WEBVTT 00:00:24.074 --> 00:00:24.414 Welcome. 00:00:24.414 --> 00:00:32.151 This morning, and as the ushers are coming forward, they are going to offer you a gift for a holiday. 00:00:32.151 --> 00:00:36.984 While they are doing that, I thought I would tell a couple of vacation jokes. 00:00:36.984 --> 00:00:50.587 Here's one for you Twitter fans why did Elon Musk's Tesla take a summer vacation? 00:00:50.587 --> 00:01:01.872 And then this is one for the Panera fans, for the after church snacks. 00:01:01.872 --> 00:01:05.387 What did the loaf of bread do on vacation? 00:01:05.387 --> 00:01:07.542 It loafed around. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:23.844 Last week, we had the privilege of hearing Jim preach on Christ's death and burial, and that's where Jim left us. 00:01:23.844 --> 00:01:39.882 And so today's sermon fits in perfectly, because now Christ is risen, and so I'm going to ask you to stand as we read the first passage here from 1 Corinthians 1520 to 23. 00:01:39.882 --> 00:01:49.046 And that will be on the screen there for you. 00:01:49.046 --> 00:02:01.242 For, as an atom, all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive, but each in turn. 00:02:01.242 --> 00:02:02.644 Christ the first fruits. 00:02:02.644 --> 00:02:05.591 Then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 00:02:05.591 --> 00:02:06.881 You may be seated. 00:02:06.881 --> 00:02:14.981 He is risen. 00:02:14.981 --> 00:02:23.888 Indeed, that's the message, that's the one we sang Christ is not in the grave, he has risen and he brings life to us. 00:02:24.740 --> 00:02:43.206 And I do want to spend just a little time, even though this was maybe not planned to talk about 1 Corinthians 15 as we lead into today's verse, because we're sort of jumping in the middle of Paul's discussion here, so I'm going to read you a little section. 00:02:43.206 --> 00:02:45.526 It starts out in verse 1. 00:02:45.526 --> 00:02:52.407 Brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 00:02:52.407 --> 00:02:58.692 By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. 00:02:58.692 --> 00:03:01.146 Otherwise you have believed in vain. 00:03:01.146 --> 00:03:09.379 So Paul here talks about the gospel, what it is, the death, the resurrection of Christ, and how. 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:21.647 That is our good news, the gospel, that first part, I'm calling the importance of the resurrection. 00:03:21.647 --> 00:03:46.846 Paul goes on what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve, and after that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living. 00:03:46.846 --> 00:03:54.391 So Paul starts by talking about how important is the resurrection for our belief. 00:03:54.391 --> 00:03:57.587 Well, it's actually a core part of the gospel. 00:03:57.587 --> 00:04:07.044 If Christ had only died for our sins, then our life would be incomplete, our future would be uncertain. 00:04:07.044 --> 00:04:12.867 But it's not, and that's why it's so important to remember the resurrection. 00:04:14.500 --> 00:04:32.230 The next section in 1 Corinthians talks about what I'm calling the certainty of the resurrection, and I had preached on that before. 00:04:32.230 --> 00:04:44.307 There was somebody teaching, apparently in the Corinthian church, that maybe there was no resurrection of the dead, and Paul was absolutely livid about that. 00:04:44.307 --> 00:04:56.487 He says but if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 00:04:56.487 --> 00:05:01.831 If there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 00:05:01.831 --> 00:05:04.889 And if Christ has not been raised, he goes on. 00:05:04.889 --> 00:05:06.324 Our preaching is useless. 00:05:06.324 --> 00:05:08.884 More than that, we're found to be false witnesses. 00:05:08.884 --> 00:05:15.009 And if he did not raise them, in fact the dead are not raised either. 00:05:15.009 --> 00:05:18.449 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 00:05:18.449 --> 00:05:23.509 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. 00:05:23.509 --> 00:05:31.723 So the certainty of the resurrection is that Paul talks about how Christ appeared to the disciples. 00:05:31.723 --> 00:05:35.449 He appeared to several hundred people. 00:05:35.449 --> 00:05:39.288 He appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. 00:05:39.288 --> 00:05:44.961 We can be certain that Christ has been raised and that's great comfort. 00:05:44.961 --> 00:05:52.863 And that is where we are now entering into the comfort section of 1 Corinthians 15. 00:05:55.459 --> 00:05:57.002 Christ is the first fruits. 00:05:57.002 --> 00:06:16.040 There was a sermon you may have heard it given by Bruce July 2nd here, and Bruce talked about his own personal story, how the resurrection, how Christ, has changed him. 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:21.029 And there's additional proof besides the additional witnesses. 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:22.745 All of us have a story to tell. 00:06:22.745 --> 00:06:24.644 We have lives that are changed. 00:06:24.644 --> 00:06:33.949 We have a life that has been given new life, and that is also proof and witness to the resurrection. 00:06:33.949 --> 00:06:41.196 All right, so finally we come to Christ. 00:06:41.235 --> 00:06:41.898 The first fruits. 00:06:41.898 --> 00:06:53.915 And when you think of fruits, this is what I think of A basket of fruits and this is kind of Middle Eastern fruits. 00:06:53.915 --> 00:06:59.949 There's a pomegranate, there's some grapes, but that is not at all what the first fruits is. 00:06:59.949 --> 00:07:16.146 So when we the first fruits is not about actually fruit I don't know how many times I read this and I stumbled over this because I was thinking about fruit that you eat, a basket full of fruit. 00:07:16.146 --> 00:07:18.247 That's not what the first fruits is. 00:07:19.502 --> 00:07:34.831 To learn about the first fruits, we have to go back to a little bit of history about Israel, about their feasts that they had, and so I want to look together at Leviticus 23, 9-4. 00:07:34.831 --> 00:07:40.004 And we have a slide for that. 00:07:40.004 --> 00:07:53.567 Here's Moses describing the festival, or the celebration of the first fruits. 00:07:53.567 --> 00:08:14.790 The Lord said to Moses Bring to the Israelites and say to them when you enter the land I'm going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain that you harvest. 00:08:14.790 --> 00:08:21.290 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord, so it will be accepted on your behalf. 00:08:21.290 --> 00:08:22.862 The priest is to wave it. 00:08:22.862 --> 00:08:24.687 On the day after the Sabbath. 00:08:24.687 --> 00:08:34.308 You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very first day you bring this offering to your God. 00:08:34.308 --> 00:08:38.609 This is to be a lasting ordinance for generations to come, wherever you live. 00:08:38.609 --> 00:08:51.931 So this tells us that actually the festival of the first fruits relates to the grain harvest and that's a little bit different than what we imagine it to be. 00:08:53.921 --> 00:09:03.309 Growing up here in the suburbs, I kind of think bread comes from jewel, but some of you who've had a little farm experience know that's not the case. 00:09:03.309 --> 00:09:10.812 But it's helpful to go and look at what really. 00:09:10.812 --> 00:09:15.460 How does the harvest occur in the times of Israel? 00:09:15.460 --> 00:09:17.144 And we have a slide. 00:09:17.144 --> 00:09:18.427 If we could have the next slide please. 00:09:18.427 --> 00:09:21.827 This is a sickle. 00:09:21.827 --> 00:09:24.440 Maybe some of you know what this is. 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:34.046 It's for cutting down grain and before the days of international harvester, when there were combines which you see out driving through the fields, they do all of this now for us. 00:09:34.046 --> 00:09:37.480 That's the wonder of the 19th century, when we got all this. 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:57.046 But before the 19th century grain was harvested by hand and you'd have a sickle and you'd go out and you'd cut the grain with this and you can see it's sort of a sharp object there and then you take your grain and we can have the next slide, please, and you'd bundle it up. 00:09:57.046 --> 00:09:59.480 Now it didn't always look this pretty. 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:08.774 This is Microsoft's version of a sheath, a sheath of grain, of barley, so it's a little more stylized. 00:10:08.774 --> 00:10:15.506 But they would take it, they would take a piece, they cut, they tie it together and they'd make these sheaths of grain. 00:10:15.506 --> 00:10:20.784 And that's what they were instructed to bring to the Lord and offer as a first-reeks offering. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:23.745 The first grain to come was barley. 00:10:23.745 --> 00:10:26.744 Wheat came later. 00:10:26.744 --> 00:10:44.351 That was another offering, but the first fruits was this presentation to the Lord and you would wave it before Him and say, okay, this is the first of the fruit and we're offering it to you and the Lord said don't eat that bread from that year until you've done that. 00:10:44.351 --> 00:10:45.621 This should come first. 00:10:51.561 --> 00:10:53.855 So what does this tell us? 00:10:53.855 --> 00:10:54.480 Well, a couple of things. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:02.726 Number one we all have English Bibles and even though we read it in English the first fruits sometimes we don't exactly understand the meanings. 00:11:02.726 --> 00:11:10.480 Here's an example where you can read it in an English Bible and not totally get the picture of what's going on there. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:17.480 That's why it's helpful to have resources to learn other things, to look at other things, to supplement your knowledge. 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:20.109 But a translation is great. 00:11:20.109 --> 00:11:22.388 It just doesn't give you everything you need. 00:11:22.388 --> 00:11:25.025 Sometimes you need a little extra outside. 00:11:29.565 --> 00:11:32.480 But what did the first fruits mean and why is that important for Christ? 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:41.192 The reason is that this offering of the first fruits had a great significance to the agricultural communities. 00:11:41.192 --> 00:11:52.331 Not like today, if the harvest is bad, can we import grain from other countries, can we go to our stores of all of our canned foods and so forth. 00:11:52.331 --> 00:11:58.847 But these people depended on that harvest for their livelihood, for their well-being, for their very life. 00:11:58.847 --> 00:12:07.772 So to them this was hugely important and the first fruits meant that more was to come. 00:12:07.772 --> 00:12:09.966 This was the first. 00:12:09.966 --> 00:12:14.004 The barley was the first part of the harvest and it promised for them. 00:12:14.004 --> 00:12:26.450 There's more to come, there's more food coming, there's more wheat, there's other grains, there's grapes, there's pomegranates, there's some of those fruits we saw in the basket before. 00:12:26.450 --> 00:12:27.784 Those are yet to come. 00:12:27.784 --> 00:12:54.024 So the significance was this told them that the future crop was coming and that's why Christ is for us the first fruits, because His resurrection is that that we can hold on to when things are dark, when things are bleak, knowing that there is proof. 00:12:54.865 --> 00:13:00.291 Have you ever asked yourself, have you ever had a night where you thought what about all the things I believe? 00:13:00.291 --> 00:13:02.208 Are they ever true? 00:13:02.208 --> 00:13:03.032 Are they really true? 00:13:03.032 --> 00:13:06.852 Have you ever doubted your faith? 00:13:06.852 --> 00:13:12.754 Have you ever said boy, I have doubts. 00:13:12.754 --> 00:13:19.071 Many of us have, I know I've had those doubts at times in my life. 00:13:19.071 --> 00:13:25.255 By the grace of God, those don't always continue at the same level, though. 00:13:25.255 --> 00:13:29.894 I haven't had those for a while because of God's communion with my spirit. 00:13:29.894 --> 00:13:36.010 But there were times in my life when I wondered wow, am I really right? 00:13:36.010 --> 00:13:37.154 Is this really true? 00:13:37.154 --> 00:13:39.270 And here is the proof. 00:13:39.270 --> 00:13:42.431 Here is the proof on the dark nights. 00:13:42.431 --> 00:13:54.113 If we could have the next slide, this is sort of a happy sky Stars are twinkling, everything is going well. 00:13:54.113 --> 00:13:58.335 But the next one is designed to evoke a little different emotion. 00:13:59.445 --> 00:14:00.408 That's a dark night. 00:14:00.408 --> 00:14:20.811 That's a night where you feel discouraged, where perhaps you've lost family, friends, perhaps you've lost something with your job, your work, your relationships and your hurting. 00:14:20.811 --> 00:14:23.748 It's a dark night. 00:14:23.748 --> 00:14:26.529 It's one of those nights that you wake up. 00:14:26.529 --> 00:14:29.908 No one else is awake, you can't sleep. 00:14:29.908 --> 00:14:35.370 You pace back and forth, at least in your mind, at least in your bed. 00:14:35.370 --> 00:14:35.912 You do that. 00:14:35.912 --> 00:14:44.089 Well, on those nights you can take hold of the promise of the first fruits Jesus' resurrection. 00:14:44.089 --> 00:14:56.511 It's proof, it's a guarantee that our resurrection, that our bodies will be renewed, that they will be raised like Christ's. 00:14:56.511 --> 00:15:04.133 It's the strength that you need in those dark nights, and that's what the first fruits is all about. 00:15:04.133 --> 00:15:23.570 And that's the main thing that I want you to take away today is that, as you go through life and you might struggle with things, christ's resurrection is the proof that your resurrection is coming, that the new heaven and the new earth is coming, that there will be a new body that we receive. 00:15:31.524 --> 00:15:32.990 Well, the passage doesn't stop there. 00:15:32.990 --> 00:15:45.595 Paul goes on to talk about, since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man, for as an atom all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 00:15:45.595 --> 00:16:03.596 Now that seems like a fairly obvious thing to us, but it does bear a little bit of thinking about and understanding. 00:16:03.596 --> 00:16:10.248 Death came through Adam, romans 5.12,. 00:16:10.248 --> 00:16:11.730 We should have the next slide, please. 00:16:11.730 --> 00:16:32.813 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and then, in this way, death came to all people because all sinned, it's easy to forget that our death is because of sin. 00:16:32.813 --> 00:16:35.669 It's because of Adam, it's because of what we inherited. 00:16:35.669 --> 00:16:41.275 Adam is our true father, our true biological head. 00:16:41.275 --> 00:16:42.687 And what did he bring us? 00:16:42.687 --> 00:16:44.765 Death. 00:16:44.765 --> 00:16:56.332 There's no slide on this, so I'm going to read Genesis 2.16 through 17. 00:16:59.745 --> 00:17:06.451 Think back about the garden, the entry of sin into the world, genesis 2.16 through 17. 00:17:06.451 --> 00:17:22.008 And the Lord God commanded the man you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will certainly die, certainly die. 00:17:22.008 --> 00:17:23.828 Sin brings death. 00:17:23.828 --> 00:17:30.857 It's easy for us to believe Satan's lies. 00:17:30.857 --> 00:17:37.458 Oh no, did God really say that you won't certainly die? 00:17:37.458 --> 00:17:41.516 But God said sin brings death. 00:17:41.516 --> 00:17:51.016 That's not a pleasant message to hear sometimes, but we need to hear it, we need to experience that in our hearts, to understand that. 00:17:52.108 --> 00:17:59.355 Because I do think it's easy to underestimate sin, to soft-pedal it, to think, oh well, I'm pretty good most of the time. 00:17:59.355 --> 00:18:04.457 You know, I go to church and I'm active in this and that activity. 00:18:04.457 --> 00:18:10.018 So what's a little misstep here and there? 00:18:10.018 --> 00:18:11.169 What's a little sin? 00:18:11.169 --> 00:18:21.857 Actually, that sin is death, and the sooner we understand that, the healthier we'll be, happier we'll be. 00:18:21.857 --> 00:18:30.361 So I'm going to ask you, as I do ask myself, what areas of sin in my life can I work on? 00:18:30.361 --> 00:18:37.086 How can I counter Satan's sin, the this, these lies of Satan? 