May 3, 2026 Service - "Encountering Jesus" - Week 4

Devotional

Day 1: Peace in the Locked Room

The disciples huddled behind locked doors, breath shallow, eyes darting. Jesus stood among them—not as a ghost or memory, but flesh bearing nail marks. “Peace,” He said. He showed them His hands and side. Their fear dissolved into stunned joy. This resurrected Lord entered their hiding place uninvited, unashamed, unthreatened by their failure to trust. [36:21]

Jesus didn’t shame them for abandoning Him at the cross. He came as the wounded healer, proving death’s defeat while carrying its scars. His presence declared, “I choose to be with you in your fear.” The locked room became holy ground where doubt met tangible grace.

Where have you barricaded your heart? What secret shame makes you whisper, “If only He knew…”? Jesus already stands in that locked space. Will you let His scarred hands dismantle your defenses?

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”
(John 20:19-20, NLT)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to reveal one locked room in your heart. Invite Him to speak “peace” there.

Challenge: Write down one doubt you’ve hidden this week. Place the paper where you’ll see it daily as a prayer prompt.

Day 2: Fingers in the Wounds

Thomas crossed his arms. “Unless I see…unless I touch…” Eight days later, Jesus reappeared, targeting Thomas’ ultimatum. “Put your finger here,” He said, lifting His hand. “Reach into My side.” The same mouth that commanded storms now invited a skeptic’s inspection. [31:09]

Jesus honored raw honesty. He transformed Thomas’ conditions for belief into an intimate encounter. The disciple’s doubt became the doorway to worship. Christ’s resurrected body bore eternal proof—not of human strength, but divine surrender.

How often do you demand evidence before trusting? Jesus isn’t threatened by your “unless.” He meets your terms to show His terms are better. What if your deepest doubt became the place He reveals His nearness?

“Thomas…was not with the others when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’”
(John 20:24-25, NLT)

Prayer: Confess one “unless” you’ve placed on your faith. Present it to Jesus as an invitation, not an accusation.

Challenge: Text a trusted friend: “I’m wrestling with ___. Pray I see Christ in it.”

Day 3: Confronted by Risen Flesh

Jesus looked at Thomas—the man who’d missed the first resurrection appearance. He quoted Thomas’ own skeptical words back to him. No condemnation, just clarity: “Stop doubting. Believe.” The confrontation wasn’t about shaming, but awakening. [46:24]

Christ’s directness dismantled Thomas’ intellectual barriers. The disciple didn’t need more data; he needed to encounter the living Person behind the doctrine. Jesus still interrupts our circular debates with His embodied truth.

What theoretical faith struggles keep you from relational trust? Jesus bypasses arguments to ask, “Will you engage Me, not just ideas?” When did you last let His presence—not answers—resolve your doubts?

“Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.’”
(John 20:26-27, NLT)

Prayer: Pray, “Jesus, confront my doubts with Your presence, not just principles.”

Challenge: Spend 5 minutes in silence today. If doubts arise, whisper, “Speak, Lord.”

Day 4: My Lord in the Midst

Thomas touched the scars. His “unless” evaporated. “My Lord and my God!” he cried—the first disciple to name Jesus as divine. The skeptic became the theologian, his confession rising from fingertips still tingling with resurrection proof. [31:59]

Worship begins when we move from analyzing Christ to adoring Him. Thomas’ declaration wasn’t a doctrinal thesis; it was the overflow of encountering undefeated love. Jesus accepts our questions but transforms them into altars.

Where have you prioritized figuring God out over falling before Him? What would it look like to let your doubts drive you to worship instead of withdrawal?

“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
(John 20:27-28, NLT)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for one specific wound He carried for you—rejection, shame, loss. Name it.

Challenge: Write “My Lord and my God” on a sticky note. Place it where you’ll say it aloud today.

Day 5: Believing the Unseen Breath

Jesus looked at Thomas, then beyond him—to you. “Blessed are those who haven’t seen and still believe.” He wasn’t diminishing Thomas’ experience but expanding the family. Your faith, without physical scars to touch, joins the disciples’ witness. [32:13]

The resurrection wasn’t a one-time spectacle but the first note in an eternal song. Every “Yes” to unseen Christ harmonizes with Thomas’ confession. You walk the same journey from doubt to declaration, just with different signposts.

