Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Wow. Isn't that awesome?
The risen way.
He is the way, the truth, and the life.
Amen.
No man comes to the Father except through Him.
Praise the Lord.
I just, when I watched that, it just really captured my heart, you know,
you know, seeing that picture of them running to the tomb.
We're going to look at that a little bit today.
It's so great.
He is risen.
He's alive.
He lives.
Amen.
Hey, I was thinking we did this last year now that your vocal chords are nice
and loosened up and primed.
What do you say we try a little song together?
We sang it last year, right?
Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because he lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just
because he lives.
Let's sing a verse.
I think we can keep going.
What do you think?
You sound beautiful.
Ready?
God sent his son.
They called him Jesus.
He came to love.
He'll and forgive.
He lived and died.
To buy my part and an empty grave is there to prove my Savior is ready.
Because he lives.
Hallelujah.
I can face tomorrow.
Because he lives, all fear is gone because I know he holds the future and life is
worth the living just because he lives.
Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord.
Man, you should have all been in the choir.
Amen.
Praise God.
Father God, we just thank you so much.
Man, you've given us new life, new hope, new freedom, Lord, that we never had
before you came and lived as one of us only perfect and to die and rise again
and ascend to heaven and give us your very power to live this life
victoriously in a resurrected state.
Father God, we thank you for that Lord and Lord.
I just picture you see at the right hand of the Father right now and
Jesus.
We want to just say hi.
We just want to say hello to you this morning, Lord, and thank you
for making life worth living.
Amen.
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
Praise God.
You know, it's always a it's a struggle like Easter and Christmas, these
main holidays, you know, because there's so much to choose from, right?
And the Gospels have such different takes of all of it.
You're thinking, well, I want to just really tap into the perfect.
So I read through all of them again and again and again and again.
And then finally, I just say, Lord, you know, we just figure it out
here because this is too complex for my peon brain to figure out.
But I believe the Lord wants us to look today at the Gospel of
John.
And if you could turn to the Gospel of John chapter 20, and
we're going to be looking at a lot of the chapter, but we're
going to be stopping, you know, infrequently.
And this is such a picture because it actually ties in that
video of Peter and John running to the tomb and John makes it
a point to make sure we know that he won the race.
Okay, I love that.
You know, by the way, I got there before Peter did, but it's
such a cool picture of so many things.
And so we're looking at John chapter 20 and we're going to stop
like I said a few times and look at some key parts here.
So you ready chapter 20 verse 1.
Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the
tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone
had been taken away from the tomb and she ran and came to
Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved which
was John and said to him they have taken away the the Lord
out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid
him and Peter therefore went out and the other disciple
as well and were going to the tomb and so they both ran
together and the other disciple outran Peter and came to
the tomb first and he stooped and he stooping down and
looking in saw the linen clothes lying there yet he did
not go in and then Simon Peter came following him and
went into the tomb and he saw the linen clothes lying
there and the handkerchief which is interesting about
this the handkerchief that had been around his head not
lying with the linen clothes but folded together in
a place by itself.
So Jesus was very meticulous about the way he rose.
He folded that napkin and and so then the other disciple
who came to the tomb first went in also and he saw and
he believed for as yet they did not know the scripture
that he must rise again from the dead and then the
disciples went away again to their own homes.
I just want to stop there for a second when it says for
they did not yet know the scripture that he must rise
again.
I just thought that was interesting because Jesus had
said this many times to them.
Okay.
He had said at least three specific times.
He said I'm going to be rising from the dead.
I must die and I must rise again.
Remember the first time when when Peter realized you
are there at Cesariah Philippi and and he was there
he says you are the son of the living God.
Okay, and then Jesus said you are right and then
he started saying I must suffer and die but I will
rise again and then remember Peter said this must
never happen to you like he's rebuking Jesus Peter
is and then he turns to Peter says get behind me
Satan you have the will of man not of God right the
other time when they're on the Mount of Transfiguration
it's interesting.
He tells them these things many times after something
amazing happens.
