WEBVTT 00:00:22.594 --> 00:00:26.676 I don't stay awake at night thinking of important things. 00:00:26.676 --> 00:00:34.042 I know you guys are used to people opening with a joke For my family. 00:00:34.042 --> 00:00:42.246 They understand that that is a joke because they know that I fall asleep in about five seconds whenever I start to lay down. 00:00:42.246 --> 00:00:43.930 But I don't. 00:00:43.930 --> 00:00:46.445 I don't stay awake at night thinking of important things. 00:00:46.445 --> 00:00:52.549 I don't wake in the morning with deep thoughts about life. 00:00:52.549 --> 00:01:06.929 But that doesn't mean that I don't have times that I think about things and question things, times when I question the things, i think the things I think I know. 00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:25.123 Times that I look at some of the beliefs in my life and say, really, there have been times as a follower of Christ, I've questioned the resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus. 00:01:25.123 --> 00:01:30.903 I mean seriously, how am I supposed to believe this? 00:01:30.903 --> 00:01:32.763 I didn't see it. 00:01:32.763 --> 00:01:35.704 I don't see it today. 00:01:35.704 --> 00:01:45.787 I know of no one who's been dead three days and raised back to life To be seen again, to be touched again, to walk, to talk. 00:01:45.787 --> 00:01:49.201 There were just days. 00:01:49.201 --> 00:01:53.762 I would say, seriously, how could this be? 00:01:53.762 --> 00:01:56.784 And then I would think, does it really matter? 00:01:56.784 --> 00:02:02.106 Is it even important that I believe in the resurrection? 00:02:02.106 --> 00:02:06.706 Is it even important that the resurrection ever happened? 00:02:10.344 --> 00:02:12.068 Well, here's the problem with reading your Bible. 00:02:12.068 --> 00:02:18.581 If you read your Bible, you're going to see all kinds of things about the resurrection of Jesus. 00:02:18.581 --> 00:02:25.550 You may also at some point stumble across the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. 00:02:25.550 --> 00:02:31.546 In 1 Corinthians And I'd like to start there this morning 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. 00:02:31.546 --> 00:02:37.784 Let me pray before I read that. 00:02:37.784 --> 00:02:41.889 Father, god in Heaven, we thank You for our time here this morning. 00:02:41.889 --> 00:03:00.668 We pray that the message that You have for each one today would go out clearly, father, that our understanding of the need and the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, lord, is proclaimed loud and clear And we walk out of here, lord, more confident in that than what we came in. 00:03:00.668 --> 00:03:05.942 1 Corinthians 15,. 00:03:05.981 --> 00:03:08.427 I would like to read verses 12 through 20. 00:03:08.427 --> 00:03:20.687 And it says this Now, if Christ has been preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 00:03:20.687 --> 00:03:25.569 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 00:03:25.569 --> 00:03:32.413 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain. 00:03:32.413 --> 00:03:43.389 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses of God, because we testify that God raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact, he has not been raised. 00:03:43.389 --> 00:03:53.247 However, if the dead have not been raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. 00:03:53.247 --> 00:04:04.647 You are still in your sense Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 00:04:04.647 --> 00:04:14.181 If we have hoped in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied, verse 20,. 00:04:14.181 --> 00:04:21.461 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:33.687 What I'd like to do this morning is I thought about the resurrection and just understanding it, and is this something I can really believe and does it matter if I believe it? 00:04:33.687 --> 00:04:47.432 I want to look at the Scriptures and the things around the Scriptures that help tell us how we can trust that the resurrection was predicted, happened and the effect it had afterwards. 00:04:47.432 --> 00:05:03.569 First, I'd like to look at the things before the resurrection, things that happened before that pointed to it, accounts of people's lives that represent that we worship a God of resurrection and some outright prophecy of the coming resurrection. 00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:12.651 Then I want to look at things at the time of the resurrection, right around it, the account of the resurrection itself and the immediate events following it. 00:05:12.651 --> 00:05:26.245 And then, third, we'll spend a little bit of time after the resurrection, or what I'll call into time, meaning how much effect did the resurrection have on the times after Jesus rose from the dead? 00:05:26.245 --> 00:05:44.843 So in the outline I've listed quite a few verses there and we're going to just move through these kind of one after another, and my hope is that as we work through these it'll be kind of like sitting at the beach with the ocean waves of the truth of the resurrection just hitting you one after another and one after another. 