EASTER 2020 - "My Lord and my God!"

The Shepherd's Church

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Shepherds Church podcast. My name is Kendall Langford, and I'm one of the pastors here at the

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Shepherds Church. And it is my great joy to be coming to you this Easter morning to share with you the good news of Jesus Christ and the hope that we can find in his gospel.

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Now, for all of us, this year has been a year of tremendous first. This is the first time that any of us have ever seen the world shut down like we're seeing it shut down.

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This is the first time that we've lived through a pandemic, whether that's real or whether that's imagined, and only time will be able to tell what that is.

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I know for me, this is my very first time as a pastor preaching on Easter morning, and it's nothing at all like I expected.

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Maybe for you, this is the first time that you can remember not being in church on Easter Sunday, or maybe this is the first time that you've ever listened to a sermon, whether it was on Easter or any other day.

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Whatever the reason that we are all here, there are many firsts that are true for you and I, but all of these firsts are not the ones that I actually wanna talk about with you today.

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Instead, I wanna talk to you about the very first words that come out of this man named

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Thomas's mouth in the gospel of John, after he sees Jesus Christ raised from the dead.

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You see, Thomas was a doubter, he was a skeptic.

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He was the kind of guy that had to see something before he would actually believe it. He needed evidence.

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Maybe he would have been scientific if he were born in our time and our era. And what we know about Thomas is that when

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Jesus appeared to the other disciples in Jerusalem after he had been raised from the dead,

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Thomas was not actually there. Now, we don't know where he was. We don't know why

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Thomas was not there when Jesus appeared to the other disciples. All we know is that he wasn't there.

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And when the disciples were all talking about it afterwards, when they were reliving the event of Jesus Christ, the one who was murdered, but now has been risen from the dead, when they were talking about all of that later,

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Thomas refused to believe the report. He didn't have any evidence for the fact that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

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He hadn't seen Jesus raised from the dead. Look at what he actually tells them.

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He tells them, unless I see in his wrists the imprint of the nails that were nailed in there when he was crucified, and unless he puts my finger into the place where those nails were and puts my hand into his side,

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I will not believe. Now, Thomas was a very practical man.

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This was a man who was not just gonna believe any old rumor that was being spun. He was not gonna believe anything fantastical if it didn't have any evidence.

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And he was certainly not gonna believe that Jesus had risen from the dead when he had seen all of the events that had taken place in the hours before.

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I mean, this was a man who watched the sham trial in Jerusalem unfolding, where they convicted

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Jesus Christ. He was there when his savior was mocked, beaten, unjustly sentenced, and convicted to death.

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He was there when they made him march up the streets of Jerusalem naked as the crowds laughed and ridiculed him.

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He likely saw the nails penetrating Jesus's wrists. He saw the blood spurts.

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He saw the holes. He saw the clanking of the hammer and nails. He was there when the religious leaders ordered

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Jesus and the other two criminals opposite him to be murdered quickly, because the Jews didn't want anyone hanging on a

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Roman cross during their religious festival. That would have not been seemly to them.

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So they could murder him, but they didn't wanna leave him hanging there during their festival. Thomas was a man who saw the

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Roman guards breaking the first man's legs, rendering him incapable of pushing up for oxygen, suffocating him within moments.

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Thomas was the man who saw the executioner walk to the second man and take his club and bash the tibia and fibula bones in his leg, overwhelming his diaphragm with the weight of his depressed body, killing him.

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He saw the Roman guards move on to Jesus, looking him over, debating whether or not to strike him, but determining that he was already dead.

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Thomas saw the centurion prove it in the most sophisticated way that a

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Roman knew how, stabbing Jesus below the ribs with a spear, piercing the right ventricle of his heart along with his lungs, allowing the oral fluid trapped in the lungs to flow simultaneously with the ventricular blood in the right ventricle of the heart, essentially proving once and for all that Jesus Christ was dead.

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1 ,990 years ago, Thomas witnessed the death of Jesus Christ. He knew it as certainly as the sun would rise in the morning and set in the evening.

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It was a fact. You see, this man Thomas was a man who was chosen personally by Jesus to be one of his disciples.

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He was later given the title and the honor of becoming one of his apostles, which just meant messenger or one who was sent.

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He went out with a message. Thomas, as a person, took it as his personal duty to make sure that Jesus and the rest of the disciples were protected.

