Lessons from the Omer Period

Happy Feast of Pentecost. On this day, almost 2,000 years ago, the disciples of Jesus Christ and His apostles were gathered together in Jerusalem, as they were commanded by Christ in Luke 24, 49-51. They were all gathered together. They were in one accord. I'll make a joke there about domestic automobiles, but they were all gathered together in one mind, in like thought, as they were in that location, to receive a miracle that was promised to them and a fulfillment of the part of the plan of God that was pivotal and changed everything going forward— the pouring out of the Spirit of God on mankind.

As was mentioned earlier, just 10 days prior to this event taking place, Jesus Christ concluded a 40-day period with His disciples, where He appeared to them several times, ultimately imparting a variety of lessons before ascending into heaven. The title for this split sermon today is Lessons from the Omer Period, Part 2. It is the conclusion of a message that I gave—not this Sabbath, but Sabbath prior—in Salem.

I know some of you that were in Eugene have not heard that message yet, and so I am going to do everything in my power to provide enough of a backdrop so that this message can also stand on its own. Okay, so my apologies, but we will do everything we can to try to make this message also stand on its own. But in that message, we went through a number of the passages that took place during this seven-week time period after the wave sheaf offering and before the day of Pentecost.

And we examined, rather, in particular, the mindset of Christ's disciples as they went through these events. Again, these were very visceral things for them. They were there. They experienced them firsthand. And the questions that we set out to answer and that we really wanted to look at were, what was the specific focus of Christ's message to His disciples?

What did He spend His time on instructing them as He appeared multiple times to them in that seven-week period? How did those lessons then prepare the disciples for what was to come on the day of Pentecost? And over 40 days, over this period of time, during this Omer period, Jesus Christ appeared numerous times to His disciples.

Now, initially, as He did, they were grieving. They were in shock. They were struggling with everything that they had just experienced through the week of the Days of Unleavened Bread and struggling with what that all meant.

What did it all mean? They believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. They believed that He was the Messiah. But what exactly did that mean? They'd seen the miracles. They'd seen Him bring Lazarus back from the dead. He healed the sick. He'd healed the lame and the blind. But He also died. And they had seen that with their own eyes as they stood afar off on that hill in Golgotha as He yielded up His spirit. We know His body was taken down. He was hastily put into a tomb before sundown on the first day of Unleavened Bread, or prior to the first day of Unleavened Bread.

And as Mary stood before an empty tomb at daylight, or before daylight, sorry, on Sunday morning, the day of that wave sheaf offering, she hurried back to tell the disciples, hey, something's wrong, guys. His body is gone. And she runs back to the disciples and tells them her story, and they didn't believe her.

In fact, not only did they not believe her, they assumed she was hysterical. They assumed that what she was saying, they assumed that the things that she was telling them, was absolutely due to her grief over Christ's loss, over the delirium and the hysteria that was there. So Peter and John followed her back to the tomb again.

Both of them go to the empty tomb. They believed her. John, writing decades later in John 20 and verse 9, said they didn't let know the Scripture, that He was to be raised from the dead. They didn't know yet. They didn't understand fully yet. Mary stays at the tomb weeping. Christ appears to her first, tells her to go and tell the disciples what she had seen, that He was ascending to the Father and to His God, to their Father, and to their God.

So she rushes back. Mary runs back to the disciples to tell them, not only was the tomb empty, it's empty because He's alive! You guys, He's alive! And they still didn't believe her. They still didn't believe her. She returned with this great message of joy and rejoicing to a house of mourning. They were still mourning the loss of their rabbi. They were weeping. They were mourning that morning as they were going through this. Their disbelief and their incredulity continued. Because again, He had died.

They had seen that with their own eyes. And it seems, based on some of the appearance accounts as we went through in the first message, that the hopes and expectations of Him delivering the nation of Israel, freeing the Jewish people from this Roman occupation, restoring the nation of Israel to glory again, all of them had died right along with Him in some of the eyes of His disciples.

Two men in one of the early appearances along the road to Emmaus debated and reasoned among themselves as they walked, talking about the events that took place. They acknowledged the signs. They stopped short, however, of accepting what they saw and they heard, and truly believing what it was that they saw and heard. And it took Christ Himself opening their eyes to the Scripture for them to understand what was really happening. We know He appeared to the disciples as they were gathered together with the door shut and likely locked out of fear of the Jews coming after them too.

