Is Titus here yet? It’s a well timed question. My fifth grandchild is due in eleven days. Messages and comments from family and friends confirm that my husband and I are not the only ones anticipating his arrival. Many people are excited for my daughter and her husband, ready and waiting to welcome Titus. Thomas and Timothy are no exception. When Thomas is asked how he feels about being a big brother again, he answers, “Timothy will be the big brother. I am the big, big brother.” At five and two, there is a limit to what they actually understand about the new baby but their excitement is not masked. I look forward to their reaction when they meet their new brother for the first time.
When was the last time you truly looked forward to something? My son’s new home across the street from me is steadily taking shape. Seeing their dream becoming reality in front of them literally and figuratively as they walk daily from our front porch across to theirs to inspect the progress has been a treat to watch. They come back filled with anticipation for the not-so-far off day when the construction is completed and they will be handed their certificate of occupancy and their keys. Even Amelia and Ezra want to make the nightly trek. They know their own rooms and Amelia even asked if, when her house is finished, she could put my plastic playhouse on her porch and keep it there for me. Of course I said yes.
John, calling himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, recorded how Jesus offered his reeling disciples something solid to cling to before His arrest and crucifixion. His three year ministry since He called the Twelve had steadily grown, gathering momentum. His disciples, well versed in Old Testament prophecy, anticipated the trajectory of Jesus’s final weeks entirely wrong. From arguing over which of them would hold positions of authority in His coming kingdom to resigning themselves to die with Him in Jerusalem, they anticipated a military coup to oust the Romans and return the Promised Land to the Jews once and for all. Leading up to the Passover celebration as Jesus began to speak about His betrayal and death, the momentum turned. Conversations interrupted by fatalistic sounding remarks were surely disconcerting. “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.” (John 16:12)
Instead, Jesus said,“Don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God, and trust also in me.
There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.
If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”
John 14:1-3 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.1-3.NLT
To the religious but unbelieving, Jesus said things like, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me. You will search for me but not find me. And you cannot go where I am going.” Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.”
John 7:33-34, 8:21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.7.33-34.NLT
“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
John 1:12 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.1.12.NLT
“No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.
Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.
Since I live, you also will live.
When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me.
And because they love me, my Father will love them.
And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.””
John 14:18-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.18-20.NLT
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.
The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him.
But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.”
John 14:16-17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.16-17.NLT
“Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say.
My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.
I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.
But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.
And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.
So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again.
If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am.
I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.
I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches.
He has no power over me, but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father.”
John 14:23, 25-31 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.14.25.NLT
We who anticipate Christ’s appearing, who have believed the testimony about Jesus and surrendered all to Him in faith are already recipients of His promised Spirit. Emmanuel, God with us, indwells every believer by faith in Jesus, the One Way to the Father. We await His return as a bride waits for her groom with great joy. We live each day in hopeful expectation but we also enjoy the abundant life only Jesus offers. As the apostle Paul wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity].”
Philippians 1:21 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/php.1.21.AMP
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.”
(Fanny Crosby, 1873)
Thomas was not present when Jesus first appeared to His disciples after He was resurrected.
“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.”
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.
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!”
“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.”
John 20:25-28 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.20.25-28.NLT
You can have the same Hope that lives in me. His name is Jesus. What will it take for you to stop doubting and to embrace the Truth?
As Jesus told Thomas, “You believe because you have seen me.
Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
We who walk by faith and not by sight this side of the cross carry the Light of life in clay jars. The glory is not ours. All glory and honor are His forever and ever. Amen.
“You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves.
We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.
This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you.
All of this is for your benefit.
And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
That is why we never give up.
Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long.
Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.
For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
2 Corinthians 4:5-7, 14-18 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.4.5-15.NLT
“The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book.
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.”
John 20:29-31 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.20.30-31.NLT
“May grace and peace be lavished on you as you grow in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!
I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.
Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire.”
2 Peter 1:2-4 NET
https://bible.com/bible/107/2pe.1.4.NET
When you open your eyes on a new day, do you dread what is ahead or is your life characterized by hopeful expectancy?
“For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!”
And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.
It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ.
He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.”
2 Corinthians 1:20-22 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.1.20-21.NLT
“But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the One who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.43.1.NLT
Grace Greater Than Our Sin ~Tommee Profitt & Isaac Mather https://youtu.be/7EkdlPmgu94?is=jsNa20Qr2EzvA0v7
Blessed Assurance ~Tommee Profitt & Mara Justine https://youtu.be/u8uO3ahoCto?is=qL2Yjyj1ZHOr6jv3
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