Peace in the Locked Room: Jesus Meets Fear With Peace, Power, and Purpose

Listen, I don't want to share my words with you today. I want to share with you God's word. So, if you brought the word of God, get out that book right now because this book is no ordinary book. This is God's word and he wants to speak to you through this book. And if you're willing to open up the ears of your hearts, he will speak to you. If you brought your Bible today, hold it in the air like you care. We're going to get ready for God to speak to us. And I want every person on the count of three to shout word. Every person, even those watching online, here we go. One, two, three, word. We are getting into God's word so that God's word will get into us. There's one common theme that all of us will experience in our lives. And some some of us it's it's over and over and over again. That common theme, no matter how old you are, you could be young or you could be old or you could be in between. That common theme is

fear. I can't tell you how many times I've allowed fear to rule my life to fill me up because of what I'm experiencing in that moment. And as I reflected back on my own life over these last 48 years of my life, I've looked at different seasons where where I have been filled with fear more times than others. And so I just jotted down five times I've been filled with fear. Can I share with you at least five times? Uh in total, I've only had fear six times, but I'm going to give you five. All right. Uh that's probably today. Okay. Okay. Okay. And I'm sharing this with you specifically because sometimes there's a myth that pastors are aren't ordinary people. Uh but I just want you to know that I have the same access to God that you have. I get the same blessings of God that you have. I I I get no special privileges because of the

title pastor. I just actually have to watch my life a little bit more because it's in a fishbowl. And God says that I'll be a little more accountable. Uh, but regarding all of the blessings of God, I have the same blessings of God that you have, but I also have the same faults that you have because I I I too am made out of the flesh. So, five times I've had fear, and this is in chronological order. I can remember as a very young child, my uh mom raised my sister and I as a single mom, and she had the proclivity to find really bad men for boyfriends. And uh these boyfriends weren't the greatest guys. they would come in and out of my life. And on one particular occasion, she had a guy I just really didn't like. And one of the reasons I didn't like him is just who he was and his character. And this was back in the day, I was just a young child back in the day, long before cell phones. No one had a cell phone. In

fact, I'm going to even go back even further. This is before the days of caller ID. And [snorts] so when your phone rang in your house, you just always answered it. And when you answered the phone, you had no clue who was on the other end. No, it was like exciting but scary at the same time. Hello. And you don't know who it is. And on one particular occasion, my sister and I were left alone and we're just very young children at the time. My mom was out with this boyfriend uh doing who knows what. And I get a phone call and I'm just a little tiny boy and I say, "Hello." And there's a male voice on the other end. And this happened to be, and I I'll tell you up front, it was my mom's boyfriend, but he was pulling a prank on me. And he said, "This is the

police, and we've arrested your mother, and she's in jail, and we're not going to let her out." And it's just this young little boy. Everything inside of me was filled with terror. I mean, instantly, I'm thinking, I'm an orphan and what am I going to do? And and I just remember it just felt so real. even though he was just trying to prank me. What happened was it filled me with fear. And here I am, a grown man, and I can still remember that moment as a as a terrifying child. Another moment I can remember as a child is we were able to watch whatever we wanted to watch as a kid, although there were no streaming services. Uh I'm not sure how we watched it, maybe on VHS or the 13 channels we had on the TV, but I do know that we watched a lot of things we shouldn't have watched. Uh, one

particular movie I remember watching came out in 1984 called Red Dawn and and America had been invaded in this movie by the Russians and it was teenagers that had to hide and fight for the freedom of America. And I remember watching that movie and then having these terrifying nightmares where I'd wake up in cold sweats and as a child think I' I've got to protect our country. We're going to be invaded. Where would I hide? Uh, we don't have guns in our house, you know. So, taking the butter knives out and running to the hills so that like I we can get ready for the cold war that we're going to uh have. And I mean I I look back and that movie came out and I was only seven years old. What was I doing watching Red Dawn at 7 years old? Uh and but I it wasn't just Red Dawn war movies. I mean we watched all these horror films and I'm just reminded of what the Bible says

