Kept for You April 27, 2014

Acts 2:14a, 22-32 1 Peter 1:3-9 Joh 20:19-31

Have you ever done something that required you to take off you glasses, or pull out your wallet, or some other belonging, and hand them to someone else for safe-keeping? Before getting into a fight, guys often had their glasses to a friend. Or, before heading to the pool, many of us have locked our wallets or purses in the trunk of the car. have to do that when attend the closing service of one of the !airos prison weekends. "o get into the prison you have to pass through security and you cannot take your wallet, or your cell phone, or much else into the prison with you. #nd so before getting out of my car, take the phone off of my belt, empty my pockets and, aside from my driver$s license and one car key, lock everything up. "here are also lockers in the entrance of the prison in which, for a small fee, you can lock up your belongings. #t a camp that our family visits in the %pper &eninsula of 'ichigan, there is sometimes an activity known as (swimming the inner bay.$ "he distance to the other side of the inner bay is about a half mile by water and several miles by land. )henever such a swim is organi*ed, two lifeguards follow alongside the swimmers in boats as a safety precaution in case any of the swimmers become overtired. Because it is a one-way swim, it is common for the participants to entrust the lifeguards, or another person who is travelling by boat, with their towels, a change of clothes, etc. "heir belongings are kept for another. )e do this sort of thing a lot. )henever a member of our military is sent on a deployment, all of their stuff, including their homes and their cars are entrusted to their wives or parents, or someone else. But the more important those things are, the more e+pensive those things are, the more important it is that you really trust the person who is watching over it for you. n Acts 2:14, 22-32, &eter reminds a crowd of people that ,avid trusted -od with his throne and his entire kingdom.
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Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd:

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Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Na areth was a !an accredited "# $od to #ou "# !iracles, wonders and si%ns, which $od did a!on% #ou throu%h hi!, as #ou #ourselves &now' 2( This !an was handed over to #ou "# $od)s deli"erate plan and fore&nowled%e* and #ou, with the help of wic&ed !en, put hi! to death "# nailin% hi! to the cross' 24 +ut $od raised hi! fro! the dead, freein% hi! fro! the a%on# of death, "ecause it was i!possi"le for death to &eep its hold on hi!' 2, -avid said a"out hi!: .I saw the /ord alwa#s "efore !e' +ecause he is at !# ri%ht hand, I will not "e sha&en' 20 Therefore !# heart is %lad and !# ton%ue re1oices* !# "od# also will rest in hope, 22 "ecause #ou will not a"andon !e to the real! of the dead, #ou will not let #our hol# one see deca#' /

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4ou have !ade &nown to !e the paths of life* #ou will fill !e with 1o# in #our presence')

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Fellow Israelites, I can tell #ou confidentl# that the patriarch -avid died and was "uried, and his to!" is here to this da#' (6 +ut he was a prophet and &new that $od had pro!ised hi! on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne' (1 7eein% what was to co!e, he spo&e of the resurrection of the 8essiah, that he was not a"andoned to the real! of the dead, nor did his "od# see deca#' (2 $od has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it' ,avid died, trusting that -od would keep a member of his family on the throne of srael forever. 'ore than that, ,avid knew that one of his descendants would be raised from the dead and would live forever as srael$s king. ,avid$s belongings were kept by another. ,avid trusted -od with all that he had, but not everyone is so confident. n Joh 20:19-31, we hear the story of "homas.
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9n the evenin% of that first da# of the wee&, when the disciples were to%ether, with the doors loc&ed for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus ca!e and stood a!on% the! and said, Peace "e with #ou:; 26 <fter he said this, he showed the! his hands and side' The disciples were over1o#ed when the# saw the /ord'
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<%ain Jesus said, Peace "e with #ou: <s the Father has sent !e, I a! sendin% #ou'; 22 <nd with that he "reathed on the! and said, =eceive the >ol# 7pirit' 2( If #ou for%ive an#one)s sins, their sins are for%iven* if #ou do not for%ive the!, the# are not for%iven';
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Now Tho!as ?also &nown as -id#!us@, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus ca!e' 2, 7o the other disciples told hi!, Ae have seen the /ord:; +ut he said to the!, Bnless I see the nail !ar&s in his hands and put !# fin%er where the nails were, and put !# hand into his side, I will not "elieve';
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< wee& later his disciples were in the house a%ain, and Tho!as was with the!' Thou%h the doors were loc&ed, Jesus ca!e and stood a!on% the! and said, Peace "e with #ou:; 22 Then he said to Tho!as, Put #our fin%er here* see !# hands' =each out #our hand and put it into !# side' 7top dou"tin% and "elieve';
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Tho!as said to hi!, 8# /ord and !# $od:;

