SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning into Newsong Churches Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We're a biblically faithful, gospel-centered Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more about us at newsongportperry.ca.
SPEAKER_00: May God bless you today through his life-giving word.
SPEAKER_00: This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
SPEAKER_00: Glory to you, Lord Christ.
SPEAKER_00: On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his sides.
SPEAKER_00: Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
SPEAKER_00: If you withhold the forgiveness of any, it is withheld.
SPEAKER_00: So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nail, and place my finger into the mark of the nail, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.
SPEAKER_00: Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.
SPEAKER_00: Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side.
SPEAKER_00: Do not disbelieve, but believe.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Praise to you, Lord Christ.
SPEAKER_01: As we have this opportunity to enter into your word, the living word of God.
SPEAKER_01: God, we need your help.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, there's so much in this passage.
SPEAKER_01: And as we think about Thomas this morning, Lord, that he would not believe until he could touch the nail print in Jesus' hand.
SPEAKER_01: Until he could put his hand into Jesus' side, the wound in his side.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may we learn from the truth.
SPEAKER_01: May we not be skeptical or doubtful.
SPEAKER_01: But Lord, help us, Lord, to just believe and know that you are Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You are our Messiah, our God, our King.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_01: Open it up to our hearts this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Lead us by your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: May all that I say, Lord, bring you honor and glory.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bibles open, I would encourage you to uh open your Bibles, take your Bibles.
SPEAKER_01: They know there's so many churches now.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, for years it's been, I've got my phone, Pastor, and uh that's all I need.
SPEAKER_01: I don't need a Bible.
SPEAKER_01: But if you have a Bible, let me encourage you.
SPEAKER_01: You can uh mark it up and do things with it.
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's just so good to have God's word with us.
SPEAKER_01: But it's also in your bulletin, so you can follow along.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning's message, uh I called it what did it take, but that's the short version of it.
SPEAKER_01: The long version of what did it take is what did it take for you to believe?
SPEAKER_01: So that's the reflective question I want all of you to be working on this morning.
SPEAKER_01: What did it take for you to believe?
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of us, like myself, grew up in church, baptized as a baby, grew up, I've always been in church all my life.
SPEAKER_01: Through the good times and the bad times, and the places where I probably shouldn't have been in church, I was, and and yet I've always been in church.
SPEAKER_01: But that going to church didn't make me a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that's kind of a big thing.
SPEAKER_01: Like Thomas is at this point here where he's he's doubting.
SPEAKER_01: And and for any of us, it's like, what did it take?
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to think about that.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here this this morning and um you're not a believer, the question would be, what will it take?
SPEAKER_01: What will it take for you to be a believer in Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_01: So the message comes out of the dialogue between uh uh Thomas and Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So in verse 25, you're gonna see, you're gonna see the other disciples says, state to Thomas, we have seen the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But then Thomas said, Unless I see the nail prints, marks in his hands, and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.
SPEAKER_01: So that's where we're coming from.
SPEAKER_01: And then in verse 27, Jesus comes, stands in their midst, says, Peace be with you, and then he says to Thomas, like he wasn't there when Thomas said this, but it's like he heard Thomas's words.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus can do that.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Put your finger here, see my hands, reach out your hand, put it into my side, stop doubting and believe.
SPEAKER_01: So, and then of course, in verse 29, 28, the great confession of Thomas, my Lord and my God, and then Jesus responds, Because you've seen me, you believe.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed, which would be us.
SPEAKER_01: We weren't back there 2,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Here we are.
SPEAKER_01: We have not seen and yet we believed.
SPEAKER_01: So consider this passage with me.
SPEAKER_01: Um and and and think about the core that we're dealing with when it comes to Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: At the heart of Christianity is faith.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We need to believe in who Jesus is, what he has said, what he has done, how he has lived, and and we need to put that faith into how we live our lives, needs to change our lives.
SPEAKER_01: So Christianity is about having faith, putting your belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So as I was looking through scripture, you know, starting way back in Genesis, Genesis chapter 15, Abraham believed, and when Abraham believed, God credited to him as righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: So way back we know that it's belief, it's it's faith.
