Behold Me, Handle Me - Luke 24:36-39 — Luke 24

0:01 Last year, y'all were much more civil to me. I think it was in the forties and fifties. The sun was shining. There was joy and happiness, at least it seemed. I left home on Friday.

0:17 It was 78 degrees. By the time I arrived in this forsaken winterland, oh my cow and then we're on our way to Iowa and I think the high is going to be 19 and the low is going to be one. I'm not sure there's going to be survival. This maybe my last visit with y'all. So, yeah.

0:43 Do want to make an announcement. You know that we operate Augusta Counseling Ministry which is an non profit counseling ministry dedicated to the work of the gospel and supporting Christians and assembly ministries. We are having a counseling conference down in Tennessee in March, March the eighteenth to the twentieth at Fairhaven Ministries. If you go to the website, augustacounselingministry.com, you can see how you can register if you'd like to join us at that conference. It'll be Tammy will be leading part of it and Paul Rabideau from Mountain New Jersey will be leading the other session but would like to invite you to that if you can come.

1:32 Now, there is one minor problem that I I have to adjust. So, please forgive me as I left my sword back here. I'm sitting there standing up singing these wonderful old songs that we don't get to sing back home and I left what was most important back there. Have you ever struggled? I mean, maybe y'all don't struggle here.

2:07 I'm not sure. It's been a rough month and a half for the Hollingsworths. And I'm not gonna express all of those issues. But in December, both of my children informed me that they were not coming home. Now for a daddy who loves his kids, that was a hard thing.

2:35 They wouldn't... You know, they're one's getting a job, one's gonna go to grad school, it is what it is. They're not coming home. And December, as you can see, my wife has really started to physically move in a direction that none of us are pleased with. It is what it is.

2:56 She has pulmonary fibrosis. And over the last course of the last six months, she's lost about 50 or 60 pounds. And it's a harsh and unsettling reality to stare at the one that you love and not be able to do anything about it. You know, and so you you you that's just a frustrating thing. Then, I raised cows.

3:26 Now, y'all don't do that here at Westlake. I know of nobody that has a farm in this general vicinity, but I raise cows. Well, the wintertime is pretty bad. Now, I know we don't have winter like you do, but when cows have to go from 15 degrees at night, which we can get to, up to 80 degrees, it does really bad things to their respiratory system. So over the course of the last month and a half, I've lost 15,000 to $20,000 worth of animals.

3:55 Just just business wise, that's not how you want to function. That didn't stop my work. It didn't stop the, you know, all that but it was what it was. And then worst of all, on December 27, the first day of the believers conference down in Charlotte, North Carolina. I got news from young man back home.

4:27 He called and said, what was my dad supposed to do on the farm? I'd hired I got a I got a lot of real close ties to the Mennonite community around us. The man named Floyd Heatwell was my buddy. He just, we did everything together. He saved me.

4:44 He was my safety blanket. I'm mechanically inept. I I run a farm. I need help. He's was always, he was my my just my friend.

4:56 I'd seen him on that Friday. He pulled into my driveway at the farm and he wanted me to tell him what what he needed to do because I hired him when I went out of town to preach or whatnot and we had a great laugh, wonderful smile as he backed out of the driveway, laughing at some old joke that we shared between us. Went off to the conference. Next morning, got a phone call, said, what what what did my dad need to do? He's in the hospital.

5:28 And it was his son. And his son was telling me, well, it's just a little... We we we're not sure. It doesn't seem to be that serious. Two hours later, I get a call from another buddy in the community and he says, he's on life support.

5:42 They're gonna fly him to Atlanta. I get a call two hours later from another buddy. He's too unstable to go, and two hours later, he was dead. That was a crushing blow to me. And I know many of you have undergone those types of crushing losses over the last year.

7:13 When we see what we read in in Luke chapter 24, I'm not going to steal somebody's thunder. I know somebody will be in Luke here shortly chapter 24 but I want us to read this little passage as an introduction to our subject matter today but also read in verse 36 of Luke 24. And it says these words and as they spoke or as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said unto them, peace be unto you but they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit and he said to them, why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet that is I myself handle me and see for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have. What's the situation?

