Well, good morning church and happy post to Easter Sunday in the shade and in the air conditioning. Can I get an amen, uh, from everybody out there? Uh, went home after the last service last week and going down to Melissa's family's house, and all she said was shower. Uh, that was about all I got out of it last week, but it was a great weekend together. Uh, man, a couple of thank yous from last week. Number one man, a huge thanks to the Lord last week for, um, just an amazing, amazing weekend together. Secondly, for the hundreds of you guys that volunteered last week, man, thank you. From the bottom of our heart. You hosted well, you shined on the kingdom last week to invite people to the house. So thank you guys. And thirdly, if it was your first visit with us last week, our first couple man, thank you for being with us.
Thanks for this new season of ministry, maybe in your family's lives. And if there is anything, uh, that we can do to come behind you, man, we would love it. You would be doing us a favor to let us walk beside you. All right, well, hey listen, if you got a copy of scripture this morning, John chapter 20. John chapter 20 is where we're gonna be. So go ahead and be turning there with me from the first week of January till now. We have been just about chapter by chapter, almost verse by verse in some ways, methodically walking through the gospel of John. And we've actually broken it down into a couple of little mini series along the way. The first one that we did, we really just entitled it Calm and See. So the, for those first six weeks, we took about the first six chapters of John and we showed Jesus showing up in the flesh as God and showing himself to us and inviting us to come and see, showing us that he is worthy, he is God and he is here to save.
During those couple of weeks, we saw him begin his miracles on this planet. We saw him begin to draw us into himself and we saw him extend his love and forgiveness. After those first six weeks, we jumped into a next little mini series that we just called Power and Promise. Power and Promise, where what we did in the middle of John, right from, from John chapter six through about John chapter 18, we walked through the I am statements of Jesus, where Jesus claims the most highest and loveliest name of God upon himself to show us that he is God. And not only is he God and distant and out there, but he's the God that's in the middle of our mess. And so we walk through these seven statements of Jesus, these seven I am of Jesus, showing that he is the bread of life, that he is the light of the world, that He is the door, and that he is the good shepherd.
He is the resurrection in life. He's the way, the truth and the life. He is the vine that we are to graft ourselves onto. All of these are more than metaphors. They're places that actually Jesus steps into our lives and fulfills us and guides us and shows us who He is if we follow him. Well, last week on Easter, we celebrated the death and the resurrection of Jesus. We celebrated it in John the last verse in 19 and the first 18 verses of chapter 20. And we said last week that it was the sacrificial death and the resurrection of Jesus. They offers us life, that it was his death that paid for our sins. But his resurrection proved that his sacrifice was worthy, proved that God accepted us. God gave us forgiveness. He's filled us with his spirit and he's sealed us with eternity. That's what we looked at last week.
So this week, the question that I've kind of been dealing with all week, kind of knowing that it was coming is if we've seen the come and see approach, if we've seen his power and presence, we've walked through the cross in the re resurrection. What is there now to say from John? Right? He's pretty much said everything from the gospel. Well, what Jesus is gonna show us for these next couple of weeks as we finish up this gospel is that Jesus is gonna show us that because he has lived and because he has died, that we now can and we now should live this restored life that he has offered us and the sent life that he's offered us. And we can do all of that. Jesus says through his power. Now notice that I didn't say that we can do it through our power.
Why? Because that's actually how most of us approach the Christian life. We approach the Christian life as something that I need to do on my own. But what we're gonna see in these next couple of weeks, because of the resurrection, is that now Jesus has given us new life and has set us on a path with his life. What the resurrection of Jesus has showed us is that he can make us new and that he can give us power. So here's what I wanna do this morning. I wanna check back in with Jesus in John chapter 20, only five verses today. Alright? That's all we're gonna do today, five verses today. And now here's what the two things that I want you to see this morning. Number one, I want you to pay really close attention to what Jesus says, but secondly, I want you to pay really close attention to what Jesus does.
Alright? I want you to see both of those aspects, what he says and what he does. Why? Because John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, when he wrote this gospel, he didn't just write it to describe an event that happened in history, although that's part of it. He wrote it to show us what Jesus wants to do in us. So yes, read it as history, but also read it as life changing power that is made available to us. All right? So John chapter 20, let's watch what Jesus wants to do in us. 'cause he's still fully alive and he still wants us to follow him. John 20, verse 19. Just gonna read it and pause a couple places to make a couple comments today. Here it is, John chapter 20, verse 19. It says this, on the evening of the first day of the week when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders.
