Scars That Tell A Story // Pastor James Wells

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Transcript

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We talk about this a little bit in Sunday school. As I get older, I think just be appreciate the the peaceful times where you can just come and just be and just leave it there, right? Just be. Raise your hand if you just appreciate just being. Man, I I I love sure as you go ahead and come on down. I I I've so appreciated Pastor Greg and Tori, the our nights of worship, when you know there's the only agenda, I almost said there's no agenda, the only agenda is just to come and be and just to worship. And I'm just so thankful for that in those times in my life uh particularly. Today we're gonna be in John chapter 20, and we're gonna continue this conversation of the events that happened after the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Pastor Julie, she preached a beautiful message last week about Mary Magdalene, and uh she brought up something that really I truly have been processing uh myself in my own life for quite some time, and then last week when she uh mentioned that, it really just kind of got me going on that and thinking on that uh even more. We know that Mary uh was possessed by seven demons. Uh so she had a couple of defining moments. Pastor Julie talked about those defining moments, those interactions, those relationships, or things of that nature that happened in our lives that we can point back to. It's easy for us to point back to those things uh in our life, but they are defining moments. And we know the life of Mary Magdalene, and we so we we know that truly a defining moment in her life would have been that time when she was healed. When she was healed of the seven demons that had been uh weighing her down and leading her life. And and then we know that she had another defining moment when she went to the tomb on that faithful Sunday, and he revealed himself to him, uh he revealed himself to her uh following the cruci his crucifixion. Right, and these are just two of the defining moments and interactions in her life, but each of us have these same type of you know, just transformational moments uh in our lives. She also spoke about Arthur Miller and the study uh that both Julie and I spoke about the last couple of weeks and in his life and in the transformational event in his life, not for the good, that really changed the course and direction of his life. And I want to kind of continue that kind of conversation uh today. There's a movie that I like, and I haven't seen it in some years. Uh not one single person in the early service had heard of this movie. I was shocked. I was shocked. It's called The Vow. Has anyone in there? That's it. Rotten Tomatoes, 30%. Well, so whoever did this, not thank you. It's a it's a it's a good movie. 30% of us enjoyed the movie. It's a powerful movie. Uh whoever did that, I don't appreciate you. But it is a powerful movie, and and I think what I love, if you know me, like I am a sucker for the rom-com. I'm a sucker for the love story. I just, I don't know. I can't explain it. I just am. And so this movie um, it's a true story, it's based on a true story, and it's about this couple who, you know, they fall in love, and uh not long after they're married, uh, there is a tragic automobile accident, and then she loses all memory of her husband. She can remember things about her life, her family, but she loses all memory of her husband and the relationship that she has had with him. And there's a there's kind of a narration and a quote uh that kind of speaks over the movie uh toward the end. It says it's called the moment of impact. And it says that the moment of impact proves potential for change. It has ripples, ripples effects far beyond what we can predict, sending some particles crashing together, making them closer than before, while sending others spinning off into great ventures, landing them where you've never thought you'd find them. That's the thing about moments like these. You can't, no matter how how hard you try, control how it's going to affect you. You just have to let the colliding part go where it may and wait for the next collision. And I just love that. I I mean, you guys can think I'm weird, and there's probably new people here today that are like, this was my first and last time. It's okay. Um But I I love the I love love and I love seeing people fall in love, and I love uh everything about it. But there's something, there's one thing about this quote here that I do struggle a little bit with. It's and it's about you can't control. I can't control uh there's certain things in my life that I can control, and there's things in my life that I can't control. And there's things that have happened to me that I could not control, and there's things that have happened that I've I've done myself. I could control those things, right? And I chose, maybe I made a wrong choice. And I can't necessarily always control what happens to me, but I can control how it will affect me and how I'm going to handle uh that situation. And so I I do take a little bit of with that quote, but I I understand the sentiment here. Every one of us is gonna have these moments of impact in our lives. Every single one of us will have these moments of impact. They absolutely will happen. And when they do happen, there's always this potential with them, good or bad. There's potential within those events in our lives for us, uh for change in us and for how that moment will affect those around us. It doesn't just affect me. The things in my life have not only affected me, but they've affected the people around me. Amen? And so, and that's a lot of that happens because of how I handle a situation in my life. It really made me think about my own life and the moments of impact that I've had in my life, uh, moving so much. You know, when I was little, I was born in Pennsylvania in 1971, and