And Christ suddenly appears in their midst. Suddenly He's there, right there with them. Now, what's amazing to me about this account is He had already appeared to Mary. He had already appeared to Peter. He had already appeared to the men on the road to Emmaus.

And here He is, right in front of them. And supposing He was a spirit, they were terrified. Right? It wasn't until He showed them His hands and His feet allowed them to touch Him, and He ate some food that they realized that it truly was Him standing before them. That He was, in fact, alive. The parallel account in Mark 16, verse 14, records that during this meeting, Christ rebuked them for their hardness of heart, for their refusal to believe, and for their lack of faith. That word in Greek is apistos.

Apistos, the word for faith, and A being the word for not. Apistos, their lack of faith. Others had come and told them they'd seen Him after they'd risen. They didn't believe them either. But their rabbi, their Lord, was, in fact, alive. There was no questioning it now. They went and they told Thomas what they'd seen. At this time, Thomas wasn't there, and he, like them, refused to believe, couldn't believe, until he saw it with his own eyes, and he touched Him with his own hands. Let's go over to John 20, and we'll go ahead and pick it up, essentially, where we left off in part one.

John 20, with Christ's appearance to the 11 here, this time with Thomas present. So, eight days prior to this account was the first visit to his disciples. Thomas was not there with them at that time. This time, though, is the second appearance to his disciples, and Thomas is present in the room at this time. John 20, and we'll pick it up in verse 26.

John 20 and verse 26 says, After eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them, Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace to you! Once again, we see him kind of just appear in the midst of them here.

Verse 27, he said to Thomas, Reach your finger here, and look at my hands. Reach your hand here, put it into my side. He says, Do not be unbelieving but believing.

And Thomas, verse 28, answered, and he said to him, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said to Thomas, Thomas, because you've seen me, you have believed. But then he says, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet still believed. Once Thomas was able to see and touch Jesus Christ, he believed. At that point, the presence of his Savior was indisputable. It was absolutely undeniable at that point.

The holes were there. He could touch him. He could see him. He could talk to him. There was no question. Thomas concludes the only way you could conclude in that scenario, My Lord and my God. Christ rebukes Thomas and the other disciples gathered, saying, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. The first of the lessons of this Omer period, the one that we got to in the first message, and the foundation upon which all the rest are built, is this lesson.

That we must walk by faith, not by sight. That we must walk by faith, not by sight. You know, brethren, believing in something that's right in front of you, it's not hard. It's really not difficult. In my hand, I'm holding a water bottle. You know, I can look at this water bottle. I can touch it. I can experience it.

I could open it. I could drink it. This is right in front of my nose. I have no other logical conclusion because it is right here that this exists and is exactly what I think it is. I have no other logical conclusion. In fact, on the contrary, any other conclusion would just be obstinance.

It would just be me being stubborn and unwilling to admit what I'm seeing right in front of me. Right? If we can see and we can handle something, the only logical conclusion is its existence. Everything else is illogical. Christ's desire for His disciples was for their belief, for their faith, but for their faith and their belief without the need to see. Without the need to see. Without the need to put their hand in His side or to look at and experience the holes in His hands.

Because, brethren, there was a time coming in this next stage of Christ's plan as Christ built His Church that this trait would be critical. It would be critical. Let's go over to Luke 24. Luke 24. Let's take a look at another of these accounts here. Luke 24. And we'll go ahead and we'll pick it up in verse 44.

But Jesus Christ provides in Luke 24 the reason why these appearances during this time period had to take place. What was the reason for it? Why were these so necessary? Luke 24 in verse 44.

Jesus tells His disciples, He says, Then He said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. And then it says in verse 45, He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

Verse 46, Then He said to them, Thus it is written, And thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. Christ tells the disciples that all of these things had to take place. His suffering, His death, even the resurrection, in order to fulfill all that was written about Him in the law, in the prophets, and in the writings, in the Psalms. And He took the time at that point to open their understanding, and He went through the passages with them, starting in those places, and walking them through this thread that is at the very beginning of Scripture to the very end on the Messiah.

He walked them through these Scriptures and showed them how these things connect. And again, these men were Jewish. These men had forward and backward knowledge of these Scriptures. They'd read them. They've committed them to memory. They'd studied them. They debated them. What was different now? What was different now? Their minds were open. Their minds were open. They had the ability to understand. They had God, the author, through inspiration of these words, through the inspiration of His servants, the author of these words, right there telling them what they actually meant, what they really were connected, and how these various concepts and these events all connected.