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He had given up everything to follow Jesus, and he wanted to give everything in order to keeping

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Jesus from being killed. If you'll remember, it was

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Thomas who protested when Jesus decided to go back to the town of Bethany in order to raise his friend

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Lazarus from the dead. The reports had already circulated that Lazarus was sick.

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Jesus knew that he was actually dead, and being one of his closest friends and also knowing that this was going to get him killed,

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Jesus willingly went back to Bethany, willingly raised Lazarus from the dead, causing shockwaves to ring throughout the nation of Israel.

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Thomas knew the firestorm that this was gonna cause, and his practical brain just wanted to avoid the entire ordeal.

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If Jesus raised his friend from the dead so close to Jerusalem, Thomas was quite certain that he would end up killed, and that was just what was going to happen.

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And you can read about Thomas's response to Jesus in John 11. He was not pleased.

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But once the deed was done, once Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, Thomas watched helplessly as the leadership community in Jerusalem went to all -out war with Jesus.

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They were convening against him, scheming, planning, plotting, and eventually striking him until he hung upon a tree, pierced by a

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Roman guard, dead on a cursed cross. In the upper room, just 24 hours before Jesus was made a poster child for the might and power of Rome, Thomas was the one who objected to what

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Jesus was saying. Jesus, their leader, he was the one who they had all given up their lives to follow him.

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They had lost friends to follow him, credibility to follow him, sacrificed public opinion about them to follow this miracle -working

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Nazarene Messiah. They'd given up everything, but in the upper room, everything felt like it was about to be wasted.

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Jesus began talking about leaving. He began talking about going away.

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He began talking about preparing a place for them. Look at what

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Jesus says to them in John 14. He says, do not let your hearts be troubled.

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Believe in God and also believe in me. In my father's house, that's

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God the father. In my father's house, there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you.

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For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,

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I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may be also.

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And you know the way that I know.

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Thomas, being the practical man that he was, objected to this. What do you mean you're going away?

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You raised Lazarus and caused all of the elite and powerful priests, Levites, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and all of the council members in Jerusalem to hate you.

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You flipped over tables and offended every single person in Jerusalem because of you. You embarrassed them, you challenged them, you provoked them into bitter hatred, and now you're gonna leave us.

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It's not hard to imagine the way that Thomas must have been thinking in that moment.

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And we can speculate about those things. But what Thomas actually said was this.

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Lord, we do not know where you are going. And how are we supposed to know the way?

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What Thomas was admitting in that moment to Jesus was that Jesus was nothing at all like he was expecting.

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He had no idea where Jesus was leading them. And if Jesus didn't pull himself together and fast, then he was gonna end up killed.

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He wasn't gonna have time to go off on a journey and prepare a place for any of them. He was gonna be murdered, which is exactly what ended up happening.

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About an hour later, Jesus led his disciples out of that upper room and he led them into this garden called the

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Garden of Gethsemane, where he knelt down and where he prayed. And just about 45 minutes to an hour later, he was arrested by Judas the

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Betrayer. It was all over. Thomas tried to stop it.

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But nobody listened to the practical Thomas. Nobody listened to the doubter.

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Nobody listened to the man who saw the evidence. He saw the writing on the wall. Nobody listened to him.

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And now look what happened. Thomas knew all of this was coming.

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And I'm sure he was wondering why everyone else in this room was going on and on and on about Jesus being raised when he knew the truth.

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He knew what happened. And the last thing after going through the last 24 hours that he had been through, after he told everyone and nobody listened, the last thing that he wanted was a bunch of fantasy stories and pipe dreams being uttered by his delusional friends.

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He wanted to mourn, he wanted to grieve, and he wanted all of them to just be quiet so that no one found out that they were hiding in a small room in Jerusalem with people actually hunting for them to kill them.

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In a sense, what he wanted was just to be left alone. That's it.

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But that is not what happened to Thomas. He was not allowed that day to sit in his frustrations, and he was not allowed to sit in his doubts.

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John 20, verse 26. We see the great and wonderful lengths that Jesus goes to rescue this man and to go to him exactly where he is.

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It says, after eight days, his disciples were again inside, they were gathering together, hiding for their lives, and Thomas was with them.

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And Jesus came, the doors were shut, meaning there was no way that anyone was gonna come in the doors were locked, the doors were sealed, the doors were shut, but somehow

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Jesus came in and he stood right in the midst of them and he said, peace, be with you.