then I moved to Michigan, and then another place in Michigan, and then Ohio, and then another place in Ohio, and then Pennsylvania, and then to Madison, Indiana, all by the third grade. That was a lot of moving. And so what that did in my early years of development, it really I just didn't attach to people because it seemed like as soon as I would get to know somebody, then I would leave. And then those relationships uh would be over. And I had other situations in my life that just really just made me detach from really getting close to people, being hurt in my life. It just, you know, you just kind of keep people at arms uh length. I had abusive situations in my life that just really forced me to not trust people because the lessons that I was learning as I was growing up were if I get close to people, then eventually they're gonna be gone. And if I allow, if I trust people, they'll hurt me. Right? And so we have these situations. And then, you know, another situation that I had uh that most of you know was uh, you know, just the broken heart. Had that broken heart uh that happened. And I think that we oftentimes we have this tendency in our lives that we focus on the tough stuff. We focus on the negative things, we are quick to recall all the ugly in our lives and those transformational life events that maybe were not a happy moment in our life. But I think it's important that we remember the positive interactions, those the collisions that we have in our lives, the moments of impact in our life that were good. Amen. Because I again we have this tendency in our flesh to look at the negative, but man, my my good moments of impact far outweigh. So far outweigh the negative uh things that I've had in my life. And we remember those things. And it's easy for us, as especially as I get here approaching 55 fast. Like it's almost there. I'm almost there. But as I get closer and closer, I think I'm quicker now to look back at the good things in my life and and really ponder those things and how they've they've gotten me where I am today. And I think it's important to do that. I remember being in the commons in Madison Consolidated Junior High School. I was a freshman, and Madison was a little bit different. We went through uh, you were in the junior high from seventh, eighth, and ninth grade, and so then you went to high school as a sophomore. Uh, but I remember being in the commons of Madison Consolidated Junior High School and a friend of mine that I really wasn't super close with. We were friends, but I actually swam on the swim team with his brother, Tom. But I remember, I can remember exactly where I was standing, I remember everything about it. That Brian approached me as we were waiting for school, and his he said, Hey, like my mom told me to invite you to church. And he did that. His mom heard from the Lord. I don't know what she saw in me, but God saw something in me and spoke to her, and she told her son to invite this kid to church. And not only did he do it, and he invited me, I accepted uh the invitation, and then, which was way outside my comfort zone, and then not only that, they would come and pick me up. Then they drove way out of their way. I lived in the country, they drove way out of their way to pick me up, drove me downtown to Trinity United Methodist Church, and we would go to church. And then after church, you know what they would do? They would take me to eat, and then they would take me home. Defining moment in my life that changed my life forever because the Lord saw something in me and he put it on someone's heart to invite me to church. And here I am. I mean, God had a plan, and I probably maybe I would have got here another way, but I know the plan that he had, and there was obedience that happened all throughout the course of that plan. And I I hadn't I have no business being here in front of you today. I'm just a kid that bounced around, ended up, and landed in Madison, Indiana, decided that because he was went to this Methodist church, he got a scholarship to the University of Evansville, didn't know how I was gonna pay for it, had no clue, but I just said, okay, I'm going, I came, and then life happened. That's a mark. That leaves a mark. It leaves a mark on us. I remember the first time that I ever saw Julie in the basement of my fraternity house. I know you guys just love these stories, right? Just it just amuse me. In the basement of my fraternity house, and how the first thing that she said to me was a smart electric remark. Can you imagine? We were rehearsing this musical, this event called Musical Madness, and we were rehearsing this musical, and it came to my part, and we were supposed to have our lines all memorized by this point, and uh it came to my part, and um I had my script in my hand, and I'm like looking at it like this, and I'm trying and I'm reading my lines, and I'm and I said, I don't know my lines. And Julie looked at me and said, You only have two lines, and that left a mark. I remember it. You know, there's this uh movie that I love, you guys will probably hate this one too. It's called uh Dream a Little Dream. You have you heard of that one? Okay, thanks. Thanks, Steve. And there's a written on a chalkboard, and it just stands out to me, and it's this moment defined for me, kind of. But written on the chalkboard, there's this quote, and it says, They gave each other a smile with a future in it. And that's that moment of impact in our lives. I mean, when you just know that you know, it sometimes takes the other person a little while to know that they know. But then I remember going on our first date, and exactly what we did that evening on January 30th, 1993, because it left a mark. And I remember sitting by the fence at my house and talking for hours when we both figured it out on March 27th, 1993. And I remember July 29th, 1995, and December 12th, 1998, and April 30th, 2003, and October 26th, 2009, because those are when my kids were