00:05:44.843 --> 00:05:51.466 The first thing I'd like to look at in this before section is some predictions and prophecies. 00:05:52.334 --> 00:05:53.800 David in Psalm 16. 00:05:53.800 --> 00:06:06.803 Psalm 16, verses 10 and 11, he writes this For you will not abandon my soul to sheal, nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay. 00:06:06.803 --> 00:06:10.322 You will make known to me the path of life. 00:06:10.322 --> 00:06:13.180 In your presence is fullness of joy. 00:06:13.180 --> 00:06:14.985 In your right hand There are pleasures forever. 00:06:14.985 --> 00:06:27.021 David, as he writes, this is really an exaggeration for himself, but a fulfillment in Jesus that the holy one will not undergo decay. 00:06:27.021 --> 00:06:29.978 I'm not saying that under my own authority. 00:06:29.978 --> 00:06:36.041 I'm saying it because it's quoted by Peter in Acts 2, this Psalm in reference to Jesus. 00:06:36.041 --> 00:06:42.985 It's quoted again by Paul in Acts 13 in reference to Jesus. 00:06:42.985 --> 00:06:54.214 The statement Nor will your holy one undergo decay assumes that there's a death that would bring about decay. 00:06:54.214 --> 00:07:01.880 And there was a death on a cross, but there was no decay because Christ was raised from the dead. 00:07:06.574 --> 00:07:09.802 The second point I would make is from Daniel, chapter 12. 00:07:09.802 --> 00:07:16.062 Daniel, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. 00:07:16.062 --> 00:07:28.326 Now, at that time, michael, the great prince, who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time. 00:07:28.326 --> 00:07:33.326 And at that time, your people, everyone who was found written in the book, will be rescued. 00:07:33.326 --> 00:07:43.564 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake to everlasting life, but others to disgrace, an everlasting contempt. 00:07:43.564 --> 00:07:51.682 Daniel talks about a resurrection, a resurrection for all, some for this, some for that. 00:07:51.682 --> 00:08:01.223 We'll hold that portion of it off to the side for now, but simply focus on the prediction of a coming resurrection. 00:08:03.535 --> 00:08:09.266 The third part from some Old Testament scripture is Isaiah 53, verses 10, and part of 11. 00:08:09.266 --> 00:08:13.040 Isaiah 53, 10 and 11. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.485 Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. 00:08:17.485 --> 00:08:21.264 And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin. 00:08:21.264 --> 00:08:29.403 He will see his offspring and prolong his days And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 00:08:29.403 --> 00:08:34.846 And after he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. 00:08:34.846 --> 00:08:44.586 Isaiah is speaking of Jesus to be crushed for our sin but then alive again to see his offspring, future followers of Christ. 00:08:44.586 --> 00:08:51.423 He was to suffer but eventually to see the light of life. 00:08:51.423 --> 00:08:59.604 Resurrection really should not surprise any of us. 00:09:01.174 --> 00:09:08.421 God gives us accounts of people's lives that are resurrection pointing and shows us that he is a God of resurrection. 00:09:08.421 --> 00:09:14.663 In Genesis, chapters 37 and 38, we have a story of Joseph. 00:09:14.663 --> 00:09:20.044 Joseph's life seems to go from life to death. 00:09:20.044 --> 00:09:24.943 He's sold into slavery, later thrown into prison. 00:09:24.943 --> 00:09:29.624 Death to the life that he thought he would have. 00:09:29.624 --> 00:09:35.745 But God uses circumstances around him to bring resurrection to his story. 00:09:35.745 --> 00:09:37.799 Resurrection to his life. 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:39.504 Because he's a God of resurrection. 00:09:39.504 --> 00:09:43.865 He ends up as number two in the most powerful country in the world. 00:09:43.865 --> 00:09:54.318 He is able to provide life for his starving family that was facing death in a time of famine. 00:09:54.318 --> 00:09:59.182 God is a God of resurrection. 00:10:01.375 --> 00:10:03.782 The life of Ruth and Naomi in the book of Ruth. 00:10:03.782 --> 00:10:10.559 Ruth experienced death of her father-in-law, death of her husband, death of her brother-in-law. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:15.687 Losing these men in her life was death to her life, as she thought it would be. 00:10:15.687 --> 00:10:24.793 But God uses her loyalty to Naomi, her mother-in-law, and to her God to bring about the resurrection of life. 00:10:24.793 --> 00:10:32.264 The Redeemer Boaz marries her and they have a child, a boy named Obid, eventually the grandfather of David. 