Now stop right there. I know it's a weird place to stop and sentence structure, but I wanna catch us up to exactly what is happening and exactly when this is all right. Why? Because what John is describing here is he's actually describing the resurrection day. This is resurrection Sunday in the evening. Now, I want you to remember right here that that Jesus has been crucified. He's gone to the grave Friday evening. He is in the grave all day Saturday. He has risen Sunday morning. All right? He's risen Sunday morning. And then the Bible tells us what we covered last week in the first 18 verses of John and then Mary, and and and the two disciples went to the tomb. Mary has this encounter with Jesus that we looked at last weekend. The Bible also tells us from Luke's gospel as well as in one Corinthians 15, that at some point in the early afternoon, Jesus appeared to Peter on the road.
I would've liked to have been part of that conversation, right, of seeing what Jesus was saying with Peter. We'll have to ask that one day. We don't know. We also know that Jesus appeared to the two other disciples right on the road to Emmaus. They didn't know who he was at first. But after this long afternoon and early evening with Jesus, Jesus makes himself known to them, shows them who he is, and then what happens is in our text, it is actually still on that same Sunday. Now you wanna talk about a long church day, amen. These guys have been going at it since daylight. I've been a part of some of those church days. Today might be one of them. All right? They're not fun, okay? They're not. This has been a long day on this Sunday. I also wanna point out that this is the first Sunday of worship.
All right? People ask me all the time, Matt, is it crucially important that I worship on Sunday? Well, yes and no. I mean, Sunday is the Lord's day, alright? It's the Lord's day. It's what we see from this point in history. On prior to this day, everyone worshiped on Saturdays from the point that Jesus rose from the grave. Then worship was on Sunday. Why? Because every Sunday, it is like a new, a fresh week and a fresh time that we can celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and what he is done in our life. So here's how I like to say it. If Jesus can raise from the grave, you can raise out of your bed. All right? Come to church. All right? That's what we're seeing in Jesus. So it's Sunday evening, alright? Somewhere probably around 9:00 PM in the text that we're reading, the 10 disciples are in this upper room.
You say, Matt, I thought there was 12. Well, one of them has died. Judas says, no more. Thomas is not there. We'll see that in another week. All right. So these disciples are in the upper room, right? They're scared and rightfully so. Why? Because Rome was powerful. Rome was after them. 'cause they were causing this disturbance, and the religious leaders were still in charge. So what do they do? They go and they locked themselves into this upper room. So Matt is at the same upper room that they were in with Jesus. 'cause that would be so cool. Yes, it is actually that room. All right? It really is. 99 out of a hundred. Theologians believe that there's always that one rogue guy that's out there, right? They really are. So they're in the supper room. The doors have been locked. All right? Nobody in, nobody out.
All right? And what are they doing? They're recalling the day. They're trying to figure out how do we move forward for this? How do we move in a direction that that, that Jesus has called? They're trying to recall all that he has done. All of the moments that God, Jesus has showed himself to people nobody was in, nobody was out. And watch what happens in verse 19. Here it is, John 2019. Again, it says this, on the evening of that, on the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, watch this. You may wanna underline this. Jesus came and stood among them. Amen? Stood among them. Now, watch this. What's happened right here, Jesus, in the middle of the disciples, meltdown right in the middle of it, he shows up right into the room where they are hiding.
The more literal translation would be that Jesus appears in the room. Remember, right? Remember, the doors were locked. So what does that mean? That means that Jesus didn't use a door. All right? Jesus didn't use a window. In other words, the resurrected Jesus at this point is now different, okay? He's different. Part of what Jesus had done when he came as God to this world was that he self-limited himself. All right? He self-limited himself to become fully human, right? We know that. We see that in him. But now post-resurrection, we are seeing him in his glorified self. You say, well, Matt, how do we know that? Well, we know that because first of all, the guys on the way to Emmaus, they didn't know who he was until he chose for them to know who he was, right? Mary thought he was the gardener and actually yelled at him a little bit before she realized who he was.
We also see this in the fact that Jesus walks through the wall right here, or walks through the closed door. Later we see him ascend to the Father. It seems to be that the gospel writers are showing us here that now in the glorified and in the resurrected body of Jesus, that time and space are now just done a little bit differently. They're done a little differently. That's how he ends up in all these places. In this same moment, and in this same time, if you read the post resurrection events of Jesus, it, it's really hard. Unless this is the case, but also I wanna point out that it was actually physically Jesus. At the same time, we see this in the next verse, right? We also see this, and when Luke, when he talks about the fact that Jesus says, Hey, you can touch me, right?