And all the events that they were so desperately trying to wrap their brains around during this time period, immediately following the Days of Unleavened Bread leading up to Pentecost, all of these things needed to happen to be able to fulfill those words that were written. But not only that. Look at what it says in verse 48. You are witnesses of these things. You, he says to his disciples, are witnesses of these things. In a very short period of time, Jesus Christ was going to ascend to the Father and He was going to sit down at the right hand of God.

He would be gone. That body that had been the visual proof the disciples needed would no longer be present. It wouldn't be there for people to handle and see. They were to be witnesses to the world of what? They were to be witnesses of the resurrected Christ. That they had seen Him with their own eyes. They had seen Him die. They had seen Him live. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, a little bit outside the boundary, so to speak, of this time period. But I do want to take a look at this passage because it helps to kind of set this concept. We see Paul, you know, as he goes through the book of Corinthians here with this epistle, he addresses a number of topics. One of those topics is the topic of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. And I think it's really telling how he starts this passage. Look at the way that he begins this passage. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, Moreover brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand, by which also you were saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Paul says the gospel that was preached, the gospel of the kingdom of God, that which Corinth received in which they stand, he says through that gospel, through all of the aspects and components of it, that they are saved. He says unless their belief was in vain, unless they had a rash belief, unless, you know, their belief was without purpose, as that kind of word in Greek gets at. But verse 3, he starts to build on one of these components of this gospel message. Verse 3, For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Verse 5, we see that he says, and he was seen by Cephas, by Simon, Peter, then by the twelve. After that, he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some, he says, have fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And then what we see is that Paul even says, and then last of all, he was seen by me also, as one who was born out of due time.

Christ appeared to the Apostle Paul. He taught the Apostle Paul. So he is building the case here for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This idea that he died for the remission of our sins according to the Scripture, that he was buried, that he rose again the third day in accordance with Scripture.

But Paul states unequivocally, he died, and he died for the remission of our sins, that blood shed on our behalf, so that we can be reconciled to God. So that we even have a hope of being in this incredible kingdom that the Gospel is talking about. But he also says that he lived. He also says that he lived. He goes on in verse 9. He talks about how he had appeared to him. Later, apart from the disciples, Paul says, is one born out of time. Verse 9, he says, for I am the least of the apostles. He says, who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God, he says, through God's grace, I am what I am. He says, his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, and yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 15, therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Paul's getting at this idea that whether it was him, whether it was the disciples, whether it was, you know, Peter and James and John and all these guys, whether it was him or them, he says, so we preach. So we provide our witness. We tell you what we saw. And so it says, you believe. The remainder of the chapter addresses the resurrection itself. It provides a fantastic dissertation on the nuts and bolts and the hope that is implicit in this event. The hope that is implicit in this event. Verse 12 says, now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. It is that critical. It is that important to this process. It's that critical of a component.

That if it is not the case, then our preaching is empty and our faith is also empty. It says, yes, we are found false witnesses of God because we've testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ, well, they've perished. If that's the case, then they've perished in the sense that there is no resurrection coming. Verse 19, if this, if in this life Paul says only we have hope in Christ, he says we are of all men the most pitiable. Paul says, if Christ is not risen, then our preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God, our faith is empty.

If Christ is not risen, what motivation do we have to follow him? In fact, he gets at that idea a little further down in 1 Corinthians 15 down near verse 30 where he says, well, if that's the case, then let us eat and drink. For tomorrow we die, right? If there is nothing coming, then this is all that there is. And living up is what Paul says. But the fact is that there is something coming. And that's what Paul's getting at here, that there is a hope that is coming. Paul's conclusion is that Christ was resurrected. That he became the firstfruits of those that have fallen asleep. And as such, in the hope of that resurrection, in that hope of the eternal life in the kingdom of God and of the return of Jesus Christ, all that we do right now, all that we do now, everything that we submit ourselves to and that we obey, everything that we do now in this life is a result of the hope that lies within us. It is for that purpose. It is for that reason. Brethren, we do these things for a future time that God is bringing, or it's all for nothing. Let's turn to Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11. We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 13 of Hebrews 11. You know, as believers, we can go back through Scripture, we can read through the Old and the New Testament, and realize we are surrounded by an incredible cloud of witnesses. Really, truly, we are surrounded by this incredible cloud of witnesses. We can see stories of people who have lived this way of life, who have exhibited incredible faith. Just incredible faith. And as each of those individuals faced their circumstances, they lived that faith, but they lived that faith looking forward expectantly to what God had promised. You know, the author of Hebrews speaks of Abel, of Enoch, of Noah, of Abraham, and of Sarah. And then in verse 13 of Hebrews 11, he said, these all died in the end of the world. And then in verse 13, He said, these all died in faith. These all died in faith not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, they embraced them, and they confessed that there were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Verse 14 of Hebrews 11 says, For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had come out, well, then they would have had opportunity to return. But now, verse 16, they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. They desire the kingdom of God, the new Jerusalem. Therefore, it says, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