He says yeah, but there's going to be some tough
times ahead, you know, and he told them then and
then when they're heading into the triumphal entry
when he was heading into Jerusalem and the palm
branches and all the celebration and the disciples
are probably thinking yes, we're going to really
be ruling now, right?
And Jesus said by the way, I'm going to have to
suffer die, but I'll rise again.
You know, so he's told them many times compared
himself to Joan in the belly of the whale.
He warned them.
He warned them they heard it, but they didn't know
it. Have you ever heard Scripture, but you don't
really know it.
I mean, I know I have I've heard things and heard
things but until I actually go through it, then I
know it, you know, I'll never forget like even early
getting saved, you know, I always heard that I was
a new creation.
I always heard that I was brand new all these
things. I knew that academically, but it wasn't
until I tried to sin the way I did before that
this incredible unexplainable groaning and
mourning and sorrow was deep in my core.
I'm like, like, what is this?
Like I wasn't I didn't do anything that bad and
I wasn't much worse than I ever have been, but
it was suddenly deep and heavy and sadness.
I'm like, what is going on?
And it was finally there.
I was wait a minute.
I'm a new creation.
I'm born again.
I have a new spirit within me that isn't going to
allow me to live any way.
I want to live there's going to be a tearing apart.
There's going to be a tug of war inside my soul
and suddenly there it went from no it went from
hearing it to knowing it.
Wow, this is it and it was actually exciting.
So I really am a new creation.
You know, it's exciting when things that you
you have heard and learn become things that you
actually know through experience.
So these two they two these two have heard it many
times Jesus warned them but now they went through
it.
So let's continue.
And I just think it's interesting too that like
as they were running, you know, we saw a picture.
I'm glad they showed it how you know, we don't
know why John was faster.
Maybe he just took track in school.
I don't know.
Yeah, but he was he got there faster, but I thought
it was interesting how they showed reasons that
you can put conjecture as to why he wasn't diligently
running to that tomb, you know, because of his denial
of Christ because of all of his prideful times of
all the times that he actually was rebuking Christ
and trying to prove himself to Jesus why he was
worthy to be on his team that kind of stuff,
you know, and and he was like and he suddenly that
way you could just imagine saying like is he going
to be happy to see me?
I mean, I know I'm just I'm just hypothesizing,
but you can only imagine right and so he's way down,
you know by these things, you know, I wonder how
many times people don't run to the to the risen
Christ because of past shame, you know, like
yeah, I just if that's all real that he doesn't
want me because I have done way too many bad things.
He can never take me, you know, or possibly it's
pride and Peter had a lot of that too didn't he?
He was always the one speaking out about how great
he was compared to everybody else, you know, and
maybe pride, you know, maybe a lot of people say
oh, that's not real all that Jesus stuff.
You don't need Jesus.
You know, you just have to live right then you'll
have a good life.
You know, you know, whatever it might be whatever
their philosophy might be but it's pride and
arrogance, you know, or disappointment, you know,
life isn't going the way I had hoped it would go.
There's so many reasons we don't run to Jesus.
I'm just so glad at one point in my life.
I just knew I got nothing until you realize you
have nothing to offer Jesus.
You're just here.
You're just mud.
You're just clay.
Just Lord, take what you got.
You're the one that says you could do something
with me. Here I am.
Take me, you know, until we get to that place.
I don't know that we can ever really grasp what
he's done for us, you know, but you know, you
see John running to Jesus, right, because he knew
he was loved by Jesus.
You know, you see throughout scripture.
John is always right there attached at the hip
to Jesus, right?
In fact, remember at the Last Supper, you know,
Jesus saying, you know, someone's going to betray
me here and and like John is just kind of
laying back on Jesus.
You ever have a friend?
I have had friends in the past.
Our kids are like that.
Our family's very huggy and leany, you know,
and that kind of thing where you just kind of
feel so comfortable and and John felt so comfortable
with Jesus. He was just always like, so what are
we doing?
You know, just like what's next?
You know, just hanging on him and and as Jesus
says someone's going to betray me, you know,
Peter's probably over here like saying, well,
it ain't me. It's not John.
Ask him who it is, you know, like because
he was tight with Jesus.
So John ran.