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You can imagine the shock and the confusion that must have flooded in this young man's soul. Were his eyes deceiving him?

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Was his ears lying to him right now? Was his mind playing tricks on him? Or was this really standing right in front of him, the very

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Lord of glory? Jesus looked at Thomas in this moment, right in the midst of his confusion, right in the midst of his questions, right in the midst of his doubts, and this is what he said.

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Thomas, reach here with your finger and see my hands and reach here and put your fist into my side, but do not go on unbelieving any longer.

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Believe. Jesus was not mocking him. He was not chiding him for his stubborn pragmatism and he was not shaming him for being the final one who had yet come to believe in him.

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He was not giving Thomas a hard time at all. He was right there with him. He was meeting him right in the midst of his doubts and skepticisms.

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He was illuminating his mind so that he could see who he really was. He was opening his heart so that he would know that he needed this

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Jesus. And look, while Jesus was even willing for Thomas to stick his fist into his side, it finally was no longer necessary.

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Something changed in Thomas. In that moment, something changed.

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Standing face to face with Jesus, something happened to him. His doubts were no longer vexing to him.

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His sense of self -preservation was no longer plaguing him. He no longer needed to question any longer.

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He no longer needed the results. He no longer needed the evidence. He had all of the answers that he ever needed, and he found those answers face to face in the risen

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Lord Jesus Christ. Almost by impulse, Thomas spoke the most beautiful and explicit words that have ever been uttered.

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Those were not uttered by Peter. They were not uttered by Andrew. They were not uttered by John. The most beautiful words that had yet ever been spoken about Jesus Christ were uttered by Thomas the doubter,

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Thomas the complainer, Thomas the whiner, and yet in this moment when he saw who

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Jesus was, he said, he spoke some of the most incredible words that have ever been spoken in all of human history.

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Thomas the doubter in a single instant became Thomas the proclaimer.

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Why? Because he saw for the first time who

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Jesus really was. And with five short words,

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Thomas made one of the most shocking statements that have ever been uttered. Looking right into Jesus's eyes, he said, my

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Lord and my God, not just Lord and not just God, but my

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Lord and my God. Thomas right then and there knew that the only way to Jesus was knowing that he was

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God. No human being could have ever survived what he went through. And since everyone in that room was worshiping him, we know that Jesus did not appear to them bloodied.

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He did not appear to them broken. He did not appear to them with scabs or open wounds or even with a limp.

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He appeared to them as God. He appeared to them whole. He appeared to Thomas only with the holes in his wrist, ankles and side so that he could demonstrate who he really was.

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But even those wounds were no longer oozing. Those wounds had perfect, beautiful, brand new flesh wrapped around them.

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Because the Lord of glory did not come out of a tomb still bleeding. The Lord of glory did not appear to them just as a man, that same man who stumbled up the hill and collapsed under the weight of the cross.

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Jesus Christ appeared to them as the triumphant, royal, regal king, the one in whom all authority in heaven and on earth has now been given.

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And the one who is worthy of all of our honor and praise and worship, he was a victorious king.

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And only God could have done that. If he were just a man, then he would still sit rotting in a garden tomb.

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But he wasn't just a man, he was God, standing right in front of them in human flesh.

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He was no longer just Peter's God or Andrew's God or John's God or Matthew's God, he was now

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Thomas' God. And he called him, Thomas spoke the words, my

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God. But he also called him

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Lord. This same Thomas who objected and protested, who struggled to submit to Jesus' direction, now bowed in light of the resurrection.

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When Thomas called him Lord, he went beyond his divinity. He went beyond his infinite accomplishments.

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He went beyond all of the glory and the majesty that was standing face to face with him in that crowded upper room.

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You see, the word Lord means master. To call someone

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Lord was to say that you are in charge and I am your servant.

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It says that you have the authority and I do not. It means that you are gonna be in control and that I am going to be submitted to you instead of resisting you.

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A Lord sets the direction that you must go and you get to follow.

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And while moments before this, this was perhaps the most difficult thing that Thomas could ever do, he had not followed successfully a day in his life.

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But now, standing in the light of his presence, he found himself not only capable of uttering my

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God, but he said he is my Lord. On that day,

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Thomas was met with the reality of who Jesus really is. 1 ,990 years ago, early

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Sunday morning, the dead Jesus became the living Jesus. The tomb was found empty, the grave clothes were abandoned, the stone was rolled away and the

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Roman guards ran in fear. The Jews had to lie in order to cover it up, but the simple fact of history remains that this

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Jesus was alive. God had raised him from the dead and there was no other human being that could have done that.