born, and I remember them, and they leave a mark. Days that changed my life forever for the better. And these marks, like I I can even call them scars. They're not bad, but they can be like scars because they're there and they help us to remember those times in our lives. And our our and and and Zach, where's Zach at? Zach said this in the in our Sunday school class today, right? These scars, these marks, they're there for a purpose. Because why? Because they tell our story. Right? And they're not always bad. Right? We we look at scars and we think that's a bad thing. My cat scratched the heck out of me on Friday. That's probably gonna leave a scar. That wasn't a fun time, but I'll remember my cat. It scratched me. Alright, here we here we go. Let's get back on task. The bottom line is we don't we can't always control the things in our lives and how they happen, but we can also we can always control our response to them. I want to take a look at another transformational interaction that had life-changing implications and ripples that went all over the world and for eternity. John chapter 20, and we'll begin reading in verse 19. Jesus had just had this interaction with Mary, and then we come to this here in 19. 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 he said to them, Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them, Peace be with you. And as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. And 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, but he said to them, Unless I see his hands and the mark of nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them, and although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. And then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands, and put your hand and place it on in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. And Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God, Jesus said to him, You have believed because you have seen me, but blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And now Jesus did many other th 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. It's beautiful scripture. It's an amazing grouping of scripture, and I love to read uh all of them in the gospels, the different uh takes on that. Uh but I just love uh love it so much. It says again in 19, on that 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. I love where it says, where the disciples were. It shows that even though they had been through so much and so much had gone on in those just couple days, you know, leading up to this point, that they were together, that they stayed together. Jesus himself had asked for this. He had said that after he left that they must love one another. And in John chapter 17, he prayed for the unity of the disciples. I think that one of the things that when Jesus looks down on the church, that must grieve him so much is the lack of unity and stick-togetheredness. I think it has to grieve him when he looks and sees sometimes the state of his church and how we're so quick to be offended, so quick for this, so quick for that. And you didn't say this person didn't, they said something I didn't like, so bye, and and or this and this and this, and there's just not this unity that should be within the body of Christ. I'm not saying that we should get along with about everything. I'm not saying that you know everything's hunky-dory and perfect at this place and not this place. But what I am saying is that as long as we keep Jesus as the center of all of it, then all the other nonsense should just be let go, and we should just have one goal, and that's to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. And we should all just at least agree on that. That will glorify him. That will make him happy. Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Those shut and locked doors. I love this so much. They're standing in a room with shut and locked doors, with walls surrounding them. Why? Because they wanted to feel safe. Right? They were still afraid. They were anxious, they were confused. And I think we do the same thing when we find ourselves in different situations that we don't understand or they don't make sense. Maybe we're angry about something, then we can put up these walls, we can lock these doors. I did that for a vast majority of my life, that I would just keep everybody at arm's length because I didn't want to get hurt. And so I would put up walls and lock doors so that nobody could come in. And somehow, through the grace of God, he has allowed me to just let that go. So much so that sometimes I feel like I need at least maybe not a lock, but one of those slide things that can just slow people down a little bit. But I don't know. God has just given me this supernatural peace to just love his people regardless of what I've been through. I just, he just keeps telling me, just love them. Just love them. I know they hurt you, but just love them. Right? I loved you. You were a mess. And I loved you, so I need you to do the same. But Jesus, amen. It he came and he stood with them and he greeted them. Man, this just spoke to me so much this week. It does not matter what barrier I've placed up, it does not matter what wall is there, it does not matter what door is there that is locked tight. There's nothing that can stop the resurrected body of Jesus Christ. I cannot put anything up that will keep him out. There's nothing I can do because when he wants to come and he wants to visit me, there's nothing that I can do to stop it. And I shouldn't, I shouldn't want to. But I praise God that the resurrected body of Jesus Christ can show up in my life in a great and mighty, powerful way, even when I'm not asking for it. And I've had to rethink some things this week because I think it was even two weeks ago I said, hey, listen, Jesus is a gentleman and he won't thrust himself upon you, right? I think I said that a couple weeks ago. But I have to rethink that because I think there's moments in our lives where he just shows up. We gotta have our eyes open to see him. Amen. I challenge you today. If you've got walls up, if you've got barriers that you've placed, let them down. Enjoy life. There's good people all around you, there's nasty people that could hurt you, but guess what? There's a lot more good people. And I think we do ourselves a disservice when we place these walls up and don't allow people into our lives. I'm speaking to myself, if nobody else. Those things that lock us out in the physical have no power over our the spiritual and our spiritual resurrected selves. I'm sure that the disciples, upon seeing Jesus, expect some sort of rebuke from Jesus. But instead, they receive that message of peace and calm and love. That's why he said peace. Peace. I know we talk about it all the time when there's angels. What does he say? Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. But here we have Jesus, and they've just been through so much, and he just comes and he stands before them, and the first thing that he says is, Peace be with you. Our master, Spurgeon said this, and I think it's so good. It says, Our master came to his cowardly, faithless disciples and stood in the midst of them, uttering. This cheering, the salutation, peace be unto you. And he goes on to say, My soul, why should he not come to thee, though thou be the most unworthy of all whom was bought by his blood? Listen, we've all messed up. We've all done stuff, but he still comes, and it's all covered by his precious, precious blood. Verse 20 goes on to say, and when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side, and then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had breathed, when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. Jesus showed them his hands and his side. He just came. And I think we can get caught in the same thing. I think we think when we uh want to talk to people about the Lord, that we can try to come and have fancy words and and all of these different things. But I think the truth of the matter is that they don't people don't need all of that. People just need to know Jesus. They just need to know someone cares, that someone loves them, that you care, that you love them, that he cares, that he loves you. Right? I can go and I can study and I can have all this fancy knowledge. And I used to really try hard to like come and I just think like, I just want to say something no one's ever heard before. Right? Like, and if you've ever teach or you preach, like you kind of you kind of want to do that. You know, you want to tell your funny story, you want to show your clip, you wanna you want everybody to love the same movies you love, right? But they don't. You learn that the hard way. You tell jokes that no one laughs at, right? And you try to do all of this stuff. But the bot the truth of the matter is, is as I've grown in in my own relationship with the Lord, when I come up here now, like I might try to say something funny and you might not laugh. But you know what? The bottom line is that's not the important thing. I I used to try to be like, okay, I gotta have this funny story and this funny story, I need to have this word, and then I gotta I gotta say something about what I think about it. And you know what? I just don't care about any of that anymore. I just really don't. I want to give the word of God, and I will give you some little thoughts that I have. I'm doing that right now. But the most important thing that I can do as the pastor of this church is bring you the word of God and to preach the word of God, and then allow the Lord to talk to you, allow the Lord to minister to you. So I'm still gonna try to be funny sometimes. Probably too often. I even said that, and you're the only person that kind of chuckled. I gotta figure something out here. But it's the truth. The word of God is the is the center, it's the foundation of everything that we are and everything that we have. We again, he again told them, peace be with you. The first time, perhaps, to calm them down, the second time to declare a message to them and over them. What was he saying? He's saying that your sins are forgiven. Amen. If your sins are forgiven and you know your servant your sins are forgiven, do you feel peace? You better, I hope you do. I hope you do. He's also saying that the slavery to sin is broken. That gives us peace. He's also saying the Savior, he takes away our fears and our cares. They're in this room and they're struggling. There are there's so many emotions running, and he says, peace be with you. He said, What is he telling them? I got you. That brings us peace. And you know the most important thing that brings me peace is to knowing where my eternity will be. That it's settled and that it's done, and that I'm gonna be with him for eternity, and that should give me the most peace. And we need this peace. I need this peace in my life. You know, I've talked for too long about anxiety and fear and all of that nonsense. I cannot, and it's taken me way too long to figure this out, way too long to figure this out. But I can't effectively teach you about the peace that surpasses all understanding. I can't effectively teach my family about the peace that surpasses all understanding if I'm not walking in it myself. I have to practice what I preach. And so I am trying, with the grace of God, to walk in the authority and power that can only come for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, and walk in peace and knowing that He's got it. He has not failed me yet. Right? And that's a hard lesson to learn because we worry, we we think about things of the future, and he's just saying, I got it, I got it. Peace. He's speaking peace over them. And then it goes on here to say, as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And so then what do you have to do? You have to ask yourself that question. Well, what was it that Jesus was sent to do? He was sent to do a few things. He was sent to teach, he was sent to serve, he was sent to live amongst the world, he's sent to suffer for the truth and righteousness, and he was sent to rescue the world. And I can't rescue the world, but I can do these other things. I can teach, I can serve, I'm here. There's been a little suffering for truth and righteousness, nothing what he endured, and I can't rescue, but I know the one who can. And so that's our responsibility to go, and he is sending each and every one of us. And verse 22, and when he said this, he breathed on them and he said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. I think this is such a powerful moment. Because immediately when I was reading that this week and I was studying it this week, it made me really think about the first time that Jesus breathed, that God breathed. And what did he do? He breathed life. He breathed life into the new creation that he had created. And here it says, and I think this is so powerful, that he's breathing life back into the Gruach of God he was breathing into them to empower them to go and do what he was calling them to do. It was a new life, amen? A new birth. It's kind of like it makes me think of like when we do a baptism, when you get baptized and you go under the water and you die out to your old self. And when you come in, you breathe in. It's Jesus saying, peace. And he breathed into them new life. When we come out of that water, it's what we're saying. We're a new creature in Christ. I'm breathing in this new breath of the resurrected Jesus to empower me to go and do what he's called me to do. I can't do what you're called to do, and you can't do what I'm called to do, but I can definitely do what I'm called to do. Amen. And it's each of our responsibility to do what he has called each of us to do, and he empowers us to do that. Verse 24, and now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. How sad. Really, that made me sad when I was studying it this week. We don't really know why he wasn't there. We don't really know where he was, what he was up to. A lot of scholars believe that he was probably off somewhere by himself, upset, frustrated, confused, angry, whatever it was that he was thinking, whatever it was he was doing, here's the bottom line. He missed it. He missed it. He missed Jesus' first visitation to that group. And it really got me to thinking what are the things in my life that I feel like are more important than my relationship with Jesus. And each and every one of us, we can only answer that question for ourselves. What is it in our lives that's more important that we're going to be doing this and missing it? I mean, I've had situations, we talked about it in Sunday school a little bit, where we miss it, where God, He places something right in front of us, and we're too busy, we're not thinking straight, and we miss it. We miss the opportunity to do his work and to do his will because we think we're too busy, or we're just got this or that, or I'm running over here and simply just not paying attention. And we can miss appointments that Jesus places in front of us for a multitude of reasons. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to miss it. I don't want to miss opportunities, I don't want to be somewhere else when the presence of God shows up in this house and something else was more important. That would grieve me. It used to grieve me. I I kid you not. Every single time that we would go on vacation, like then when we get back, the first thing that Pastor Rick was saying, whoo, powerful service Sunday, you missed it. Every single time. And then you get sad, you're like, I had this great time on vacation. I'm not saying don't go on vacation. Listen, I'm I I hope to go on one here in a couple months. But I will say, it should make us sad when we miss it. Right? Because we should so long to be in the presence of Jesus. That when we when we when something happens and we miss it, you know, it's it's like something else Pastor Rick always said, he's like, you're never you're never gonna get to go on a mission trip if you don't have a passport. Because I've seen it happen where there was an opportunity that just popped up for somebody and they didn't have a passport and they couldn't go. Right? So he always said this, and I'll say it too. Get your passport. I gotta get mine renewed right now. If something popped up, I'd be missing it. Because mine expired. We don't want to miss it, do we, church? We don't want to miss when Jesus shows up. And in Thomas, he missed it. Verse 25. And the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord, but he but he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. Man, that's a strong demand. Raise your hand if you've ever made a strong demand to God. I think some of you all aren't telling the truth. We make these demands. Not all of us, not all the time, but we can make these demands. I'll tell you the truth, man. I've had some stuff that I have just been like, okay, Lord, I know you're in the middle of this, but I also would love to see some bones rattle. I need to hear the bones rattle. I just need to know that you're in this with me. Because there's stuff that happens in our life that just doesn't make sense. And we don't understand them. And it's nice to know that he's there, amen? In those times and in those situations. But man, here, this is a strong demand. He said, I will never believe. Man, what does that tell me? That tells me that Thomas had abandoned all hope. He had truly abandoned all hope. But one thing I love about Thomas is he was honest. He had abandoned hope, but he was at least honest. And I believe that Jesus, he honors our honesty. Do you know he can handle it? Jesus can handle our honesty. He can handle our questions, he can handle those moments that we don't understand. Verse 26 says, Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. And although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. And then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands. And put your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. And Thomas answered him, 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 have believed. Here again, these doors were locked. They had seen him. The disciples had seen Jesus. They had had that visitation a week earlier. They're back in this place. And the doors are locked, and they're still fearful. I don't know if anybody can relate to that. These times in our lives when we're walking through it, we know he's with us. We can even be solid in our word, we can be solid in things, and then something happens, and here it all comes back again. But I'm thankful, I'm so very thankful that he's still faithful. Even when I'm not, he still is. Even when I question, he still shows up time and time again. And then he says, put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Jesus is so awesome that he granted Thomas's request. And then what did he do? He spoke Thomas's own words back over him. Jesus didn't, he wasn't there. He shouldn't have known, except he is the Messiah, amen, and he knows everything. But here he is, and he speaks his own words over Thomas after he granted that request. You know, here's the thing with that is that was a rebuke. Jesus was offering some form of rebuke to Thomas by saying his own words over him, but that rebuke was so veiled in love that it was a moment of transformation in Thomas' life. Like I can have you can come to me and you can tell me everything and you can yell in my face everything that I do wrong. Do you think that's gonna help me change? It's not. But when we go, just like here, Jesus came, he spoke those words over him, but he did it again, so veiled in love that it was transformational in Thomas's life. There was no shame involved. And Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. It's interesting here that Jesus, he does a couple things. Number one, you know, he uh he honors, he never honors, I'm sorry, never honors Thomas's unbelief. I think that we can sometimes say things, and and I'm very guilty of this. You know, why? Because we don't want to hurt people's feelings, and I don't want to hurt people, and they'll say things to me, and I and I do it too, and we'll say these things like it's okay. Right? Like whatever that is you're going through, it's okay. It's no big deal, right? We honor, we honor the poor choices, we honor them. Jesus doesn't do that here. And I'm saying you gotta be ugly, right? I'm not I'm don't be ugly to people, but I don't know that we should honor sin. I want to back up. We should not honor sin. Right? Does he understand the messes that we're in? Of course he does. He walked this earth, but guess what he didn't do? He didn't sin. And so I can appreciate the fact that Tom that he doesn't honor Thomas' unbelief. He recognizes it. I would go in to say he understands it, but he doesn't honor it and he doesn't celebrate it. And I think we can get caught sometimes in that in that little vortex of trying to be so, you know, get close to people and help them understand. You know, we want them to understand, we want them to know how great the Lord is, we want them to make him their savior. We want all of those things, and so it can be sometimes easy for us to just kind of like, well, that sin's okay. We'll get there. Right? You'll get there. It's a journey. And while those things may be true, we got to really be careful about if we're celebrating their sin, you know, with them. Because what what's the ultimate goal? The ultimate goal is to bring them to repentance, right? And a change in their lives, and a change in our own lives. It's easy for me to say all this and just be like them, them, them. It's me, me, and me. Because I have plenty of things that I need to change as well. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Verse 30. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these uh 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. I want to ask the singers or musicians to uh come on up. When you really look at it, oh, good job, Clint. It's almost like when you when you read this book, when you when you get to this portion of the scripture, it's like the climax of the book of John is the story of transformation of Thomas. It's that story, it's that transformation from unbelief to belief. The book of John shows all of these things that Jesus triumphed over. He triumphed over sickness, over sin, over evil men, over death, over sorrow. And now with Thomas, Jesus conquered unbelief. And then Thomas, doubting Thomas as he is known, went and did. Isn't that the goal? Because I can know everything in here, but if I'm not walking it out and if I'm not doing it, what good is it? And Thomas had this transformation in his life from unbelief to belief, this moment of impact in his life where Jesus showed himself to him, spoke his own words over him, and then forgave him and offered him peace. And then what did Thomas do? Thomas went. And I'm so appreciative of people who go and do. In that moment, in that room, looking and touching those scars, not only changed the life of Thomas, but it changed the lives of generations. What did Thomas do? Thomas, he went on to go to Persia and to India and to establish the Christian church there. Did he face some stuff? You better believe he faced some stuff. Because one day in India, while Thomas was doing nothing more than praying, he himself was pierced with a spear and killed, martyred for the cause. He went from unbelief to belief. Jesus' scars changed lives. And guess what? Our scars, our marks, those impactful moments in our lives when we're transformed and changed from whatever it was to whatever it will be, they matter. And our testimony matters. And when we share those times in our lives, they matter. Those moments that changed everything. And while those moments aren't always enjoyable, right? They're