to be be very cautious and intentional about what you put in your mind because what you put in your mind is what you end up thinking about. And so here I was a child just watching and listening to things I shouldn't be listening to. Let's fast forward to my young adulthood and I'm living in Santa Cruz, California. And I learned to surf and I really wasn't that great at it, but I absolutely loved it. Uh went out in the water often. There's just something majestic and beautiful about the ocean. And on one particular occasion, I went to one of my favorite surf spots, which which has no beach. It's just this sharp cliff. And the only way to get in the water is to go down the stairs down into the water down the the cliff. and you get in the water and it was high tide, but it was a huge surf day. I mean, they were more than head high. It was big. And when it's like that, it's absolutely miserable just getting out to surf that day. You got to break through all the waves just to get out into the water.

And so, here I am exhausted just trying to get out so I could eventually ride a wave or two. And I wasn't riding them. I was just getting beat up by them that day. So, I decided these waves are probably too big for me. I'm going to go in. But because the waves were so big, they were smashing right against the cliffs. And so there's only one stairwell to get up to uh where your cars are. And so I decided to ride my board in. I didn't stand up. I just held the surfboard. I'm going to ride in and go to the stairs. And as I'm getting closer to the stairs, I realize I am not close enough and this wave is going faster. And so all of a sudden, I realized I'm going to hit the cliff. And I did. I hit the cliff. And I got separated from my surfboard. And uh what happens is once the wave goes in, it sucks you right back out. And since this was such a big wave day, what what happens next is another wave comes in and celebrates you against the cliffs.

And I I remember the sound, you know, that sound that a car crash makes. It's so vivid. I remember the sound of my surfboard hitting against the rocks and just remember being disgusted like, "Oh no, I'm going to have holes in my boards, cracks." You know, I I just remember all of these things, but even more, as I'm being uh shoved around like I'm inside a a washing machine or something, I just thought to myself, "This is it. I'm dead. I'm going to die. If my head hits the cliffs, I am dead." Well, I didn't die. I'm here to tell you about it. But I do remember in that moment, I was so filled with fear because I was so small compared to what I was experiencing. I had no power against the ocean that was pushing me up against those cliffs. Fast forward even older when we had our first child. Uh my wife was pregnant and uh the the bun was

in the oven too long and so uh the doctor gave her a a pill to fast forward the process to induce the labor. Now, for those of you who are women, first of all, God bless you. You're stronger than us men. God knows that and that's why y'all are the ones that have the babies. Uh but when my wife got induced in labor, she went from like zero to 100 really quick. And I just remember when she was in pain, just just being terrified. It's absolutely awful to watch someone you love hurt so badly. And when we went to the hospital, here she was uh screaming in labor. And the the nurse, she was like a biker nurse. I don't know if you've ever seen a biker nurse, but she was a biker nurse. And uh we happen to go to church with her, too. Do you remember her? The gal with the tattoos. You No. Uh,

as my wife was in labor, at some point, you know, I'm I'm holding her hand and uh she gave me smelling salts. If you've ever had smelling salts, they're not salts, but this just this horrid smell that just uh stimulates your brain instantly. I'm like, "What was that for?" And she's like, "You're about to pass out." I'm like, "No, I'm not." You know, and she's like, "Yes, you are about to pass out." And this this this moment was terrifying because it just kept lasting. Our our first born was our our stubborn one, our strong willed one. She's, you know, those are the leaders of this world, but man are they hard. And she was uh in the technical terms of this world, she was sunny side up. Uh so she she she wasn't facing the right way. And so it's terrifying when NICU nurses come in and NICU doctors come in and you're wondering like what's happening?

this is my child and I don't know what's going to happen next. There's just this fear of uncontrol. I can do nothing about this. I I I want to control this. I I want to understand what's happening, but I don't. Finally, my fifth and final moment that I can just recount in front of you, my counseling session with fear is uh a little more recent, at least for those of us who are older. For those of you who are younger, it might feel like it was a while ago, but it was the worldwide pandemic. It was 2020 when uh no one really knew what was happening. And when decisions were being made by the government, people thought they made uh better decisions than the government. And there was just a church divided at that time. It was awful. There was like no right answer for anything. Whether

you got a vaccination or didn't get a vaccination, whether you thought mass were good or if you thought they were just a sign of the antichrist or there were so many different strong opinions as a pastor. It was a terrible time to lead. It was you couldn't do anything right. The government said, "Don't meet." And so if you didn't meet, then you didn't love Jesus. And if you did meet, then you were murdering people. And it was just it was a it was a terrifying time. like what's going to happen next? And really, no one knew. But we made it, y'all. We We got through it. And I look back now at just some of those terrifying times, and I genuinely would do things differently.