00:10:32.264 --> 00:10:42.163 And when the child is born, the women of the town tell Naomi this in Ruth 4, verses 14 and 15. 00:10:42.163 --> 00:10:50.163 The women said to her Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a Redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. 00:10:50.163 --> 00:11:01.655 May he also be to you a restorer of life, a sustainer in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better than seven sons, has given birth to him. 00:11:01.655 --> 00:11:11.158 We worship and we serve a God of resurrection, a God of new life. 00:11:15.346 --> 00:11:19.576 The last one in this section comes from Ezekiel, chapter 37. 00:11:19.576 --> 00:11:24.533 The whole section is verses 1 through 14, but I'm not going to read it all out. 00:11:24.533 --> 00:11:25.335 I'll tell you. 00:11:25.335 --> 00:11:27.961 Ezekiel sees these dry bones in a valley. 00:11:27.961 --> 00:11:31.902 God tells him to prophesy that they would come to life. 00:11:31.902 --> 00:11:35.412 Verse 7 says So I prophesize. 00:11:35.412 --> 00:11:42.231 And as I commanded, as I was commanded and as I prophesied, there was a noise. 00:11:42.231 --> 00:11:45.501 Behold a rattling. 00:11:45.501 --> 00:11:53.655 The bones came together, bone to bone, and I looked behold, sinews were on them and flesh grew and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 00:11:53.655 --> 00:11:56.365 In verse 10, again, he was told to prophesy. 00:11:56.365 --> 00:12:01.360 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them and they came to life. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:28.956 This was a vision that was given to Ezekiel and in it, as God explains the vision to Ezekiel afterwards, going from dry bones to life, The Lord says I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves, because the God we serve is a God of resurrection and new life. 00:12:28.956 --> 00:12:41.714 So in this before section, the third thing I want to look at is some of the prophecies and predictions that Jesus gives us himself of his coming resurrection. 00:12:44.937 --> 00:12:49.604 In John, chapter 2, verses 13 through 22,. 00:12:49.604 --> 00:13:10.791 This is the section where Jesus runs the money changers out of the temple and turns over their tables, and after he does that, the Jews come to him and they say in verse 18 they said to him what signs do you show us of your authority for doing these things? 00:13:10.791 --> 00:13:19.972 And Jesus answered them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. 00:13:19.972 --> 00:13:27.302 The Jews said to him it took 46 years to build this temple and you will raise it in three days. 00:13:27.302 --> 00:13:29.610 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 00:13:29.610 --> 00:13:35.061 He was speaking of the resurrection, verse 22,. 00:13:35.160 --> 00:13:54.433 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered what he said and they believed the Scripture and the words which Jesus has spoken, jesus predicting his resurrection, matthew 12,. 00:13:54.433 --> 00:14:00.552 Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees said to him this is verse 38,. 00:14:00.552 --> 00:14:06.014 Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees said to him teacher, we want to see a sign from you. 00:14:06.014 --> 00:14:10.479 But he answered and said to them an evil and an adulterous generation craves a sign. 00:14:10.479 --> 00:14:14.052 Yet no sign will be given to you, except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 00:14:14.052 --> 00:14:24.293 Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a sea monster, so the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 00:14:24.293 --> 00:14:32.850 Then the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they repented of the preaching of Jonah. 00:14:32.850 --> 00:14:37.856 Behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 00:14:44.625 --> 00:14:47.738 The third thing of Jesus' predictions. 00:14:47.738 --> 00:14:52.273 Three times in the Gospel of Mark he predicts his resurrection. 00:14:52.273 --> 00:15:05.941 Mark 831 says and then he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, that he must be killed and after three days raised again. 00:15:05.941 --> 00:15:09.418 Mark 9, 30 and 31,. 00:15:09.418 --> 00:15:11.664 They left that place and passed through Galilee. 00:15:11.664 --> 00:15:16.072 Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were going because he was teaching his disciples. 