He has prepared a city for them. The disciples from these experiences that they had in this period between the wave sheaf and Pentecost were to go forth from these experiences into all the world. They were to preach the gospel to every creature. That was the commission they were given.

And those who believed their words, those who believed their witness, those who embraced the hope of what is coming and were baptized, it says, would be saved. Those that did not believe, who did not have the faith to be able to accept and understand that, says, will be condemned.

You cannot separate the events of the kingdom of God and these coming promises that all of us are expectantly looking forward to from the implicit hope that is within them. You can't separate those things. The kingdom of God is the only hope for this world at this point in time. That's it. That is it. And so as the disciples went out from Jerusalem after this day of Pentecost, as they preached these things, as they preached the hope of the kingdom of God, as they preached the certainty of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as they preached this coming kingdom, brethren, they were preaching a message of hope. They were preaching a message of hope. They were preaching a message of something that was beyond the Roman occupation that these individuals were experiencing, of something more than the aches and the pains of this life, the sorrow and the heartache of the world in which we reside. They were preaching a message of hope from the Son of God who conquered death. Don't let that pass by you. Death! He conquered death. It has no power. It has no sting, it talks about in 1 Corinthians 15. He died and he rose again. Even death cannot hold him and that message back. It cannot stop that message. The disciples went out. They made disciples of all the nations. They left the day of Pentecost. They left this day. And after what we see in Acts 2, they left with a passion and a fire lit underneath them. And the church grew, leaps and bounds as that passion and that fire went outward from Jerusalem. And as God called people to his church, that church grew. Let's go over to John 21. I'm going to take a look at one more lesson here. John 21. One more lesson here that he imparted to his disciples during this period. And it's one that only John's account holds on to. John 21. And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse one as we explore this kind of final lesson that he imparts to his disciples. So he has told them they need to live by faith, not by sight. He has sent us a message of hope. And lastly here in John 21, he tells us how to fish. No, that's not the message. That's not the lesson that he left. There's more than that. But I've often thought, you know, Jesus Christ would be the perfect, the perfect fishing buddy, as you can see from this account. Like, cast over there behind that rock. That little stream right there. Right there. Whoa, whoa! Look at that! I got one! Well, wouldn't that be cool? All right, John 21. We'll pick it up in verse one. It says, after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, just another name for the Sea of Galilee. And in this way, he showed himself. Simon Peter, Thomas, called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee. So James and John are both there. And then two other unnamed disciples here in this first part. Simon Peter said to them, verse three of John 21, I'm going fishing. They said to him, we're going with you also. That's always the right response. They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

Been there, done that. Been there, done that. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore. Yet the disciples, it says here, did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, have you any food? And they answered him, no. He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you'll find some. Just drop your net over there, you'll get some. So they cast. And now it says they're not able to draw it in because of the multitude of the fish. There's so many fish in that net. These guys in this boat can't get it out of the water. They cannot pull it up. There's too many fish. Way too many fish. So they cast. Now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Verse 7, therefore the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, Peter, it's him.

It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Now when Peter heard this, that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had removed it, and he plunged into the sea. So Peter just jumps off the front of the boat, you know, ultimately, and kind of trudges his way. I don't know if he swam or trudged or what. I don't know how deep they were. I'm assuming a ways if they had a net in there. But the other disciples came in in the little boat, for they were not far from land, but about 200 cubits, which is about 300 feet, not too far from the shore, dragging the net with fish. And then as soon as they'd come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it and bred. So Christ prepared breakfast for him. And he said to them, bring some of the fish which you have just caught. Simon Peter went up, dragged the net to land, full of large fish, 153. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, come and eat breakfast. And yet, notice here, none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? Knowing it was the Lord. So he must have had his appearance at this time veiled as well. They knew who it was, but they didn't recognize him. They didn't ask who it was at that time. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish. And it says, verse 14, this is now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised. Again, we see apparently Christ's appearance here was veiled, even after they drugged the nets ashore. They didn't want to ask who are you, which kind of seems to insinuate that maybe they weren't 100% certain, even though they knew in their heart of hearts who it was. He asked them if they'd got any food. Folks, that is standard fisherman talk, which is, hey, any bites? You catch anything? He says, children, do you have any food?