not always enjoyable, fun things that we go through. But when we allow Jesus to be in the middle of them, there is a promise that he will use them. I know I quote the scripture all the time, but it's a scripture that I live by. Genesis 50, 20, with the world meant for evil, God will use for good the saving of many lives. Now the key is when we allow him to do that. We have to allow him into our mix, allow him into our mess, and then he will use those things for good. And I know that, I know that, I know that it's so difficult in those moments and at that time to recognize it. It's hard to do. Because we worry about yesterday and we worry about tomorrow. Right? And there's a little saying it says, yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery. So what does that mean? That means live today. And for someone like me, that is what I'm trying to do more and more of all of the time is to live for today. Because I I know what happened yesterday and it's over with, and I appreciate those things. I have no idea what's gonna happen tomorrow. I might not even be here. But live and today. The great philosopher Andrew Bernard said this. I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you actually leave them. The great philosopher from the show The Office. It's good stuff. Recognize what God is doing in your life. Get your eyes open today. Look for God's people, look for people that are hurting, look for people that are broken, and do his work and do his will because you don't know. The person that you talked to, how it may radically change their life. This just this story just popped in my brain. I'm gonna share it. We got a couple minutes. There was a couple of young teenagers years and years and years ago that showed up at a church. It was a tent revival. And they showed up at this tent revival. And as they were walking in, they just noticed there were so many people. It was packed. Absolutely packed. And so they were like, they walk in, they look around, and they're like, they're just gonna leave. These two, I think they were 17 years old. And they were just gonna leave. Thank goodness there was an usher that was at the back of the tent. And he saw these two young men. And he said to them, Don't leave, don't leave. I'll find you seats. And he grabbed these two young men and he brought these two young men into that tent revival. And there they are at this tent service. And both of those young men gave their hearts to the Lord that day and in that moment. And no one knows the usher's name. No one knows who this person is, but they know who the man was that was saved. And his name was Billy Graham. An unknown usher would not allow Billy Graham to leave a revival. And Billy Graham gave his heart to the Lord that night and changed the world. So you don't know. We have the interactions in and of ourselves, but we don't know what interaction that we have with somebody else that can change their life and change the life of the people around them. So I want to ask you to stand to your feet. And I just want to pray over you today. And you can come to this altar if you like, or you can stay where you're at. I want to encourage you. You're in a church that has an open altar. And if you're in a church with an open altar, then maybe we should come to it. How about that? That's a good idea. Don't everybody come at once. Pace yourselves. I want to pray over you. I don't believe for a second that any of you are here by accident today. I believe every single person that's here today is here for a purpose. And I want to pray that the Lord would make appointments for us this week. Interactions this week all over our community, in your schools, in your jobs, wherever it is that you go. But here's the most important thing. I want to pray that God would open our hearts and open our eyes to recognize them and to see them. And then to take advantage of those moments to provide whatever it is that that need. I'm not saying it's give them money. I'm not saying any of that. It may be a hug. Or just let them know someone cares. Because there's a lot of people out there in the world that think no one cares about them. And maybe that's what they need. Labriska, I'm so sorry I did not know. I'm so sorry. It's hard. We love you. We love you to the moon and back. Dearly Father, we just come before you right now, God, and we just are so thankful that we can come into this house and stand in your presence. I'm so thankful, God, that you are a God of second chances. Maybe we missed it. We missed it. We messed up and we missed our moment. But God, I'm thankful that you give us second chances. Just like Thomas, he missed it, but you gave him another chance. And so, Lord, we come before you, God, and I pray if they're at this altar today, God, I believe with all of my heart that there will be a divine appointment for them this week. And maybe it's multiple appointments, but God, I pray for one. I pray for one appointment that I can be your hands and your feet, that I can show somebody that there's somebody out there that loves them and cares about them. And that I can have that opportunity to then share that the most important thing is the love that can only come from you. And so we give you all the glory, God. We thank you, God, for the peace that we felt today in this service. So during worship and during your word, God, that there's just a peace that comes in being in your presence. So as we leave this place today, God, open our hearts, open our eyes to see your people in this world. And maybe we will have the opportunity for that life-changing collision, that that moment of impact that can happen, that can not only change our lives, but change the lives. We don't know if we're speaking to the next Billy Graham. We don't know. But I pray that we can be vessels to be used to further your kingdom. And so we love you, God, and we honor you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. God bless you.