But I will also say that I've got a great God who doesn't care about that. He's just asking me, "What are you going to do today?" Today is a gift from God. We don't get to go back and fix anything. And that the reality is all of us at some point, no matter what your age is, you will feel like a failure and you will be filled with fear. And today's text is going to show you that that's when God shows up the greatest. [snorts] It's in your worst that you actually get to see his power displayed in your life. It's not when you're the strongest and look at how great you're making decisions and look how wise you are. No, it's actually God will show up in your worst hour to display his power.

Today, I want to point you to three things tangibly in the text that you're going to discover. God's peace, power, and purpose for your life. For every single one of us, no matter who you are, no matter where you are, God's peace, power, and purpose. The text comes from the book of John, uh, which tells us about the life of Jesus. We're at the end of the book in chapter 20. John chap 20. The text is going to start with verse 19 today. If you brought a Bible, turn to John 20, starting with verse 19. We'll make our way through verse 29. If you would stand for the reading of God's word, I'll read you the text, and then we'll better understand God's peace, power, and purpose for our lives. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear.

Everyone shout fear. Fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. 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.

Now Thomas, one of the 12, 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 the nails and place my finger in the mark of the nails and place my hand into his eyes, I will never believe." Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 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." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you've seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed." This is the word of the Lord. My aim today is that you would understand Jesus offers you peace, power, and purpose in your life. We start off with the narrative today that the disciples of Jesus, these are the students of Jesus. These are the guys that have walked with Jesus for three years. They've talked with Jesus. They've learned from Jesus. They've witnessed signs and wonders.

This is now the third day after Jesus was crucified. And what are they doing? They're locked up. The first thing we see today is not bold faith. But we see fear. Locked doors represent fear. In fact, I will go so far to say locked doors equal loud fear. We can metaphorically describe our own hearts as a place where we have doors. In fact, in the book of Revelation, Jesus tells us, "Here, I stand at the door and knock." How in the world did Jesus get outside the door? He here he is. He's he's wanting to come in. Uh the Bible tells us that that the doors God opens, no one

can shut. And the door doors God shuts, no one can open. And here we have this door locked. Not locked because they're having a prayer party. Locked because of fear. These men have created their own prison because of fear. They are not in a a Roman jail cell. They have created a prison in their own lives because they're paralyzed by fear. John 20 19 on the evening of that day. This is the first day of the week. This is Sunday. This is the first day that Jesus has has been resurrected. He he's defeated death. He's defeated the devil.

He is alive. He is risen. And on that day, the doors were locked. [snorts] I wonder how many times God wants you to know he has risen. He has defeated the devil. He wants to give you life. And what do we do in our lives? We lock up the potential of what God wants to do because of fear. We create our own prisons that God didn't put us in, nor did any other person put you in this place. The these are not rebels. These are not revolutionaries. These are followers of Jesus Christ. They're the ones that witnessed Peter walking on the water to Jesus. They're the ones that saw the water turned into wine. They saw lepers

skin turned to brand new baby skin. I mean, they saw the blind see. They saw the lame walk. And here they are locked up in fear. And it's not that they didn't know what was happening. Several of them went to the tomb and they know that it's empty. They heard rumors that Jesus is alive because the first person Jesus revealed himself to was a scandalous woman. A woman who had a past, a woman that what would not be counted as a a witness in the court of law. He's revealed himself to her, but they still have not seen him themselves. And so they say the best thing to do is to be locked up in fear.