00:15:16.072 --> 00:15:20.890 He said to them the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men. 00:15:20.890 --> 00:15:27.124 They will kill him and after three days he will rise. 00:15:27.124 --> 00:15:37.722 And again in Mark 10, 33 and 34 we are going to Jerusalem, he said, and the Son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. 00:15:37.722 --> 00:15:47.274 They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. 00:15:47.274 --> 00:15:50.440 Three days later he will rise. 00:15:53.043 --> 00:16:20.775 So these are things before the resurrection, and there's more in the scripture, but these are the ones I picked out David, daniel, isaiah foretelling of the resurrection, the life of Joseph, ruth, ezekiel showing that we serve a God of resurrection through the accounts and the descriptions, jesus himself predicting his resurrection multiple times. 00:16:20.775 --> 00:16:23.422 So why do we want to look at that? 00:16:23.422 --> 00:16:27.264 Because the resurrection wasn't just an isolated incident. 00:16:27.264 --> 00:16:29.272 It just accidentally happened. 00:16:29.272 --> 00:16:31.139 This was God's plan. 00:16:31.139 --> 00:16:32.806 It didn't happen in a vacuum of time. 00:16:32.806 --> 00:16:34.129 God laid this out. 00:16:34.129 --> 00:16:38.152 It is part of God's plan. 00:16:38.152 --> 00:16:49.163 It was part of his plan back then and he was showing us that through these Scriptures, through these accounts and specifically, as Jesus predicted, the resurrection himself. 00:16:49.163 --> 00:16:54.623 So he's moved to the second point on your outline. 00:16:54.623 --> 00:17:15.105 This is the back page at the time of the resurrection, and under that I'd like to look at two sections Accounts of the resurrection itself, so this is immediately right after And then some appearances of the risen Lord. 00:17:18.137 --> 00:17:24.143 So in Matthew 28, verses 1 through 7, mary and Mary at the empty tomb. 00:17:24.143 --> 00:17:41.945 Now, after the Sabbath had begun to dawn, before the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the grave and behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it, and his appearance was like lightning, like his clothing was as white as snow. 00:17:41.945 --> 00:17:45.025 The guard shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 00:17:45.025 --> 00:17:51.785 The angel said to the women do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 00:17:51.785 --> 00:17:55.724 He is not here, for he has risen. 00:17:55.724 --> 00:18:08.154 Just as he said, come see the place where he is lying, go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead And behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee, and there you will see him. 00:18:08.154 --> 00:18:11.384 Behold, i have told you. 00:18:14.199 --> 00:18:23.154 Now the Gospels give us kind of different accounts of exactly how this went down, some with a little more detail, some with a little less, and maybe it's a little different time that it happened. 00:18:23.154 --> 00:18:27.244 Mark 16 includes some more information. 00:18:27.244 --> 00:18:38.154 That says, including that they went into the tomb and saw only a young man sitting there who told them that Jesus, who was crucified, has risen. 00:18:38.154 --> 00:18:40.154 He is not here. 00:18:40.154 --> 00:18:43.305 Look at the place where he was laid. 00:18:43.305 --> 00:18:58.623 And Luke 24, verses 5, 6, and 7, a man in dazzling clothes said to them why do you seek the living among the dead? 00:18:58.623 --> 00:19:02.644 He is not here, but he has risen. 00:19:02.644 --> 00:19:10.006 Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying the Son of Man must be delivered at the hands of sinful men. 00:19:10.006 --> 00:19:14.685 He must be crucified and on the third day, rise again. 00:19:14.685 --> 00:19:24.382 We serve a God of resurrection And then appearances of the risen Lord. 00:19:24.382 --> 00:19:36.749 So in this time, from his resurrection until the time he was taken up, he appeared to people once, twice, three times. 00:19:36.749 --> 00:19:44.845 We have recorded in Scripture at least nine times, maybe 11, depending on how you break up the occurrences. 00:19:44.845 --> 00:19:49.025 And that's just the times that we have recorded. 00:19:49.025 --> 00:19:52.722 There could have been a whole lot more appearances. 00:19:52.722 --> 00:19:59.305 I'm not going to look at all 11, but we'll look at a few. 00:19:59.305 --> 00:20:07.246 John chapter 20, verses 11 through 18. 00:20:07.246 --> 00:20:09.278 So we'll look at three of them. 00:20:09.278 --> 00:20:15.344 John chapter 20, verses 11 through 18. 00:20:16.737 --> 00:20:27.134 Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping, and so as she wept, she stooped and looked in the tomb and there she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the foot, where the body of Jesus had been laying. 00:20:27.134 --> 00:20:29.903 And they said to her woman why are you weeping? 