The Hands with Nail Scars

This sermon was delivered at a Vietnamese community fellowship event at a park in Albuquerque on Sunday, August 25, 2018. The pastor opened with personal memories of 30 years living in the city and past picnics at the same park, creating warmth and connection with the audience. The event's theme was 'hands,' and the pastor used it as a bridge to a profound spiritual message.

The pastor led listeners to reflect on the meaning of hands in everyday life: the farmer's mud-caked hands speak of toil, and the mother's gentle touch on a sleeping child speaks of tender love. From there, he introduced the remarkable hands of Jesus Christ — hands that healed the blind, the lame, the leper, the deaf, and that embraced little children. Yet far greater than all these miracles are the nail scars on those same hands, the absolute proof of God's love for humanity.

The sermon presented the story of the disciple Thomas in John 20, who refused to believe in the resurrection until he could personally see and touch the nail scars. When Jesus appeared and invited Thomas to touch the scars, Thomas fell to his knees and confessed: 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus then declared: 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed' (John 20:29), a word that applies directly to today's listeners.

The pastor emphasized that the nail-scarred hands of Jesus Christ are not only evidence of past love, but also a guarantee for the present and the future. Those same hands will guide believers through this life and will open the gates of heaven to welcome them into eternal life. The sermon concluded with the message of John 3:16, inviting listeners to believe in Jesus Christ so that they may receive a blessed life now and eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.