Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. Receive again the remarkable invitation of discipleship. Come And you will see. Think of it. You're invited by the Savior to see for yourself.
There's a big difference between seeing a brochure about the Grand Canyon and seeing it with your own eyes. Jesus wants to show you the canyon of his grace to see the beauty that he sees.
So I bless your spiritual eyes today. To see the grandeur as he does. Oh, that you might see. As Jesus sees. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright.
Jesus really does care. That's what was happening on Easter Day. He just appeared in the room. His announcement of peace is not Wishful thinking, like, I hope you know that there's less conflict in your life, and I hope things go better for you. That's not what peace be with you means when Jesus says it.
Peace means that a new reality has been inaugurated. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Happy Easter, and welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in our Easter series as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina.
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More on all of this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's Easter teaching. Here is Alan Wright. What? No matter how bad.
could be so Look. that it could not be Made okay. Redeemed. By the real presence. of the resurrected Lord Jesus who sets our eyes on the power of Jesus over death.
And sets our eyes on the magnitude of hope that is ours in Him. That's what I keep hearing in my spirit all week. No matter what you've been through Easter rewrites the story. It changes the narrative. Doesn't wash away all the past pain, but like for Rory.
It makes the difference. 2011, he still had a catastrophic loss at the Masters, but now it doesn't matter in the same way. One win. Can be so great that it changes everything, and that's what Easter is. You know, I don't really fault these disciples for being afraid.
I mean, Rome had all the power. Pastor Chris said last week that history shows that there could be thousands of people that might have been executed that very week. in the Roman Empire. They they were always showing their might and They'd seen Jesus crucified. They had given up their own dreams, their own family life, their own careers to follow Jesus, and now it just looked like it was.
Oh in a devastating way, all may be just wrong. Maybe they just been wrong about Jesus. I don't know who was in that room. I don't know how many were in the room. We're told Thomas wasn't there, but it implies that maybe some of the apostles were there.
I don't know. Maybe it was a big group of followers of Jesus in a big room. I'm not sure. And I'm not sure. This text doesn't tell us.
Had some of them gotten the news that the tomb was empty? You know, Mary, Magdalene, and other women had seen it and went to tell. Peter and John had seen the empty tomb. Maybe some of them word had even begun to spread the tomb was empty. But it wasn't enough for them.
They were really, really afraid. They were afraid of their future. They were afraid of what could happen to them. And they were really ashamed. They also had to be dealing with those internal emotions, like we weren't there for him when he really needed us.
They're dealing with all the uncertainties that come with life. They're got all the biggest questions that are swirling around their mind. This is what disappointment does in your soul. This is what dejection looks like. It looks like fear.
And they were just locked up. You can get locked. Up. In that kind of soupy darkness. And they were.
It's hard to fault them for the fears they had because of the traumatic events that they'd been through. As we've been learning about the healing of anxiety all year long, I've been studying this. I've been trying to learn more about trauma, and trauma affects us, and it affects our brain and our physiology and how we're wired neurologically, and it takes healing. And The thing that is so important to the healing is that somehow we're not left alone in it. And that's why I just love that Jesus comes.
to them. This is Jesus He, in resurrected form, glorified body, just appears. I don't know if that means that when you get a resurrected body that you can just walk through walls, maybe that's what we're going to have. I don't know. It's a glorious thought, though.
This is the promise for all of us. Jesus was the first fruits of resurrection, but every Christian is going to have a resurrected body like that, glorified.
So, we're going to still be ourselves and recognize one another, but the body's going to be able to do some stuff that we can't do in a natural body. And I don't know, maybe just walk through the wall. I don't know. But he just appeared right in the middle. They're locked up in fear, and he just suddenly is standing in their midst.
If you're new to the Christian gospel or exploring the Christian gospel, or you want to know something about it all about, let me just tell you as plainly as I can the first and most important thing to know about Christianity. It is not really a religion, which is something that is designed to get you acting in the right way so that you could find God. That's not Christianity at all. Instead, the whole story of the Bible and the whole story of Christianity Is that we didn't know how to get to God, and we could never be good enough to get to God anyway.
So he came. He came And he put on human flesh. And he became a baby born in Bethlehem. God came near to us. And so, even on Easter Day, after all of these events, and they're so afraid.
Jesus came. I don't know who all was there. I'm not sure exactly how he walked through the wall. None of that really matters. What matters is He came.
He did not leave those who were hurting and fearful alone. Jesus once said in Matthew 9:11, Those who are well have no need of physician. He came towards those who really need him. God does not disdain those who hurt. He is drawn to them.
God does not leave alone those who are afraid. He comes to comfort them. This is what he does. It's what he wants to do. I was thinking this week, also, like, you know, in my flesh, I could think of all the things I say to those disciples, right?
I mean, they had really let them down. Remember, Peter had denied them three times. Nobody was around at the cross except for some of the women, and now they're hiding. They're supposed to be on a mission. They are hiding.
Could have been that he could have just gone for the sarcasm. You know, thanks for all the support back there, guys. I was really feeling the love, you know. He could have maybe just given the straight shame. You know, just tiss, tiss, tiss, shame on you.
I would have expected more of you guys. I mean, he could have done that. He could have just gone for the humor. I leave for three days, and this is what you come up with, a fear convention. He could have Just spiked the football in their face, told you so.
What's wrong with y'all? Could have just gone for harshness. What's wrong with you? Get over it. Or maybe you could just talk to Peter directly.
Peter, did a rooster wake you up this morning?
Well, he didn't do any of that, did he? He just said, Peace be with you. Twice he said it. Peace be with you. I think it's worthy of note.
that the first words of the risen Lord Jesus. to an assembled group of Christians Must peace be with you. It hearkens to the Old Testament word for peace, shalom. which is much more than the absence of conflict. It means wholeness.