We have a lot of voices that are trying to speak to us. You, as I mentioned, several of my own fears. You You've got people in your own life. You've got the government. You've got all these different voices that are vying for your attention. I think one of the loudest voices out there is fear. Fear is loud. Come on, tell your neighbor, fear is loud. Fear is loud. You may not tell anybody you're listening to this voice, but just think about this. It's the fear of uncertainty. How am I going to pay that bill? How am I going to get that job? How am I going to It's the fear of your past. It's the fears that your sin will be exposed, the things that you've actually done. It's the fear of who you actually are. It It's the fear that you'll be found out.

It's the fear of death. Can't tell you how many times people fear death. And I try to tell you, church, statistically, you're going to die. You shouldn't be surprised. But still, when it happens, we're like, what happened? And we always ask this question, why? Because you're going to die. But people, we we we get paralyzed by by the fear of what could be. And these guys are are stuck in their own prison of fear because that voice is so loud. What h what would happen if the if they catch us? They they're going to do to us what they did to Jesus. Fear is so loud. But God sent me here to tell you today that his word is even louder.

And Jesus does not need to shout for you to hear his word. Look what he does in verse 19. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They're locked up in fear. And Jesus didn't need to knock on the door. He did not need a key. He did not need to ask permission to come into this place. He just steps into their fear. That's because he is the resurrected King of Kings. That's because he doesn't need permission to step into your life. He preached the kingdom. He practiced his kingdom. And now he shows up to let them know it's not going to stop right now because of your fear. Fear will always hold you back from the potential of what God wants to do in your life. Fear imprisons you and stops

you from the destiny of freedom that God has planned for you. Fear is it's so interesting because it's contagious. When you're around people who are are are fearful, it's hard to have joy. It's hard to have peace. It's hard to live in freedom when you when you're with a group of people full of fear. I've I've been there before. You You try to motivate them or you try to be the one that's optimistic, but it but it's always difficult when someone is is living in that prison of fear. I want you to notice what the text does not say. The text does not say that somebody stood up and said, "Guys, we were with Jesus, Messiah. Don't you remember what he said to us? Don't you remember? He said he was going to die and he would raise again.

John says it was silent. No one stepped forward to lead. Instead, it was like this contagious disease of fear. You have it. I have it. Let's just stay in this place. You know what happens with water when it stays in the same place? It breeds bacteria and things go from bad to worse. If you don't take care of stage one cancer, it will turn into stage two and then three and then four and eventually there's no more room for cancer because it's killed everything. [snorts] Fear will destroy the destiny that God has placed on your life. That you have a purpose that's greater than you.

Fear forfeits the gospel from going out into all the world to let people know that there is hope for everyone. And thank God that he doesn't leave us in our fear. He shows up at just the right time so that you can be set free. In John chapter 8, Jesus is speaking about what it means to follow him. And he says in John 8:31, "If you abide in my word, there's a contingency here. If you do this, then you'll get this." He said, "If you listen to my word and you obey my word and you do my word," he says, "you are truly my disciples." So, you're not just a disciple because you call yourself one. You actually have to hear the teachings of Jesus and apply the teachings of Jesus and you're a disciple. Verse 32 says, "And not only

that, you will know the truth." And then he goes even further and says, "And the truth will set you free." Now, we live in a world that we we live in a world of sound bites that we only see a fragment of of what is actually happening. So many people quote that last portion of Jesus line which Jesus said this the truth will set you free. Well the reality is the truth is Jesus. I am the way and the truth and the life. Jesus is explicit here that there are not many ways to God. There is one way and is through the son Jesus Christ. and

and he offers this abundant invitation and says if you take my word, you abide in my word, then you're my disciples. And by the way, you're not locked up in the prison cell of fear, but you know the truth and the truth sets you free because when you know the truth, you you want to abide in the truth. But these guys are locked up in the prison cell of fear. They're not quoting Isaiah 53:5, which prophesied of Messiah, that he was pierced for our transgressions. Shouldn't they be celebrating this? He was crushed for our iniquities, and upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed.

