Friday 4/25/14 Seeing Jesus 3

Praise God, Praise God, Praise God.  Dolores is home, all glory and honor to God!!

Dear Father in Heaven: I love You, and I ask You please forgive me of my sins.  Thanks for the talents that You put on loan to doctors, nurses, and all those who had their hands upon Dolores, however, all honor and glory goes to You.  Thanks for healing her.  Lord, please touch her hands as she readies for Sunday service.  Lord, thanks for bringing Tiffney through her tests the other day.  Thanks for watching over this line.  Thanks for touching my legs last night, dear Lord.  Please, Lord, help Vicki.  Be with Patsy and Burt, Barbara, and the others whose names escape me right now, Lord.  Please  help me with the daily message, and then, Lord, please help me to dispatch it.  I do love You.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Brothers and sisters, Dolores is home.  Praise God, the infection did not get into her blood.  I am happy she is home, she is happy she is home, and our dogs and cats are happy she is home.  Many thanks to those who prayed, who called, who wanted to come and help.  Without our Christian Family, which includes our family members who are saved, how would we ever get along?  Some of our dogs did not want to eat, so I had to eat their share just to keep them going.  Anyway, thanks again to all of you, however, we will give all the honor and glory to God.  Amen.

Now I really do need to get to the message, Seeing Jesus.

Friday:  April 25, 2014, Seeing Jesus (Day Three).

John 20:19 - On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the door locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"  20 After He said this, He showed them His hands and side.  The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you!  As the Father has sent me I am sending you."  22 And with that He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.  23 If you forgive anyone  his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."  (NIV)

Peace be with you, brothers and sisters, I love meat and potatoes, and as that saying goes, there is a lot of meat and potatoes in this scripture.  Of course all the scriptures are loaded with good stuff.  Let me get started.  "Peace be with you" is a normal Hebrew greeting.  Would that now be a great way to greet each other?  "Peace be with you!"  And the other person "And also with you."  Now I know this  happens in church, but what about when you greet a friend in the food store or some other place?

Jesus was greeting His disciples when saying Peace be with you, and then He showed them His hands and side.  The Bible said they were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  In Luke it states this:

Luke 24:37 - They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.  (NIV)

In Luke, Jesus is quoted as showing His hands and feet to the disciples.  In John, the scripture I was pointed to for this series, Jesus is quoted as showing them His hands and side.  For my message it does not make a different, the fact is that even after traveling with Him all those years, they did not know Him until Jesus pointed these things out to them.  Do I need to see the hands, side, or feet of Jesus to believe He is alive?  No, of course not, for indeed having faith in Jesus is seeing Him, believing in Him is seeing Him.  And I sure do believe in Him.  Now here is where it gets really sweet, and yes, for sure every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.  Let's take another look at this scripture.

John 20:21 - Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you!  As the Father has sent me I am sending you.."  22 And with that He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Again we see Jesus saying, "Peace be with you!"  Then He talks about how the Father sent Him, Jesus is sending them.  And yes, and since Jesus is the same today as He was back when He walked this earth and will be the same forever and ever (Hebrews 13:8).  So that means that He is sending us, you and me, all of us who are saved, out to do His work.  We are to do the same things Jesus did.  Oh, that is scary, isn't it?  We are to be doing just what Jesus did.  How many of us are doing that now?  Now look at this, I love this.  How did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit from Jesus?  He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Where in scripture have we seen the Breath of God do something?  Yes, when He made man from dirt.  He breathed into Adam's nostrils, after making him from dirt.  Now to me this is exciting, for when we do call on Jesus to save us, when we welcome Jesus into our hearts, I can about feel that breath of the Holy Spirit coming as we take in the Lord.  And  have you ever been to a gospel concert when the power of the Holy Spirit is present?  You can feel the air moving among people, or at least I can.  I bet, just a gentleman's bet, that, if you would ask some of the singers if they felt it, the answer would be yes.  Also remember that it also tells us this:

John 20:23 - "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Now that is a lot of power He is turning over to them and of course to us.  But, brothers and sisters, we have that power, as long as we remember we are doing it in JESUS' NAME.  Remember you should be asking them, the unsaved, to pray in their words to Jesus, you are leading them.  And then you are assuring them that they indeed are forgiven.  And if we are telling it like it is, if the people will not pray to be forgiven, and as I take this, we should tell them that unless they do pray through Jesus, they will not be forgiven. You think about it, folks, and remember according to scripture, not all of us do have the same gifts.  So we walk in faith, we see Jesus with our hearts, and we believe in Him, which lets us see Him, and He has given us all jobs to do.  Someone say Amen!

Now go forth and share your blessings.  Love ya.  Please pass on the love to others.

Pastor Dan

P.S.  I found Dolores' cat.  Thanks be to God.