of Jesus Christ in the Gospels

[01:37:14:05 - 01:37:48:23]
Of who Jesus is, of what his true identity is Listen, Jesus did not rebuke Thomas He didn't say, "Listen, you doubted me and shame on you" He invited him to come close He showed him a grace-filled invitation When you're experiencing pain, when you're experiencing doubt and difficulties and struggles Stand, bring your questions to Jesus Even in faith, say, "Lord, I want to believe, help me believe I'm struggling with these questions, will you show me? But I'm waiting here for you" "And I'm bringing my questions for you, and I know that you are here, I know that you are listening"

[01:37:51:10 - 01:38:37:29]
And when he brings you through, you can worship him with them With all that you have "My Lord and my God, listen, worship is not just for those who stood in the upper room Worship is for all of those who can stand today in faith, declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord" Number five, Jesus empowers us to be his witnesses Jesus empowers us to be his witnesses Let's go back to verses 21 and 22 When Jesus met with those first disciples in the upper room, he said to them In verse 21, "Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you" And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit"

[01:38:39:44 - 01:38:54:56]
Jesus' presence in the midst of their fear, locked away in the upper room, brought them joy and faith This was not yet a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but a guarantee that in a few weeks on the day of Pentecost The Holy Spirit will empower them and fill them

[01:38:55:57 - 01:39:08:04]
And when that Holy Spirit came, those locked doors could not hold those disciples in They went out into the streets, they proclaimed the good news 3,000 came to faith in that first day that the church was born

[01:39:10:57 - 01:39:18:09]
3,000 came to faith as those disciples filled with the Holy Spirit were sent out Empowered by Jesus to be his witnesses

[01:39:19:18 - 01:39:45:53]
You see that Jesus empowered his disciples to be his witnesses That day, 3,000 came to faith, but later on it's believed that Thomas, like the rest of his disciples, went out to the nations That Thomas traveled to India where many came to faith And he lived for Jesus and eventually died for Jesus, being martyred, speared to death for his faith

[01:39:46:54 - 01:39:53:04]
Thomas was not doubting Thomas, he was faithful Thomas in the end

[01:39:54:54 - 01:40:13:30]
The explorer Marco Polo noted in the 13th century that the pilgrims traveled to visit the tomb of Thomas in India When Portuguese explorers came to India in the 1500s They reported that many Christians in southern India attributed their faith to the witness of the Apostle Thomas Isn't that amazing?

[01:40:16:05 - 01:40:39:46]
Sean McDowell, a professor, said, he wrote this, "Thomas, like the other apostles, willingly suffered for his faith Which shows the depth of his convictions Thomas was not a liar, he really believed Jesus rose from the grave And he was willing to suffer and die for that conviction Our worship team's going to come up, our staff's going to come up to the front

[01:40:40:51 - 01:40:47:51]
And I just want you, I want us to just marinate here and think about this last point Jesus empowers us to be his witnesses

[01:40:50:51 - 01:41:00:01]
All the disciples believed in Jesus, empowered by his spirit, and ultimately lived for Jesus and died for Jesus

[01:41:02:07 - 01:41:07:44]
But when they entered into heaven, we can be sure that all their wounds from their martyrdom

[01:41:08:46 - 01:41:14:05]
Thomas's wounds from those spears, when he stepped into heaven, all their wounds

[01:41:15:17 - 01:41:15:45]
were gone

[01:41:16:49 - 01:41:29:31]
Jesus wiped all their tears from their eyes, there was no more sickness, no more pain, no more suffering There was no other wounds in heaven but the scars in the hands of the one who greeted them there

[01:41:31:04 - 01:41:42:49]
Our Lord and Savior kept his wounds to show his victory To show that he loves you, and he sympathized with you, he suffered for you So here's the invitation today

[01:41:43:49 - 01:41:46:33]
Many of you need to hear an invitation right now

[01:41:48:47 - 01:41:51:40]
To take all those wounds that you've experienced from pain in this world

[01:41:53:00 - 01:42:02:25]
To take all those scars that you have, all those tears that you've shed, and turn those tears into a testimony Turn those scars into God's storing

[01:42:03:46 - 01:42:06:08]
And turn those wounds into a witness

[01:42:07:46 - 01:42:14:55]
When we were going through what we were going through with Emily and other things that we've gone through We don't even share it with you yet, we all have stories don't we?

[01:42:16:20 - 01:42:41:22]
When I went through all of that, when we went through that together, we just said, Lord, bring purpose from this pain And bring glory from this We didn't want to go through it, nobody wants to go through suffering If you want to go through suffering, you're crazy, okay? We'll talk about this later, alright? But if you experience suffering, what you can say is, Lord, I don't want to go through this But if I'm going to go through it, I know you're with me And I want to make sure you get as much glory out of this as possible

[01:42:42:33 - 01:42:54:18]
And that means you're going to need to show your scars to other people And say, look, I've gone through this, you can go through it too You're not alone, I've been there My wife, she got a port put in

[01:42:55:47 - 01:43:10:31]
To receive the chemotherapy Surgery, she had a little device there and she hated it, just to be honest Because a reminder of cancer, a reminder of her suffering And she was ashamed of it, and she was ashamed of the scar that I left

[01:43:11:42 - 01:43:36:21]
That God has been faithful to bring people into her life that she can encourage That she could come around and love on and say, you can get through this too And she can encourage and say, Jesus is with you Encourage them just like with the faith that she had and that Jesus was with her through her process And now, she's not ashamed of that wound anymore She shows her scar because it's a testimony of God's healing

[01:43:38:18 - 01:44:03:25]
So this morning, maybe you need to come forward to the altar and say, Lord, will you take my scars and help me to use them for your service Maybe you need to come to faith in Jesus Christ this morning You have not yet worshipped Him as your Lord and your God Come forward to the altar We have counselors here and staff that would love to pray with you and counsel with you and help you make that decision to follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior

[01:44:05:39 - 01:44:29:00]
However God's leading, you come, let me pray Father, move in this place right now Stir in the hearts of those in this room to be faithful, God Thank you for your witness Thank you for your suffering, your sacrifice, your sympathy And that you are our Savior It's in Jesus' name I pray And all God's people said, Amen Let's stand together and worship

[01:44:29:00 - 01:44:31:33]