Easter Sunday | 1 Corinthians | Week Twelve | Chapter 15 pt 2
April 4, 2021 • Pastor Matthew
This Easter Sunday Pastor Matthew preached a message of resurrection out of 1 Corinthians 15.
The resurrection is what changed everything, it is the anchor of our faith and the thing upon which everything hinges. It launched the church, Christianity and the Kingdom of God.
When Jesus died everybody assumed that He would do what every dead person does – stay dead. Nobody expected no body, which is why the resurrection changed and changes everything.
Pastor Matthew led us in three points:
1. How can I be sure?
All scholars believe that Paul was a real person who lived in the 1st Century, and there are seven letters that all agrees He wrote between 50AD and 60AD. Likewise, all credible scholars believe that Jesus was a historical figure and that He was executed by Romans.
Paul wrote about the resurrection just years after it happened. He met with eyewitnesses and used a creed to teach the people:
Christ died for our sins and was buried; He rose from the dead and was seen.
Paul’s letters prove two things; first - that the resurrection was not a product of decades of oral transmission, and secondly - belief in the resurrection was around when eyewitnesses were still alive.
No scholars believe that Paul was lying, because His life validated it.
2. What does it matter for me personally?
The resurrection proves everything Jesus said about Himself.
That He is the Son of God. The exact image of the invisible God. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The light of the world. The forgiver of sins. The Word made flesh. He was there before the creation of the world. He was and is and is to come. He is the great I Am. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
Apart from Him we are all destined for an eternity without Him in hell. The wages of sin is death and apart from Him that is our destiny. Jesus paid the price for our sins, and conquered death.
If Christ truly was resurrected, we are no longer bound to sin. Jesus’s power is REAL and we can be set free. We do not have to live in our sin any longer.
3. What does it matter for our world?
Jesus is King, and the Kingdom of God brings life to dead places. Jesus is making all things new and partnering with His children to bring it to pass.
We are people of the resurrection and we can see graves turned into gardens.