You can touch me. He looks at him and says, spirits don't just don't have flesh, and they don't have bones, but I do. We see Jesus eating later on. You see the disciples, when Jesus just appeared now you would too. So let's not get on 'em. When Jesus just appeared out of nothing, the disciples actually thought they were seeing a spirit, right? They were just seeing a ghost. But Jesus looks at 'em. The first thing that he says we're gonna see in a minute. He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's me. It's Jesus. It is who I am. I am physically with you. In fact, he looks at it. He is like, Hey, look at the nails, right? Look at my side. Look at what they're pierce me. It is me. Jesus is physical, but he's not quite like us. He's not quite like us.
Why? Because Jesus is now operating in his glorified body. Now, I love this and here's why. I know it's kind of deep, but here's why I love this. There seems to be a little bit of foreshadowing here of what we will be one day when Christ raises us. There seems to be a little bit of foreshadowing here of what we will be when God gifts us with our eternal bodies. In other words, we will be like us. We will be recognized, right? People will know who we are, but it will not be quite like us. It'll be enough like us to where everything good that has ever been a part of us. Here it is that we will take that with us. But everything bad and everything hurtful, and everything painful and everything limiting will be left behind. Believer are you seeing? This is an incredible promise from God.
So Jesus, out of nowhere, shows up out of nowhere into this secured space, into these locked doors. How? <laugh>, I don't know. I mean, you're like, tell me how. I don't know how he does it. Right? I can't explain the physics behind it, but here's what I do know from the moment that God created the world outta nothing, there is no miracle of time, space, or matter that I can't see him doing right? Yes, sir. In that moment, it makes no difference to me on the how. What does make a huge difference to me is what I think that we're seeing as part of the story. What Jesus is showing the disciples and showing us in this moment. Here's what hit me like a brick this week as I was studying what Jesus just did right here, write this first principle down. Here it is. Jesus can go in our lives where no one else can go.
He can go in our lives where nobody else can go. How did he do it? Don't care. How does he do it? Now? Don't care. What I do care about is this, that Jesus can go to the places in my life that nobody else can go. You know what that means? That means this. Jesus can go to the places in your life that your counselor can't go. Jesus can go to the places in your life that your doctor can't go. Jesus can go to the places in your life that no lover that you have ever had can get into, into your soul. Jesus can reach you anywhere. He can reach into you, anywhere he can get to you. There is no place that you are that he cannot go. There is no depth of sin that you are in that he can't get you out of.
There is no despair that has overtaken you that Jesus can't find you in that room. There's nobody like Jesus. That's what we're seeing right here. He's powerful, yet personal. He's piercing, yet graceful. He's instructing yet loving. And Jesus in his resurrected self, shows us that he is the God man, and he is able to do things in you and for you and at your moments of despair that you can't even imagine. Church, this should be an incredible healing moment for you right now. Why? Because how hard is it to finally see that outta the bits and pieces and the insides and outs and expose and unexposed places in our lives that we don't even understand that Jesus does? And not only does he understand them, he cares for them. Not only does he care for them, he rose for them. And not only did he rise for them, he is now wanting to stand just like he did with the disciples, right in the middle of your moments and right in the middle of your fear.
Man, I find so much hope in this. You know why? Because in my worldly, perplexing self, man, I find so much hope in knowing that Jesus knows, and Jesus understands and Jesus cares, and Jesus is right in the middle of my situations in a way that no one else can ever ever be. Remember just a minute ago when we first started reading this verses when I told you about the state in which the disciples were in right here, this is why this hits home for me so much, and this is why I feel like I'm just hanging out in this for a minute. So much. Do you remember what the disciples were feeling at this moment? What were they feeling? They were afraid. They were afraid, right? I I, I love that John and the gospel writers point out right here, that prior to Jesus getting onto the scene, that the disciples were just scared.
They were fearful. They were afraid. And I, I really believe that speaks to where a lot of us live our lives. It speaks to exactly what Jesus wants to offer. And, and, and in a super personal way for me, I think is exactly where God meets me at. So, so often, lemme just be transparent for a second and just say this. For some reason, fear is one of life's biggest struggles for me. It's one of life's biggest struggles for me. It it's one of the places that I need Jesus. When I've got the doors locked to my soul, when I've got the doors locked to who I am, when I've surrounded myself with nothing, I need Jesus most often in my life to take care of fear. I, I'm just gonna be honest with you. I, I live, I live this, this the secret life inside of me of just being fearful.