This is the promise of God. That's not meant to be locked up in your heart somewhere. This is meant to be put into practice that when you are living in that fear, what happens? The prince of peace steps in like a boss. This is glorified Jesus. This is not resuscitated Jesus. This shows us what glory will be like. He just shows up. He can walk through walls. He can eat whatever he wants to eat. He can go wherever he wants to go. This is glorified Jesus. and he just shows up and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is not correction. It's not condemnation. It's a greeting of who he is. Peace be with you.

This was the standard greeting of the day that most people weren't meditating on. But Jesus brings a whole new value and meaning behind this. He doesn't say it once. He doesn't say it twice. He says it thrice. Peace be with you. This peace is actually yours if you want it. He's already promised it in John 14. He says, "Peace I give you. I leave with you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." Now, if they were abiding in the words of Jesus, shouldn't they be quoting that right now? Hey guys, remember what Jesus said? He said we should not be filled

with fear because we have peace. And this isn't the peace of the world because the peace of the world is this wishful thinking that we're all just going to get along and sing kumbaya. The peace of the world is is a world without conflict, a world without fighting. But the peace of Jesus says that you can have peace in the middle of a storm. You can have peace even if you're uncertain of the future. The peace of Jesus says, "You do not fear those who could harm your body. You fear the one who could oversee your soul." You see, the peace of Jesus is a peace that's unlike anything in the world. You see, what happens with the peace of Jesus is when the peace of Jesus shows up, he he goes ahead and he eradicates fear. He says, "It's time for you to move out fear.

You haven't paid your rent in a really long time. You're making a mess of this place. You're [snorts] moving out today fear and peace is moving in. And now you have the wholeness of how you were created to be in the image of God who is a God of peace. Notice what Jesus doesn't do is fear is not eradicated through explanations. Let me lecture you. Fear is eradicated through the presence of God. When God shows up, it changes things. That's why we want to be a presence driven church. We want the presence of God to show up because when God shows up, just things change. Cancer disappears. Pe people are healed. Pe people are set free from their sins. They're delivered. There's a great testimony just last week of uh

Chris, your friend, who was diagnosed with cancer. And I remember we prayed for him a few weeks ago on his drive over to OSU. And then he comes to pursuit night. He gets a laying on of hands. And he comes back last Sunday. And I see pastor Noah laying hands waring in prayer. Not for like a 30-se secondond. Come on God, if it's your will, let him be healed. It's if there's anything wrong, let it be right in Jesus name. If there's any resentfulness, bitterness, unforgiveness, let that be gone. Let this cancer bow down at the name of Jesus. And then we get a testimony this week where he has an appointment to go meet with the oncologist and the oncologist calls up and say, "Hey, you shouldn't show up because we have your scans and we can't find anything." Come on, somebody.

Let [applause] the presence of God shows up, it changes everything. We could just simply put it this way. Fear has to leave when Jesus shows up. Listen, if he defeated the devil and he defeated death, you know, fear is just fear. Fear is just afraid when it sees Jesus. When he had said this, this is what he did. Verse 20, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples went from fear to what? Gladness. They were glad when they saw the Lord. He didn't need a lecture. He just needed to show proof that he did what needed to be done. Aren't you glad when Jesus shows up? Because we [snorts] learned this in John chapter 19. The

very final words of Jesus in Greek were it was this phrase to telly. Three words in English. It is finished. When Jesus said that it's the proclamation that the mission of God was fulfilled on the cross. He took your sin. It was finalized on the cross. Jesus did what needed to be done. It's over. You can't add to it. You don't need to be worried that it didn't work. You can be confident that what Jesus did was final. And when he's glorified, he didn't have to leave the holes in his hands or in his side. But he did it to display the work that he loves you so much that every time he's going to open up his arms in heaven to give you a hug, you could look at those holes and you could thank him one more time. You get the gift of eternal life because of Jesus.

And when he shows them the holes in his hands and the holes in his side, it's proof and point. It is finished. Your past is finished. Your sin is finished. Your shame is finished. Your guilt is finished. Death is finished. The devil is finished. It's all finished because of Jesus Christ. And we ought to be some glad people that we get to be a part of this. If he showed up to Mary Magdalene, a woman tormented by demons, he could show up to you. If he showed up to a a group of grown men who by all accounts should have had courage, should have been strong, but they were operating in the old flesh. Fear. If he shows up with them, then he can show up with you. Some of you are preaching the wrong messages to yourself. You're still thinking like

the old man. Listen, prior to Jesus dying on the cross, you probably should be worried about your sin. But I told you this several weeks ago when we came to that text in John 19, the sermon you should preach to yourself often is it is finished. When when you preach that to yourself, it's the finished work of Jesus. But if you start preaching, I'm a failure. I should have stood up and said something when nobody else said it. I should have opened that door, opened the windows. We should have prayed a little louder, guys. We should have told everybody, "Don't worry, he's not going to be dead. He's ris Jesus doesn't do that with them. Neither should you do it with yourself." You should look at the reality that when God shows up, he gets rid of the fear,

replaces it with peace. He shows you the proof of what he's done. He is alive and it changes everything. He just can't leave you the same. He doesn't just want you to have peace. Now he wants you to understand your purpose. Look at what Jesus does. He goes on and says this. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you. This is so freaking mindblowing. Do you understand? And Jesus did not come to this earth to establish a religion to say, "Hey, I want a holy huddle of people who are just like each other." That's what I want. This should be like a country club. As long as you look alike, you can go ahead and gather. That's not what he did. He doesn't say, "It's us four, no more, guys. Don't go tell anyone." It's the opposite. He

simply says, "As the father sent me, I am now sending you." And Jesus declared, "For God so loved the world," which means you're being sent to go do what he started. Now, what's mindblowing about this is this is this is what we would call a trinitarian mission. That our triune God sends us to fulfill what he created us to do from the beginning. This is I don't want to get theological if you're new to church and new to the Bible where it's like I I'm not sure what this means. What I mean by this is there's one God, not many. One God and three persons. One God and three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And from the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1, we see one God, three persons. From the beginning, we see the spirit hovering over the

waters. We see the word speaking all things into existence. And then God, he creates the heavens and the earth. But then he comes to the culmination prize of creation. And he says, "Let us make man in our image, one God in three persons. And now Jesus shows up resurrected and says, "As the father has sent the son, I am sending you." Now, do not be mistaken here. You're not the third part of the Trinity. Okay? We're going to get to that part in just a moment. But what I need you to see is the mindblowing reality that God is actually doing for us what he did himself. But you can't go out and be on mission with fear in your heart

because you're trying to give something away that you don't have. This is not random. This is the trinitarian mission of God. He is sending you here. Here it is. Verse 22. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." This is in historical theological terms called the missio day. That's just Latin for the mission of God. The mission of God is that you would believe in Jesus. And because you believe in Jesus the son, the father then sends the Holy Spirit. One God, three persons. This is this is where it's mind-blowing. Not so that you would keep living the same, but now you're sent out with power and with authority that what Jesus did, you get to do.

So just as Jesus cast out demons, you can cast out demons. Just as Jesus healed the sick, you can heal the sick. Be not mistaken. It's not you. These are just hands until the Holy Spirit gets involved. So, so when God gets involved in your life, now you're sent on the missio day, the mission of God. And you're not sent alone. Hallelujah. God never wanted you to live in isolation. He never wanted you to live locked up in fear, somehow thinking that that I've just made a failure of my life. No, God steps in. He speaks out that lie of fear. He replaces it with peace. Gives you the power of the person of God himself, the Holy Spirit, so that you would go live a life on purpose and let people know this good news is for you as well. You're sent the same way that Jesus was sent.

You get to display the gospel, the good news of God. And by the way, for all clarity, I'm not talking about pastors going who are sent. I'm not talking about paid staff who are sent. I'm talking about anybody who's believed in Jesus. You're now born again. You're a new creation. You're a minister of God. You're made in his image and you're sent forth on mission. And just as Paul told Timothy, for God did not give you a spirit of fear. So, so you got to remind yourself of that when it sneaks in and says, "Oh, but this got harder than I thought it was going to be." Well, that's because he gave you a spirit of power and of love and of self-control. I like how another translation says, "And a sound mind." Stop thinking like the world. Have sobriety. You got God on your side. If God is for us, who could be against us?

And so now we've got to recognize that if I'm going to be a part of this thing called Christianity or the church or whatever we want to call it, disciplem, this is not a well, let let's just come together. Let's come and hide. No, this is a go and tell message. Locked doors will not build the kingdom. Sent people do. It's not here on Sundays. It's when you leave on Sundays. Now, let's talk about something real obvious before we end our time here today. Anybody else think it's weird that Jesus breathed on them? Did he have a breath meant? Like what what was happening in this place? Why why did John note that he breathed on them? This is called creation language. The author is being very intentional just like he started the book off in John 1 vers1 saying in the beginning which takes us back literally to the

first line of the whole Bible takes us back to the Genesis origin of creation. John's now bringing us back at the end of this book that doesn't just stop with Jesus creating, but now we get to see this creation origin because when God made humankind, mankind in his image, he set us apart distinctly different. Everything else he spoke into existence and it looks alive. It's got a heartbeating. It's got lungs. And we could compare that to humans. Like, are apes the same as humans? Well, actually, the Bible says, "No, you're set apart differently because you're made in God's image." Genesis 2:7, "The Lord God formed the man out of the dust." Remember when Jesus spit into the dust? The DNA of God going out into the very thing he formed man from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of

life and the man became a living creature. Without breath we die. This is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, you spiritually die. This is symbolic here. God alone when he breathes out breathes life. Because when you breathe out, it's death. It It's carbon dioxide. Some Carrie, you're the smart one here. Which one is it? Dioxide. You breathe out as carbon dioxide, but you breathe in the oxygen. So good goes in, bad goes out. Jesus, good goes out, so the good goes in. Are you catching this? You believe in Jesus. Listen, he's not going to put

the burden of religion on you, the burden of dos and don'ts. He gives you the power of the Holy Spirit to do what you were created to do in Genesis 2:7, that you would operate under the authority of God's life in you. That's what he gives you. The Holy Spirit. This changes everything. The mission of God requires the spirit of God. We need the Holy Spirit. This is divine breath. This is the life he gives you. You cannot do the work of God without the spirit of God. You cannot overcome fear without the spirit of power, love, and self-control. You want to bear witness God, you need the spirit of God. Finally, of all the things that Jesus says you ought to do with the spirit of God, he says, "Receive the

Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." Of all the things Jesus could prioritize, he could have said, "Guys, I really want you to focus on feeding the poor. I I really want you to focus on clean drinking water for the world. I really want you to work on unity in the church." Here's what he focuses on. Forgiveness. This will be the thing that will stop you from experiencing the power of God in your life. It won't be poverty. It it won't be any other area. The one thing Jesus leaves with us is you need to start forgiving. And this is not something you can create. It's something you put into practice by the power of God himself. Forgiveness will flow from forgiven people. You understand you're forgiven, you start forgiving other people. If you do not forgive, you will die. It's a cancer.

You will always be afraid of what God's of of of what's not happened because of that fear. Some of you are holding on to unforgiveness of people who are dead. What good is that doing? It's only putting you in prison, not them. They're gone. The Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death." You will die if you don't take care of your sin. What did Jesus do on the cross? It is finished. You can't hold on to sin anymore when Jesus is there. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So gospel does not lead us to a better life. Gospel leads us from a dead life to new life in Jesus. So we declare forgiven people

become forgiving people. Fear will isolate you. Forgiveness reconciles you. Now lastly, I come to this last person that John chooses to zoom in on. Earlier in the chapter, it was Mary Magdalene. Now he focuses on Thomas. What's he often referred to as? Doubting Thomas. Some of us ought to call him honest Thomas. Here they are locked up in the room. One of the guys says, "I'm getting hungry." Thomas says, "I'll go get ice cream." All right. Thomas goes out to get a couple gallons of ice cream. While he's gone, Jesus shows up. He shows up. What did they tell Thomas? Thomas. Thomas. Thomas. Jesus was here. He is alive. We saw the holes.