SPEAKER_01: Uh in the beginning of this gospel, John chapter 1, uh, Jesus uh comes in the flesh.
SPEAKER_01: He becomes one part of us.
SPEAKER_01: And then he comes unto his own, it says in John chapter 1, verse 10, to his own Jewish people.
SPEAKER_01: And they didn't believe.
SPEAKER_01: But then it goes on to say in verse 11, but to those who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, to them he gave the right to become children of God.
SPEAKER_01: So belief is critical.
SPEAKER_01: John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, you can say it with me.
SPEAKER_01: Uh for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's throughout the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 9 and 10.
SPEAKER_01: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, if you believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Uh great passage in Acts chapter 16, where Paul and Silas have been chained in a jail, in the in the dungeon of the jail, and then the earthquakes, and then they get freed, and uh the jailer is afraid that all the prisoners are going to be freed, and he wants to take his life.
SPEAKER_01: And in Acts chapter 16, verses uh 16 to 31, roughly, uh he's ready to take his life, and then all of a sudden he cries out, What to Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved?
SPEAKER_01: And they say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: So we know at the core uh my ties.
SPEAKER_01: So some of you notice that I have these ties.
SPEAKER_01: So it there was a person in my church who just wanted to give me a tie every Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: So I do have a lot of these ties.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but this one here, uh, for by grace you are you've been saved through what?
SPEAKER_01: Through faith.
SPEAKER_01: Faith.
SPEAKER_01: Through faith.
SPEAKER_01: It's faith, faith, faith.
SPEAKER_01: So just just so that we're all on the same page, and I think we all are, yeah, faith is critical uh to having a belief and to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior by faith, by faith, by faith.
SPEAKER_01: I I really appreciated um astronaut Glover.
SPEAKER_01: So some of you were watching Art Temus uh two, and he gave it an Easter message, and I only heard part of it, and I wished I'd heard all of it.
SPEAKER_01: But somewhere in his message, he said this faith isn't outdated, it's the fuel for greatness.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that good?
SPEAKER_01: Victor Gruvel.
SPEAKER_01: And he also says a little later on, he says, uh, there are no atheists like this, there are no atheists on top of rockets.
SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
SPEAKER_01: There he was, there he was.
SPEAKER_01: And so faith, it's so critical to who we are.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus said to Thomas, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna keep coming back to that.
SPEAKER_01: And then we're I'm gonna keep coming back to so what did it take for you to believe?
SPEAKER_01: And as you're thinking through that line, think with me about who was it, where was it, how old.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I have a lot of people like myself and others who've grown up in the church and would say, Well, I don't really have a date, I don't really have a per a specific time.
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
SPEAKER_01: But but you probably do have somebody in your life.
SPEAKER_01: It might have been a mom or a dad, it could have been an aunt or uncle, it could have been a grandparent, it could have been a friend, it could have been the pastor, it could have been a Sunday school teacher, where somewhere you're thinking through life, you're thinking, and you this could be like you're seven, eight, it could be like when you're in your twenties or thirties or older, um, where you came to that place where you said, Yes, this is the answer.
SPEAKER_01: The answer for me, the answer for my life, I'm gonna put my faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So just enjoy those moments in your reflection this morning, because I'm sure you all have have that somewhere in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: So let's dive into the passage.
SPEAKER_01: It's John chapter 20, it's the resurrection passage.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's still Resurrection Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of excitement, but there's a lot of confusion going on.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, news is spreading that Jesus' body's gone from the tomb.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, the tomb is empty.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is risen.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord has risen indeed.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So just to pull that back.
SPEAKER_01: And from the chapter, we know that Mary Magdalene has been there to the tomb early in the morning.
SPEAKER_01: The stone was rolled away.
SPEAKER_01: We also know that uh Mary goes back to the tomb after she goes quickly to tell John and Peter, but then she goes back to the tomb after John and Peter.
