Impact Week Eight

Review

Last week we talked about Noah. God saw Noah as the last righteous man on the face of the earth. God had become fed up with mankind and decided to start over with Noah and his family. So he told Noah to build a huge ship in which he, his family, and two of every living creature could survive a world-wide flood. Prior to the flood, in those days, it didn’t rain. But Noah wasn’t put off by what God said – he simply obeyed what God commanded him to do.

We are the Noah’s of our days. God is constantly looking into the hearts of men, looking for righteous people who will do his will – people He can use. The fact is, no matter how many people call themselves Christians, not every heart is completely His. God will never use nature to destroy the earth in the nature He did that day – but mankind isn’t much better than it was in Noah’s time. We must stand above that, listen to God’s heartbeat, and unflinchingly answer the call no matter how ridiculous it appears to us or those around us.

Background

Let’s fast forward to the New Testament. It’s about 31 A.D. Jesus has been to the cross, the grave, and now He has risen. He’s since appeared to Mary Magdalen and several of the disciples. But he’s saved his visit to Thomas. Poor Thomas. He’ll forever be held in history as “Doubting Thomas”. There’s a story behind that or so I hear.

Reading: John 20:24-31

End

Can you imagine being Thomas in that moment? How small would you feel after hearing that from Jesus? In a fraction of a second, all your doubts would be swept away, sure. But then there’s mud on your face for being so dumb and not accepting the testimony of the others. Not even just them, but Jesus Himself! Remember when Jesus told His disciples (including Thomas) that He would have to die and rise again?

John 16:16 "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me."

Follow that passage a little bit further and you’ll see that although they didn’t understand what He said immediately, Jesus brought it down to a level they could figure out.

It’s not like Jesus hadn’t told Thomas He would rise again; yet Thomas was a realist. He didn’t believe in rosy fairy tales. “It isn’t true unless I can see it and feel it,” he must have thought. Make no mistake: the idea that a man could die and raise himself from the dead was and is impossible. No mortal man is capable on his own of accomplishing the task. But Jesus is not only a mortal man, he also is 100% God.

Put yourself in Thomas’ shoes for a moment. You’ve seen Christ do amazing things. He’s healed countless people, controlled the weather, fed thousands upon thousands with a handful of fish and bread, and even raised a man from the dead (that would be Lazarus). But do you think this man who claimed to be the Son of God could die (there’s no question that Jesus died; a soldier thrust a spear into his side, causing blood and water to spill, something that doesn’t happen unless the heart is ruptured) and raise Himself from the dead? We know he could because we’ve read about it; but the notion to Thomas must have been ridiculous. He needed proof.

We are not so unlike Thomas. When’s the last time you found yourself in difficult circumstances? I know I have doubted God at times. I went through a period of time in my life a few years ago where I just couldn’t land a job. Guys, I did everything I knew how to do. I prayed. I was on my face at times. I tithed every cent I came in contact with.

At some point, someone paid my way to a healing conference down in Ontario. I went down with my friend, and guess what? On the way, his van broke down on the freeway! He wasn’t exactly mister money bags either at the time. I think he was in debt on top of that. We managed to get pulled over to the side of the freeway and some tow truck service put on by the metro system in L.A. picked us up and took us to an auto repair shop.

We left the van there to be worked on. But instead of giving up and trying to find a way home to Ventura, we persevered through it and went to the three day conference. It was nuts. I didn’t know how it would work, but George had some family in the area, so we stayed with them. It was at that conference that I finally figured out what faith and belief are.

You can do all the right things, you can go through motions, as I did with my prayers and tithing. There’s nothing wrong with those things, and in fact, God commands it. But when it comes down to it, you can’t work your way into God’s favor. I was looking for a way to a job. God made sure I woke up that weekend and put my heart in the right place. When I got home, there was a message on my answering machine for a job at Century Theatres that I had applied for months ago, without so much as a thought that it would ever work out. In the end, I worked there for two years.

It’s difficult to put your trust in God, even for things that seem minuscule. In the face of a resurrection, it shouldn’t be unbelievable. What do you face that makes you doubt God or His ability to address the issue? Don’t forget that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you! The mountains in your life don’t stand a chance in the face of an Almighty God. Do you need to see it before you believe it? Take this with you today: John 20:29b “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Memory Verse: Romans 8:11

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”