But Thomas, one of the twelve

Joh 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
Good morning friends I hope all is well in your lives today. Last night we had our Tuesday night services at the nursing home as we are allowed this ministry by the grace of God, and before things were started the Pastor shared with us that one of our charter members of our church has passed on to be with the Lord. I personally never had the opportunity to meet this lady, however from the testimonies of the few that were in attendance at the nursing home she was a wonderful person. What makes it better though is she was saved, so there is no reason to fear of her soul, but to rejoice as the Bible says..to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord! I would that you pray today for the Pastor and the Byrd family for strength and comfort during this time. Now as we were going through the preaching at the nursing home my eyes wandered over to the above text and it kind of stuck with me for some reason. If you read the text we find out that the disciples were gathered together just after the death of Jesus and were behind closed doors. During that same day Jesus Himself appeared unto them just as He had promised that they should see Him again! What caught my attention though was the fact that Thomas was not with them..where was he? What was he doing, or what was he thinking? Now the Lord showed up and what a blessing it was, as the disciples were obedient to Jesus and held fast the faith that He would rise, here is the wandering Thomas missing out on a blessing! If Thomas would have been gathered together instead of out on his own, then his faith would've been strengthened without having to be embarrassed by the foolish statement that he made later on. Think about this, what if Thomas would've doubted so much that he left the fold of God, and turned his back on God and the things that God had planned for him in his life? All the misery that he would have to endure, and all he had to do was believe in simple faith. I mean he was one of the twelve that had heard that the Lords death must be so. Yet Thomas is just like the rest of us, for we have the Bible, every promise, and every statement from the Lord. We have His words to guide us, comfort us, teach us, and direct our paths if we would just believe. Now remember, God does not force you to worship Him, but what if out of a willing heart you decided to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and worship Him freely out of spirit and truth? Now I also look at Thomas and the example of friendship, when the disciples needed each other the most to encourage themselves..where's Thomas? When the Lord shows up as He has promised to never leave us or forsake us, the Lord just proves the point to trust no man, but to seek God. Now Thomas was a saved man, and he couldn't forsake the assembling of himself with the others so after eight days the Bible says they were all gathered together again, with Thomas this time and Jesus appears, now this was great for the disciples, however a greater lesson for Thomas. The Lord says unto Thomas in Joh 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. Now friend wouldn't it be better to just accept by faith and believe than to dis-believe only to be proven wrong? I ask you today when others are gathered together to worship the Lord, and truly His presence will be there, where will you find yourself? When things are the hardest in life and there is no mere mortal answer, where will you be wandering at? Friend how much easier would it be to believe that if you knew Jesus Christ as your personal Savior that He has you in mind during all the trials of your life and He is there to comfort you? Friend today is the day of salvation, the Lord beckons that whosoever will to come unto Him and believe with all your heart, mind, and soul that He is the Christ, the Messiah that has been born of a virgin, died on the cross for the remission of your sins, and that He has risen and seated on the right hand of God until His glorious return! Friends the question for today is do you believe, or will you continue to wander about lost in this sinful world full of trouble and turmoil? What a shame it would be when the Lord comes again to find you unbelieving, and while you may say I knew of your name, that He would say depart from me ye workers of iniquity for I never knew you. For the Bible makes it very clear that the devil and the demons know of His name, and tremble, but what Jesus wants to know is do you know Him personally? Friend don't put off making a decision to believe on the name of the only true Son of God for the remission of your sins, believe in your heart, and confess to the Lord that you are a sinner that needs to be saved, then with all assurance know that you are if you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, and begin life anew, born again turning from the past and looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith!