The Food for Thought Faithcast with Be Rob
Check out the Food for Thought Faithcast! It’s hosted by Be Rob, who’s got 50 years of experience under their belt. They have an open and honest conversation about a wide range of topics. With Be Rob as the host, there’s no limit to what they can explore. Real Conversations with real people.
www.theberob.com
The Food for Thought Faithcast with Be Rob
Ep. 14- Finding Hope in Christ's Resurrection: Pastor Jackie Hill's Easter Message
What if Easter Sunday isn't just another religious holiday, but the single most important day in human history? Pastor Jackie Hill makes this bold claim and delivers a powerful case for why the resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything.
The resurrection isn't simply about believing Jesus rose from the dead—it's about understanding what this world-altering event means for your life today. When the stone rolled away from that tomb, it revealed more than just an empty space—it unveiled undeniable proof that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be.
Drawing from 1 Corinthians 15, Pastor Hill unpacks four transformative truths about the resurrection that have the power to revolutionize your perspective. From the hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw the risen Christ to the disciples who transformed from terrified deserters to fearless martyrs, the evidence is compelling. As Pastor Hill pointedly asks, "Why would someone die for something they knew was a lie?"
Most powerfully, the resurrection demonstrates Jesus' complete authority over our greatest enemy—death itself. "This body is just a pod," Pastor Hill reminds us, quoting a powerful epitaph. Through Christ, what is perishable becomes imperishable, what is mortal puts on immortality. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead can transform your life from the inside out.
Whether you're a longtime believer seeking renewed passion, someone exploring faith with skepticism, or simply looking for hope in challenging times, this message speaks directly to your deepest needs. The resurrection isn't just historical—it's personal. Are you ready to experience its power in your own life?
Hey guys, it's B-Rob, it's the Food for Thought Faithcast and it's Sunday, April 20th. It is Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday, and we've got another special episode for you today. A guy I call my friend, brother in Christ. He is one of my man Camp alumni brothers and his name is Pastor Jackie Hill. His church that he's a pastor of is Roseville Baptist Church in Minnesota and this is his Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, sermon. So I want you guys to sit back and enjoy the message brought to you by Pastor Jackie Hill.
Speaker 2:I always enjoy sharing God's Word. It's always a blessing to me. I hope and pray it's a blessing to you to receive a message from the Lord's Word. But Easter Sunday is always especially special to me. I mean, I really really get jacked, and not just because my name is Jackie, but it's like. This is like there's always a good day to preach Jesus. But Resurrection Sunday is like the day. It's like the day. It's the first time anyone ever preached about Jesus resurrecting from the dead, because it never happened before. Jesus resurrected from the dead on Easter Sunday and Easter is one of our many holidays that we observe as Christ followers.
Speaker 2:But I would like to make the argument that Easter is the most important day. It's the most important day, and the reason why it's the most important day not just, I think, in the Christian faith, but in history is because of what it says to us. It's even more important than Christmas Jesus coming. Because if Jesus came to this earth and did some miracles and lived a sinless life, but he died and didn't rise again, it didn't really matter. But if Jesus did rise from the dead, well then that in fact would be the most important day in history. But don't take my word for it. The word of God tells us that this is the most important day for us.
Speaker 2:In 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, important day for us. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, starting in verse 3, the apostle Paul says I deliver to you that of first importance. So he's like what is the most important thing that I gave to you? He said here it is that Christ died to our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he raised again on the third day. Paul says this is the most important thing. If you don't get this, if you don't understand this one, you're not going to be saved from your sins. But also like if this didn't happen, there would be no saving from sins. In fact, paul said it this way a little further in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. It's our memory verse for this week and it says this if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. So again, none of it matters.
Speaker 2:If Jesus didn't truly rise from the dead, he would just be one of many good people who did some good things and claimed to be a great man. But Jesus was more than just a man. He was fully God and fully man. He had power over life and power over death. And I believe what the Scripture says, that he rose again.
Speaker 2:And we have four really good accounts of this for us in the Gospels. You can read about the resurrection in Matthew 28. You can read about it in Mark 16. You can read about it in John 20. But I want to read for you in Luke this morning. Luke chapter 24.
Speaker 2:And we're going to look at the resurrection account here that Luke gives for us, primarily because of one phrase in verse 5 that really sticks out to me when I read it, and this is the phrase why do you seek the living one among the dead? And that's really why I want to look at this account this morning. But we're not going to spend the majority of our time in this account. We're actually going to spend the majority of our time in 1 Corinthians 15. But we're going to read this account of the resurrection, we're going to pray and then we're going to jump into 1 Corinthians 15 and see what God is telling us about the resurrection through the apostle Paul. And I think it's a really good place to go, because Paul didn't believe in all this Jesus stuff. In fact, the apostle Paul was anti-Jesus and anti-Jesus followers, and he had them arrested and put in jail, many put to death. And yet he had an encounter with the risen Savior, jesus Christ, that changed his life and he ended up giving his life for Jesus, the man who was not into all this Jesus stuff. So we're going to look what he has to say as well, but let's start in Luke, chapter 24. We're going to read verses 1 through 12. And then we're going to pray.
Speaker 2:It says on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. Now, they did this because this is a way to sort of prepare the body, to keep the mail down, to really just sort of treat the body with respect to something the Jews did in their culture. A lot of times it'd be some essential oils and the mail down, to really just sort of treat the body with asparagus, something the Jews did in their culture. A lot of times it would be some essential oils and aloes and other spices that were there frankincense, myrrh, all these things and so they're coming to do that. There's no expectation, then, from the ladies that are coming to the tomb that Jesus is going to be resurrected. Otherwise they wouldn't be coming with these spices. They are coming expecting to see the body of Jesus without life laying there, needing to be anointed as they typically would show respect to a body of the deceased.
