03 - Is The Resurrection Believable?
April 17, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann
What evidence is there, if any, for the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Apart from the testimony of Scripture and the testimony of countless changed lives, there three lines of evidence, specifically, that converge to prove the resurrection infallibly and incontrovertibly—the empty tomb, the eyewitnesses, and the changed lives of the disciples.
41 - Incentives Of The Resurrection (Part 4)
March 6, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 Corinthians 15:50–58
Paul’s concluding victory song in 1 Corinthians 15 sets the stage for a wonderful doxology. Praising God in anticipation for the resurrection of all believers, the apostle writes about the great transformation, the great triumph, and the great thanksgiving that will come at the sound of the great trumpet at the end of the age. Until then, Paul writes, until that days comes, holy living among God’s people is the order of the day.
40 - Incentives Of The Resurrection (Part 3)
February 27, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 Corinthians 15:35–49
We can’t imagine exactly what things will be like at the end of the age when all believers in Jesus Christ are given their new resurrected bodies. The Bible is NOT an encyclopedia on this point. But what we do know is that we will be like Jesus as he is now. Whatever happens to our present bodies—whether they are healthy or unhealthy, beautiful or plain, short-lived or long-lived, or whether they are indulged or tortured—they are not our permanent bodies. Our blessed assurance is that these natural bodies of ours will one day be raised, recreated, transformed, and translated into the supernatural. Although we have only a glimpse of what our news bodies will be like, it should be enough to know that “we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2).
39 - Incentives Of The Resurrection (Part 2)
February 20, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 Corinthians 15:12–34
Without the resurrection of Jesus, the good news would be bad news, and there would be nothing worth preaching. Without the resurrection, the gospel would be an empty, hopeless message of meaningless nonsense. Unless our Lord conquered sin and death, making a way for men to follow in that victory, there is no gospel to proclaim. And those who do proclaim it would be liars who misrepresent the truth. But the good news is that Jesus Christ is risen! And while the penalty for sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ who promises us that, in the same manner in which he raised himself from the tomb, so he too will raise us from the dead. He will not leave out tombs occupied.
38 - Incentives Of The Resurrection (Part 1)
February 13, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 Corinthians 15:1–11
God used a ragged cross, the very instrument of death and despair, and a cold tomb, the epitome of hopelessness, and turned them both into symbols of life and hope for the believer, that whoever believes in what was accomplished upon that cross and believes in the one who walked out of that tomb would be saved. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, the apostle Paul approaches the topic of Christ's resurrection from an apologetic standpoint—providing evidence for the risen Lord—and from a practical standpoint—providing meaning for it in the life of a believer.