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Then Jesus told hi!, +ecause #ou have seen !e, #ou have "elieved* "lessed are those who have not seen and #et have "elieved';
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Jesus perfor!ed !an# other si%ns in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this "oo&' (1 +ut these are written that #ou !a# "elieve that Jesus is the 8essiah, the 7on of $od, and that "# "elievin% #ou !a# have life in his na!e' )e all know that "homas has gotten something of a reputation for his doubt, but let$s not be too hard on him. 0ven though he had spent three years with these men as they followed 1esus together, what they were asking him to believe was a lot bigger than trusting them with a towel or even your wallet. "homas wanted to see it to believe it. )e know people like that today. 'ost of us have a checkbook or a bank account and we have a good idea of how much we have in that account. f we are curious, we look at the last balance that we wrote in 2

the book. But there are some people for whom that isn$t good enough. "hese are the people who call the bank once a week to check on their balance or who have a smartphone app that lets them keep track of their bank balance every day. "hey want to see it. "hat was the kind of a guy that "homas was. He knew the disciples, he trusted them, but this thing they were telling him was too big, too important, to believe it without seeing some evidence. )e might not go as far as "homas did, but we are like that too. "he more important something is, the more careful we are and the more selective we are with whom we trust our stuff. )e don$t get too e+cited about entrusting our towel with a lifeguard, but we are more particular about whom we loan our cars to, and especially careful about whom we entrust with our children. 3ikewise, while we might loan a friend 425 until payday, we probably aren$t going to trust that person with our retirement money. )hen we save for retirement we invest that money with banks and businesses that have a good track record and have been around for a long time. )e entrust some of our retirement with the government 6and we argue about whether that was a good idea or not7. t isn$t a great idea to prepare for retirement by stuffing money in your mattress. nstead we invest for our future by trusting someone to keep our belongings for us so that they can give them back when we need them. Our belongings are kept by another. "his is e+actly what &eter is talking about !1 Peter 1:3-9"#
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Praise "e to the $od and Father of our /ord Jesus Christ: In his %reat !erc# he has %iven us new "irth into a livin% hope throu%h the resurrection of Jesus Christ fro! the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade' This inheritance is &ept in heaven for #ou, , who throu%h faith are shielded "# $od)s power until the co!in% of the salvation that is read# to "e revealed in the last ti!e' 0 In all this #ou %reatl# re1oice, thou%h now for a little while #ou !a# have had to suffer %rief in all &inds of trials' 2 These have co!e so that the proven %enuineness of #our faithDof %reater worth than %old, which perishes even thou%h refined "# fireD!a# result in praise, %lor# and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed' 3 Thou%h #ou have not seen hi!, #ou love hi!* and even thou%h #ou do not see hi! now, #ou "elieve in hi! and are filled with an ineEpressi"le and %lorious 1o#, 5 for #ou are receivin% the end result of #our faith, the salvation of #our souls' Because we have faith in 1esus 8hrist, we have a living hope through the resurrection of the dead. Because we have faith, we have received an inheritance as the sons and daughters of -od. One would e+pect that the inheritance of the children of the king would be significant, but our inheritance is not given to us here. Our inheritance can never perish, spoil or fade but it is kept for us in heaven. Our belongings are kept for us. Our belongings have been sent ahead for safe keeping. Our retirement has been invested and is being kept for us until we need it. #nd the one we have entrusted with our treasure is far more trustworthy than the bank or the government.

:ou have been reading a message presented at "rinity %nited 'ethodist 8hurch on the date noted at the top of the first page. ;ev. 1ohn &artridge is the pastor at "rinity of &erry heights in 'assillon, Ohio. ,uplication of this message is a part of our 'edia ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. 3etters and donations in support of the 'edia ministry or any of our other pro<ects may be sent to "rinity %nited 'ethodist 8hurch, 9=>= 3incoln )ay 0., 'assillon, Ohio ??@?@. "hese messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. :ou may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribeAtrinityperryheights.org. f you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Bacebook 6search for &astor 1ohn Online7. "hese messages can also be found online at httpCDDwww.scribd.comD&astor 1ohn &artridge. #ll Ecripture references are from the Few nternational Gersion unless otherwise noted.