What makes you feel “less than” those who’ve had dramatic encounters? How might your ordinary faith be Christ’s chosen miracle for someone watching?

“Then Jesus told him, ‘You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.’”
(John 20:29, NLT)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to show you one person who needs to witness your quiet, persistent faith today.

Challenge: Share a verse about doubt or faith with someone via text. Add, “This helped me. How can I pray for you?”

Sermon Summary

The Gospel account in John 20 places the risen Christ squarely into the frightened, confused space of his followers and shows how presence reshapes response. The disciples hide behind locked doors after betrayal, death, and the shock of resurrection, and Thomas voices what many hearts feel: refusal to believe without touchable proof. The risen Jesus enters that fear without condemnation, names the doubt, and offers the very wounds Thomas demanded. That encounter exposes a pattern: God draws near to the honest questions and wounded hearts, confronts reality rather than skirts it, and calls for a transformative decision.

The narrative refuses easy categories between believer and doubter. Thomas had followed Jesus for years, yet his faith grew thin in crisis. Jesus’ arrival challenges the notion that doubt marks the outsider; instead doubt can be a threshold inside the community. The response Jesus invites moves from intellectual assent to embodied commitment. Jesus does not merely present evidence for belief; he reveals himself as the crucified, risen Lord and presses the disciples toward trust that reorders life.

The story also warns about the isolating power of fear and disbelief. When doubt drives people into hiding, community frays and faith cools. But the text shows that grace finds those locked rooms: compassion precedes condemnation, presence precedes proof, and invitation follows confrontation. The call reaches cultivated followers whose faith has grown passive as much as it reaches skeptics who have never followed.

Finally, the passage moves toward practical worship: a gathered people must decide what to do with the risen Christ. The sacramental invitation that follows asks each person to examine where fear, doubt, or self-preservation keep them from full surrender. The risen Lord both comforts and compels; the proper response becomes a candid confession of Jesus as Lord and God and a renewed, active faith that changes how people live together and worship together.

Key Takeaways

1. Jesus cares amid doubts Jesus meets fear with proximity, not punishment. Presence becomes the primary remedy for unbelief because relationship transforms suspicion into trust. The narrative insists that the gospel attends to the actual textures of doubt rather than dismissing them. [33:09]
2. Jesus confronts without condemnation Confrontation here exposes truth and calls for change while preserving dignity. The risen Jesus names Thomas’s words and offers the wounds he requested, forcing a decision without shaming the doubter. This pattern reframes correction as restoration rather than rejection. [46:04]
3. Invitation to radical active faith Belief requires an embodied turn, not merely intellectual assent. Jesus challenges followers to move from passive hope to a trust that reorients priorities, choices, and community life. That invitation presses believers to risk trust where comfort once sat. [49:16]
4. Isolation chokes faith and community Fear can push people into hidden rooms where faith cools and fellowship weakens. The account shows that grace seeks out those locked away and that returning to community often catalyzes spiritual renewal. Solitude in doubt should prompt a step toward communal encounter, not permanent retreat. [40:56]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[03:42] - Psalm 95: Call to Worship
[19:18] - Opening Prayer and Sending Children
[27:21] - Childlike Faith Reminder
[29:40] - Setting: Disciples after Resurrection
[33:09] - Theme: Jesus Cares in Doubt
[40:56] - The Danger of Isolation
[46:04] - Jesus Confronts Thomas
[49:16] - Call to Radical, Active Faith
[57:00] - Communion and Personal Response

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
John 20:24-29 (ESV)
24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Observation questions

What specific conditions did Thomas set for believing Jesus had risen (v. 25)?
How did Jesus respond to Thomas’s doubts when He appeared (v. 27)?
What does Jesus say about those who believe without seeing physical proof (v. 29)?
According to the sermon, why did Jesus show His wounds to Thomas instead of dismissing his doubt? [46:04]

Interpretation questions

Why do you think Jesus chose to address Thomas’s exact words (“Unless I see…”) rather than ignoring his skepticism?
How does Thomas’s declaration, “My Lord and my God,” reveal the transformation in his heart after encountering Jesus?
The sermon mentions that isolation can “choke faith and community” [40:56]. How does Thomas’s absence from the disciples when Jesus first appeared illustrate this danger?
Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” What does this imply about the nature of faith for future generations of believers?

