What happened after the Resurrection


The women saw empty tomb
Jesus spoke to Mary Magdalene
Jesus spoke to those on Eramaus road
Jesus appeared to the Apostles.
Jesus taught them all from the OT that pointed to Him as the resurrected Messiah.
But...


Let's look at this part that many miss: 
John 20:19-29
The Apostles havent seen Jesus for 8 days. They were hiding and scared of the officials coming to kill them too, so they hid in a locked room. 

All of a sudden...Jesus walks thru a wall and showed up in the middle of the locked room where the Apostles were, but Thomas was missing. Jesus in his resurrected eternal body... was able to walk thru a wall and to eat food. He ate a bit of fish. 

What was the first thing Jesus said when they saw Him in the room? 
Peace be with you. Why? They were freaked out. Then He said it again,Peace be with you, since they rejoiced! And, realized the magnitude of the amazing fact of what they saw... the Resurrected Messiah. The one they loved was alive, was the Messiah, ...was God. That He is physically bodily resurrected. Jesus calmed them down.

Thomas wasnt in that room with the rest of the Apostles. God always has everyone where they need to be. Thomas didnt see Jesus till another time. There was a reason... so he would proclaim My Lord and my God. So those who read the Scriptures would understand this and give us joy and at the same time glorify God. 

What was Jesus first sermon after the resurrection? It was here in the room with the Apostles...
Jesus calmed them down because he had something important to tell them. It is a mandate and articulation of the Great Commission. John 20:20 His sermon and commission: 
1. "I am sending you into the world, as the Father has sent me." It is an evangelistic purpose to bring the message of salvation. That is our mission in this Christian life. 

2. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit."
We live a transformed life by God, and we let our light shine and glorify God in Heaven as we preach the Gospel and do good works. It is connected together for the purpose to reach souls. God cant do this through us unless we are born again. 

This is a great task for every transformed/redeemed individual. And our purpose in this world; as Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit and did His ministry, we now have the Spirit and we too go and follow as Jesus did his ministry. We are experiential witnesses of Christ and the Gospel, and are commanded and commissioned to go bring this to the world. The Holy Spirit guides us and gives us the things to say. 

3. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

This is to all believers. As Peter explains we are to proclaim everyone who believes in Jesus their sins are forgiven by God. And those who reject Him are not forgiven. It is a truthful general basic fact about salvation. 

We can easily say this, as the messenger, under the authority of God, as the Scriptures proclaim. We redeemed ones; born again Christians go in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We preach the message of forgiveness of sins through Jesus; offered free from God based on repentance and faith in Christ. It is that simple. 


Q: How do you evangelize someone? 
A: Go to the heart of forgiveness.
* When you tell about sin, judgment and Hell. 
*They'll understand why Jesus is the solution to the problem they have. 
One way you can do this is in chit chat when you meet strangers. When you discuss jobs you can say, 
"I have a great job, i tell people all their sins can be forgiven if they repent and trust in Christ, are you interested?" 
Or ask if they think they are a good person. 
Or ask what their spiritual background is and swing to the gospel. 
At the end, theyll see not only that they need to grab and grasp at that free gift of salvation in Christ today, but that they can obtain it right that second. It is immediate. It doesnt take months or years to get saved, it is available right then right there - immediately. 


Thomas missed that first sermon of Jesus.  It is a bad thing to not be in the Church Service. He heard from the Apostles but he doesnt buy it, because he hasnt seen nor heard what these 10 had in the room with Jesus. He didn't see or hear from Jesus for another 8 days. But we see, noted above, why he missed the original gathering. God had a reason, for that revelation and for it to be written in Scripture for us to grasp and believe. 

Thomas became a believer. 
We today believe the record of Scripture, and believe it because the Spirit gave us faith in Christ and faith in the Scriptures. We were lead by Divine Power into believing the Bible, and we walk by faith not sight. God has transformed us, and this is only explained by the new birth. 

John writes the Gospel of John, and tells us as an eye witness, that he 1. wants us to believe based on the evidence. Our faith isnt blind. It is based on evidence and history of historical facts. And 2. in believing we have Life in Jesus name. There is no other name nor redeemer nor way to God nor way to Heaven, nor anyone to reconcile us to God. The only source to escape judgment of your sins and recieve eternal life is Jesus. Jesus is the only exclusive way. John and Scripture in NT and overall reveals this. 

There is no other true God, Savior, Gospel or Word of God than the one revealed in the Bible. So it is critically important that God gives us that evidence and that it appeals to our reason to lead us to that conclusion, and because of that conviction, our faith takes us to Christ for salvation. 



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