8:14 The situation is in the Sunday It's after he has the lord Jesus has died. He's been buried as he's rose been risen again. He's he's come back to life but the disciples have not seen him yet. He's just been on the road with the the two to Emmaus and he comes and he appears. Thomas is not with them.

8:40 They are completely and utterly terrified. Why? Because they had spent the last three years with the one that they had triumphantly proclaimed the son of god. Remember, Cesariah, Philippi, remember Peter saying, you are the son of god. All of their dreams, all of their aspirations, everything that they had invested in for three years.

9:06 They had seen nailed to a wooden cross. They had seen him. John was at the very foot of the cross with Mary watching him die. They had seen him buried in a tomb, the stone rolled, and they were completely and utterly dejected. Notice what the lord says to them.

9:29 He says to them, why are you troubled? And why do and in in my version, it says, thoughts, the the idea is why do doubts arise in your heart? Why the doubts arise? These are the very same men who saw miracles, who saw Lazarus raised from the dead, who had heard the words of Jesus but they were consumed with doubt. They were consumed with the reality that they could see and feel.

10:05 And Jesus appears to them and says, behold, me. Behold my hands. Behold my feet. See. See.

10:19 When we look at this, the word for behold has this idea of pursuing or seeing with the eyes of the mind. It extends beyond just physical sight. It goes to the mental perception and understanding. It often implies in the New Testament, a deeper, deeper knowledge or awareness. That word handle is to literally manipulate with the hands.

10:50 How many of you been to the doctor? Everybody been to the doctor? Okay. Pretty much all of us have been to the doctor. Even you young bucks who go to get your physical, right?

11:01 What does the doctor do? He takes a little rubber handle, rubber hammer, and he hits you on the knee, right? To check your reflexes or he might take you and and and check your sockets or your joints but he takes his hands and he handles. The lord Jesus says to the disciples, you must see. Why do these doubts arise?

11:24 Here I am. Here I am. Handle me. See me. Look at me.

11:41 We do not have that privilege today. Now, the lord Jesus is here with us right now. If his word is true and we believe his word to be true, where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them. So the lord Jesus is here right now. But how can we how can we behold him?

12:46 I don't know where your life is. I don't know if you're in the face of of crushing disappointment whether it be physical illness, death, or loss of a loved one. I don't know if you yourself are physically suffering an ailment, battling cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, whatever it is that you're dealing with. I I don't know where you are But I do know as a human being, there will be days that you rise up in the morning and you will lose sight of who he is. And when you lose sight of who he is, then that causes you to look at the waves.

13:26 And it be causes you to begin to sink. And I'm just going to encourage you this week. Whether it's just for this week, whether you remember this or don't remember this. I hope that this week, you will behold him. You will see what the scriptures have to say about him and we only have to turn one chapter over.

13:46 Turn if you would to John chapter one and we're going to look at six things. Six revealed facts about the lord Jesus. But before we go there, I'd like to go to the lord in prayer and ask him for help in the rest of this message. Dear heavenly father, we just ask you. We ask you to help us to uplift your son through the proclamation of your word.

14:10 We ask that he be glorified. We ask that your people be encouraged and that this week, as they live their daily lives and whatever situation they find themselves, that they will see him, that they will behold him, that they will understand more of him through the remembrance of what your word has to say to them today. Help us, we pray, to honor your son. Thank you for how he honored you and made it possible for us to be your children. We praise you in his precious name.

14:42 Amen. Six revealed truths to bug... Behold regarding the lord Jesus in John one. Now, let's get this straight. Each one of these points could be a sermon itself.

14:55 Okay? So, I cannot go over these as deeply as I would like to. This is something where maybe you will decide to look at this more deeply over the coming weeks yourself but I want us to look at these six revealed truths. Number one, he's the logos. Number two, he is the exact likeness of the father.

15:11 Number three, he is the lord of creation. Number four, he's the life and light of the world. Number five, he is the lamb of god and number six, he is the legal entry into the family of God. We see all of these things in John chapter one, and we hope that you will be encouraged today as you reflect more deeply on these aspects of the lord Jesus. Now, the first one is logos.

