What an amazing start to our day!! We got to church and the electricity was out....we were told we were going to have the service by candlelight, until right before the service started-the lights came on. Boo!! I was so excited to hear all of our congregation sing a cappella on this wonderul Easter morning. Even though everything resumed back to normal, it was a nice thought-everyone was liking the fact that we were going to use our hymnals and that Mark was ready to go with his candle.
Anyways, Mark preached on the passage about Thomas and Jesus in John 20:24-29...not your typical Easter Sunday service...and I love that about Faith Bible. Thomas, one of the 12 disciples, was a gloomy, sort of "eeyore-ish", pessimistic kind of guy. When Jesus was put to death on the cross, Thomas went to be alone and stayed away for about a week. Although he had a gloomy personality, he was very much devoted to Christ. If Christ died, he wanted to die with him. While Thomas was away from the other disciples, the Lord came to them and they saw that it was Jesus...He Had RISEN!! When the other disciples told Thomas that the Lord lived and that they had seen him, Thomas doubted. He needed to SEE it for himself. The Lord told Thomas to touch his wounds...and Thomas said to him "My Lord and my God!!" The Lord then said to Thomas..."Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed."
This shows that God chooses to use every type of personality, even the pessimists, as long as the person yields to Christ. Thomas' story is a reminder that we will miss out on Christ and what he has to offer when we don't fellowship with other believers when given the opportunity. Thomas doubted so we didn't have to. Thomas longed to be reunited with the Lord and to never be away from Him again. This should be our prayer, too.
Happy Easter!! He has Risen!!.....and it makes me giddy just thinking of the years to come when Zach and I get to teach these things to our child(ren)!!!! I can't wait to share it with them!
18 week post to follow...soon.
He is risen, indeed!
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