Fearful that I won't be good enough, fearful I won't be the husband I, God has called me to be fearful. I won't be the provider that God's called me to be fearful I won't be the dad that God's called me to be, the employee that God's got called me to be. I have this huge fear that I'm not gonna be the person that this church needs to leave it, that I'm not gonna be prepared. I'm gonna blow it on some Sunday. I'm gonna say something that nobody else is coming back next week. I'm gonna lead us in a path. I'm gonna show up to a meeting unprepared and make a fool of myself. I live this fear. I'm not kidding with you that I'm gonna make a bad decision or I'm not gonna finish well, or my kids are gonna go off the rails, or Melissa's gonna wake up one day and go, I don't even like you or I, I'm just, I'm serious.
This is where I live and I hope you're feeling this with me. It's even fearful for me to say this out loud because I'm like, they ain't coming back next week. Right? That's my pastor, right? But man, I love how Jesus can go to the places in our lives that nobody else can go. Amen. And in the middle of my fear, in the middle of me locking the doors and trying to be this positive person that Jesus can just look at me and go, I got you and I'm with you, and I'm walking in you and I am yours. Listen, Jesus steps into their doubt and their fear and their questions and their struggles like nobody else can. Like nobody can. And here's the deal. Jesus is still in the business of being right there. Did you see what Jesus did? He came to his own when they were afraid.
He didn't wait for 'em to clear up their act or get their selves together. Jesus shows up when nobody else can to give us enough faith to overcome whatever is going on in our lives. He come when we can't do it. I, I can't tell you how many thousands of times back to my fear problem, right? How many thousands of times where I've just simply said, God, I, I can't do it. Please help me. Amen. And you know what He does? He does every time He does. And most of the time for years, Isaiah chapter 41 comes to my mind, lemme read it over you 'cause I think some of you may need this as much as I do. Watch what he tells us in Isaiah 41, 9, God says, I took you from the ends of the earth, from the farthest corners. I called you and I said, you are my servant.
I have chosen you. I have not rejected you. So do not fear for I'm with you. Do not be dismayed for I'm your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I'll hold you with my righteous right hand. All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgrace. Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you're not gonna find them though you, they wage war against you. They will be nothing at all. Man, verse 13, for I'm the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear, I will help you. You know what? Fear might not be your deal, but you can put yours in that 'cause. That's what Jesus is promised. The resurrected Jesus will do this for you. But the question is, will you let him, the promise of his presence for his disciples, the promise of his presence for me, and the promise of their presence for you is available.
But the question is, will you let him move in it? But it's not just the promise of his presence than he gives them. It gets even more specific and more incredible than that. In fact, keep reading with me and watch exactly what Jesus wants to give them and give us. Look at verse 19 again. Here's what it says. Jesus came and stood among them and said, here it is. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. Now listen, fear might not be your deal, but peace probably is. In fact, I want you to see some of the verse before we talk about peace. Where did Jesus stand? Right here. He stood where the text says it. Come on. It's not a test, right? He stood among them. He stood among them, right? He stood right in the middle of them. I want you to see something about Jesus 'cause the same as who he is today.
Jesus doesn't stand on the edge. He doesn't stand on the outskirts. Jesus is not a distant God that is calling us from afar. He's not directing us from afar. No. He's not even just messing with them, right? No. What is he doing? He is in this upper room standing in the middle of them. He's not looking at them and going, what are you doing? Why are you doing this? He's not looking at 'em and saying, we've already covered this. No, Jesus stands in the middle of them, in the middle of their fear, in the middle of their doubt, in the middle of their shame and simply looks at them and says, peace be with you, shalom, peace. But why is peace first, right? I mean, if I'm God, which we've already established many times, that I don't need to be right, why is peace first?
I can think of so many other things that that would be great to give them first. But then when you really start thinking about where they were and what was going on and where we are, peace is huge. Why do they say peace first? Well, I think a couple reasons. First, that that was a common greeting of the day. They said that often. Secondly, they were, they were in this incredible chaos moment. I mean, you can't deny that they didn't know what was going on. It's almost like Jesus was going, Hey, calm down a little bit and then we'll talk. But third and beyond those, I really think what the text and the gospel is pointing towards is that Jesus is showing up onto the scene and he's showing them exactly what he has done to bring them ultimate peace. And the fact that Jesus has not only come to bring them peace, that he is the prince of peace, to give them what nobody else could.
And that's what he's telling us. That he has come and he has found a way to give us the darkest, deepest desire of our soul. And that is a peace with God. It's a peace with God. I love this because that's exactly what his life brought, his death brought and his resurrection brought it brought us away to him, a way to peace his resurrection, accomplished peace in every single way. In fact, write this principle down, not only does Jesus come to the places that nobody else can come, Jesus also, secondly gives the peace that all our hearts seek that no one else can give. Nobody else can give this. Actually two times in this text, Jesus says, I am giving you peace. I am leaving you peace. He actually says it twice, right? And this is the first thing that he offers 'em. And it's important why?
It's important that peace is first. Why? Because knowing Jesus and the peace of Jesus comes before we can ever do anything for Jesus. That's the thing, right? A chaotic Christian is never a useful tool for the kingdom of God. Somebody just popped into your mind right now. Don't let that happen. Right? It's never a useful tool for the kingdom of God. It's obvious right here that these guys aren't in peace, and it's obvious right here. If they didn't have the peace of Jesus and understand who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and what Jesus wants to do, that they would never be useful for him. I think that's huge. And I also think it's a huge struggle for us. In fact, watch what Paul says about this peace that Jesus gives us. Ephesians two, verse 14, he says this, for he himself, this is talking about Jesus is our peace.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners or strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household and in him, verse 21, watch this. The whole building is joined together. Verse 22. And in him, you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. You see what's happening here? Jesus is saying, Hey, the peace that I am offering you is the peace that I'm gonna dwell in you is the peace that I accomplished on the cross. It's the peace that I accomplished from the resurrection, from the grave, and it's the peace that is ultimately gonna tie you guys together, give you the power to walk and build the church peace. Look at what Jesus says in the upper room. Watch this in verse 21. I mean, verse 20. He says, after he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples were overjoyed. They were overjoyed. Why? Because they're finding the peace that's offered when they saw the Lord. In verse 21, again, Jesus said, peace be with you. In other words, Jesus said, Hey, look at my hands and look at my side. I am the one that was abandoned. So you will not have to be abandoned so you can have peace. In fact, this is what Jesus was saying, Isaiah 53, 5, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him and catch this, and by his wounds, we are healed. Amen. Did you see what Jesus just did here? Jesus just walked out, the passion play in front of them. He walked out this foretelling of Isaiah years earlier and said, you see this? You see this. I have done it, and I'm offering you peace and I'm bringing you peace, but will you have it?
You know, ultimately Jesus offers us peace and kind of five areas of our lives. Jesus offers us peace between us and him. He's no longer our judge. He is now our friend. He's now our guide, and he's now our counselor and he's now our helper. But he also offers us peace between us and the Father, right? That's ultimately why he came. Why? Because there was a dividing line between a sinful man and a holy God, and Jesus came to bro to close the gap to bring us back to him. But not only is it between him and the Father, Jesus brings us peace between us and other people. It's what he does. Why? Because sinful people do not exist in peace. They don't. But what Jesus said here is, now I have blurred the dividing line. I have joined you together. I have put you together in my house and I'm building you up as the church to walk together.
But he also brings peace not only with God, not only the Father, God, only with him, not only with our, with others that are out there. He brings us peace with our own soul. Yes sir. That's what Jesus does. Why? Because the only way to have a clear conscious and a clear soul is to walk in the newness of life. This is the peace that he offers. But lastly, he gives us peace in the world. Do you realize that there's gonna come a day, one day, and this is what his resurrection is showing us, to where there will be no more pain, no more shame, no more discord and no more non-PE. 'cause he's coming back and the righteousness of him will rule for eternity. Nothing can bring you the peace. Listen to me, students that Jesus can. Amen. Nothing can. There will be so many things that will be thrown at your feet as as suitable like, like none, like even taking the place.
But it's gonna seem like it's gonna do it, but it won't. Jesus steps in front of them and says, Hey, peace, I bring you so Jesus can go where nobody else can go. He offers us the peace that nothing else can offer. And I want you to write these next two down together. Not 'cause we're running outta time because we're not, but what I want you to do is I want you to see them in the same context together. Write these two things that Jesus gives us. Number one or number the next two. Number three actually, is that Jesus offers the power to live the abundant life that no one else can provide. He's offers the power, but here's what goes with the power. He also provides us with an eternal, here's the second one, purpose that no one else can provide. I want you to notice them.