They'd gotten skunked. They hadn't caught an entire thing all night. He says, cast your nets on the right side of the boat, and they couldn't bring the net in due to the number of fish that they had caught. This was not the first time that Jesus Christ had done something like this.

When he first called the disciples, those first disciples, those small handful of guys he began working with at the beginning, he did something similar with them. He told them, put the nets in and draw them out, and you will have full nets. And essentially, they pulled the nets full of fish out of that account in Luke 5. Christ told them, do not be afraid from now on you will catch men, that you will now be fishers of men. And that event harkens them back to their calling.

It harkens them back to the first time that Jesus Christ looked at them and said, drop what you're doing and follow me. Put it away and follow me to the time that they brought their boats ashore and they walked away from them while they sat on the shoreline, forsaking all and following him.

And now he had done it again. We see John figures it out, Peter jumps in, you know, and we see the account kind of take place as it does. But after they've eaten breakfast, Christ has some questions for Peter. These are not easy questions. These are very pointed lessons for Peter, who was going to ultimately lead this church going forward. He was going to be in, you know, kind of a leadership role in this church going forward. Verse 15, John 20 says, nope, not John 20. Apologies.

21. That's where I'm at. 21. Verse 15, so when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon, Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said, tend my sheep.

He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And Peter, at this point, was grieved because he'd said to him the third time, do you love me? Probably hearkening back to the denial that night that Christ was arrested and betrayed or betrayed and arrested.

But he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things.

You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep.

In the Greek here, there's some lessons that we don't always pick out right away.

Christ, the first time, asks Peter, Peter, do you agapeo me? Do you love me with agape love?

And Peter's response, this idea of Peter, do you have, are you completely committed? And do you have a completely committed and devoted love for me more than your love for these? And what Peter responds is, Lord, you know that I love you. You know that I filet you. That I have a warmth and a brotherly affection for you. That's not what Christ asked him. Christ asked him, are you totally committed and devoted to me? And he said, I have a warmth and affection for you. I love you like a brother. He says, feed my lambs, care for the little ones. It means feed and tend in Greek. He asks him again, do you agapeo me? Peter's response is, yes, Lord, you know that I filet you. Peter, do you have a complete and total devotion to me a second time? And Peter says, you know I have a warmth and affection for you. He says, tend my sheep, shepherd the flock. Christ asks him again the third time, but this time he changes the word. Peter, do you filet me? He's not asking him about a commitment and a devotion anymore. He says, do you even have a warmth and affection for me, Peter? And of course, Peter at that point is grieved. Again, certainly kind of hearkening back to that night. He says, Lord, you know all things. You know that I filet you. You know that I have a warmth and an affection for you. We've been together for three and a half years. You know that I love you like a brother.

He says, feed my sheep. He says, feed and tend them. Christ knew that Peter loved him like a brother. What he was trying to understand was whether Peter understood the level of commitment and devotion necessary to go forward in this calling. Did he understand what that really meant? Did he understand what it would take? What was going to be asked of him?

It would require him to have a complete commitment and devotion to God and to the flock. You know, on the night of Christ's betrayal, Peter told Jesus Christ, I will lay down my life for you.

I am so committed and I am so devoted. Christ, I would die for you. And beginning in verse 18 of John 21, Christ quietly tells Peter, you know, Peter, you're right. You will. You will. Most assuredly, he says, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and you walked where you wished. But when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me, just like he did that day on that shore as they brought in those nets and they walked away from those boats. Are you willing to walk away, Peter, from all of this? To live this life that I have called you to live? Do you have the love and the devotion necessary, the commitment necessary to see this to the end? Are you willing to give up your life for me, for the flock? Will you exhibit the kind of love that's selfless, that focuses on the other person more than yourself, a love that is willing to lay down one's life for his friends, the kind of love that we see described in John 15 or 13, I'm sorry, verse 35, a love that we will be known and recognized as disciples of Jesus Christ by.

You know, these questions and these lessons that were imparted to the disciples during the seven week period in 31 A.D. Brethren, they're just as applicable to us today as they were to them then.

Will we live by faith and not by sight? Will we shelve our skepticism, our uncertainty, and our doubt? And will we go forward in full trust and full faith and full assurance? Or, like Thomas, will we periodically demand to see the holes in his hands and to put our hand in his side?

Do we live our life as a result of the hope that lies within us? Do we do what we do today, right now, the things that we say and do, our actions? Do we do those for a future and a hope that's coming? Or is our primary focus right here, right now, on a world that is going to burn?

Where are we laying up treasure? Is our focus here and now with very little thought on what's to come?

On what's to come? And does that ultimately impact our decisions with regards to how we live our life today? And this last one, you know, you put your own name into that question asked to Simon.

Ben, do you agapeo me? What is our response? Are we completely committed and are we completely devoted? Or do we just have warmth and affection for Jesus Christ? You know, during this period of time between the wave sheaf and the Feast of Pentecost, Christ appeared to his disciples several times over a period of 40 days. At the end of that period, he instructed them to go and wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father before he ascended to heaven, a cloud receiving him as he disappeared from their sight. And as they continued to stand there and look up, the angel goes, what are you guys doing? You know what's going on here? Why are you still looking up in the sky? Right? I love that. Just huh? Huh? Okay. But Jesus Christ had set the stage through these appearances. He had prepared the ground, so to speak, through these appearances helping the disciples to understand the importance of walking by faith, the importance of believing, and not being unbelieving. He desired they'd go forward in that faith as witnesses preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, of the remission of sins, of the hope of the resurrection to eternal life and that coming kingdom. They would be witnesses of his death and his resurrection, and through their witness they would bring hope to a world that was in desperate need of something to hope for, recognizing that this life isn't all there is, that God has something much, much bigger plan, something so much greater than anything any of us can even imagine. And then finally, in a very personal lesson to Peter, the leader of the Twelve, he took the time to instruct him in the importance of loving and caring for one another, being fully committed, being fully devoted to God, selflessly loving and caring for each other, showing love to God and to their fellow men. Brethren, the lessons during this time period were faith, hope, and love. Faith, hope, and love were the lessons that they experienced at this time as they were getting this foundation set for the work that was now going to begin on the day of Pentecost, because with the stage set, the final puzzle piece could now be dropped in that makes it all possible. On this day in 31 A.D., 10 days after Christ descended to heaven, God fulfilled his promise. He poured out his Spirit on mankind.

And that Spirit makes these things possible as it transforms our minds, it transforms our hearts, if we let it, if we allow it to. That Spirit brings to remembrance all that God's written in the Scripture. It helps us to receive his Spirit and understand and comprehend the depths of the mystery of Scripture. God reveals these things to us through his Spirit, enabling us to understand the mind of the Lord. It's through that Spirit that the Father fulfills the hope of the resurrection. Romans 8, verses 9 through 11 says, if that Spirit dwells in us, he will also give life to our mortal bodies through that Spirit. Agape love, that total commitment and devotion to God, it's one of the fruits of that Spirit, one of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, as we allow it to work within us. None of these things, none of these lessons that the disciples went through during this period of seven weeks, none of it's possible without the Spirit of God dwelling in us. We simply cannot achieve these things without it. I want to close today by reading through John 14. If you'd all just turn over to John 14 here. I want to take a look at this again this time that he was with his disciples here on the last night that he was on earth before his betrayal. John 14 and verse 25. And just for the sake of ease of reading, I'm just going to read it as it's written. You know, we recognize that, you know, the Holy Spirit's not a personage. I don't think I have to convince you of that, but I'm going to read it as it's written just for ease of reading. John 14 and verse 25. I want you to be thinking about the Spirit of God and think about the importance of these things. It says, these things I have spoken to you while being present with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You've heard me say to you, I'm going away and coming back to you.

If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now, he says, verse 29, I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so do I. He says, arise, let us go from here. Brethren, on this day of Pentecost, arise and let us go from here. Let us go from this day of Pentecost, energize. Let us go from this day forward on fire for the work that God is doing in our lives and the lives of others. Let us have living faith. Let us speak hope to this world and let us deeply love our God and one another.