Thanks be to God, it is time for another Weekend Sermon. I am always thankful to have the opportunity to post these sermons. I hope that you all have had a good week.
This has been a hard week. The rains have been very heavy. I did get some water in my garage, but is wasn't as bad as it could have been. Thank you for your prayers. There is more rain expected today and next week, so please continue to pray that no more flooding will occur. Please also pray that all will go well at the job I am starting on Monday.
In other prayer matters, please continue to pray for those who were injured in the incidents in Sri Lanka and in New Zealand. Pray that those injured will recover quickly.
Continue to pray for the people in Mozambique who have had to deal with two bad storms. Pray that the people will receive the aid that they need.
Pray for those in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands who are still recovering from the hurricanes. Many still need a lot of assistance.
Pray that the Ebola virus outbreak in Congo will come to an end. There are many who are still sick.
Many places in the world need our prayers for peace. Please pray for peace in Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen.
For our prayer focus countries this week, please pray for those who live in the nations of Senegal and Thailand. Pray that many will come to hear about the love of Jesus.
Today, I want us to focus on another of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. After Jesus arose from the tomb on Easter Sunday, He was on the earth for a period of forty days. During that time, He appeared to His disciples and others.
John chapter 20 verses 19-23 records one of the first post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. As this passage of Scripture begins, we find ten of the eleven remaining disciples together. They were hiding because they feared that the religious leaders would try to kill them just as they had killed Jesus. For some reason, Thomas was not with the others at this time.
Suddenly, Jesus appeared before the ten disciples and said, "Peace be with you." Jesus then showed them His hands and his side. His hands had been nailed to the cross and His side had been pierced with the spear. The disciples recognized that this was Jesus risen from the dead.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." Jesus then breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
Jesus went on to tell the disciples that if they would forgive someone's sins, the sins would be forgiven. If the disciples did not forgive them, they would not be forgiven."
Today, I would like to examine what we can learn and apply to our lives from this post-resurrection appearance of the Lord Jesus.
Twice during this appearance, Jesus gave the disciples a word of peace. The resurrected Lord Jesus can be the only source of real peace in our lives.
We live in a troubled world. There are natural disasters, and there are terrible evil acts that people commit against one another. Many of us are faced with financial hardships, burdens and problems of all sorts. It's hard to make it in life sometimes. Sometimes, it feels as if all of the problems will be overwhelming.
In the midst of all the problems that we face in this life, Jesus is our peace. We can know true peace, because we know that Jesus is alive. We do not have to fear what can happen to us in this life because we know that Jesus is the resurrection and life. If we have placed our faith and trust in Him, we can have the peace in our hearts that comes from knowing that Jesus will take us to be with Him in Heaven when we pass away. All will be well no matter what happens because Jesus will take care of us. He will let us live with Him forever in the place that He has prepared for those who love Him.
In this passage, Jesus sent out His disciples into the world just as He had been sent by the Father. Jesus came into this world in order to show us that God loves us and cares about us. We are to go into the world and proclaim that love of Jesus to the world.
There are many people in this world that don't realize how much Jesus loves them. They don't understand how special and important that they are to God. We must tell the world that God sent His Son out of love so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.
All of us have been given the task of telling others that Jesus died and He is risen. We have the greatest message to tell, and we need to be about telling it.
Jesus also breathed on the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. We can only tell others about Jesus as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that allows us to be able to tell others that Jesus is alive and wants to save them from their sins.
Finally, Jesus talks to His disciples about forgiveness. Forgiveness was one of the most important messages that Jesus talked about while He was on earth. He said that if we don't forgive other people's sins, our sins would not be forgiven. In one passage in the Bible, Peter asks Jesus if he should forgive others up to seven times. Jesus said that Peter should not forgive just seven times. Peter was instructed to forgive seventy times seven times.
We know that the message of forgiveness was important to Jesus because of what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
We have been forgiven a great debt of sin through what Jesus had done for us. Therefore, we need to forgive those who have sinned against us.
Next week, the sermon will be posted on Saturday. I will post another message about the Lord Jesus. On Monday, I will post the verses. I will post a review on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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