At a Glance
Series: Never Be the Same Again
Scripture: John 20:19-31
Summary: From Fear to Faith is a sermon outline centered on John 20:19-31. Never Be the Same Again, Week Two I’m not too afraid of snakes or spiders, but wasps are the spawn of hell. Review flags: dated-context.
Source: Adapted from Brandon Cox sermon outline notes from 2017. Transcript, audio, and video files were not used for this draft.
Review labels: dated-context
Sermon Notes
This resource draft preserves the outline movement of the source file and is staged for Brandon review before any public update.
Extracted Outline
From Fear to Faith
Never Be the Same Again, Week Two
I’m not too afraid of snakes or spiders, but wasps are the spawn of hell.
The ten most common phobias in the U.K. and U.S.* are:
• Social phobia – fear of being in places with a lot of people
• Agoraphobia – fear of open spaces
• Claustrophobia – fear of being in constricted, confined spaces
• Aerophobia – fear of flying
• Arachnophobia – fear of spiders
• Driving phobia – fear of driving a car
• Emetophobia – fear of vomiting
• Erythrophobia – fear of blushing
• Hypochondria – fear of becoming ill
• Zoophobia – fear of animals
Spiritual fears…
• I’m never going to know if there’s a God.
• I’m never going to know who I am.
• I’m never going to experience real power.
• I’m not sure where I’m going to spend eternity.
John 20:19-31 NLT
That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” 28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. 29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
HOW JESUS MOVES US FROM FEAR TO FAITH…
1. He makes himself known. (vs. 19-20)
2. He fills us with his power. (vs. 21-23)
Jesus didn’t give the Holy Spirit here. Instead he commanded the disciples to “take” or receive the Holy Spirit when the promise of his coming would be fulfilled.
3. He shows us who God is. (vs. 26-29)
Some popular cults teach that Jesus isn’t actually God on the basis of the fact that the early chapters of John don’t refer to Jesus as “the” God. But Thomas, here, refers to Jesus literally as “THE Lord of me and THE God of me.”
4. He points us toward eternity. (vs. 30-31)
So that you may continue to believe… to live for and toward an eternity that you can be absolutely assured of.
* http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249347.php