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He was God and he was also Lord. God did this so that Thomas and all of the other 12 disciples and anyone else who would ever believe in him would understand who he really is.

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He is God and he is Lord. And if you came in today like Thomas, doubting whether Jesus really is who he says he is, doubting whether he is who he claimed to be, doubting whether you have what it takes to submit to him, maybe you're a

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Christian today and you've walked away from Christ or your walk with Christ has grown cold. You once looked like the bold and courageous

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Thomas that we see right here in these pages, but now you're trapped in your fears and your insecurities and doubts.

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Turn to Jesus. Look upon the one who was slain for you.

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Turn to him, submit your life to him and rejoice once more. Join with Thomas who stepped out of his fears and stepped out of his doubts and stepped out of his insecurities and let your heart sing in worship and say, my

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Lord and my God. Maybe you're not a

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Christian. Maybe you're listening to this message and you have no idea what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

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You have no idea how to submit your life to Jesus, no idea how to pray to Jesus or how to be saved from your sins.

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You have no idea what it means for Jesus to be God and no idea what it means for him to be

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Lord of your life. Dear friend, if that is you, my prayer is that the

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Lord would begin working on you. In this season of uncertainty, pandemics and quarantines, my prayer is that the

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Lord would open up your eyes right even today, right even now in this moment so that you could see and behold the beauty and the majesty of who

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Jesus Christ really is. That he would open your mind so that you would be able to believe in Jesus and that you would be able to step out of your fears and out of your doubts and out of your uncertainties and you would be able to behold

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Jesus and turn to Jesus and run to Jesus and love Jesus. That he would open up your heart so that you would understand that you need

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Jesus. And I pray that as that happens, that you would have courage, that you would have courage to stand up, that you would have courage to step out of your fears and out of your doubts and you would have courage to say right along with Thomas that this

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Jesus is my Lord and my God. If there's anyone listening to this message today who would like to talk more about Jesus, maybe you have questions that you wanna ask about Jesus or you just need someone to pray with you and encourage you, all you have to do is go back to the

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Facebook post where you found this sermon and click the send message button.

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And when you click the send message button, I want you to type out a message and I will be available to chat, to talk, to answer any questions that you have or just to pray with you about anything that you've heard in the sermon.

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It is my prayer that you would know the one and only Jesus Christ and I am willing to do whatever it takes to help answer any question that you have, any concern that you have or to pray with you and help you receive

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Christ as your Savior. All you have to do is send that message. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I pray that you would use this message today to reach many people who are stuck, many people who are broken, many people who have doubts and fears, who have uncertainties and are not sure where to find the truth.

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Lord, I pray that you'd use this sermon by the power of your Holy Spirit to regenerate hearts, to awaken intellects.

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Lord, I pray by the power of your Spirit that you would use this message to cause someone to see and behold the beauty of Jesus Christ.

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Lord, I pray for anyone who is listening to this who is a Christian whose love has grown cold.

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Lord, I pray that the sermon and I pray that your word would ignite a passion and a fire within their heart so that,

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Lord, they would look to you and cling to you and they would sing to you and they would worship you and they would say to you, my

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Lord and my God. And Lord, I pray for any man, any woman, any child who's listening to this message who is not yet a follower of Christ that,

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Lord, you would give them enough courage to reach out, to send that message, to be prayed for or to ask the question.

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Lord, maybe the question on their heart is, I don't even know where to begin. I don't know how to be saved. Lord, I pray that they would send that message.

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Lord, I pray that you would use this sermon, this message, this passage of scripture to save many people.

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You are the hope of the world, dear Jesus. There is no other hope.

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And Lord, I pray that many would see that hope today. It's in your Son's name,

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Father, that I pray to the one and only Jesus Christ through the power of his Holy Spirit, amen.

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Thank you for listening to this sermon from the Shepherds Church. If you'd like more gospel -centered content, you can go to our website, which is www .theshepherds

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.church. If you live in the Massachusetts area, we are in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and our address is 1500

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Andover Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts. That's 01876. You can find us on Facebook.

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can find us on Instagram. And again, thank you for listening to this message. God bless you.