The first one is power. The second one is purpose, power and purpose. Okay? Purpose and power. You can put 'em in whichever order you want. It doesn't matter when you think about it, these are two of the most pursued things in all of our lives, and I want you to see what Jesus does right here. He gives them both. Somebody that has power without purpose goes off the rails and worships themself. Purpose that ha somebody that has purpose but no power. They're always hitting their head against the wall. What does Jesus do? Jesus actually offers us both inside of Him. In fact, look at the text. Watch what he says in verse 21. I love this. He says this again, Jesus said to to them, watch this peace be with you. Now, here it is, as the Father has sent me, watch what he says.
Here's our purpose. I am sending you. Alright? I want you to see this. That's the purpose, right? What is the purpose for my life as a believer in Jesus? It is one thing is that I, I am a sent believer. I have been called to the ultimate task to represent Jesus. That's why Jesus leaves us here after he saves us. Have you ever thought about that? Leave that verse up there. Here's what I want you to think about just for a second though. Have you ever thought about the fact that why doesn't Jesus just out of after salvation, just poof, bring us back to him? Why doesn't he do it? I mean, it seems obvious that that would be the best thing. Seems obvious. It would be the least amount of problems for our lives. He does it because not only does he save us, but he gives us this purpose in our life to worship him, to lift him up, and to proclaim him to other people.
Do you wanna know why so many of us live a life that we never feel like we're fulfilling what we've been created to be? Even though we're the best dad, even though we're the best mom, even though we have the biggest house and all the money, it might be because we're not living out the purpose that God has saved us to live, and that is to be His true. That's true. And to represent him. Look at it again in the verse again. Jesus said, peace be with you as the Father has sent me. I am sending you, there's a penmanship between how that Jesus came and the word to come. But keep going. Verse 22, and with that, here it is. Here's the power. It's coming. He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. Now, what did Jesus do right here? That's the power.
If the purpose is to be sent, the power is the fact that Jesus right here, Jesus breaths the Holy Spirit coming on them. The power comes from the Holy Spirit. It doesn't come from me. It doesn't come from my talents. It comes from him. The power comes because we have God in us. We have God in us. The power comes because Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit. To which some of you were saying, well, I thought the Holy Spirit came in the day of Pentecost. Listen, the Holy Spirit's been around forever. All right? This is just a foretaste of what Jesus gives for all times in the Book of Acts. Jesus gives them the Holy Spirit. In fact, in Acts one, eight, both these things are together. It says this, but you will receive the power when what the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses.
Why do we get power? Not for me, but so that I can be his witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We are given power to be his witness, to be his messengers and to be his mouthpiece. That's it. That's why he's giving us life. And what does Jesus do right here? Does Jesus just speak this into them? No. I want you to see something here. This is gonna tie all scripture together. Jesus breaths the Holy Spirit into them. Do you remember in Genesis chapter one, two, and three when God created us? Do you remember what he did when he created man, he breathed into them. What has Jesus now done for us? He has breathed again his life and his power and his purpose into us. That's what he's done. Can, can I just be honest that some of the most miserable people that I know on this planet are not just straight up pagans. They're people that are trying to live a quasi Christian life with one foot in this world and one foot in the world of Christ. True. And can I tell you, the only people that ever get hit by both sides of traffic is the people standing in the middle.
That's what Jesus is saying here. He's saying that I have given you peace, but in that peace you gotta realize that my power in you is to set you in a direction to represent who I am. You know what Jesus is doing here? He has fulfilling the idea that he is not leaving us as orphans. In fact, John 14 verse 16 says this, he will give you another advocate to send you, to help you and to be with you forever. The spirit of truth, the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you and I will not leave you as orphans. You know what this says to me? This is not only has Jesus given me the Holy Spirit, and not only has Jesus given me the role to stand as his ambassador, but he has given me his power to be able to do it.
Never let Satan tell you that it's my job. Never let Satan tell you that it is the extrovert's job to preach Jesus to everybody you know because it's not. That's true. It's all of our jobs and it's what we're seeing right here in this upper room. This is what we're saved to do. It's all our jobs. Jesus said it. Lemme read it to you again. Again. Jesus said Verse 21, peace be with you as the Father has sent me. I am sending you listen, that you here is not just for the for the disciples. This, this is not a special apostle ability to proclaim Jesus and live by the spirit. No. Jesus has giving this for all of us, for all times and all places at all moments. This gives them and us the power to proclaim. You know what Satan wants you to believe this morning? He wants you to believe that you don't have the power to represent Jesus. But according to this, he has brought us peace. He has given us his presence. He's offering us his power, and now he's set us on his purpose. Do you, do you know why I love this little pep talk from Jesus so much?
'cause it represents the gospel. This moment in the upper room represents every single page of scripture, and lemme close it like this just by telling you this, Jesus shows up in a life of these disciples that had no idea who was gonna be there. Let me ask you something. Isn't that how it worked for you? Like you were going on in live? Somebody invited you to some pizza party when you were a student 'cause you liked some girl. You went and all of a sudden something started tugging on your heart like it had never tugged there before Jesus showed up in a place that you never thought he was gonna be. What did he do after that? He knocked on the door of your heart. You surrendered your heart to him. And then all of a sudden, not only that, his peace became over your life.
You remember the moment that you confessed your sins and you invited Christ into your life, that there was something that happened inside of here that you never knew could happen. There was a piece that came over you to where in that moment you knew you were secure. That's what we're seeing in this moment right here. Is it not after that, what began to happen, his power began to come in our lives. Tonight at night, you began to say things that you never thought you could say. You began to read things and and it began. It became clear some things that never were clear before you began to speak things outta your mouth that you never thought you could say. That was the power of the Holy Spirit. That was the power of the counselor. That was the power that's available to us that God has given us to proclaim him.
And then all of a sudden you started seeing other people differently like, man, I wanna take them where I'm going. I wanna present to them what Jesus has done for me. Listen, this is the gospel. This is exactly what Jesus did. Jesus' presence, his peace, his power, and his purpose are the four things in our lives that really matter. And it was offered in this upper room and it's offered to us all through the resurrected savior that you can be restored, you can be sent, you can be forgiven, and you can be set free. The offer of his lordship and the offer of his message is for you. Let me ask three questions as we close this morning. 'cause I don't want us to walk out of this moment without putting ourselves in this moment. Here's the first question I got for you this morning.
Number one, do you need to meet Jesus? Do you need to meet Jesus? Maybe your life is a little bit like these disciples that you have run, you have hidden, you have secluded yourselves and you have maybe, maybe, maybe even thought that you could do it on your own and get your act together and stand again. But maybe this morning you're finally hearing the message that Jesus just wants to invade your space and come into your life. Do you invite Christ into your life today to forgive you your sins, to give you his power, to give you his peace and to give you his purpose? Here's what I know about him. If you'll repent from your sins, if you invite him in to be your savior and your Lord, he'll do it. Do you quite simply just in me and make me us? Is that where you're at this morning?
If it's all you gotta do is ask him. Secondly, maybe you know Jesus today, but let me ask you this question. What is it that you have locked Jesus out of in your life? What is it that you need? Lemme say it like this, that you need Jesus to be in the middle of. What is it that you need Jesus to step in and take control of? Man, aren't we so good at just making it look like we got it all together, man, we're so good at it. Here's what Jesus wants to do. He wants to break into that upper room of your life, stand in the middle of you, set you free, but you gotta let him. Is that you today, you just need to say, Hey, here, I'm Jesus moving me. Here's my stuff. Maybe thirdly, maybe you just need to ask yourself this question this morning.
Am I living his purpose? Were my only living life, man. Such a good question, isn't it? Are you living sinned, man, thank God these guys did right. Well, we probably wouldn't be here today. What about the people you come in contact with? We prayed me Lord Jesus this morning as we walk into our time invitation this morning. Lord God, I pray that if people, if people had any of these three questions that just resonated in their soul, then God, they would do business with you. God, if a person needs to trust you as your savior this morning, I just pray that in just a second. They leave their seed, they come, come find me over the next step, spanner to the front and to their right, and they just look at me in the face and say, Hey, I need Jesus today. What do I need to do? I pray that if somebody in here has just got some serious stuff in their life that's going down, and maybe today they use this al alter as a moment to invite you in to the moment. Maybe they need somebody to pray over 'em today. We've got people available for that as well. Don't even have to know the specifics, but maybe they just need to look at somebody today and go, Hey, I need somebody to walk with me and just pray that God's peace and power, presence and purpose would direct my life.