A Doubting Thomas

John chapter 20, verse 24 through 29 is honestly, you probably know about it, even if you haven't read the Bible that much.

John 20:24–29

Um, this is the part of the Bible where Thomas gets a nickname that has stayed with him forever.

Even though it's honestly not totally accurate, but it stood with him forever.

This is the part of the Bible where Jesus is post-resurrection, so he's running around doing his thing, da da da.

And in verse 24 of John chapter 20, Jesus had appeared to the majority of the disciples, but John for some reason missed the first few meetings.

John 20 · chapter mention

So disciples are like, Look, bruh, hey, Jesus is live.

We saw him.

And John, based on his experience, his last time he saw Jesus, he was up on the cross.

So he hadn't seen Jesus since that moment.

He was like, No, I know what I saw.

I know what how I deduced or how I make sense of what I saw.

And anytime you see this plus this, there's no coming back from that.

Right?

It's like a bunch of us, you know.

You can have people, particularly being in the in the faith, testimonies.

Hey, hey, hey, I know what you're saying, but but you know, whatever it bugs like for you.

What happened with your family, what happened with your friends, what happened in your experiences.

So honestly, Tom just doing the same thing.

My last experience with Jesus, I saw him on the cross.

We were all running around scattering, and I saw him take his last breath.

And now y'all telling me he came back from that.

We've seen people be crucified for the longest.

And really, though?

So his his people who have in his circle.

But look, I understand what you're saying, but he really is alive.

Tummis, we saw, and so then Tummis doubles down.

I will not believe.

I will not believe.

Some of us, because we stand 10 toes down, we're honestly respectfully the same way.

I will not.

And we qualify.

I will not unless boom.

I will not unless that.

Boom, boom, boom.

I talked to a lot of people, and that's honestly how we treat God.

I'm not gonna believe until you know God makes it so plain that you know, I'm gonna do da-da-da.

And honestly, if we're not careful, we'll find ourselves always looking for the miracle, the spectacular.

And so Thomas is honestly a lot of us.

He's in a situation.

Hey, last time I saw Jesus for myself, because I think for myself, I'm an independent thinker, Reggie.

You know, I don't group things if we're not careful.

I don't group things.

But look who's in the group, other people who believe.

So we ain't talking about somebody who's an outsider.

We're talking about somebody who's an insider with them.

Somebody who broke bread and fellowship with God, just like he had.

And they're telling him, Thomas, this is what had happened.

So Thomas doubles down like a lot of us do.

I refuse, I am not going to, unless set his parameters.

So then, eight days later, the text says they're in a room together, the doors are locked.

It may mention it may ends to point that out.

Jesus appears in a room.

Walk through the wall, levitated, who knows?

But it was clear to say he didn't have the key to unlock the door and walk on in.

So he appears, which makes more sense of his next word, shalom.

Peace.

Because if somebody just appears, you can imagine the human nature, the bewilderment, the oh my gosh, it's like, first of all, where you come from, secondly, how you get in here, then we know because he was behind the whole group, and so he addresses Thomas.

Like, uh here.

Here when Thomas saw he believed.

See, a lot of us like, see, Reggie, yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

See, if he did it for one, he'll do it for others.

He showed Thomas, he can show me, right?

So you got a lot more doubt in Thomas's than you have Mary's.

Just saying, keep kicking.

And so then 29, G said, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.

So you believe because you saw.

Blessed are those that have not seen and yet believed.

Now he did not, one thing he did not say, cursed are those who see because they believe.

He just said, Blessed are those that do.

Blessed, we know, according to Psalms 1, 3.

It's always got amplified.

Blessed, happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable.

Why does he say that?

Because in this example, do you know how hard Thomas had to fight internally to not believe?

Think about it.

The mental gymnastics he would have had to go to, the angst, anxiety, uh, uh, uh, uh, I can't believe.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Stay focused, stay focused, stay focused.

Because this is what we do to stay in faith, but the opposite of it, right?

So Thomas did.

But Jesus said, bless, happy, fortunate, envious.

All right, Reggie.

You said we'll talk about prayer.

I'm talking about businesses.

What does this mean for us?

There's a reason why God wants his people blessed.

Prayerfully, we're growing to the point where we believe, so we see.

But those people who have not quite renewed their mind yet, they see, and what they see calls them to believe.

A lot of time in a negative sense.

So, what happens is this as we grow, God wants to give you eyes that not seen, ears that have not heard.

What God is putting in the hearts of those who believe.

So, because we believe, we see, we believe, we know.

So, faith unlocks everything else.

The opposite way, we want to see to believe.

And honestly, that's a limited, narrow view.

Now, God is so gracious to where he's like, okay, if that's where you are right now, fine, I'll meet you there.

Maybe not always, hey and huh?

But what he will do, he will allow somebody with a testimony, right, to come and show you something, to speak to us.

And as they do this, what happened is he's building up our faith so we can believe.

Because there are some things he wants to release into the earth, but he needs his people to be people of faith.

What does that mean?

That means we will press in, we will talk to him, and not only that, we will act upon the things he says and the things he does, instructs us to do.

Why?

So they can see our good works and glorify the Father in heaven.

What does it gotta do with business?

Business is nothing but a I'm not I'm not gonna say anything, that's not fair.

Business can be broken down to an organizational economic system where people work together to make, buy, sell goods, and services to people who want or need them.

Could be a simple definition of business.

So, as we have a God who knows our needs, what is God asking you to step out and act upon?

What's he telling you to say?

What's he telling you to do?

And as you're saying it or doing it, what is he moving behind the scenes on your behalf to get to you?

Now, we believe him, so we speak and do.

They see us, and so they respond.

Some of us I know even got a financial, financial need.

What is God telling you to say and do?

What's in your hand right now?

What's in front of you?

And as you lean into that, speak as he tells you to speak, do as he's telling you to do.

Trust and believe that he's already moving things behind the scenes to meet you your place of need, which could be uh either a business transaction or a system that could be put in place and repeated over and over and over and over again.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Of course, we'll come back around, wrap this up a little bit later.

All right.