That's why he was the last one at the foot
of the cross.
That's why he was assigned to care for Jesus's
mother because he knew he was special to Jesus.
I think we all need to know that, you know,
that we need to know how special we are to Jesus
because if you just think you're disposable,
you're replaceable, you're interchangeable,
you're not that important.
Then you're going to live like that.
You really are.
That's the whole purpose of the new creation
mindset, the identity mindset in Christ is
you have to know how cherished you are.
And you know what happens?
We rise to the standard, don't we?
You know, when someone believes in you, guess what?
Like maybe they know something I don't.
Okay, if they're entrusting me with this,
then I guess and you step into it because you're
so believed in, you know, think about that.
All the people have made it the greatest impact
in my life weren't the ones telling me how
lousy I was.
They were seeing something in me that probably
wasn't even there.
They were prophesying it into my life saying things
that were not necessarily true at the time,
but I stepped up to it, you know.
So there's John just running to Jesus.
I love that picture, you know.
And so let's pick it up in verse 11.
But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping
and as she wept, she stooped down,
looked into the tomb and she saw two angels
in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet
where the body of Jesus had lain.
And then they said to her,
woman, why are you weeping?
And she said to them, because they have taken away my Lord
and I do not know where they have laid him.
Now, I just always thought this was kind of funny
is that here's two angels.
Now, every time you hear about angels, they're giant.
They radiate, they glow, okay?
They're like anyone who ever sees them,
like the Roman guards who were guarding the tomb,
you fall on your face.
You're just like, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna, what is this?
Like this is like power, this celestial thing, what is it?
And they just tremble and they quake and they fall.
They melt in front of these things.
And here's Mary saying, where's Jesus?
She didn't care about them.
She wanted to know where Jesus was.
Isn't that amazing?
I love that verse, it says perfect love casts out fear.
She loved Jesus so much that she was ready
to rough those angels up if they didn't tell her
where they put Jesus.
And I'm kidding, of course, but she didn't see the fear.
She was looking for the Jesus, you know?
The thing is, is she wasn't looking for the risen Jesus.
She was looking for the hidden Jesus, you know?
She thought someone took them.
She still didn't get it, right?
And so she's yelling at the angels.
And again, I know I'm putting some human spin on this.
You get it, but she's answering to the angels.
Where did you put them?
And now verse 14, and now when she had said this,
she turned around and saw Jesus standing there
and did not know that it was Jesus.
And Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you seeking?
And she, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him,
sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.
And it's funny too.
I mean, she may have been with another lady or two,
but how are they gonna carry this grown man
who's been mummified anywhere, right?
And yet she just has full confidence
because of her love for Jesus.
Last Easter, I talked all about how people
who knew Jesus tremendously well did not recognize him.
So I didn't wanna go get into that again today,
but if you ever wanna look back on our website,
you could find last year's Easter.
And it's really a lot of symbolism
because three times at least,
we see that people who see Jesus
aren't seeing who they thought Jesus was.
They didn't recognize him.
And I think there's reasons for that.
It's pretty cool.
So if you ever get a chance, look at that.
But here Jesus is, if you know someone,
I mean, if Jesse was standing behind several bushes, okay,
and I could just see a little bit of him, okay,
and then he talked to me, I'd be like, that's Jesse.
I wouldn't need to climb over the bushes and see.
I would know, she knew everything about Jesus.
Jesus delivered her from seven demons, you know?
And you know, at the state of seven demons,
you are just wrecked with evil.
You are a den of wickedness is what you are by then.
And he extracted all of those demons out of her.
He was her life.
He was it, you know?
She had no life apart from Christ.
Like he gave her life,
and I really believe he gives all of us life.
Until you find Jesus, you don't really find yourself.
You can't know who you are
until you know your author, your creator,
the one who designed you, who always knew you,
wonderfully and fearfully made
within before you're ever in your mother's room,
he always knew you.
I just think that's just knowledge
that is far beyond my ability to understand.
He's always known you.
I love in Romans eight, I say it all the time,
but it's such a great reminder that those he foreknew,
he also predestined, those who predestined,
he called, those he called, he justified,
those he justified, he glorified.
