Wednesday 4/8/15 It Happened Along the Way (3)

Dear Father in Heaven: I love You very much. Please forgive me of my sins and mess-ups. Thanks for watching over our families and friends. It is appreciated, and please keep blessing us with that protection. Please help Tom with his breathing and please heal Elizabeth of cancer. Please be with all those who are traveling and keep them safe. Lord, please help us find the lost and help bring them to Your feet to be saved. Lord, again I ask for help with the daily message and then to get it dispatched. All honor and glory to You, in Jesus' Name I give thanks and pray. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is Wednesday and that means it is Salvation Wednesday on this line and the day we work harder to reach out for the lost and to bring them to the feet of Jesus. Please keep praying for those on our list, and please remember Tom Sansoni who is having breathing problems. Also new on the list, Elizabeth Hoch who has cancer. Just a note, folks, I do not list everyone who is sick everyday. We just need to pray for them and cover them with prayer. I will let you know if I hear of healings. We need to know that and post them so we can give that honor and glory to God. Okay, off to the message, "It Happened Along the Way."

Salvation Wednesday: April 8, 2015: It Happened Along the Way (Day Three)

John 20:19 - On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors 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." 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)

Let us look back again now and remember please we have our Bibles and we know these are facts because it is history. What amazes me is how some people do not believe the events even though it is history. That reason, they do not have faith. Back when Jesus walked the earth even some did not want to believe the events and they witnessed it. Here we find the disciples sitting behind locked doors and Jesus came and stood among them. He greeted them with the common Jewish greeting "Peace be with you." Would it not be great if that was how we greeted each other now? In the Gospel of Luke it tells us this.

Luke 24:36 - While they were still talking about this, Jesus Himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and feet, it is I Myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." (NIV)

Again we see the term "Peace be with you" used as a greeting. They look at Jesus and think He is a ghost. What would you think? Did He walk through a wall? Remember they were in a locked room. Or was He standing there and they did not know Him at first? What God is telling me is that it really does not make a difference how He got in the room, the fact was He was there. In Luke, Jesus Himself asked them about being troubled and why have doubts in your minds. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus asked them to touch Him. Feel Him. Notice please that Luke points out "look at my hands and feet" and John points out that they were to look at "His hands and side."

Right about now people with little or no faith, the non-believers, will point out the difference in the way it is recorded in the Bible. To this I want to point out that if several of us were to witness an automobile accident and later be recalling the events in our minds, would each of us report the accident the same? Of course not. We would all see it a little differently. HOWEVER, the one thing we would all agree on was, the accident happened. I say that because I don't want you to get caught up on the wording from each of the Gospels. The important thing we need to focus on and have faith in is that Jesus was real, He was alive, He died, and He was risen. Like the accident, these events happened. Faith, my dear brothers and sisters. Let us look at this verse and I will bring it down for you.

John 20:21 - Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (NIV)

As the Father sent Him. Please remember we are the disciples now. The Father sent Jesus down to save the world through Jesus. We are being sent out to tell the world what Jesus did. We cannot save anyone; that is the work of Jesus. We are being sent out to tell, tell what? Tell the Good News of this event, tell the good news of His love. Now let us have one more look back today.

John 20:22 - 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)

Brothers and sisters, we know that we do not have the power to forgive sins for our Lord Jesus, nor can we not forgive someone and have Jesus not forgive them. What this is, if we proclaim the gospel and are telling others this about forgiving and not forgiving sins, it comes down to whether the hearers accept or reject what we tell them about our Lord Jesus. We are indeed just spreading the Word of God and the Good News of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Now go forth and share your blessings. Love ya. Please share my love also.

Pastor Dan