"Thomas Twin Didymus”

19 April 2009

Second Sunday of Easter

U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris

Fortress Chapel

Contingency Operation Site (C.O.S.) Sykes

Tall-afar, Iraq

BIG IDEA: Believers are often inclined to look upon life with the eyes of gloom and need VISUAL PROOF before accepting CHRIST at His WORD.

REFERENCES: Thomas; tom’as – Hebrew and Aramaic: Twin; Greek: Didymus; Hebrews 10:25 (KJV) Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching; Matthew 27:63 (ESV) and said, Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise,’

Matthew 16:21 (ESV) From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen; Hebrews 11:6 (KJV) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them diligently seek him; John 20:19-23 (ESV) – Jesus Appears to the Disciples; John 20:24-29 (ESV) - Jesus and Thomas; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 ESV (For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep); 1 Peter 3:18-19 ESV (For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison); John 20:1-18 (ESV) The Resurrection and the account of Jesus Appearing to Mary Magdalene; Acts 10:34-43 (ESV) Gentiles Hear the Good News of “No Partiality from Peter; Mark 16:1-8 (ESV) The Resurrection; John 14:6 (ESV) I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; Psalm 16:10 (ESV – Rise from the Dead) For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption; Hebrews 6:18 (KJV) That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; Matthew 12:40 (ESV) says: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s bell: so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights: in the heart of the earth; John 11:16 (ESV) So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: John 20:24-29 (ESV)

II. READ THE PERICOPE: John 20:24-29 (ESV)

III. READ THE TEXT: John 20:25 (ESV) So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

IV. PURPOSE: To inspire the hearers to affirm to others that believers are often inclined to look at life through the eyes of gloom, and need VISUAL EVIDENCE before accepting CHRIST at His Word.

V. SERMONIC THEME: “Thomas Twin Didymus”

VI. INTRODUCTION:

Is there an ANTIDOTE TO DOUBT?

In popular theology the term “doubt” is often given a prominent place. It means hesitation, uncertainty, or suspicion.

Depending on one’s theological tradition, it may be used to look specifically at one’s relationship with God and His Word.

For who can ever forget the incident of Peter taking his eyes off of Jesus – The Word of God that became Flesh – and Peter began to sink?

In response to Peter sinking, (in Matthew 14:31 ESV) Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Last Sunday, Jesus instructed Mary Magdalene to tell the eleven disciples to meet him in Galilee at a particular mountainous location. The Good Book says (in Matthew 28:17) that when the eleven saw him “they worshiped him, but some … DOUBTED.

******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******

MOVE 1: Still – in the midst of some believers DOUBTING - Jesus came in the midst of them and utter the “GREAT COMMISON” saying in Matthew 28:19 ESV: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.