John 20:19-29
My LORD and My God
19 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!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” 24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 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.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though 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; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed;blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 16:33
Jesus Overcame Earth and this World
33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
John 14:15-31
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me,31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
John 16:1-15
The Holy Spirit Will Guide the Disciples to the Truth
1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father,where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Romans 8:22-27
The Holy Spirit Helps Us in Our Weaknesses
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
1 John 5:1-12
Three that Testify: God, Jesus, and the Spirit (and the Spirit is Truth)
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God:by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
John 14:5-7
Jesus is Truth
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Mark 13:31
Jesus Words Will Never Pass Away
31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Holy Spirit tugs at us...The Holy Spirit guides us toward God...The nature of the Holy Spirit is mysterious, but this mystery meets the wants of man...The Holy Spirit testifies to the Truth, and guides us to Jesus...So the Holy Spirit is guiding us both towards the Truth and to Jesus...If we refuse to believe in Jesus, the world is an unexplainable riddle and can be explained only by randomness; believe it, and the history of mankind and how we got here is satisfactorily explained, without the need of this randomness theory...
The Holy Spirit gently and humbly tugs and guides us to Jesus...And when we see Truth, each of us see something...He is both unique and alone...He had and has many, many followers today, but still remains a Solitary Figure...Jesus' Truths and teachings are for me -disruptive, invasive, and intrusive...His Truths and teachings make me constantly think about Him...His Truths and teachings make's one not only think, but somehow He bring one's heart into play...Jesus Truths and teachings made His teachings in such a way that they take the mind of man to a different level...And beside the invasive thinking of who He is, He brings in another element and wants us to think about -the soul...And Jesus teaches the eternities...So He takes us toward the unseen and the unbelievable...He seemed to move in and out of time and space...Especially, after He resurrected...It seems the the barriers of time and space make no claims on Him...And His words have never passed, even after two thousand years...He still somehow makes a demand on us which is beyond all others, a demand on our heart and our soul...Our thoughts are disrupted by His demand...He wants to touch our heart, and make it feel something it has never felt...He wants us to see Him more with our hearts, than we do with our eyes...And all His teachings seem to be commandments that are unconditionally made with the soul...It seems like He wants us to make an oath to Him with our soul itself...And we somehow believe both about this oath and believe that we have a soul and we try to grant Him such things, if we believe in Him...The soul of man is seen as transcending, with all its mystery...And the soul, becomes our tie to Him, to eternity, and to the Kingdom of God...All those who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him...Somehow He seems both a mystery and real to us, because we see mankind's potential in Him...This divine-type phenomenon that surrounded Him is unaccountable....No other man has ever been like Him...If it is fair to call Him a Man...He goes beyond the limits of our imagination and our thinking, yet we still can believe in what He said and what He did, while He was on earth...Time is the equalizer, except when He is involved...Time eventually tests all men's limits...Yet, He even overcame time and the world...He has lost nothing in time over the past two thousand years, when we think about it...He is known by more people today, than when He traveled around village to village in His time on earth...Maybe the most fascinating of all things, is the way He told us His words would never pass...How would He have known this, when He said this?...This remains quite a most remarkable statement in itself...Yet, He made so many very remarkable statements, it is very difficult to say, which of His statements is the most remarkable...And this is what, which strikes me the most; I have often thought of it, and will continue to think of all He said...His great words, and His great wisdom...How could he make all these claims, and they still ring true today?...All these things help prove to me quite convincingly that He is my LORD, and my God...