He's always known you from the very beginning.
Isn't that amazing?
That's beautiful.
And so she knew Jesus,
yet she didn't recognize him at the moment.
And so he asked her, whom are you seeking?
And then she said, just tell me where he is.
And verse 16, and Jesus said to her, Mary,
and you know, at that moment he pierced through
by saying her name, Mary.
And you know how many Marys there were back then?
I'll tell you, Mary was like more popular
than way more popular than John, okay?
In fact, at the foot of the cross,
there's four women they mentioned,
three of their names were Mary.
Like, come on, be a little creative.
Anyway, so, yeah, but he says, Mary,
and she knew which Mary he was talking to.
Oh, Mary, like, it's you, it's you.
She turned and said to him,
Rabboni, which is to say teacher.
And Jesus said to her, do not cling to me
for I have not yet ascended to my father,
but go to my brethren and say to them,
I am ascending to my father and your father,
and to my God and your God.
And Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples
that she had seen the Lord
and that he had spoken these things to her.
You know, unfortunately, what we don't read
is in Mark 16, 13, when she told them,
none of them believed her, you know?
We're gonna see a lot of lack of faith here.
And early on, you think of all times, you know?
It's like, you know,
they should have been expecting this to happen.
And yet they lacked faith, they didn't believe.
They didn't believe, Mary's just like,
I just talked to him, I really met,
he, it's him, he's risen.
And you know, John was there
and they probably had a feeling,
but they weren't fully in yet, right?
And so what also happened in the midst of this,
and again, this is why it's great to read all the gospel
so you get all the pieces that aren't mentioned
because so many things, if you read the gospels
and you don't realize that some gospels say one thing
but they don't bother saying something else, okay?
But then the other gospel says that thing
but doesn't mention that thing.
All of a sudden it could seem like
these are contradicting each other.
But when you start to slide all the pieces in,
they really do line up because it's a puzzle.
You know, I don't know why the Lord had these writers
leave some out and put some in,
but thank God we have all four of the gospels, right?
So we can actually piece it together.
But what had happened in the meantime
is Jesus did appear to Peter, okay?
In between this next section.
But then he had also met with the two
on the way to Emmaus, do you remember that?
And you can read that on your own
in Luke 24, verses 13 to 33.
And then he revealed himself.
And they were so, it's almost like midnight.
They're like, wow, that was him.
Like, wow, you know what, there was something about him.
Again, they didn't recognize him, okay?
While they were walking with him.
But they said, we just saw the risen Jesus.
So they ran back to Jerusalem to tell everyone.
And when they got there,
it was like a bunch of people were there saying,
yeah, well, actually he appeared to a couple of people now.
So they're all like, say, oh my gosh, it's real.
This is amazing.
So now we pick it up here in verse 19.
Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut,
where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in the midst
and said to them, peace be with you.
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.
And isn't that interesting?
Like the first thing he does is show them his hands,
his side, he probably saw his feet, you know,
because he wanted to say, look, it's me.
You know, Jesus chose to rise from the grave.
And maintain those scars.
You know, I personally believe
he still has those scars in heaven now,
because I think to him, they're such a,
they tell the whole story.
You know, they tell everything
because that's how much he loves mankind.
Why get rid of scars?
I have scars on me, okay?
And from surgeries and this and that,
and they aren't the story, okay?
In fact, a lot of sometimes stories I'd rather forget, right?
You know, but they don't, aren't the story.
There might be a story behind them, okay?
But they're not the story with Jesus.
His scars are the entire story.
Like, look, this is how much I love mankind, amen?
Like I've had some things.
Yeah, I remember one time,
I've probably told these stories before,
but one time I had knee surgery.
And so after I was recovering,
about four months later, it felt like,
I think I'm okay now, you know?
And so we had a blizzard.
Do you remember the blizzard of like,
I think 2015 or something?
And back then we had a long driveway, right?
So it was like couple feet thick at least.
I mean, it was deep, right?
And so we hired this backhoe guy
to come and plow out our driveway, okay?