SPEAKER_01: She sees the two angels in the tomb, she speaks, and then she goes into the garden and she gets to speak with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So just imagine what a morning Mary had.
SPEAKER_01: And then Peter and John, I love this story because John's the faster runner.
SPEAKER_01: He gets to the tomb first, but then he politely lets Peter go in first.
SPEAKER_01: That's a whole story.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but inside the tomb, they see the gravecloths, okay, on the stone, and then the handkerchief and that had been around his head, nicely folded and put right beside it.
SPEAKER_01: Very interesting.
SPEAKER_01: But they got to see it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And and we read at that moment that John saw this and he believed.
SPEAKER_01: Like that did it for him.
SPEAKER_01: He he had the evidence, the folded.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus isn't here.
SPEAKER_01: But there's still fear, right?
SPEAKER_01: They're still upset, they're still uncertain about so many things.
SPEAKER_01: So in verse 19, we find the disciples locked in a room, afraid of what the Jewish leaders may say.
SPEAKER_01: They may accuse them of stealing the body.
SPEAKER_01: And we know how how nasty, how horrible, how wicked these leaders are.
SPEAKER_01: They're the ones that made sure Jesus was crucified.
SPEAKER_01: And the last thing that they would want is for people to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew's gospel, chapter 28, we read that these elders bribed the soldiers, gave them money to lie that someone stole the body.
SPEAKER_01: So we know how far they will go.
SPEAKER_01: So they're in this room, locked door, Jesus walks in.
SPEAKER_01: Love the picture.
SPEAKER_01: Miraculously, he stands in their midst, says, peace be with you.
SPEAKER_01: And then he looks at the disciples, living in their fear and doubt, and he brings this message of peace, right?
SPEAKER_01: Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_01: What a comfort for them to hear his voice, to see him, to so that they could see the wounds.
SPEAKER_01: And they were overwhelmed, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but wouldn't you be overwhelmed?
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't I be overwhelmed?
SPEAKER_01: We just we just had Jesus crucified, and here he is living.
SPEAKER_01: And and this did change everything for the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Uh their fear turns to joy, and all of a sudden they have this new courage, and uh, he gives them their marching orders, as I was sent, so send I you.
SPEAKER_01: And then he breathes on them.
SPEAKER_01: And now this is an interesting passage, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because we've got Kent Pentecost coming, where the full the Holy Spirit comes.
SPEAKER_01: But in this passage, there's almost like this uh early deposit of the Holy Spirit into the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: He breathes on them, they receive the Holy Spirit, it says, the passage says, and then he commissions them to be representatives of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: How beautiful that is.
SPEAKER_01: Um what changed?
SPEAKER_01: What did it take?
SPEAKER_01: Their fear is replaced by faith, they're persuaded, they see Jesus, they're now equipped by the Holy Spirit to go, and and they're ready.
SPEAKER_01: So herein is the key to overcoming the fear that many of us have.
SPEAKER_01: Um there's where there's uncertainties, like is Jesus real?
SPEAKER_01: And there's this opening of the heart.
SPEAKER_01: There is this unlocking, uh, believing, changing a hard heart to a soft heart to receive Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So that has obviously happened in your heart in your lives, where Jesus came and spoke to you and you received him.
SPEAKER_01: But it's a prayer we also all have, probably for those loved ones in our lives, brothers, sisters, moms, dads who don't know Jesus, and we're praying that their hearts would be softened.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at Thomas in verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: One of the twelve.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't with the disciples on that first resurrection night when Jesus came.
SPEAKER_01: And the disciples tell him, We have seen the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So, and then for some reason he wasn't there, and he heard that Jesus appeared.
SPEAKER_01: His response is not, would not be hard for us to imagine.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I wasn't there and I don't believe.
SPEAKER_01: I I can't believe you.
SPEAKER_01: And uh this is too much.
SPEAKER_01: He he wants, uh he still has all this fears, all this confusion, his doubts, and and he wants proof.
SPEAKER_01: Unless I see, unless I can touch, uh, I can't believe.
