Have You Seen Jesus?

Have You Seen Jesus?

Video presentation (Acts video Day after Resurrection)

Question: Have you seen Jesus? I’m not talking about physically seeing him because we won’t see Jesus physically again until the day comes for His return. In that day every eye shall see, every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord. Think about Thomas. Everybody calls him the doubting guy because he did not believe that Jesus came back from the dead. Would you if you were in his shoes? Think about it. He saw his teacher, his friend taken into custody & then later executed. Think of the pain & agony he was going through. He lost someone very special to him. Now people are saying he’s alive? Thomas was a very rational person. He was born in Missouri you might say. How can the dead come back to life? Remember what Jesus said to Thomas? It’s in your Bibles too. Let’s read it again.

John 20:26-29 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a miracle. Sometimes its hard for us to believe in miracles. We pray & pray to God for miracles. And sometimes when the prayer is not answered in the way we want it to be we lose faith. I prayed & prayed that God would heal my dad. I told God that I still needed my dad in my life. I made bargains, I pleaded, but my dad still died. And yes for awhile I was angry at God. I felt let down in my faith. Just like Thomas. He must have felt that God let him down too. But there was Jesus standing before him. Jesus said to Thomas, stop doubting & believe. I say to you this morning. Stop doubting & believe. Open your heart to Jesus. Yes, its true. Jesus is alive! And he loves you. He has a purpose for you for your life. You were created for a purpose. Stop doubting & believe.

I was talking to someone the other day about Jesus & celebrating Easter. Do you know what this gentleman said to me? He said, “It’s difficult for me to get excited about knowing someone when I’ve never met them let alone seen them.” That’s the problem with the world today. Many people are not excited about Jesus because they have never met him. They’ve never seen him. For many people, Jesus was just some guy who lived over 2000 years ago. So what? You remember what else Jesus said to Thomas? Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Thomas was blessed because he was able to spend three years of his life personally with the God of the Universe. He was able to see him, talk to him, touch him every day for three years. But you know what? Jesus calls us blessed! Why? Because we believe even though we haven’t seen him in the flesh. That is what is so special about faith. Faith is believing in nonphysical things, attitudes or ideas. I love my wife. My wife believes I love her. And I believe my wife loves me. Love is not something that you can always see.

So, how can we help people like my friend get to know Jesus when he’s never seen him? How can we see Jesus today?

1. We can see the historical Jesus.

Josh McDowell in his book, EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT, talks about a debate he was having with a female Marxist. He could not believe his ears when she said that, “Historians today have fairly well dismissed Jesus as being historical...” Not only do we have the New Testament as proof of the history of Jesus but there is plenty of non-biblical sources proving that Jesus Christ existed as well. Yes, Jesus did live on this planet over 2000 years ago. Sometimes I have wished that I lived back then so I could have seen Jesus myself. I wish I could have talked with him, listen to him tell the parables, see him do the miracles. But I cannot go back in time. So, what can I do? How can I see Jesus? How can I get to know him? Simple. The answer is right here. (hold up Bible). If I want to know Jesus, all I have to do is read about him in the Gospels. So can you! Don’t tell me the Bible is boring to read. This book is full of adventure, mysteries, sex, romance, wars, treachery, good guy vs. bad guy. And its not difficult to read either. There a lot of modern day translations in many different languages & different age levels. Do you want to see Jesus? Then read about his life. Read about the miracles he did. Read the stories that he told. If you can’t read, then watch the video! Nobody has any excuse for not getting to know Jesus through the Bible. It’s simple. Either you want to know Jesus or not. How else can we get to know Jesus? How else can we see him?