So he's plowing it out and as he's plowing it out,
I just got my shovel and I started cleaning things up,
you know, that were still left.
And as I'm doing that, okay,
I'm kind of going down this slope, okay?
And I slip and I re-tear my knee, okay?
Clean off the knee cap, right?
So my quad tears off.
And so I fall on the ground
and I just knew exactly what it was.
It was not attached and I'm like,
so my neighbor who had happened to be there
who actually found the backhoe guy, okay?
He was kind of a scrappy kind of guy.
He's drinking beer after beer, you know?
And he's out there.
And as he's out there, you know, he sees me fall, you know?
And we had been talking a lot before that and so forth.
And he said, here, let me help you up.
And I'm like, I can't walk.
Like I've been here before.
I'm not gonna walk, all right?
So, because it's not attached, you know?
So what we ended up doing is I called Jill.
I had my phone, I said it happened again.
Like, what?
So to get me down to the house, okay?
We got the backhoe guy to kind of scoop me up, okay?
So he pulled in with the bucket, okay?
And I shimmied on and he lifted me up
and he's driving down the driveway with me in the bucket.
And the guy he's drinking, you know, walking along with me
and he's like, hey, you want a beer?
I'm like, nah, I'm good right now.
And he goes, oh, you know.
And he's like, you know, so we're talking
and just something like was so interesting.
I realized there's something happening here.
And he says, you know, I wish, you know, I'm an alcoholic
and I just, I'm always drinking and I wish I could stop.
And I'm like, and I just started talking to him
about the Lord, right?
And I realized, and this is on the driveway,
our driveway wasn't that long.
So this all happened pretty quick.
And as he's driving me down, he's walking along
and I sort of tell him about the Lord.
And by the time we got down to the bottom,
I think you came out by then, but I'm sitting there.
I'm like, you know, do you want to just receive Jesus?
And he said, I do.
And so he prayed and accepted Christ.
I mean, that's like, wow, you know?
And so now this scar has a story behind it,
but the scar wasn't the story.
The scar was I didn't wait long enough to heal
before I started shoveling and stupid me.
But at least there's a story that I can connect with it.
That's good.
But with Jesus, his scars were the story.
You know, I have a brother-in-law
that selfishly gave up his kidney
for someone he didn't even know.
It was, what did I just say, selfish?
Shellfish?
I'm not talking about shellfish up here, no.
Selfless, thank you.
She's my chat GPT corrector up here.
But, so, but, you know, for his, thank you, Frank.
So for his son's friend's mother needed a kidney transplant.
So he gave up his kidney perfectly healthy.
He gave it up.
He still scars today because he gave up his kidney.
I'm like, wow, that's like,
that's significant.
And those scars are his story.
I mean, that tells the whole story.
That's how much he was willing to be sacrificial
in his own bodily organ, right?
For someone he didn't even know, right?
Well, Jesus did that, but he knew all of us.
His scars are the story, you know?
We have scars in this life, right?
Lots of scars.
And I don't believe, thank God,
we're gonna move on to eternity with them, right?
Because those scars that we sustain,
whether from our own foolishness, our own sins,
or someone else's sins against us,
when we get that redeemed body,
those scars are not even a memory.
They're gone.
But the only scars in heaven
are gonna be Christ's scars for us.
I love what he says to, in Isaiah,
he said to Israel, he said,
I have engraved you in the palms of my hands.
Like, wow, what a prophecy that is, right?
He's speaking to his people really about the Messiah
who would one day come.
And so, thank the Lord,
I was listening to this song this morning.
I thank you for my, thank you for the scars.
You ever hear that by some band?
Anyway, it's a good one.
But really, I mean, I know we don't typically think,
I wanna thank the Lord for scars, you know?
But nonetheless, we learn so much from them.
You know, I wanna just say one other thing,
kind of rewinding a little bit to Mary Magdalene, right?
What I think is impressive about her,
besides the fact that these demons were cast out,
besides the fact that she knew Jesus so well,
but did you notice she was the last one at the grave
when they rolled the stone across.
She was the last one there.
And she was the first one to the grave
when the stone was rolled away.
