Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.”Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
10 sermons cite this verse
… Jesus came and stood in the mist and said to them, Peace be with you. They're in a shut room, afraid of what's going to happen. And Jesus shows up. And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his sides. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Spirit of the living God, I need you. I've got you. Stir up the gift of God that's on the inside of me. I have seen sides of your face that I have never been exposed to. Thank you for showing yourself to me. God, I now ask that you would give me wisdom, insight, prophecy to release the word that you have given me, to release the vision that you have shown me to the extent that these, your sons and daughters that their lives will be touched, changed, and transformed. …
our pastor Reverend Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III. Come on give God praise for the word of God. John chapter 2019 through 23 a breath of fresh air. There might be someone here tonight you've heard the word of God and you want to receive that breath of fresh air. The word of God is that on the other side of your experience of pain and panic if you let him into the locked the locked spaces of your life he will give you peace and that peace will connect you to purpose and the power necessary to live out that purpose day in and day out if you're here in the sanctuary we want to connect with you we want to invite you to join and to be a part of this family of faith the same for those of you who are watching us online if you're in the sanctuary though we've got ministers down front with hands extended that say guess what your place of purpose is right here at Friendship West that you can connect with us today. …
… And the book lets us know Jesus shows up, offers them some peace, and then blows my mind. The book says that he breathed on them and told them, I'm sending you just like my daddy sent me. He breathed on them. And when he breathed on them, I love it. The text says they received the Holy Ghost. They received the Holy Spirit. It was a Pentecost preview. And all I came to say on Pentecost Sunday is I want a fresh God. I want God afresh to breathe on us. Because when God breathes on us, something happens. As a matter of fact, it's a breath. of fresh air. A breath of fresh air. I have to admit that this wasn't going to be my subject. I was getting ready to fly from L.A. here last night on the red. I got in 5 o'clock this morning, and I'm wrestling with this text, and I got everything worked out except the subject. And so Albany asked me, so what about this for a subject? …
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. May you have a seat. so if you remember um so if you remember there uh the second sunday of easter was the divine mercy sunday and on that sunday we heard this exact gospel we heard the gospel of how jesus had given the holy spirit to the apostles to be able to forgive sins retain sins and so the invitation or the uh yeah invitation to make a commitment to go to confession every two to four weeks as we go through the Easter season, as we go into summer, was kind of put out there. I put that out there. And so hopefully in the last seven or so weeks, you've been to confession a couple times. But here's the thing. That's not to make you feel guilty if you haven't gone. But it is, A, a reminder. And B, there's something about when we go to confession, what do we confess? Oftentimes we confess our sins, but also we confess the near occasion of sin. And so maybe you've heard that phrase before, the near occasion of sin. So what is the near occasion of sin? It's Basically, what are those people, places, and things that they're not of themselves? …
… after Jesus, because make no mistake about it. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, God has sent you. Jesus says this in John chapter 20, verse 21, peace be with you to his followers as the father has what? As the father has sent me, I am sending you. Jesus said, I am sending you to do God's work in his world for his people. But what does he want us to do? That's probably the number one question I get as a pastor is how do I know what God wants me to do? And I love that question because it shows me somebody who wants to do what God wants them to do. they're just a little bit unsure of what that is because it's complicated. Like the world's big and it's complex and it's complicated. Or is it? A few weeks ago, it was Easter weekend and Katie and I were going to bed on Friday night and she said, my stomach hurts a little bit. …
… Because Jesus said so. In John chapter 21, Jesus is making those men the first priests and saying, no, you actually have my power. You have my ability to bring mercy to the world, to forgive sins. If you don't, they're retained. If you do, they're gone. That's why I'm going to say that today, your next confession is the exercise that your soul and my soul needs. that your next confession is the exercise that your soul and my soul needs. And I mean this for everyone. From the person who is convinced that they're beyond God's reach to the person who is absolutely convinced they're a genuinely, quote unquote, good person. Because that's maybe a lot of us. We're like, no, but I'm okay. Like, why would I have to go to confession? Like, I go to mass. Like, I help. Like, if you're back at your parish. Like, at Easter, I was back home for Easter and like, they knew I was there. So like, hey, get back up, you know. …
… Jesus came and stood in their midst. He said to them, Peace be with you. when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Now, there you see it. There's the juxtaposition. The risen Jesus invariably shows his wounds and offers peace together. Now, why the showing of the wounds? The wounds are the sign of our sin. It's very important now. We don't just rush to the joy of the resurrection, but we see it's precisely the crucified Jesus who is risen from the dead. Why does he bear wounds? Because we killed him. I've said to you before, in all the passion narratives, it's as though the whole world is conspiring against him. It's as though the sin of the world, cruelty, hatred, violence, treachery, betrayal, injustice, you know, all of it, all of it comes out to meet him. It's our sin that wounded him. Notice something, please, in the spiritual life. It's very interesting to me, very important. Notice precisely when and how Jesus aggravates you. …
… And what does He say? It says in John chapter 20, verse 21. He'd show them His hands and His side. It says in verse 21, Jesus said, Peace be with you. as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. So the picture is, these disciples were identified with the exact same mission that Jesus had identified himself with. And that is an incredible thought. John 3.16 really comes alive at this point. God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son. Could it be that God so loved the world that he sends you and me? We are identified with the very mission of Christ. We have an identical purpose as him. And this is a much greater purpose than living for the next dollar or living for the bigger house or the bigger car. This is a much greater purpose. This is a mission that Christ gave himself to and we were identified with. But not only does he identify us with this mission, it gets even better. …
… Watch this. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he said this, he, what? He breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. That's Genesis 2. God now in the flesh breathing new life by his spirit into humanity are you serious and and so then we just keep reading this is not just these first disciples this is every follower of Jesus when you place your faith in Jesus as the savior and lord who died on the cross and rose again for you, you not only receive forgiveness of your sins, you receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit living inside of you, breathing inside of you, the presence of God, not just with you, but in you. 1 Corinthians 6, 19. Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God. God wants intimacy with you so deeply that he comes to dwell inside you. Are you serious? Like we're singing that song better as one day in your courts, in your house, and thousands elsewhere. Good news. You don't even have to go to a house somewhere anymore because you are the house. You are. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. …
… to join him in spreading the good news that he's risen from the dead. Then Jesus gets together with his disciples. Watch this. Jesus said to them, peace be with you as the father has sent me. Even so I'm sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. That's Genesis 2. God in the flesh is now breathing new life by His Spirit into a new humanity. Are you serious? The Holy Spirit of God, the Holy Presence of God, is going to dwell inside all who trust in Jesus? For what purpose? For this purpose, 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17. The Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. and we are all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit to all who believe in Jesus you have the Holy Spirit in you and you are free from the penalty of sin in your life you are free from the power of sin in your life you are free to be transformed into the image of Jesus from one degree of glory to another This is the Christian life, becoming more and more and more like Jesus every single day. …