SPEAKER_01: And so come back to that line.
SPEAKER_01: What what did it take for you?
SPEAKER_01: What did it take?
SPEAKER_01: What was going on in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Because let's remember who Thomas is for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas is one of the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas, uh, Thomas has been there.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas saw the raising of Lazarus just a few days ago.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Thomas was the feeding of the 5,000.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas was on the boat when Jesus calms the water.
SPEAKER_01: He sees Jesus walking on water.
SPEAKER_01: Just imagine all the amazing things that Thomas has already seen.
SPEAKER_01: But nope, I I can't believe this.
SPEAKER_01: Like I just know I want proof.
SPEAKER_01: I want evidence.
SPEAKER_01: I want to see it with my own eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas didn't want to merely see the wounds either.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to touch them.
SPEAKER_01: And and there is a quite a famous painting by Cravagio.
SPEAKER_01: I it's a little gory, so I didn't want to, but it's it's a typical rambrandish kind of like darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's leaning in and looking at Jesus, and and and Thomas has like his hand right into the wound, like he's lifting the skin.
SPEAKER_01: So I thought, uh, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need to see it.
SPEAKER_01: But it's just that inquisitiveness.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he he just wants to see.
SPEAKER_01: He he can't get past it until he touches Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So that's that's where he's at.
SPEAKER_01: So so let me get back to a book.
SPEAKER_01: One of the books that Pastor mentioned last week was one by Lee Strobel, the case for resurrection, I think you had.
SPEAKER_01: This is just what another one of them is is um his book, Is God Real?
SPEAKER_01: So I just wanted to give you what does it take?
SPEAKER_01: What did it take for you?
SPEAKER_01: Keep thinking about that.
SPEAKER_01: What did it take for Lee Strobel?
SPEAKER_01: So just a little quick history if you don't know who Lee Strobel is.
SPEAKER_01: Lee Strobel is uh an investigative journalist from Chicago.
SPEAKER_01: He won all kinds of awards for being an amazing journalist.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he's the guy who goes to the scene of a crime or a scene of whatever's been going on, and he gets all the evidence and he writes about it and he wins all these awards.
SPEAKER_01: That's Lee Strobel.
SPEAKER_01: Hard-hearted atheist, angry at anybody, stupid, like how can you believe in God?
SPEAKER_01: And then his wife becomes a believer.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, is he angry?
SPEAKER_01: So now he's really angry, and now he can't believe it.
SPEAKER_01: And then, and then it goes on that for for the next almost two years, it says 21 months, he starts to investigate, particularly the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna talk to everybody who knows anything in scripture about the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, after 21 months, he becomes a believer.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God.
SPEAKER_01: And he's got an amazing mind.
SPEAKER_01: He's written at least 15 books, millions of copies.
SPEAKER_01: Case for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So that's a movie.
SPEAKER_01: The Case for Christ, if you want to check it out, I think it's on YouTube.
SPEAKER_01: The Case for Christ, there's the The Case for Christmas, the Case for Faith.
SPEAKER_01: This one here is God real.
SPEAKER_01: He's just written all these books and he's an amazing writer.
SPEAKER_01: What did it take?
SPEAKER_01: Well, for 21 months, this investigative journalist investigates every possible angle of Jesus' life.
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe until someone tells me different.
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe unless they can prove how this happened.
SPEAKER_01: I can't, I won't believe.
SPEAKER_01: And then at the end of that, all this evidence, he came and then things were going on in his life.
SPEAKER_01: Him and his wife struggling, his health was struggling, he had a hard issue in his life, and there was a lot of love that was missing.
SPEAKER_01: And God um God just touched his life.
SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, the love of God poured into his heart, and he knew that this God had to be real.
SPEAKER_01: So, like everybody, I think I can say everybody goes through something.
SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe not at the moment of okay, when we're baptized as babies, I mean, we're not thinking about anything.
SPEAKER_01: And uh then we're getting older, and then as we get, you know, thinking about stuff, probably, you know, when we get 10, 12, 14, we start questioning parents, questioning this, questioning that.