It means wellness. It means the prospering. of spirit, soul, and body. Shalom. Peace.
Be with you. Please hold on to this. And never lose it. When we are at our lowest. Jesus does not add to our shame.
He lifts it. When we are afraid, Jesus isn't disgusted with us. He loves us. In fact, the Bible says The perfect love. Cast out fear.
You know how, in a relationship, conversations that go poorly can. Be so damaging. And one of the things that can hurt the most is when There's no empathy. I was in a conversation one time that was hard and it wasn't going well and I was vulnerable and showed a few tears. And said I was hurt, and the other Said back, oh, get over it.
I know that sometimes we might wallow in our pain and we might need to just get over it, but not that day and not that time. And as I was reflecting on how Jesus might have said that to the disciples, but didn't, and I was reflecting about, you know, that kind of painful conversation. And I realize the pain of it is not just that we didn't get to have the empathy and connection that I long to have. But that it also, as you could imagine, would make it very difficult. to be vulnerable with that person again or to trust in that, right?
And what I want you to see, and I want you to hold on to this. Please hold on to this. Jesus is never like that. He's never ever going to be in that locked room where we are afraid. and we're at our worst.
and just say, oh, get over it. He came To be one of us. He has Perfect empathy. He really does understand. He has been traumatized.
And he experienced human death. Jesus really does care. That's what was happening on Easter Day. He just appeared in the room. His announcement of peace is not Wishful thinking, like, I hope you know that there's less conflict in your life, and I hope things go better for you.
That's not what peace be with you means when Jesus says it. Peace means that a new reality has been inaugurated. It is a declaration of a cosmic shift. He was saying that because of the cross and because of the resurrection, now real peace is possible. He is saying to those disciples and to us, The promise that I made in John 14: do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God. Trust in me. I leave you peace. My peace I give you, not as the world gives, do I give unto you. That promise of that peace has not been revoked because of the disciples' fear and disobedience.
The promise stood, and the promise still stands. The peace of God is not just for a little bit happier life. It is the peace that only God could bring because we were stuck in a terrible dilemma of the problem of our own sin and shame that the Bible says left us as if dead. Not dead in body, but dead in the sense of spiritually relating to God. We're dead.
And there's no way. That we could pay the penalty. There's no way that we could pay the debt. That's why he came. He wants to be always just because that's his nature, which means sin must be punished.
But the deep heart of God is to save and to love and not condemn.
So how could he do this? That's why Jesus came to be a God-man. One sinless human being that could represent all of humanity. And when he went to the cross, And he said, My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?
He was taking upon himself the sin of the world. Yours and mine. The Bible says that there's a great exchange that's taken place. It's like It's like Jesus, if you could just envision. He agrees to become Sin, though he's never sinned.
And then In the exchange, the Bible says, he who knew no sin become sin so that The one who was perfectly righteous, Jesus. could credit us with his righteousness. And that's what's so good about the good news. And that's really what peace is. It's the end of The tyranny I've never been able to be enough.
I've never been sure. about your eternity. The end of Of shame. That's what peace is, and it was only possible. the cross and the resurrection.
Peace. Be unto you. Peace be unto you. He comes into the locked room. And he doesn't just say, I'm alive.
But he says peace. If he had been alive but not loving, we would still be lost and without hope. If he had been loving but not alive. We'd have no living Saviour. But he lives.
And he loves. He loves you so very much. I hope that you'll hold on to this image of these fearful disciples at their worst, and Jesus coming to help. Because in many ways the invitation to the gospel is just an invitation that says, Let Jesus help you. Let him help you with everything.
Let him come alongside of you. The Holy Spirit is called in the New Testament the parakletos, which means one who's come alongside of to help. He's the Spirit of Jesus. I'll let everything within you just say yes to them. Recognize.
how much you do need him. And say yes. 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, one of the athletes that was favored to medal in the 400 men's. was Derek Redman from Great Britain. He'd trained for years, overcome surgeries, fought through injury.
And now it seemed like it was his moment, it was the semifinal heat, the stadium was electric, the gun fired, and Redmond was running okay. He was in stride in his blue shorts and then it happened. It was a hamstring. It was sudden. It was gone.
And while the other racers make their way to the finish line, he's crumpled down on the track. And then to everyone's surprise, with some kind of deep innate heroism He gets up. And he starts hobbling and wincing and crying. and trying to make his way limping towards the finish line, not knowing there was a man in the stands who couldn't wait in the stands, but came out of the bleachers and fought off security and went over barriers and came onto the track and pushed away officials until he got alongside. because it was Derek's father.
And he came to help him. Just to hold him. Just The dad, who knew all the sacrifice that had gone into it, people tried to shoo the father away and.
However. Come and say, you know, let's get him. The father's like, no. I like this. Like, get out of here.
This is my son. I'm going to take care of her. I will walk them across. The finish line. And he did, because with the father Saul was different than the rest of the world.
The world might have seen a broken athlete, but the father saw a beloved son. And that's what he sees in you. That's what he sees in you. I don't know what's got you limping these days. All of us got a little bit of a limp.
But remember Jesus. Risen. and glorious And awesome. And the disciples limping around. Fearful.
and locked up. And Jesus just comes. And he says, Look here, my hands, my side, this is really me. Yeah. I really, it's Jesus.
And I really am alive. And he has no words of shame. not even words of correction. Just Peace. Be with you.
Peace. Be with you, he says twice. And then He breathes on them. Receive the Holy Spirit. Go on.
You got a future and a mission. Peace is powerful. Like that. Jesus is alive. The promise of peace.
stands. And he still comes. behind the locked doors. to those who need him. And that's the gospel.
Uh Pastor Alan Wright. Our good news message from this Easter series. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.
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