00:20:29.903 --> 00:20:34.154 And she said to them because they have taken away my Lord and I don't know where they've laid Him. 00:20:34.154 --> 00:20:39.063 And when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn't know it was Jesus. 00:20:39.063 --> 00:20:42.154 Jesus said to her woman why are you weeping? 00:20:42.154 --> 00:20:47.269 Whom are you seeking, supposing Him to be the gardener? 00:20:47.269 --> 00:20:55.134 she said to Him sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where He laid, where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away. 00:20:55.134 --> 00:20:56.459 And Jesus said to her. 00:20:56.459 --> 00:21:03.743 Mary, she turned and said to Him in Hebrew, riboni, which means teacher. 00:21:03.743 --> 00:21:15.704 Jesus said to her stop clinging to me, for I have not ascended to the Father, but go to the brethren and say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God. 00:21:15.704 --> 00:21:24.164 Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples I have seen the Lord and that He had said these things to her. 00:21:26.876 --> 00:21:32.882 Later on, in John, chapter 20, verses 26 through 29, the 11 disciples, including Thomas. 00:21:32.882 --> 00:21:38.740 Verse 20 says this after eight days his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. 00:21:38.740 --> 00:21:46.476 Jesus came to the doors having been shut, stood in their midst and said peace, be with you, hello. 00:21:46.476 --> 00:21:53.137 Then he said to Thomas reach here with your finger and see my hands. 00:21:53.137 --> 00:22:01.522 Reach here with your hand and put it in my side And do not be unbelieving, but believing. 00:22:01.522 --> 00:22:04.803 Thomas answered and said to him my Lord and my God. 00:22:04.803 --> 00:22:10.288 And Jesus said to him because you have seen me, you believe. 00:22:10.288 --> 00:22:16.201 Blessed are those who do not see and yet have believed. 00:22:20.595 --> 00:22:31.310 And the final appearance that we'll look at today is in Acts, chapter 1, verses 1-11. 00:22:31.310 --> 00:22:33.515 I'm going to read all of these Acts 1, 1-11. 00:22:33.515 --> 00:22:47.865 The first account I composed Theophilus, and this is Luke, writing all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after he had, by the Holy Spirit, given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen. 00:22:47.865 --> 00:23:01.576 To these he presented himself alive after his suffering, by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of things concerning the Kingdom of God. 00:23:01.576 --> 00:23:16.724 Gathering them together, he commanded them not to lead Jerusalem but to wait for the Father he had promised, which he said You heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. 00:23:16.724 --> 00:23:22.199 When they had come together, they were asking him, saying Lord, is it the time to restore the Kingdom of Israel? 00:23:22.199 --> 00:23:37.317 And he said to them it was not for you to know the times of the epochs which the Father has fixed by his authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you And you will be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. 00:23:37.317 --> 00:23:51.401 And after these things, and after he said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received him out of their sight And, as they were great, gazing intently into the sky. 00:23:51.401 --> 00:23:56.000 While he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside him. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.558 They also said men of Galilee. 00:23:58.558 --> 00:24:00.243 Why do you stand looking into the sky? 00:24:00.243 --> 00:24:10.057 Just Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you watched him go into heaven. 00:24:10.057 --> 00:24:36.472 So in this middle section we have the accounts of the empty tomb of Matthew and Luke, the multiple appearances of Jesus after his resurrection, at least nine times, and at one point the Scriptures say earlier in 1 Corinthians that he appeared to. 00:24:36.472 --> 00:24:38.680 Hundreds of people saw him. 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:47.805 So we have the first section of before that we looked at right, and then the second section of at the time and those things immediately following. 00:24:47.805 --> 00:24:51.762 The third thing I'd like to look at is the after or the into time. 00:24:51.762 --> 00:24:54.337 I don't have as much here. 00:24:54.337 --> 00:24:56.143 This is probably a whole other message. 00:24:56.202 --> 00:25:08.006 The effect of Jesus' resurrection could probably be a series on what happened, but I want to touch on a few things because his resurrection is so powerful. 00:25:08.006 --> 00:25:17.147 The first thing I'd mention is from a book I recently read called Body of Proof, about the resurrection. 