15:40 Now, this is a Greek word and I am not a Greek scholar. I'm pretty decent at the English language. Every other foreign tongue is, well, foreign. I'm not very good. I took French.

15:53 It was awful. You have this accent and French people are snobby anyway and I talk too slow. So it just didn't really work out for me in the foreign language field. My son's pretty good at Greek. He's on his third year of it but I do know this.

16:11 Logos means word. It was a common phrase used in Greek and both Hebrews uses as well. The Israelites used it in their wisdom literature. The it directly means speaking a message or words. And the simplest, most direct definition that I could find comes from a friend.

16:36 I think he's been to the assembly here before mister Warren Henderson. The lord Jesus was a living message sojourning on Earth. He was both the message and the messenger of god. When you read in John chapter one, you read these words. In the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god.

16:56 The same was in the beginning with god. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the light was the light of men and the light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from god whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.

17:20 He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh to the world. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came into his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of the...

17:46 Of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. John bear witness of him and cried saying, this was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace.

18:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. What was the lord Jesus? Who was the lord Jesus?

18:37 When you examine him, when you behold him, when you take time this week drinking a cup of coffee or sitting down to a hamburger or thinking about life as you're driving down the turnpike. Who was the Lord Jesus? First of all, he was the direct message of the father. He was the declared word of the father to fallen mankind. When we think about the Lord Jesus, we need to see that the father and the son and the spirit working in eternal unity within the godhead.

19:17 Specifically sent to this world, the lord Jesus. Now, I cannot explain to you eternality. Not smart enough for that, but I am smart enough to tell you that I can't do it. Cannot explain to you perfectly the Trinity. But I can tell you that that's what the Bible teaches.

19:41 And together, the Father and the Son in eternity past joined together in fellowship denoting that Jesus would be the message that would be sent. Now, when did he get the name the lord Jesus? He got that when he was born, right? He he he has eternally been the son. He's eternally been god.

20:08 And that's what this passage tells us. The word became flesh in verse 14, I. E, Jesus is god incarnated. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. But what does the first verse say?

20:23 In the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god. So, when you think about the lord Jesus this week, the first thing you should think about is his deity. He is god. He is the one sent from the father to declare the father to humanity. In verse 18, it tells us that Jesus declares the father.

20:49 That word means to unfold. No man has seen the father at any time. Now, we know that it tells us that that Moses saw the backside of him and we know that Isaiah saw in in in Isaiah six but what this means is fully comprehended. And viewed and seen the full holiness of of the father. Nobody's at the lord's supper this morning, I thought y'all were going to steal my message.

21:18 You know, gets up and talks about grace and and how the and then the next one gets up and starts talking about you know, the attributes of the lord Jesus and and so, you know, the point is this, Jesus Christ unfolds for us who the father is. What are the disciples say in John 14? Show us the father. Show us the father. Jesus says, you see me.

21:51 You see me. It is incredibly hard for me as a human being to look at the father in my mind's eye as spirit. And to grasp his love and his grace and his mercy. You know what's not hard for me to see? The lord Jesus as the humble shepherd, the humble lamb, the humble man of Israel taking upon himself.

22:23 Now, I don't understand it. Why he would do that for me? But we can see the lord Jesus and his grace and his kindness and his gentleness and his mercy and when we see that, we see the father. If you go over to Hebrews chapter one and you don't need to turn there but I I'll read it for you. In verse one, it says, god who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

23:42 You don't need to turn but if you want to, it's Colossians one verses fifteen and sixteen. We read these words, who is the image of the invisible god, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. If you remember in Hebrews, which you just read, we saw that he is the express image of the father.

24:23 Now, this is a quote from a commentator that he is one who has the whole nature of god in him. As he is eternal son and declares and represents in a most conspicuous manner, the divine properties to our faith and contemplation as incarnate. Whatever the father is, is exhibited in the son as the seal in a stamp on wax. What's your name, young man? Bill?

24:57 Phil. Phil. Did you come here? What's that?

25:05 A quarter?

25:06 What's on the front of the quarter?

25:10 A face, George Washington.

25:12 Oh, good. It is President's Day coming up. So you wanna know George Washington. You can forget the other guy. But George Washington, you wanna you wanna know.

25:21 Where do... How do we make these? Do you know how we make these?

25:25 You just basically get the well, you get the ingredients of like the metal and melt it and then stamp it.

25:32 There you go. Exactly. Great job. Thank you, Phil. You want the quarter?

25:37 Have a quarter. That way you you'll remind, you'll be reminded that until you find a piece of candy you want to buy with it or you drop it. What's the point of this? When we think about the lord, Jesus, he is the message of god but he is the exact likeness, the express image. If you take a quarter, every quarter that you have, what does it look like?

26:01 It looks exactly like the stamp. Exactly like the stamp that minted that quarter. Just like in the old days where the the royals, the kings had their own stamp and they would seal their letters with that stamp in in hot wax. What did the stamp? What did the wax imprint have?

26:25 It had the imprint of the seal and so when we look at the lord Jesus, we must remember that he has the exact likeness. He reveals to us as the word, as the message, who the father is. In verse 14, it tells us that he is glorious. So also is the father. What is the lord Jesus is coming reveal about the father?

26:48 That he is full of grace and truth. We have this conception. We read the Old Testament and we see the destruction that is wrought by the god of Israel and we have this idea that there's a different god in the Old Testament than there is in the New. No, there's not. No, there's not.

27:07 We don't understand how god worked in the Old Testament. It doesn't go with our American sensibilities. It's one of those things where we we go. How how you kill all the all the children? All the you understand when you look at that and we so we have this.

27:26 No, god had a reason for that. The judgment of wickedness, we don't understand wickedness for what wickedness is. But the point of the matter is, when we see the father through the son, the son reveals to us because he is in the exact likeness, the exact representation of the father that the father is full of grace and truth. We also know that John in two in two multiple places, but two that you that you know of very quickly. John three sixteen, what does it say?

28:00 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. The message, the logos, the Lord Jesus expressing that god is love. First John chapter four tells us what? It tells us that in this was the love of the father manifested. In that, he sent his owns.

28:28 When we see the Lord Jesus, full of grace, full of truth, glorious, and full of love, that is the Father. That is the Father. So when you think of Him this week, when you reflect on the Lord Jesus, when you behold him, when you see him with your mind's eye, remember that he is the message of the father, reflecting perfectly who the father is. And part of that is his love for you. The third point, do we forget this?

29:27 Genesis chapter one, right? And what does it said? And the lord spoke. The lord spoke. The lord spoke.

29:34 The lord spoke, right? He created by the word. Who was the one speaking? It was the eternal son. When we think of the lord Jesus, we must stop and for one second, look out the window of your car.

29:54 Look out the window of your house. Look up into the skies. Marvel at the expanse of the universe and think for a second, oh my. What hath the lord Jesus wrought? Look at the tapestry.

30:13 Look at what he has done with the word of his mouth. Why do doubts arise in your hearts? When we stop to think that god the father loved us enough to send the direct message of his son who declared to us the exact likeness of the heavenly father in his person, in his actions, and that person who declares that is the very one who with his mouth created everything. Understand the power. Understand the power of our Lord Jesus.

30:59 John is helping us understand creation. The creative speech of god described in Genesis chapter one was not simply a sound. It was not waves. It was a person. The lord Jesus himself Creating.

31:17 The entire created order has a personal, not an impersonal foundation. What brought into being was not a temporal force but god's eternal son. Folks, do you understand that the god of the universe is an actual person who actually spoke the worlds into existence and so therefore, you are not the product of some force? This world would be so much better off. People would look in the mirror so much more differently.

31:43 If they grasp this that the lord Jesus loves them and knew exactly what he was doing when he created this Earth and your place within it. Why is our world so bent on its own destruction? Because they believe that they are accidental creations and that the only thing that can possibly bring meaning to their lives is somehow escape this. We have the Lord Jesus. The knowledge of him as the creator.

32:25 And it should help us when we have those moments of doubt that arise. Remember Job? We don't have time to go there. Job was almost perfect. All of us have gone through struggles, right?

32:38 Job had to struggle to the tenth power. You know, whenever day, you know, my litany of terrible things in the last month, right? Go look at what Job went through. All of his kids dead. All of his stuff gone.

32:53 He had a wife that technically we can really say was nagging. Okay? She's told him to curse god and die. His friends and he still maintained his integrity but he got an argument with god. He got an argument with god and he argues with god multiple places over the course of the book of Job and I personally understand why he would do that because as a, you know, wow.

33:16 What is he got? But what is god finally say to him? He says, where were you? When I laid the foundations of the earth And then he for three chapters, god just lays down the the wood, the hammer, right? Back home, we'd say, he he took Job to the woodshed.

33:41 I know we live in a kinder, gentler world But my mama was proficient with a peach switch. Okay? And she made us cut them. She is a cruel, cruel woman. Now my mama my mama's nickname was Smiley.

33:57 She but she could whip. Whoo. Mercy. Yes. What is what is what is the lord do to Job?

34:04 He says, this is reality and you don't see it and what is Job's response? I abhor myself and I repent. When you and I struggle with doubt because we don't think god has the power to help us in whatever situation that we're in, just be reminded that that Lord Jesus who cares for you. That Lord Jesus who gave himself for you. That Lord Jesus who is the message of the father.

34:32 That Lord Jesus who is the likeness of the father. That Lord Jesus is the one that spoke the worlds into existence. That lord Jesus was there at the beginning. Remember his power as lord of creation. Not only was he lord of creation in John one, we see that he is life and light.

35:12 If we look down, eternal life was manifested or made visible in the life of Jesus. You go to first John one two, John fourteen six. We don't have time to go to those but I am the way, the truth, and the life. The lord Jesus is the center of life. He's also the one who is the emanator of life.

35:35 He's not luminous like the moon. He's not something where the the light is shined off the moon. He is in himself light. We read this in in John chapter eight in verse 12. Very famous little passage.

35:50 Then spake Jesus unto them saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. If you're going through a dark, difficult, troublesome period. Maybe yours dejected as the disciples were after the loss of the lord Jesus or the apparent loss of the lord Jesus. Take a step back.

36:17 Behold him. Behold him as the light. Behold him as the one that is the revealer of the steps that you should take, the place that you should be, the revealer of the truths of his word. Six times in this passage, that word light is used in five verses. You think the lord wants you to know that he is light?

36:54 My wife, it was pretty funny. We spent some time in... I went to school in Chicago, and I went to school in Kentucky. And there's a difference in wintertime above the a certain level. You just need to understand it.

37:13 And we we woke up in Palkersburg yesterday morning, and she... I looked out the window and she said, what does it look like? And my response was, the North. I mean, it was just, it just the the north and I don't mean that in a but there's just something about what you get to a certain level where it's gray and it's dark. All the time from about November to June.

37:42 You know, it's just like it's like Mordor in in in the in all the Lord of the Rings, you just kind of and so when I said that to her, she just kind of, oh, because she, we'd lived in places where it was, do you, does your life ever feel like you're just? It's dark. It's oppression. You need. Guess what?

38:04 Behold him. Look at him. See him. Turn to him. Alright, we gotta fly.

38:12 Let's go to the next one. You know, the creator that we're just talking about? The one that spoke the worlds into existence? The message of god, the messenger of god, the exact representation of the father in flesh, that god that we've been talking about, that same very one is the lamb of god. In verse 29 of John chapter one, it tells us the next day John seeing Jesus coming unto him, say it to him, behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

38:40 Then 36, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he say it, behold the lamb of God. Do you understand how much you are loved? Do I understand how much I'm loved? The very one who holds the worlds together by the power of his very words, his voice. The very one who spoke the worlds into existence.

39:02 The very one who knows your exact name came to this earth as the sacrificial lamb to save you. The lamb of god. What does he do? To take away the sins of the world. Folks, we are the sin of the world.

39:26 In the very person, the very message of the father. The very creator of the universe this one had and has the capability of taking upon himself all of the sin of humanity combined. That includes yours. We get so trapped in the mountain of our own guilt, in the mountain of our own shame, and yes, we should be ashamed of sin. Don't don't misunderstand but we get burdened down.

