{"id":17910,"date":"2018-04-10T18:32:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T22:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=17910"},"modified":"2018-04-11T20:46:52","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T00:46:52","slug":"running-on-empty-4-8-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=17910","title":{"rendered":"Running on Empty (4\/8\/18)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the Sunday after Easter (or as it’s officially called: “The 2nd Sunday of Easter”).\u00a0 Last week we had a huge crowd.\u00a0 The week before, we celebrated Palm Sunday with our cantata<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Egg Hunt… it’s been busy.\u00a0 We’ve been on several mountaintops, and we’re feeling kinda worn out today.\"\"<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever looked at your gas gauge and discovered that it was close to “E”?\u00a0 When the gauge really does hit “E”, the engine doesn’t totally stall out.\u00a0 Instead, it just sputters.\u00a0 And when you step on the gas, there’s no power.\u00a0 The engine’s still “alive”, but it’s running on fumes.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes people feel the same way.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

And, yet, the message of that first Resurrection Sunday is that Jesus is in our midst to “refill our tanks” and to restore our energy…<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Pastor Jim’s scripture was from John 20:19-31.\u00a0 Click the below “Play” button to listen to the audio recording, then open the Drop Down box to read this passage (from the New King James Version)…<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Running-on-Empty-_2018-04-08-_v2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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John 20:19-31<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”<\/p>\n

20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.<\/p>\n

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”<\/p>\n

22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”<\/p>\n

24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.<\/p>\n

25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”<\/p>\n

26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”<\/p>\n

27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”<\/p>\n

28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”<\/p>\n

29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”<\/p>\n

30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;<\/p>\n

31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

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Don’t Blame the Disciples!<\/span><\/h3>\n

Cum’on- you’d probably do the same thing!\u00a0 Your master was crucified, and you’d be scared to death that they’d be looking for you next.\u00a0 And so you hunker down behind a locked door, trying to lie low until you figured out what to do next….<\/p>\n\n\t\t

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<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t
\n\t\t\t“We thought Jesus was the One.\u00a0 We gave it all up for Him… Should we slip back into Galilee and fish?\u00a0 Should we leave this room and boldly speak up?\u00a0 What’s next???” <\/span>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div> \n

The disciples were exhausted.\u00a0 Filled with grief, filled with remorse, emptied by the ordeal and confusion.<\/p>\n

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When You’re Running on Empty<\/span><\/h3>\n

Like the disciples, sometimes we are paralyzed. Our “get up and go got up and went.”\u00a0 We need to be recharged.\u00a0 And that’s when Jesus “appears in our midst.”\u00a0 It happened literally for the disciples, but Jesus promises “to be with us always” too (Matthew 28:20<\/a>).<\/p>\n

We “look for peace in all the wrong places.”\u00a0 But Jesus doesn’t wait for them to come to Him.\u00a0 He comes to them.\u00a0 He takes the first step and goes to where they are.<\/p>\n

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Jesus did the same thing for the widow in Nain.\u00a0 In<\/span> Luke 7:11-17<\/span><\/a> Jesus and His disciples were headed home when they “happened” to come across a funeral procession.\u00a0 The grieving mother was a widow and the deceased was her only son.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Jesus was moved with compassion and turned the funeral into a time of awe and wonder by raising the son from the dead.\u00a0 He didn’t do it as a teaching moment; the mother (or nobody else) called Jesus and asked Him to perform this miracle.\u00a0 He was “moved by compassion” and “stood in their midst.”<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

When Jesus comes, His presence gives us three things (or more…) that recharge our batteries, fill our tanks, and give us the energy to get up and move on.<\/p>\n

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1:\u00a0 Encouragement<\/span><\/h4>\n

The first thing Jesus says to these frightened disciples is “Peace be with you.”\u00a0 Chill out… take a deep breath… it will be ok!\u00a0<\/p>\n

He could have criticized them instead:\u00a0 “Why did you abandon me… Where were you when I needed you the most?… Why don’t you believe the report of Mary that I have risen from the dead?”<\/p>\n

But instead of criticism, He offers peace.\u00a0 He encourages them.\u00a0 He offers them His presence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jesus is saying, “Know that I am with you<\/span>“…\u00a0<\/p>\n

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say:
\n <\/span><\/em>“The Lord is my helper;<\/span><\/em>
\n I will not fear.<\/span><\/em>
\n What can man do to me?”<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n

Hebrews 13:5-6<\/p>\n

He tells us that He “is walking this journey with you<\/span>“….\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.\u00a0 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
\n <\/span><\/em>So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n

Luke 24:13-16<\/p>\n

That “You’re not alone….<\/span>“<\/span>\u00a0\n\t\t\t

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