00:18:37.086 --> 00:18:39.571 Oh, that's just a little thing, it doesn't matter. 00:18:39.571 --> 00:18:42.025 Is that what the word of God says? 00:18:42.025 --> 00:18:48.365 Is that what our father Adam found out to be true? 00:18:48.365 --> 00:18:50.371 Not at all, not at all. 00:18:50.371 --> 00:18:59.016 This is the line of inheritance that comes through Adam, and it's not a pleasant one. 00:18:59.016 --> 00:19:04.009 So Some of you might look at genealogies. 00:19:04.009 --> 00:19:21.406 I know my grandfather Kind of looked at our genealogy and he went back and traced our line and found, yes, that indeed we have a Mayflower descendant, john Rogers, who came across on the Mayflower, and so that's something to really kind of hang on to. 00:19:21.406 --> 00:19:25.954 But we're stuck with the fact that Adam is our father. 00:19:31.784 --> 00:19:33.400 There is good news, however. 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:41.194 We can have the next slide. 00:19:41.194 --> 00:20:01.000 We're told that, consequently, just as one trespass resulted in death or it resulted in condemnation for all people, so one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:12.250 For just as the disobey through disobedience of one man that many were made sinners, so also Through the obedience of one man, many will be made righteous. 00:20:12.250 --> 00:20:25.292 So in Christ, as Paul says here in first Corinthians, and so in Christ all will be made alive. 00:20:25.292 --> 00:20:26.720 Life comes through Christ. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:29.890 Death came through Adam, but life came through Christ. 00:20:36.061 --> 00:20:42.925 Does that teach universalism, the belief that all are saved? 00:20:42.925 --> 00:20:54.625 Well, no, because if you read carefully and it's important for us to read this verses in context, to read before and after what does Paul say? 00:20:54.625 --> 00:21:04.103 He says For in Christ all will be made alive, but each in turn. 00:21:04.103 --> 00:21:10.233 Christ, the first roots, then, when he comes, those who belong to him, in other words, those who belong to Christ. 00:21:10.233 --> 00:21:26.230 Paul's here talking about people who are Christians, who are believers, who are followers of God, and this is not in any way to teach that all people are saved. 00:21:26.230 --> 00:21:27.273 What did Jesus say? 00:21:27.273 --> 00:21:30.646 Here's one that I also don't have this slide on. 00:21:30.646 --> 00:21:31.990 So I'm going to read this one. 00:21:31.990 --> 00:21:43.704 Oh, I'm sorry, skip that the. 00:21:43.704 --> 00:21:51.844 The proof is in the text here all who belong to him, those who belong to Christ, those are the ones that are saved. 00:21:51.844 --> 00:21:59.303 Now, how does? 00:21:59.303 --> 00:22:02.211 The first question is well, how does Jesus do that? 00:22:02.211 --> 00:22:03.233 How does he save us? 00:22:03.233 --> 00:22:05.038 How can he save us? 00:22:05.038 --> 00:22:13.551 And and To answer that, we're gonna look at first, we're gonna look at John 1. 00:22:13.551 --> 00:22:19.067 Again, there's no slide on this one, so I'll read it. 00:22:19.970 --> 00:22:23.922 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word Was God. 00:22:23.922 --> 00:22:25.689 He was with God in the beginning. 00:22:25.689 --> 00:22:30.669 So here we learn that the word who's? 00:22:30.669 --> 00:22:36.049 Jesus is not just a regular man, he is God himself. 00:22:36.049 --> 00:22:44.592 Only God could live a perfect life and pay for our sin. 00:22:44.592 --> 00:22:48.943 No human could do that. 00:22:48.943 --> 00:22:50.147 David didn't do it. 00:22:50.147 --> 00:22:51.551 Abraham didn't do it. 00:22:51.551 --> 00:22:57.648 Any of the other famous people in the Bible, they couldn't do it. 00:22:57.648 --> 00:22:58.551 Noah couldn't do it. 00:22:58.551 --> 00:23:02.528 Who could bring us salvation? 00:23:02.528 --> 00:23:03.171 Only God. 00:23:03.171 --> 00:23:05.957 That took a God man. 00:23:05.957 --> 00:23:14.539 And Then, if we skip down to verse 14 in John, we also see the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 00:23:14.981 --> 00:23:19.700 We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father, full of grace and truth. 00:23:19.700 --> 00:23:24.608 So in that verse we see that the word became flesh. 00:23:24.608 --> 00:23:27.134 Jesus became human. 00:23:27.134 --> 00:23:31.405 God became human, joined himself with humanity. 00:23:31.405 --> 00:23:34.973 So Jesus is fully God, fully human. 00:23:37.580 --> 00:23:44.564 That's so important for him to pay for our sins, to take our place, to be the new head, to be the new replacement for Adam. 00:23:44.564 --> 00:24:05.130 We're no longer a people that are tied only to Adam, we're tied to Christ, and this is why the early church got so Concerned about people who taught, inappropriately, that either Jesus wasn't a man or he wasn't God. 00:24:05.130 --> 00:24:08.126 Both of those are essential for our Savior. 00:24:08.126 --> 00:24:25.089 Both are those are what the scripture tells us is true in John, and Both of those are required for him to be our true head, the true head of the church, the true head of God's kingdom. 00:24:25.089 --> 00:24:29.009 So that answers the question. 00:24:29.088 --> 00:24:30.413 Well, how could Jesus do that? 00:24:32.156 --> 00:24:33.599 Now the question is all right. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:35.865 Who does he bring life to? 00:24:35.865 --> 00:24:43.227 And that's answered here again, and I'm repeating and recirculating in verses 22 and 23. 00:24:43.227 --> 00:24:46.760 Christ, the first fruits. 00:24:46.760 --> 00:24:55.238 Then, when he comes, those who belong to him, those that belong to Christ, those are the ones that are brought salvation. 00:24:55.238 --> 00:25:08.939 Jesus himself tells us that there's two categories of people, and I'm going to read that. 00:25:08.939 --> 00:25:16.769 We have a slide from John 5, 28 through 29. 00:25:16.769 --> 00:25:24.969 Jesus said do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. 00:25:24.969 --> 00:25:31.965 Those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 00:25:31.965 --> 00:25:45.480 So Christ is going to bring life to all people, but there's two categories those that have done evil, those that have done good. 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:48.924 And the good is being found in Christ. 00:25:48.924 --> 00:25:50.686 It's not our actions. 00:25:50.686 --> 00:26:00.007 Our actions are not adequate to satisfy God's demands. 00:26:00.007 --> 00:26:06.342 And I want to turn and look at Ephesians 1, 13 to 14. 00:26:06.342 --> 00:26:11.728 We have a slide for that as well. 00:26:14.836 --> 00:26:17.183 Here Paul's talking about what it means to be in Christ. 00:26:17.183 --> 00:26:23.228 You also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. 00:26:23.228 --> 00:26:35.269 When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. 00:26:35.269 --> 00:26:39.359 Did you catch that In Christ? 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.084 That's a hugely important word. 00:26:41.084 --> 00:26:45.039 And how did you get to be in Christ? 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:49.929 You heard the message, the good news, the gospel, and you believed. 00:26:49.929 --> 00:26:55.666 And when that happened, god marked us with a seal the Holy Spirit who comes into your life. 00:26:55.666 --> 00:27:02.147 So, for all who believe, for all who receive, you become part of Christ. 00:27:02.147 --> 00:27:06.414 You become one who is covered by his blood for your sins. 00:27:06.414 --> 00:27:13.249 You become one who is cleansed from your wrong activity. 00:27:13.249 --> 00:27:19.347 And yet you inherit the righteousness, the goodness, the right things from Christ. 00:27:19.347 --> 00:27:25.414 Only he lived a righteous life, only he lived the good life. 00:27:25.414 --> 00:27:32.102 And that's available to us by faith, by being included in Christ, not by anything we do. 00:27:32.102 --> 00:27:34.559 God gives it to us. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:35.362 It's a free gift. 00:27:35.362 --> 00:27:41.726 So this really comes back to the good news of the gospel. 00:27:41.726 --> 00:27:44.502 The gospel is good news. 00:27:44.502 --> 00:27:47.414 We've said that many times, but we want to reinforce that. 00:27:47.414 --> 00:27:53.228 When we're talking to people about the gospel, we need to let them know yes, this is really good news. 00:27:53.228 --> 00:28:01.123 You can be in Christ, your sins can be forgiven, you can be joined into God's kingdom and look forward to a resurrection. 00:28:03.816 --> 00:28:05.101 Let's have the next slide, please. 00:28:05.101 --> 00:28:10.244 Okay, so I want to put an ad in here for you. 00:28:10.244 --> 00:28:17.988 This is the website to go to wwwlearnaboutthegospelcom. 00:28:17.988 --> 00:28:20.962 Now, pastor Jim mentioned that before. 00:28:20.962 --> 00:28:30.414 We set this up as a video tract, basically, where you can encourage people to go here. 00:28:30.414 --> 00:28:32.102 You should review it yourself. 00:28:32.102 --> 00:28:35.805 If you haven't done that already, I'm going to encourage you to go home, look it up. 00:28:35.805 --> 00:28:40.545 It's easy to remember wwwlearnaboutthegospelcom. 00:28:40.545 --> 00:28:45.384 You can also access that through our church website. 00:28:45.384 --> 00:28:48.682 There's a tab on there about the gospel. 00:28:48.682 --> 00:29:04.626 But it's important, I think, when you're talking to people who don't want to necessarily go to a churchy website, refer them to www and be sure to include the W's, because here's what I found when I did Google without the W's, it didn't go there. 00:29:04.626 --> 00:29:07.421 If the W's in, it goes there. 00:29:07.421 --> 00:29:21.548 And here's a little bit of what you're going to see on there Pastor Jim talking about what is the gospel, how do I become a Christian and what are the next steps? 00:29:21.548 --> 00:29:31.240 Now in there is a wonderful tool to share with other people so that they can enter into God's kingdom, so that they can learn about what we're about. 00:29:31.240 --> 00:29:35.414 So that's available. 00:29:35.414 --> 00:29:37.118 I encourage you to take a look at that. 00:29:40.836 --> 00:29:47.946 Now I do want to talk for a few minutes about what the gospel means, how we should be living it. 00:29:47.946 --> 00:29:56.327 For those of us who have accepted Christ, who've entered into his kingdom, the gospel should be changing us. 00:29:56.327 --> 00:29:58.601 We should be living lives that are new. 00:29:58.601 --> 00:30:04.414 And what did Jesus say? 00:30:04.414 --> 00:30:22.414 He said, well, don't store for yourself treasures on earth where moth and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store for yourself treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. 00:30:22.414 --> 00:30:26.002 For where your treasure is there your heart will be also. 00:30:26.002 --> 00:30:32.904 So I have to ask myself, I'm going to ask you to ask yourself too where is your treasure? 00:30:32.904 --> 00:30:35.257 Where is your heart? 00:30:35.257 --> 00:30:48.960 Our heart and our treasure should be deeply wrapped up in the gospel, in the good news of Christ's salvation, of what he's done in our lives, so how he's changed this. 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:56.242 I was going to bring my treasure chest but I couldn't find it. 00:30:56.242 --> 00:31:07.977 So I wrote down my little treasure envelope and I've got some of my treasures in here written down Now. 00:31:08.038 --> 00:31:14.016 Interestingly, as I did this, I realized you know your treasures change based on your age. 00:31:14.016 --> 00:31:19.093 When I was a kid, I had a stuffed toy. 00:31:19.093 --> 00:31:21.711 I believe his name was Toyki. 00:31:21.711 --> 00:31:30.179 He was a rabbit, had a plastic head and my brother had a bunny. 00:31:30.179 --> 00:31:36.625 They used to fight, but Toyki was pretty important to me back then. 00:31:36.625 --> 00:31:44.625 He was one of my treasures, and if you've had a toy that you grew up with or your childhood a blanket, whatever it is. 00:31:44.625 --> 00:31:47.327 You may feel similarly when you're a kid. 00:31:47.327 --> 00:31:48.070 That's your treasure. 00:31:48.070 --> 00:31:54.992 And as you grow, those treasures change. 00:31:54.992 --> 00:32:02.452 One that I want to mention is as a young man. 00:32:02.452 --> 00:32:08.855 I had a treasure my fiance, who became my wife, who's sitting right here. 00:32:12.652 --> 00:32:14.605 And then, as life goes on, what happens? 00:32:14.605 --> 00:32:25.433 Oh, things come along for many of us homes, children, accomplishments, those become treasures to us. 00:32:25.433 --> 00:32:28.625 And then, as we go through life further, what happens? 00:32:28.625 --> 00:32:30.839 Some of those things fade. 00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:31.605 And what do you care about? 00:32:31.605 --> 00:32:39.503 Your retirement account, your family, your free time, those become your treasures. 00:32:40.967 --> 00:32:49.760 But throughout life, as a follower of Christ, our treasure should be the gospel. 00:32:49.760 --> 00:32:53.625 So ask yourself where is your treasure? 00:32:53.625 --> 00:32:55.503 What's in your treasure chest? 00:32:55.503 --> 00:32:58.443 Today we can take the next slide, please. 00:32:58.443 --> 00:33:10.970 So Paul tells us oh, back up, next slide. 00:33:10.970 --> 00:33:18.505 Okay, there should be a slide from Galatians 513. 00:33:18.505 --> 00:33:19.107 There we go. 00:33:19.107 --> 00:33:25.605 Okay, I just couldn't see it because of the lights up here. 00:33:25.605 --> 00:33:26.329 Thank you, guys. 00:33:27.625 --> 00:33:29.392 What does the scripture tell us? 00:33:29.392 --> 00:33:34.210 What does the scripture tell us? 00:33:34.210 --> 00:33:39.383 It tells us, brothers and sisters, you were called to be free. 00:33:39.383 --> 00:33:47.144 Christ has paid for our sins, but don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather serve one another humbly in love. 00:33:47.144 --> 00:33:55.521 And I'm gonna suggest to you that that is really the core of living out the gospel serving other people in love. 00:33:55.521 --> 00:33:58.721 What example can I give of that? 00:33:58.721 --> 00:34:05.974 Well, a couple weeks ago I stopped into Kids Club and what did I see? 00:34:05.974 --> 00:34:11.311 Lots of people serving, lots of people loving those children. 00:34:11.311 --> 00:34:20.835 All kinds of things went into preparation and they were done because of love for those children desire to share Christ with them. 00:34:20.835 --> 00:34:27.594 Wow, what an example of serving in love, and I know many of you have been part of that. 00:34:27.594 --> 00:34:30.394 So that's just one example. 00:34:30.394 --> 00:34:31.688 God calls us in different ways. 00:34:31.688 --> 00:34:36.760 Some have different gifts, some have different abilities, but serve one another in love. 00:34:36.760 --> 00:34:49.289 That's the challenge that will put new treasures into your treasure chest, things that won't rust, that won't corrode, that won't stay on earth when you do. 00:34:54.764 --> 00:34:58.028 Now, a word to those of you who may not have already entered into Christ's kingdom. 00:34:58.028 --> 00:35:00.181 Entered into Christ's kingdom. 00:35:00.181 --> 00:35:05.983 Don't cling to Adam's death. 00:35:05.983 --> 00:35:08.960 Death is our inheritance. 00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:13.659 We get it, whether we like it or not, and we have an opportunity. 00:35:13.659 --> 00:35:21.170 Jesus said whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. 00:35:21.170 --> 00:35:23.719 That's a word of invitation. 00:35:23.719 --> 00:35:28.440 If you haven't come to Jesus in faith, he's calling out to you now. 00:35:28.440 --> 00:35:37.141 He's asking you set aside the things that are in your life, or your treasures that you think are so important. 00:35:37.141 --> 00:35:42.346 Seek Him, let Him be your Savior, let Him be your salvation. 00:35:42.346 --> 00:35:52.583 Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. 00:35:52.583 --> 00:35:56.826 He is the first fruits of those who fall in asleep. 00:35:56.826 --> 00:36:20.344 Let's not forget on dark nights, on times when we're hurting, that he has risen and that resurrection proves to us that he's coming again, that we will rise with Him, that we will live with Him, and that's an offer that all should take. 00:36:20.344 --> 00:36:30.481 So, and if you've taken that offer, live and serve humbly, amen.