SPEAKER_01: So somewhere in in your life, there came that time when you were convinced, you were sure, whether it was proof, whether it was the life of a parent or a life of an uncle or somebody, a Sunday school teacher, and God uh revealed himself to you.
SPEAKER_01: Well, look at verse 26 with me.
SPEAKER_01: A week later, his disciples were in the house, and Thomas was with them, and though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them, and he says, Okay, Thomas, here I am.
SPEAKER_01: Put your finger here, see my hands, the wounds, reach your hand into my side, stop doubting and believe.
SPEAKER_01: Stop doubting and believe.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus challenges Thomas to touch him, basically saying, Here's the evidence that you've been demanding.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what you've been waiting for, here it is.
SPEAKER_01: And so Thomas was saying, I need to see for myself to touch.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus now goes straight to him and he says, and you know what?
SPEAKER_01: As I was reading it, I'm surprised he didn't say something like, Oh, ye of little faith.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that happens over and over again in scripture, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean they're in a boat, and Jesus has to calm the waters and they're all afraid, and he says, Oh, you have little faith, and you know, they couldn't.
SPEAKER_01: Heal this one little boy.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you've so I'm surprised he didn't say to Thomas, Oh, you little faith.
SPEAKER_01: But he does say, stop doubting and believe.
SPEAKER_01: And then this beautiful confession.
SPEAKER_01: So this is the confession of Thomas in verse 28, my Lord and my God.
SPEAKER_01: Just think about that.
SPEAKER_01: My Lord and my God.
SPEAKER_01: This statement really is a high point of the gospel when you think about these words.
SPEAKER_01: Skeptical Thomas, confronted by evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, is now convinced this is what it took.
SPEAKER_01: He had to see to believe.
SPEAKER_01: And then in awestruck wonder, he says, My Lord and my God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, does that ring a bell for you anywhere else in Scripture?
SPEAKER_01: Like, so let me take you back to Matthew chapter 16.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is saying to the disciples, Okay, who do people say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, some people say you're Elijah, some people say you're a prophet, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then Peter says, You are the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You are you are the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: So when you think about that, similar confession.
SPEAKER_01: And on to Peter, he said, on this rock, on this confession, I'm gonna build my church.
SPEAKER_01: And so here we have Thomas saying, My Lord and my God.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, My Lord, my Christ, my Messiah, and my God, deity, Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: So just see the power of that confession.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just think through this chapter together.
SPEAKER_01: All the characters that have been mentioned here in John chapter 20.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Peter and John saw the empty tomb, they saw the grave clothes, folded away.
SPEAKER_01: Mary, she was in the tomb, she spoke to the angels, she even speaks to Jesus in the garden.
SPEAKER_01: She saw, heard.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples in a locked room.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus walks through the wall, sees them, they see him, they see his wounds, they're convinced.
SPEAKER_01: Now Thomas has his proof.
SPEAKER_01: He has touched Jesus' hands and sighed, and he makes this great confession.
SPEAKER_01: So, how about us?
SPEAKER_01: Where does that put us?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, here we are.
SPEAKER_01: We have not seen a freshly empty tomb.
SPEAKER_01: We have not seen grave clothes folded away, we've not heard his voice audibly, and I'm I'm kind of generalizing here because some people have had great experiences with Jesus, but most of us haven't heard an audible voice.
SPEAKER_01: We've not seen him, we've not touched his wounds like Thomas.
SPEAKER_01: We have heard reports, I'm gonna say we here in the church, uh we have heard uh maybe eyewitnesses and and and and are still challenged to believe.
SPEAKER_01: And and yes, we have the gospel, so we have the Bible to help us believe, okay, and people through the centuries.
SPEAKER_01: But what?
SPEAKER_01: What does it take?
SPEAKER_01: Let's look again at verse 20 uh 29.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Because you have seen me, you have believed.
SPEAKER_01: But then he says to us, that's us, blessed are those, hear those in New Song in 2026, who have not seen, and yet we have believed.