Like, she was the last and she was the first.
And I love that picture,
cause Jesus says those who will be last will be first.
In her life, she probably felt like the most
disgraced woman, you know,
the things that would happen, you know,
in demon possession you can only imagine, you know?
And the things, the reputation she had, you know,
the fact that people would just avoid her at all costs.
And yet Jesus saw her and loved her
and redeemed her, delivered her.
And as a result, she was never gonna leave Jesus.
And I love that picture.
Those who will be last will be first.
Those who realize how much we've been forgiven of,
we're the first to run,
to see where Jesus is moving, what he's doing, amen?
So let's read on and we'll finish up.
Verse 21, so Jesus said to them again,
peace to you, as the Father has sent me,
I send you, and when he had said this,
he breathed on them and said,
and said, I'm sorry, 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 retain the sins of any, they are retained.
Now, you know what?
There's a lot right there, okay?
Now, first of all, some people say that Jesus did give them
the Holy Spirit right then and there.
You know, okay, I tend to think
that he was preparing them for Pentecost,
but whatever it might be,
one thing he was saying right there
is that without the Holy Spirit, we really can't forgive.
You know, really, you and I are vessels,
vessels of forgiveness from God.
Like, you know, people say I forgive you,
and maybe they actually do,
but we forgive and those sins
no longer have a hold on us.
Because you know, you can't,
it almost sounds like we're forgiving sins on behalf of God.
We can't do that.
I remember we were down at City Hall
at the ministry down there, and there was this guy,
remember Philly Jesus?
That guy that would walk around,
and I don't know his whole deal,
but he would walk around dressed up like Jesus,
and he went to the feeding line,
and everyone that came up, he said,
your sins are forgiven.
Your sins are forgiven,
and finally they chased him away.
You know, the people from our church that were down there,
because you know, you don't have the power
to forgive people's sins on behalf of God,
but you can forgive sins on behalf of yourself.
You see, when you get,
when there's an offense against you,
you immediately go to the fact that,
yeah, but Jesus Christ forgave me of multitude
upon multitude of sins.
Like I don't even deserve salvation.
How can I not forgive anyone of anything?
It's so easy when you realize
how much you've been forgiven of,
those who have been forgiven much, love much.
You know, it's so easy to just say,
well, no, no, okay.
You know, it's almost like getting,
you ever get snagged by a hook, a fishing hook?
No, oh, you haven't lived.
No, well, I have, and it's like probably one of the kids,
and they're like casting, and they're like,
whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
You know, I'm like going with the, stop, stop,
and it's like getting that barb out of your skin.
Well, we could say, wait a minute,
this isn't staying in me.
No, no, no, no, I forgive you.
What you've done is not part of me.
I forgive it, just like Jesus said,
you know what, I never longer hold your sins against you.
I have redeemed you.
It doesn't mean there won't be consequences
of sin and all that, you know, obviously,
but he has forgiven you.
As far as Jesus from the west,
he will remember your sins no more, right?
So we can know that we are forgiven, redeemed.
And so let's finish up here.
Verse 24, now Thomas called the twin,
one of the 12 was not with them when Jesus came.
The other disciples therefore said to him,
we have seen the Lord.
And so he said to them, unless I see in his hands
the print of the nails and put my finger
into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side,
I will not believe.
And after eight days, his disciples were again inside
and Thomas with them this time.
And Jesus came, the doors being shut.
I love how Jesus never goes through doors.
He just kind of slips right through the wall, okay?
He just, he's spirit and yet he still eats food, right?
He just, he doesn't need, just like those linen clothes
by the way would have been wrapped
and wrapped around like a mummy, okay?
And they would have been covered with all kinds of aloes
and all kinds of gels and mers and all this stuff.
And it becomes almost like a cake.
So you're embodied in this cake.
Remember Lazarus, when he got up,
he like came out like this
and they said, take those grave clothes off of him
because he wasn't gonna do it himself.
But Jesus slipped out of those clothes.
He just laid there, remember it just said,
they were just, and it wasn't bundled up like the video.
They were just laying, okay?