He got rid of the fear. He gave us peace. He sends us on mission. You think Thomas was like, "This is amazing, guys." No. He says, "Wow, good for you. You can have your religion, your little crutch. If that's what you want to believe, then that's what you could believe. But until I touch those holes and put my whole hand in his side, I will never believe. This is when you know you're traumatized when you exaggerate everything. You always you never you'll always be you're taking the role of God because you're the judge now. And Thomas is like, I'm in charge and I'm telling you guys, if I wasn't there, it didn't happen. I don't want to believe it. Now, I this this was my epiphany this week.

Notice that Jesus did not show up in Thomas's tantrum. That's really deep if you let it be deep. Okay? Jesus did not show up in Thomas's tantrum. Okay? Be a little relentlessly real with your heart. If you have a tantrum to God and you tell him what to do, he's probably not going to show up. I'm not going to tell you what God's going to do, but he didn't show up when Thomas had a tantrum, which was self-reflection in the mirror for me. Listen, bro. You're gonna leave yourself locked in a prison of fear and have your little tantrum. The glory of God's not going to show up. Eight days later, John notes eight days later. I don't know if it's been eight days for you or maybe it's taken eight years, 18 years. I I don't know how long it took you to humble yourself, but it seems like Tom

Thomas finally humbled himself. Jesus shows up and what does he do once again? He does not lecture. He does not leave Thomas in that place. He simply meets him in his honest doubt and says, "See the holes." And Thomas gives one of the strongest proclamations of Jesus as Lord. He says, "My Lord and my God." That's a confession. That's what it means to believe in Jesus. I don't treat you as a good person or a good teacher. You're not just this guy that died on the cross. You You're my God. You loved me at my worst. You didn't hold my past against me. You didn't hold my failures again. You're my Lord, my God. And today, I want to give you that opportunity to believe because

Jesus says to all of us who are here today, blessed are those who have not seen and have yet have believed. This word is for you. The whole point of this book is that you would believe. Not just to learn about Jesus, but believe Jesus. So, here's the journey of this text. This is what we've learned today. In Jesus, fear turns into peace. Your locked doors of your own hearts actually now are sent out on mission. Because you have God's breath, which we know is his Holy Spirit, you are empowered. You no longer are defined by sin. For you are forgiven and you forgive others.

Even if you've had doubt, this is your day to believe. Doubt turns into belief with Jesus. [music] He takes dead things and makes them alive. Even if you're one of those, I will never go to church. I will never be a Christian. I will ne God loves those challenges. Now, you just simply have to say, "My Lord, my God, that's you, Jesus." I want to do something just bold with the very short time we have together. And in fact, I will invite the whole band up here because I I want us just to sing about the Holy Spirit briefly before we leave. If you've never believed in Jesus, you've wandered from Jesus, you have fear in your life, and you want to replace it with peace, I want to give you an opportunity to do that right now. Just simply two words I'm going to ask you to say out of your

mouth that will change everything. You may not always feel it. You may not always see it. But you need to be faithful. You need to be bold. You need to be courageous in this moment. If you're here today and you showed up with any fear, you're going to leave that fear right here. And you're going to leave now in peace, empowered by the Holy Spirit. God says that once you believe in Jesus, you're now sealed with the Holy Spirit. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Not even death. For the Bible says when you have Jesus, you don't die. You actually just start living. You get glorified. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. [music] So if you're here today and you want to leave your fear here and you want to receive Jesus, you want to believe in Jesus, would you just proclaim out loud loudly, just so I could celebrate with you today, just just shout, "I believe." I believe. Hallelujah.

I'm wondering if if if if this is your first time, maybe that was just a little bit weird, but you're going to muster up and say, "From this day forward, I'm going to follow Jesus." It's not too late. I want you to shout it out if you didn't shout it out. Praise [music] God. Anyone else? Anyone else? Right. Right where you are, you could throw up your fist. Throw up your hand. I believe. Praise God. Praise God. Listen, you have to remind yourself of this because your fear is real. The world is full of things that you could fear. But my God is greater. My Lord is greater. He's empowered me with the Holy Spirit that I can do what I can never do on my own. forgive. I can forgive. I'm not gonna hold on. I'm gonna forgive there. There's no room for that in my heart. I want peace. I want

power because he sent me and he sends [music]