SPEAKER_01: We we are blessed.
SPEAKER_01: And just just take that, I want to say take that to the bank.
SPEAKER_01: We are blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: We we we've been given the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: We we here we are 2,000 years later.
SPEAKER_01: We're we're we know that Jesus lived, we trust God's word, and we are blessed because of it.
SPEAKER_01: We are blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Now, a passage of scripture that just fits so beautifully is 1 Peter 1, 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_01: So let me just read 1 Peter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Though you have not seen him, Peter writes, you love him.
SPEAKER_01: And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
SPEAKER_01: For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you love it?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read this again.
SPEAKER_01: Though you have not seen him, you love him.
SPEAKER_01: And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God.
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful verse.
SPEAKER_01: You and I are called to trust, aren't we?
SPEAKER_01: We're called to trust in God's word.
SPEAKER_01: We're called to trust in what we've heard about who Jesus is and how he lived his life.
SPEAKER_01: We are called to trust that he lived, that he died, that he was buried, and that he rose again.
SPEAKER_01: We're called to trust in all of these things.
SPEAKER_01: We are called to trust that when he overcame death, he overcame sin and hell in the grave.
SPEAKER_01: We're to trust Jesus with our life.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 30 and 31.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Jesus performs many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in the book.
SPEAKER_01: That's how many things he did, how many miraculous things he did.
SPEAKER_01: But verse 31 says, but these are written, these are recorded, that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you may have life.
SPEAKER_01: Audrey and I put this to a rap about 30 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: So we had our whole group of kids learn just verse 31 in a wrap.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not gonna wrap it for you, but you can imagine it's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_01: It is.
SPEAKER_01: You will believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, sorry.
SPEAKER_01: That's something Jonathan could do.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but it's so good for us to see that.
SPEAKER_01: These are all recorded.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: So that you will believe what?
SPEAKER_01: That Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him, you will have life in his name.
SPEAKER_01: It's belief.
SPEAKER_01: It's believing.
SPEAKER_01: So let me summarize like this doubt no longer.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here this morning with any concerns, you're not, you say, well, I'm not a believer yet.
SPEAKER_01: Doubt no longer.
SPEAKER_01: Peace will come to you as it came to the disciples when they saw and believed.
SPEAKER_01: He saw and believed.
SPEAKER_01: They believe that Jesus' hands and feet were nailed to a cross, and that he sacrificed his life for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: They believe that Jesus' side was pierced, that blood and water flowed out to wash away our guilt.
SPEAKER_01: They believe that Jesus rose from the dead, victorious over sin and death, as our redeemer.
SPEAKER_01: Payment was made for sin.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus freed us from the slavery of sin, and in him we are forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: And he wants us to take that message of forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Be rec be message, the ambassadors of reconciliation, it says in 2 Corinthians 5.
SPEAKER_01: But it's like to take the message.
SPEAKER_01: So let me ask you in closing to remember today.
SPEAKER_01: What did it take for you to believe?
SPEAKER_01: Remember and be thankful.
SPEAKER_01: Be thankful.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of people in the world, your friends and mine, family members and mine, who do not want to believe, who refuse to believe, who, for whatever personal reasons, they just can't believe.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so there's those.
SPEAKER_01: So be thankful and remember.
SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, take the same marching orders that Jesus gave to the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: He says, remember, then go and tell someone the good news that you have received, that there is peace in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word to us today.
SPEAKER_01: God, it's an awesome word.
SPEAKER_01: We know it continues to change people's lives, children's lives, grown-up's lives, because this is the truth.
SPEAKER_01: And this truth continues to the billions that are already believing, praise the Lord, but for the billions who refuse, or the billions who haven't heard yet, Lord, may your word continue to go forth that people will know about Jesus and believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today.
SPEAKER_00: If you live in the area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you.
SPEAKER_00: Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us.
SPEAKER_00: Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us.
SPEAKER_00: If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca giving to make your contribution.
SPEAKER_00: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.