Flat, like he just, he just came out of them.
He passed through things.
So when he shows up, he just passes through the walls,
and he passes through and stood in the midst
and said, peace to you.
And then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here.
Oh, how about it being Thomas?
Could you imagine that?
Like that kind of unbelief
and now Jesus is calling you on it.
Reach your finger here and look at my hands
and reach your hand here and put it into my side.
Do not be unbelieving, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord, my God.
I don't even believe he touched those scars in my opinion
because he's like, wow, I just,
I have no question this is him.
And verse 29, and Jesus said to him,
Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have believed.
You know, we're in that camp.
Do you know that?
We are in the camp of blessed because we don't see.
You know, Jesus in his high priestly prayer in John 17,
he prayed for his disciples,
the ones whom you've given me, he said to his father,
but not only them, but all those who believe their words.
That's us.
I remember the first time I read that being saved,
I'm like, wow, I actually broke into tears
because I'm thinking, Jesus is praying about me.
Like he was already preparing in advance,
protect them from the evil one.
And Lord, I pray, Father God,
for those who will believe these words.
You know, we don't see the scars of Jesus,
but we have some of our own scars in life, right?
But by his stripes, we are healed.
Like we can go through anything in this life.
Do you realize that?
Like when we go through whatever we go through,
we're like, yeah, but the risen resurrection Christ
lives in me.
I can overcome over and over again.
Nothing will take me out.
Because in fact, Paul says, because I've already died
and my life is now hidden with God in Christ, right?
So I've already died.
What else can happen to me?
I remember Jesus said, don't worry about those
who can just kill the body.
Well, that's kind of, I don't know.
I'm a little worried about that, right?
Don't worry about that.
But the one who can kill soul and body, meaning God,
we have nothing to worry about the latter part
of that sentence because we already died.
Yeah, there will be a day that we fall asleep.
That's what it says about saints.
We fall asleep, but we will never die a second death.
Amen?
Because we have risen with Christ.
Amen.
You know, these, wow, these scars,
these scars that we go through,
I know when Paul, he had gone through so much in life,
you know, and he knew it because Jesus said,
I must show him how much he must suffer for my namesake.
How's that for a ministry?
You know, Israel, I got a great ministry for you, okay?
And I'm gonna show you how much you must suffer
for my namesake.
You're like, well, you've grown in the Lord,
you realize, well, then he's gonna get me through it, right?
But when you first hear that, you know, he was new.
He learned over time what that really meant,
and yet it fired his ministry.
It fueled it because it didn't stop him.
When they stoned him to death, it didn't stop him.
When he got scourged three times,
it didn't stop him.
When he was beaten with sticks five times,
it didn't stop him, right?
When he was out at sea for three days, didn't stop him.
It didn't stop him when he was shipwrecked,
I'm sorry, he was shipwrecked three times,
and he was left out to sea for a day and a half,
just floating like that, wondering,
I hope there's, I hope Jaws isn't in the area, okay?
You know, he just knew,
but God is going to get me through.
And he said this in Galatians,
because he was getting so much grief
from the early church, he said in Galatians 6, 17,
I love it, because, you know,
everybody was giving him grief.
Everyone was trying to like, belittle him.
Hey, he doesn't even speak very well.
He's not very charismatic, you know?
He's so ordinary, okay?
There's nothing special about him.
I like Apollos, you know?
And Paul's like, oh, I don't want to be special.
I don't want to be sensational.
I just want to tell you about Jesus.
It's all about Jesus.
And then he said, from now on, let no one trouble me.
They're all troubling him.
For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
He had plenty of scars
to prove what he went through for Jesus Christ.
But you know what I believe?
He probably doesn't have any of them now,
because he has a new body.
In fact, he's going to have to show us pictures, okay?
It's the only way we're going to know about him, right?
Because the Lord redeems them all,
and they're all treasures.
Think about that.
They're all crowns.
You know, they're all crowns that we're going to receive,
and I'm going to throw at his feet,
but still, they're crowns we're going to receive
for everything that we went through.
I love Romans 8, 11, you know?
Now, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, does he dwell in you?
Are you sure?