00:25:17.147 --> 00:25:40.383 Jeremiah Johnston is the author And he says one of the reasons we should believe in the resurrection is that society is transformed everywhere Christianity is introduced, because everywhere Christianity is introduced there's a revelation of a loving God that died and rose to save his people. 00:25:40.383 --> 00:25:44.704 Everywhere it's introduced, ethics and morals improved. 00:25:44.704 --> 00:25:54.661 Everywhere it's introduced the treatment of women and prove on all levels and their strides in science, arts and quality of life. 00:26:00.914 --> 00:26:12.924 In the book Know Why You Believe, written by Paul Little, he makes a few points along the same vein of the effect of Jesus' resurrection of the things. 00:26:12.924 --> 00:26:21.428 After, first, the Christian church, its worldwide scope started in Palestine around AD 32. 00:26:21.428 --> 00:26:24.121 I wonder what happened? 00:26:24.121 --> 00:26:33.337 The second, the Christian day, the worships shifting from Saturday to Sunday, a monumental move on the calendar. 00:26:33.337 --> 00:26:46.586 As some would refer to the Christian book or, as we know it, the New Testament, six testimonies of the resurrection, including three considered to be eyewitnesses in John, peter and Matthew. 00:26:46.586 --> 00:27:04.424 And in the New Testament we have Paul's writing to the churches at a very early date, referring to the resurrection in such a way that it is obvious to him and to his readers that the event was well known and accepted without question. 00:27:04.424 --> 00:27:07.342 And there were many people alive still. 00:27:07.342 --> 00:27:13.198 Had it not been accepted by them, they would have refuted it and we would have known that. 00:27:23.835 --> 00:27:29.986 Another thing from Paul Little's book is the testimony of changed lives. 00:27:29.986 --> 00:27:34.458 He quotes, i quote him. 00:27:34.458 --> 00:27:44.683 I should say thousands now living bearing uniform testimony that their lives have been revolutionized by Jesus Christ. 00:27:44.683 --> 00:27:48.077 I would challenge that quote. 00:27:48.077 --> 00:28:01.357 I would think it's millions, millions now living bearing uniform testimony that their lives have been revolutionized and changed by Jesus Christ. 00:28:01.357 --> 00:28:08.221 My life has been changed by Jesus Christ. 00:28:08.221 --> 00:28:16.038 I didn't expect to get emotional with the third paragraph in this section, but apparently it's going to happen in the first. 00:28:16.038 --> 00:28:20.281 Some of you may know my testimony, some of you may not. 00:28:20.281 --> 00:28:23.780 I'm going to give you a quick hits version of it. 00:28:23.780 --> 00:28:28.022 I think it's important to know how God works in people's lives. 00:28:29.335 --> 00:28:30.741 I was not raised in a Christian home. 00:28:30.741 --> 00:28:31.997 I did not believe in God. 00:28:31.997 --> 00:28:42.780 Drugs and alcohol came into my life in my early teens. 00:28:42.780 --> 00:28:51.681 By my early 20s I was an alcoholic and a drug addict. 00:28:51.681 --> 00:29:06.557 I moved from a small town in Indiana to these Chicago suburbs seeking new life. 00:29:06.557 --> 00:29:14.832 But once I got here I found out they sold drugs and alcohol here also. 00:29:14.832 --> 00:29:26.127 I had destroyed my relationships with my friends and my family. 00:29:26.127 --> 00:29:39.174 I couldn't keep on any kind of relationship in my life, bouncing from apartment to apartment, leaving destruction in my wake. 00:29:39.174 --> 00:29:46.378 I only stayed at one job for a longer period of time than normal because my boss was the person I bought my drugs from. 00:29:46.378 --> 00:29:59.513 I wasn't rehabbed twice. 00:29:59.513 --> 00:30:01.997 One's court ordered one's self-admitted. 00:30:01.997 --> 00:30:04.539 It was a life of death. 00:30:13.373 --> 00:30:17.779 June 23rd 1995. 00:30:17.779 --> 00:30:23.148 I attended a promise keeper's event in Indiana. 00:30:23.148 --> 00:30:26.327 Men at this church were praying for me. 00:30:26.327 --> 00:30:32.444 I was a little bit worried That first night. 00:30:32.444 --> 00:30:33.970 Jesus changed me forever. 00:30:33.970 --> 00:30:37.910 My relationship with drugs and alcohol changed forever. 00:30:37.910 --> 00:30:48.640 I heard the gospel message proclaimed, believed, repented and turned to Christ. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:55.509 What does my life look like following that? 00:30:55.509 --> 00:30:59.395 It hasn't been perfect. 00:30:59.395 --> 00:31:02.430 I walked into this church. 00:31:02.430 --> 00:31:03.719 It was a different building. 00:31:03.719 --> 00:31:24.799 Then, a week after that event and I've been attending here for 28 years I met my wife here. 00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:30.348 Last May we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. 