40:10 We get pressed down. We drown in it. When we actually look at the lord Jesus, we behold him. We behold the wounds in his hands. They're marked for us.

40:25 That lamb of god loves you and he loves me and he says, behold me. See, me. It's a different word in Revelation chapter five six but behold, the lamb of god who was worthy to open the seals is a little lamb but what's the picture there? Of him slain. Of him slain.

40:50 The lord of creation loved you and me enough to become the lamb of god to bear away our sins in his own body on the tree. I don't know about you but that's a hallelujah amen type of thought. I realize our tradition, we don't do that sort of thing. So, I'm not I'm not upset by that but if you're not saved in your heart, then, where are you? Why are you here?

41:39 The right to become what? The children of God. Do you under... The God of the universe, the creator God, the lamb of God, he didn't just come to die as some kind of representative. He came to die so that people like you and me oppressed by sin, oppressed by guilt, oppressed by disease, oppressed by all that comes with being in the fallen world.

42:00 He came so that we might have the right to be his children. I don't know if you struggle with self esteem I mean, when you've got a body like this, I mean, you have vision so perfect that you need six inch glasses. You know, you don't get invited to speak at conference. You get to clean up before conferences. You know, every time I come here, y'all got some big conference.

42:30 I'm so glad because somebody good is coming behind me but the the the point, you know what I'm saying? You have all of these, you have all of these the god of the universe loves you. He loves you and he wants you and his family. He wants you. You might convince yourself in the mirror how great you are sometimes but you're also the first one in the mirror that says, oh my word.

42:56 Oh my word. That god wants you and his family. We don't have time to go into all of this. But you, through the Lord Jesus, can be adopted as a son or daughter of the creator God. Man, that's exciting stuff.

43:19 So, application. Don't have time to go there. You go to John chapter 20. Look at John chapter 20. Thomas is with them.

43:29 Thomas is with them and what had the disciples been doing for the week? They have seen the lord Jesus. So, if you look at the words, the disciples they have seen, they have stared at, they have discerned physically and mentally, the lord Jesus. The word said there is an imperfect tense which means they said over and over. Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas.

43:50 We have seen him. We've beheld him. We know he is alive. And Thomas says, no. I'm not going to believe until I can do this.

43:58 I can put my fingerprints in his hand. You see the difference between the disciples and the first one where they beheld him, they saw him, they were dejected, they were morose, they were completely torn... Bowed under. In the week's time, what are they saying over and over and over again? He's alive.

44:20 He's alive. They were changed. What was Thomas? Thomas was changed but he had to actually physically see the Lord. What does the Lord proclaim a blessing on those who believe though they have not seen?

44:39 You and I cannot physically see the Lord Jesus right now unless he comes back to take us home. But we can through the scriptures behold him. We can see him. We can see the message that he is from God. We can see that he is the exact representation of the father.

44:56 We can see that he is the lord of creator and in lord in creation and he he is the one who did this for us. He is the life. He is the light. He points to salvation. That salvation is himself.

45:09 As the lamb of god who took away our sins and he wants you to be in his family. If we behold him in any of these ways this week, we should walk excitedly as children of god. That leaves us with a a decision. If you're here today and you know the lord Jesus as your savior, you are a child of god. What did Jesus say to Thomas?

45:49 You Are going to be believing? But if you're here this morning, you don't know the lord Jesus as your savior. Let me just tell you, you've been warned. I don't mean warned. You have had him exposed to you from his word.

46:03 What are you going to do with him? What are you going to do with him? If you don't know him as your savior, come to know him. The god of the universe loves you. He declares his love to you in the person of his son.

46:16 The person of his son took on human flesh. And in that flesh, he took on himself all of your sin He loves you and wants you to be part of the family. Come to him today if you don't know him. Dearly father, we just ask you to help us to love your son as we should. Help us to see him this week.

46:35 Help us to behold him. Help our minds to not be disquieted because we have a wrong or imperfect or a vision of your son and and looking at your son that is less than than full and mature. Help us to see him for who he is this week. Thank you, lord Jesus. Thank you, lord Jesus, for loving folks like us.

46:58 We praise you and we pray these things in your precious name. Amen.