Application questions

When have you isolated yourself during a season of doubt or fear, and how did it affect your faith or relationships? What step could you take to reconnect with others in similar moments? [40:56]
Jesus met Thomas in his doubt without condemnation. How can you create space for someone in your life to voice their honest questions or struggles without feeling judged?
The sermon says belief requires “embodied commitment, not just intellectual assent” [49:16]. What is one practical way your daily choices could better reflect active trust in Jesus rather than passive agreement?
Thomas’s doubt led to a deeper confession of faith. What doubt or skepticism do you need to bring honestly to Jesus today, even if it feels uncomfortable?
The sermon warns against letting fear or self-preservation keep us from surrender [53:48]. Where are you holding back areas of your life from God’s control, and what would it look like to release them?
How can your small group support one another in moving from “locked rooms” of fear or doubt into renewed, active faith?

Sermon Clips

Did Jesus come in that manner? Jesus appears and he brings the very heart of God before them. Jesus brings care and compassion to these shaken disciples who are afraid, who are doubting, who are disbelieving, who were confused. Christ comes to them in care and in confrontation and in challenge, but not in condemnation. He comes to them with the heart of the father. [00:36:13] (45 seconds) #CompassionNotCondemnation

You see, when we encounter Jesus, it changes every part of our lives and it even encounters our doubts. It even, changes our questions at times. It changes how we maneuver through the difficult seasons. We see that this encounter changed everything in Thomas's life. Thomas's encounter with Jesus, we see moves from a place of confrontation to a place of decision. Because thirdly, we see that Jesus then invited Thomas from doubt and disbelief to radical act of faith. [00:48:07] (44 seconds) #EncounterChangesEverything

And I think what happens in our lives is that Jesus also invites us from places of doubt and disbelief to radical act of faith. Jesus invites us to give to him our doubts, to give to him our disbelief, to give to him our questions, to give to him our skepticism, to bring to him the questions that rattle in our soul, to come to this place of radical and active faith. [00:48:50] (30 seconds) #BringYourDoubts

That he suddenly appears. That he suddenly shows up in a friend. That he suddenly shows up in a song. That he suddenly shows up in a passage of scripture that comes to mind. Where he comes and he brings his care for us in the midst of our doubts, in the midst of our disbelieving. You see the resurrected Jesus encountered this doubting and disbelieving Thomas, which should bring good news to you and to me. [00:39:05] (34 seconds) #JesusShowsUp

And yet what we find in John chapter 20 is that is finally when Thomas comes back around that he and his disciples, all of his friends are in this room locked away and Jesus still stepped into their hiding. He still stepped into this quiet dark place bringing the care and the compassion of God. You see, we can find ourselves seeking to hide when Jesus simply and lovingly wants to be near to us. [00:41:39] (31 seconds) #JesusFindsUs

Thomas was deeply and profoundly confronted with the resurrected Jesus before him, standing in front of him. Thomas exclaims in a few verses before, I won't believe unless I see, unless I feel, unless I touch. You know, Thomas did not say this in the presence of Jesus. And so it's fascinating to me that when Jesus shows up, Jesus uses the same words that Thomas had said a few verses before. That he heard him. [00:45:11] (37 seconds) #HeardAndMet

Not people who hate Jesus, not people who are completely running from God, but followers whose faith has grown cold, passive, or fearful, or distracted, or exhausted, or wounded. I wonder if maybe somewhere along the way that disappointment and pain and unanswered prayers or sin or strongholds or the chaos of life has just crept into our soul and we have become distant from this resurrected Jesus. [00:52:38] (32 seconds) #WoundedFaith

Maybe the call of the New Testament is to return to our first love, to reawaken the soul that has received the breath of heaven. Maybe this invitation isn't so far fetched to just the disbelievers, to just the haters of Jesus, but instead maybe it is a real invitation to followers of Jesus to reawaken our love for him. [00:53:09] (31 seconds) #ReturnToFirstLove

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