00:31:30.348 --> 00:31:57.111 As you saw some of them up here this morning, i have seven awesome children And last August, 25 years working for the same company And 22 years in our home, from a guy who lived in destruction and death. 00:31:57.111 --> 00:32:11.487 God has blessed me with consistency and love and all these blessings Because he is a God of resurrection. 00:32:11.487 --> 00:32:16.720 He resurrected a life that I was running into a wall day after day. 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:26.749 Jesus truly changed my life from death and destruction to new life, because he is a God of resurrection. 00:32:30.221 --> 00:32:33.911 To close, i want to go back to the first scripture I read in 1 Corinthians 15. 00:32:33.911 --> 00:32:40.640 I want to look specifically at verses 19 and 20, which is near the end of that section. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:47.623 Let's say this Verse 19,. 00:32:47.623 --> 00:32:52.307 If we have hoped in Christ and this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 00:32:52.307 --> 00:32:56.691 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who fall asleep. 00:32:56.691 --> 00:33:05.180 My story is a great story because of God's work. 00:33:08.204 --> 00:33:13.434 But Jesus didn't rise from the dead so that I could work at the same company for 25 years. 00:33:13.434 --> 00:33:32.131 Jesus didn't rise from the dead simply so that I could have blessings and consistency in my life here, though those are benefits of the spirit being and work in my life. 00:33:32.131 --> 00:33:35.390 Jesus didn't rise from the dead simply for my sobriety. 00:33:35.390 --> 00:33:52.432 Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead three days later to secure my eternity with him, after I die, for the day my physical body takes its last breath and for all the days after into eternity. 00:33:52.432 --> 00:34:07.988 The resurrection is a powerful thing And, as we read some of those accounts, it has incredible power on the lives as we are here, but the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus is the eternal power to bring us with him forever in heaven. 00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:18.952 Now, if you remember when I covered the part in Daniel, how do we know we're going to be raised to life and not the other? 00:34:18.952 --> 00:34:22.943 not raised for death or contempt or destruction, as it says. 00:34:22.943 --> 00:34:24.748 It doesn't say destruction. 00:34:24.748 --> 00:34:26.952 I misspoke to be raised for contempt. 00:34:26.952 --> 00:34:34.621 How do we know which one we'll be raised for First? 00:34:34.641 --> 00:34:51.340 John 5, 11 and 12 says this, and this is the testimony God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son, and He who has the Son has life, and He does not have the Son of God, does not have life, and that's not simply being raised, that's eternal life with the Father in heaven. 00:34:51.340 --> 00:34:58.034 So the question for you this morning is is do you have the Son? 00:34:58.034 --> 00:35:12.467 Have you at some point repented of your sins and turned to Jesus in faith for that, all that He has done for you, for the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternity with Him? 00:35:12.467 --> 00:35:18.150 The Bible tells us to believe, to repent. 00:35:18.150 --> 00:35:36.579 If you have not, i encourage you today to turn to Jesus, today, the resurrected Lord, the Lord of our lives, to believe and to repent, and if you have already turned to Jesus and you find yourself as a believer today. 00:35:36.579 --> 00:35:56.599 I hope that this morning's message serves as a reminder that we have a loving, living Savior And He has given us so many things to look at, say He died for us, he rose for us And I believe that today Let's pray. 00:36:00.065 --> 00:36:11.195 Father, god, we thank You for Jesus and the gift of salvation, the gift of His broken body on a cross And the showing of Your power through the resurrection of Christ. 00:36:11.195 --> 00:36:12.139 We thank You for that, lord. 00:36:12.139 --> 00:36:21.920 We thank You, lord, for the way that You work in our lives here, in this temporary world, and You save us from things we don't even know about and You save us from our own destruction and sins. 00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:28.019 We thank You for that, that we'll have a good day today because You love us. 00:36:28.019 --> 00:36:37.280 But we thank You, lord, that the day that You return, you will bring us to You to be an eternity in heaven with You. 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:38.793 We thank You for that great gift. 00:36:38.793 --> 00:36:43.893 Father, help us each to know that truth, to believe that truth and to have faith in You. 00:36:43.893 --> 00:36:51.032 We pray in Jesus' name, amen.