You Cannot Fail
“At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.”
Saints Sergius and Bacchus Chapel
Palm Springs, California
“At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.”
“But he replied, ‘Lord, let me go first and bury my father.’ But he answered him, ‘Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’”
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”
“’Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you..’”
“’Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’”
“As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.”
“’I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.’”
“I give you a new commandment: love one another.”
“’My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.’”
“So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’”
So, Thomas gets criticized for his skepticism. That criticism isn’t restricted to Thomas. It extends to anyone who doubts or questions matters of faith. The critics believe that anyone who questions their beliefs is lacking in faith and therefore not a “good” Christian.
Our personhood will arise and transcend the grave. Like Jesus, we, too will leave behind our image—a testimony of our love and compassion, the relics of our resurrection.
"But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed."
"'I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.'"
Showing our true selves is always risky. We risk rejection, especially if we wish to be agents of change. Anyone who promotes change—even change for the better—will encounter opposition.
"'Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.'"
“’But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not the god most “Christians” worship. They’ve fallen into this idolatrous pit because they don’t read the Scriptures carefully enough.
“Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my chosen Son; listen to him.`”
“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.”