Sermon Notes: Tame Your Thomas

“TAME YOUR THOMAS!”

John 20:19-29

 INTRODUCTION

The First and New Testaments remind us, “The just shall live by faith!”  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen!  Conversely, doubt is having an uncertainty of belief or opinion that often interferes with decision-making.  Doubt is having a lack of confidence or an inclination not to believe or accept!  Doubt is very real, and many Christians experience doubt more often than they are willing to admit!  Yes, we even doubt God too!  After all, it was doubt, distrust, and disobedience that ushered sin into God’s “very good” creation!   Allowing doubt to seep and creep deep into your DNA can lead to death, destruction, disease, depression, dysfunction, and disillusionment!

Today’s sermon focuses on faith’s public enemy number one:  doubt!  Faith is the antithesis of doubt, and these two cannot peacefully coexist!  We are going to choose one or the other!  All choices have consequences!  This is precisely why James 1:6-8 warns, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”  Does your life feel like a sea-driven wave?  Have you been wind-tossed lately?  If so, then you might consider checking your “doubt denominator!”  If the devil can drown us in doubt, then we’re defeated!  Yet, we are more than a conquerors through Christ Jesus who saves us!  So, Tame Your Thomas!

BIRTHING BABIES!                            

1. Didymus means twin!                                     24
2. There are two nations within us all!         Genesis 25:23
3. Avoid being two-faced and double-tongued!          John 10:25-26; 1 John 2:4
4. Whatever eats the most grows the fastest! Ephesians 2:1-3; 1 Peter 2:1-3

WAGING WARS WITHIN!

1. 1. The flesh and spirit are constantly engaged in combat!           Galatians 5:16-17
   2. Spirit-led living is a life spring!                                                            Psalm 143:10
   3. Carnal living leads to death!                                                         Romans 8:6-8
   4. Don’t be a “lip-service” saint!            Isaiah 29:13

ISOLATION INCREASES IMPULSIVITY!                                                    

1. 1. God never intended for us to be alone!           Genesis 2:18
   2. Isolation is sin’s ignition switch!          Proverbs 18:1
   3. Community creates accountability!                        Acts 2:42-47
   4. The devil is a “master mind mesmerizer!”            Luke 4:1-13; Genesis 3:1

DESTROYING DOUBT’S DOORS!                                                          

1. Let Jesus stand amid your circumstances!            19, 26
2. Trust God to meet you where you are!                   27; Mark 9:23-24
3. God’s Dunamis is greater than our doubt!  Matthew 28:18

CONCLUSION

They say that seeing is believing!  However, Thomas proves this is not always the case!  There’s a Thomas within all of us!  Thomas, like so many of us, became so blinded by the doors of doubt that he refused to believe the word of his co-laborers in ministry as well as the crucified and risen Christ, who stood right before him!  Your senses can be unreliable, but the Spirit of God within you is 100% reliable.  Do not be fooled by observational blindness!  What’s it going to take?  God has been too good to us all for us to require some sign or wonder to prove His power!  Refuse to allow (by faith and by fact) your circumstances to make you doubt!  When you fall into periods of doubt, don’t stay there!  Simply repent and experience God’s grace!

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