Why are you troubled

For the disciples in the first century, the atmosphere was a little different. They were locked up in a house. They were afraid. Just a few days ago, they had witnessed Jesus executed, and now people were saying that he was alive. And then suddenly, Jesus stood among them. And the Bible says that they were startled and afraid. They thought they were looking at a ghost, the Bible says. Back in those days it was more common to believe in such things as ghosts and spirits.

Jesus asked them why they were so troubled. Why were the disciples so skeptical? You see, they did not want to get burned again. For 3 years, they had followed Jesus and thought he was the Messiah. They believed! But then they saw things and heard things that made them feel like something was not right. They saw Jesus arrested, even though he was all-powerful. They saw Jesus tortured and shouted at by the crowds, and crucified, even though Jesus was God and could walk on water and calm storms.

They saw Jesus die and get buried, even though Jesus could raise people from the dead. None of this made any sense to them. Everything they saw contradicted their beliefs. And they weren't about to go through that again. That's why the were so skeptical. Last year I surveyed the students I teach in religion class.

The number one thing they wondered about was if they believed the right thing. Is Christianity really the right religion? Are all these things I believe about Jesus really true?

Sometimes, I have doubts, the students wrote. Do you ever have doubts? What is the one thing that might cause you to doubt what you believe. It's trouble, isn't it? Real trouble that comes into your life. Did you realize that this is the number one objection to Christianity? A non-Christian will say, "The reason I am skeptical about Christianity is because of all the evil, all the trouble, I see in the world. How could God let that happen? Your child is diagnosed with cancer. Someone dies that's not supposed to die.

When Jesus said to look at his hands and feet, he was inviting the look of study. His disciples needed to know it was the same Jesus they had known. They needed to verify that what Jesus had said had really come true. All the prophets predicted the triumph of Messiah. Jesus had been dead -- now he was alive! This was too good to be true! The disciples must have felt like Abraham when the angel told this hundred year-old man he was going to be a daddy; or like the father of that little girl Jesus had raised from the dead.

The world wants proof about Jesus these days. He did this at a high-profile gathering of philosophy professors at Yale University. In a New York Times interview, Swineburne said, "For someone dead for 36 hours to come to life again is, according to the laws of nature, extremely improbable. But if there is a God of the traditional kind, natural laws only operate because he makes them operate. Then he plugged the numbers into a probability formula and added everything up.

The result: a 97 percent probability that the resurrection really happened. We also must study Jesus. Too many of us have coasted through our spiritual lives because we do not examine Jesus; we do not study our Bibles to let God speak to our hearts and learn more of Jesus. A newly retired couple bought a motor home.

As they were traveling down the road in their new toy the husband became tired and asked the wife to take over. She was nervous, having never operated anything larger than a VW. She put the vehicle on cruise control, and it worked perfectly.

Sermon Topics: Salvation. Back to the Basics. The Best Christmas Ever. The Always God. The Prince of Peace. View all Sermons. Why Are You Troubled? Contributed by Russell Brownworth on Aug 5, message contributor based on 54 ratings. August 4, They still call it the Easter miracle in Tanzania.

Download Sermon with PRO. Why would we not be surprised by their surprise? This was when Jesus finally opened up their eyes and they understood for the very first time Luke It could well be that this is what Jesus showed them and perhaps what Psalm meant, as well as Isaiah Jude acknowledged that we need to help others and have mercy on those who have times of doubt Jude Have you ever doubted?

Have you ever been troubled by doubts about your salvation, about whether God really does exist, or about whether this is all real or not?