What are you afraid of?
Franklin Roosevelt famously said, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.”
If we would be honest with that statement from a biblical perspective, there’s nothing to fear but dying outside of Christ. Nothing else is as serious as that. In fact, everything else besides that can be handled in some way. But dying outside of Christ is irreparable. If you die outside of Christ, that’s it. There’s no going back. There’s no recovery. But God doesn’t want us to live in fear. He wants us to live in faith…
Sunday evening of the resurrection, the disciples of Jesus were all together in a room with the door locked because they were afraid of the Jews. It has just been two days since the Jews, influenced by their religious leaders, had cried out and called for Pontius Pilate to crucify Jesus. Their beloved friend, who always did everything right, who always showed love in everything He did, was killed in a very painful, very barbaric, excruciating death. No wonder they were afraid of the Jews!
PEACE IS FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST – 20:19:
But, despite the fact the door was locked, Jesus comes and appears to them. He passes through the locked door and He says to His followers: “Peace be with you.”
Isn’t “peace” something that we all desire? We all want peace of mind. We want peace in our hearts. We want peace in our homes. We would love to have peace at work. Jesus wants us to have peace. The peace He gives begins with providing peace with God. Six times in the gospel of John, Jesus tells His followers to have peace (see 14:27; 16:33).
PEACE IS FOUND IN THE RESURRECTION – 20:20:
The point found here is that Jesus is, in fact, raised from the dead. He is not a dead Savior. He is not a dead philosopher, like Confucius. He is not a dead warrior, like Muhammed. He is a living Savior, a Savior reigning in heaven beside God the Father.
The partner of the man also can prove to be of a great aid in getting the person aroused enough for penile erectness. * Depression may also result because of relationship problems, quarrel with partner, divorce, a bad marriage, infidelity, lack of ability to father a child, domestic issues etc, leading to ED. official store wholesale cialis pills Smoking and Impotence The act of smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol can also free viagra in canada affect your performance. However, medical science has advanced greatly in recent decades and cialis cheap generic is now seen as a suitable treatment of ED in men. Here are some of cialis generika pharma-bi.com the benefits you can get from it.
What is there to fear if Jesus has risen from the dead? We know the power of God because Jesus rose from the dead. We know the love of God because Jesus rose from the dead. We know that God will take care of us because Jesus rose from the dead. We know that this life is very important because Jesus rose from the dead. We know that this life is not as important as the next life because Jesus rose from the dead! Verse 20 proves that Jesus rose from the dead – there is eyewitness evidence and John himself saw it and he wrote his gospel to help us have the same conviction that he had in the resurrection (20:30-31).
PEACE IS FOUND IN THE MESSAGE – 20:21:
Rather than being fearful about what will happen in this world, Jesus challenges us to focus on what is most important. The most important “thing” in my life is not my physical life; it is my spiritual life. It is having a relationship with God.
Because that is the case, what is of the most absolute importance in all the world is sharing the gospel of peace with everyone who will listen. If they are going to have peace with God, they’ve got to know Jesus Christ. If they are going to have peace with God through Jesus Christ, they’ve got to respond to the Gospel message. If they are going to have peace with God through Jesus Christ, responding to the Gospel message, they’ve got to hear that message (see Rom. 10:13-17)!
PEACE IS FOUND IN FORGIVENESS OF SINS – 20:22-23:
When Jesus had told them that He was sending them out to share His message of peace, He performs an “object lesson” with them. He breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” It is an object lesson because the Greek word for breath is the same word for Spirit. So Jesus breathed on His apostles and told them that they would receive the Holy Spirit. We know from other passages, like John 7:39, that the Holy Spirit was not given in fact until the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
The gospel message involves the forgiveness of sins. That’s how we have peace with God because it is our sins that separate us from God. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost that message of peace (Acts 2:38).
Fears, whether secret or not, can be alleviated through the love of God. Once we have peace with God through Christ, we can have peace of mind that will make our lives much easier. That peace through Christ comes through obeying the gospel of peace.
Paul Holland
