A big bear was chasing an atheist. Just before he was attacked he cried out to God.
God froze the bear in mid air. Then
the atheist heard the voice of God. Did
you call me, said the Lord. Yes,
the atheist said. God spoke and
asked the atheist if he wanted to become a believer after all these years of
hatred and unbelief. The atheist
said, no, I don’t expect you take me now, but I wanted to ask you to make
this bear a Christian. The bear
then stopped and bowed his and thanked God for this fresh meal he was about to
consume. The good news is that we
should always be thankful for what the Lord has given us.
Have you heard the good news? Have you heard about the new web site called I hate financial
planning. Com? 1994 -- In September, after six losing quixotic campaigns
for parliament in Denmark, standup comedian Jacob Haugaard actually got
elected. Among his campaign promises this time were good weather, better
Christmas presents, guaranteed tail winds for all cyclists, and standard-size
dust bags in vacuum cleaners.
In all, only about 50 days of Jesus' ministry are touched upon in all
the combined gospels. Jesus' minimum term of ministry equaled three years, or
1080 days (360 days per year). That
means 0.046 percent, or slightly less than half of one percent of the days
that Jesus was actively ministering are actually recorded in the gospels.
Imagine all of the teaching, the conversations, and the ministry that we never
heard about.
No wonder John wrote, "Jesus did many
other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that
even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be
written" (John 21:25). - Ken Boa, Talk Thru the New Testament, p.14.
Scripture
Text:
John 20:24 (KJS) But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was
not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto
him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his
hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails,
and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight
days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: [then] came
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace [be]
unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my
hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [it] into my side: and be not
faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord
and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou
hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have
believed. 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written,
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that
believing ye might have life through his name.
1.
The Good News is that Jesus died so that you may live.
Some
may say that he was merely unconscious, but we believe that he died on the
cross and was buried. He laid down his life that we may live.
2.
The
Good News is that Jesus is alive!
He has risen from the dead.
What a great summary of the Christian life: "...Christ died to be
our Savior and lives to be
our Lord." Why do we forget this? It's so simple!"
Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, p. 319.
3.
The Good News is that We have seen the Lord.
Have
you seen the Lord? If you have
seen the Lord what kind of difference has he made in your life?
To the disciples he completely turned their lives around.
They had become frozen by their fear of what the Pharisees and Priests
would do if they caught them. But
when the Holy Spirit came upon them they became fearless preachers of the
gospel, so that they were all willing to give themselves without reserve to
preaching the gospel to all that they came to.
All but one of these disciples became martyrs for the cross.
John who writes this gospel was exiled for his faith and fearlessness.
4.
The
Good News is that Seeing is Believing.
But Thomas had not yet seen. What
is it that you have to overcome by faith?
What problems do you have that you need to trust in the Lord to be
victorious?
5.
The Good News is that Jesus wants to show himself to you too.
He
wants you to see the power of the Creator who is also the Savior.
He wants to raise your dead. He
wants to open the eyes of your blind. He
wants to do the impossible things in your life.
He wants to give you hope when all hope is lost.
He wants you to have hope in him.
6.
The Good News is that Jesus is the God of second chances.
God
is a God of grace and mercy so that he gives second chances.
Thomas would not believe unless he saw for himself.
He will give you a second, third, fourth, … chance to believe in him.
But time will run out for all.
7.
The
Good News is that Thomas believed to
the point of receiving Him as his Lord and his God.
8.
The Good News is that Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
believe.
The
Good News is that you May believe because of the sayings that are written in
this book. You can believe and
you will be blessed. God will make you happy.
The book of John and the whole Bible is God’s love letter to you so
that you may believe that there is one God who truly loves you enough to die
for you. Will we love him enough
to give our lives to him in a day by day service.
9.
The
Good News is that if you believe you will have life through his name.
The gift of life comes in the name of Jesus.
Many believe but all don’t have life because they have not believed
in all the Lord’s name stands for. The
life that he gives is exemplified by the lives of the disciples and countless
others who have died for the faith. Are
you fearlessly living and serving the Lord or has some doubt crept into your
life? Have you believed with all
your life? Have you given your
all to him?