There's no question.
I know there's a question.
I know somebody's got a question.
Why question?
You haven't been through a thing or two in faith
until you know, I'm sorry.
You only know when you've been through
a thing or two in faith, then you know,
the only way I got through that
is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Like, the spirit of God came to my rescue
and overcame every spiritual thing that was going on,
every physical thing that was going on.
The spirit of God came in power and my dunamis power.
Like, that's the power, that's the resurrection power
of God who lives in you.
I mean, that's like powerful, isn't it?
That means no matter what happens, you will overcome.
We are overcomers.
Where was I on that?
He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead
will also give you life to your mortal bodies
through his spirit who indwells you.
You know, he's talking about here and now.
I know he's talking about someday, okay?
Someday, new bodies, all that.
He's talking about this earthen vessel,
this earthen vessel that we have now.
His power is in you, his resurrection power of God.
It's because he defeated death, he overcame.
I love in 1 Corinthians 15, 55 to 57,
oh death, where is your sting?
Oh Hades, where is your victories?
The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law.
Now we're not under the law, he has fulfilled the law.
In fact, the law has been fulfilled
and for everyone who believes in the Lord.
He brang, brang, brang, blah, blah, blah.
He brought it to fruition.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
If the worship team can come up
and I know the power of God wants to enable us,
empower us to live way beyond our earthen potential, right?
Maybe he's going to heal you of things
this year, maybe not, I know that bothers some of you.
I don't wanna hear that, you know.
Whatever happens, God's power is in you, okay?
I believe in healing, mighty working healing power of God.
I do, but I believe he's gonna allow things to happen
for a better purpose.
I'm okay with that because he's already empowered me
to go through it and you too, right?
Because greater is he who is in us
than anything that is in this world.
It's his power, his dunamis mighty power of God
who enables us, equips us and empowers us to do
whatever he wants us to do in this tent.
Peter calls it his tent.
That's all this is, is a tent meant for temporal times.
Someday we'll get the eternal, immortal body.
But in the meantime, his resurrection power lives in you.
Amen, amen.
So let's pray and we're gonna close this out
with some worship.
And if we haven't met yet, please come on up.
We'd love to chat with you.
And perhaps if you'd like to receive the Lord today,
I think we should just take a moment
to do that right now.
You know, if you're feeling something here, okay,
and you've never given your life to Jesus,
I've been there and I've done that.
Anyone who saved also has been.
There's nothing new, okay?
No new temptation to seize you, it's as uncommon a man,
but God will always provide an escape.
If you're feeling something right in here
and you're feeling like tents,
you're feeling like, you know, I don't like this feeling
but I know there's something over the other edge
or I just know something needs to happen.
Right now, the Lord is saying, stand in the crossroads
and look, ask which way should I go?
I'm telling you, the Lord should say, walk in his way.
He is the way, truth, and life.
He's saying, stop going in your direction and go in mine.
Today he's saying, give me your life.
You know, it's all in.
It's not like a partial, and I know that's,
well, I don't want that.
You do.
You want his life.
Aren't you tired of your life?
I am so glad I said yes to him and no to me.
32 years ago and said, Lord, I want your life for me.
I don't want my old life.
And that's why he died on the cross to be your old life
so that you could rise again in his new life.
Amen.
So we could just pray, Father God, I know I'm a sinner
and I know I desperately need a savior.
And Lord, today, today,
this resurrection day of 2026, I am giving you my life.
I don't know what it's gonna look like beyond this.
I don't know if it's gonna be a lot of hard work.
Well, he says, come to me and rest
because my burdens are light.
I don't know what it's gonna be like, Father God,
but today I know you're calling me into eternity.
I know you're calling me to receive your life for myself.
Today, I wanna live for you.
Today, I implore you, be my savior.
Save me, Jesus.
Just like Hosanna in the highest, save now.
Save me, Jesus.
I give you my life right here, right now.
Father God, fill me with your Holy Spirit
and make me alive.
A new creation to walk in the newness of life.
In Jesus' name, amen, amen.
Give the Lord a round of applause.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss his word.
Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day.
you