Speaker 2:But then it says in verse 2, they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered in, they did. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And while they were perplexed about this, I would say so behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing and, as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them why do you seek the living one among the dead? Now, these are not two ordinary men, these are angels that are there and they're saying what are you doing? Why are you looking for the living one in the place of the dead? Like they should have known that Jesus wasn't going to be there. More on that later. But these women were terrified at this and they hear this and listen to what they said.
Speaker 2:Verse six I love this. It says he is not here, he has risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again. And they remembered his words. It's very important for us to remember the words of God. They remembered his words and it's very important for us to remember the words of God. They remembered his words and then returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the 11 and to the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene, joanna and Mary, the mother of James That'd be the mother of Jesus, by the way. Also.
Speaker 2:The other women with them were telling these things to the apostles, but these words appeared to them as nonsense and they would not believe them. Some people do believe that this whole Jesus thing is nonsense. Even the 11, the apostles who walked with Jesus, who heard Jesus say destroy this temple and I'm going to rise again in the third day, they thought the report that Jesus had risen from the dead was nonsense. This is craziness. But Peter verse 12, got up and he ran to the tomb and he's stooping in. He looked and he saw the linen wrappings, and only the linen wrappings, and then he went away to his home marveling at what had happened, and my hope and prayer today is that all of us, whether we have faith and trust in Christ already or have not yet put faith and trust in Christ and hopefully will before this day is out, wherever we are when it comes to Jesus, that we would hear these things today and that we would marvel at the majesty and the wonder of the resurrection, because this truly was the most, not just important day in history, but the most important thing in history, and it changes lives.
Speaker 2:So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ, who died but didn't stay dead. He rose again because he had power over life and death. God, I ask today that, as we look at your word, that you would truly work on our hearts and our minds so that we would marvel at what has happened through you, at what you have done through your son Jesus. Transform us today, father, work as only you can. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen, amen. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Speaker 2:Well, today's main text is 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, and it's 58 verses, so we're not actually going to read all 58 verses. Don't panic. I know like, oh man, this is going to be like a two-hour sermon. I mean we did feed most of you, so if you need to skip lunch we'd probably be okay, but we're not going to do that today. I'm pretty big on time, so we'll try to keep within the normal time slot here and be done around noon.
Speaker 2:But if we look at 1 Corinthians 15, again it's important to remember these are words penned by the Apostle Paul, who used to go with Saul when he was persecuting the church because he wasn't into this Jesus thing. He saw him as a heretic, a liar, a scoundrel, just a rebel turning people away from the one true God. He didn't see him as the one true God, the way, the truth and life, and no one comes to the Father but by him. But when he encountered him on the road to Damascus, the resurrected Savior, it changed him. And so Paul begins and he writes.
Speaker 2:We're going to read here verses 1 through 8 of 1 Corinthians 15. But Paul says Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and which also you stand by, which you are saved if you hold fast to the word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. Then he was buried and then he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures. And then he appeared to Cephas, that's Peter, and then to the twelve, and after that he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. And then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles and last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also. So he's giving you this personal testimony, he's giving you evidence. He's really examined this stuff. He met Jesus, but then also he's looked into it.
Speaker 2:He considered all the different accounts, some of the ones I've mentioned already, and we read one here. And so Paul is saying that Easter Sunday, resurrection Day, the day death died, is the most important day in history, and so he's focusing on that for them. And I want to give you four amazing truths here from 1 Corinthians 15 about the resurrection that will change your life if you believe, if you receive them. So Paul said this here will change your life, it will rescue you from your sin if you receive it. And so the first is this I want you to see that there is undeniable proof for the resurrection. Paul's making the case I mean, this is a guy who didn't believe it, but he's making the case that there is this undeniable proof for the resurrection.
Speaker 2:And the first thing you see is the empty tomb. We read about it there in Luke 24, but here he mentions it in passing, in verse 4, where he says that Jesus was buried and he was raised again on the third day. He's not in the tomb anymore, he's gone. It's an empty tomb. And the empty tomb, I think, speaks volumes about the proof of the resurrection. Now, the argument of that day was that, well, the disciples stole away the body of Jesus and so that's why there's an empty tomb. That was the argument. In fact, the scriptures tell us that that was what they would be saying. But just think about that logically for a moment. You need to tell me the guys who ran away when Jesus was arrested Peter, the one who said I don't even know the guy because he's afraid he was going to get arrested and put to death somehow or another got the courage in a couple of days to go back and whoop up on some Roman centurions who are guarding this tomb and take the bodies. You're telling me that because that makes no sense. These guys were afraid for their lives. They run for their lives In the gospel accounts, I mean, they tell us this Usually when you're telling a story and it's particularly if you're involved in a story like, john is also telling the story.
Speaker 2:He's one of the apostles who runs away, right, he tells the same story. When you're telling a story about what happened, you usually will cast yourself in the best possible light, like if there's some event that's going on, right, you're like, oh yeah, and I did this. Like if you're talking about yourself. You normally don't want to like cast shade your direction, right, but here I mean they cast major shade their direction. They like totally abandoned Jesus. So like if you believe this argument, well, they just stole away the body and that's why it wasn't there. I'm just telling you that isn't very logical.
Speaker 2:These guys, somehow or another, are all saying the same thing. They go there, the tomb is empty and there's a stone there and everything else, and just to think that the ladies they even go there expecting the body to be there. Again, talking about the women that are going to see there, even one of them is the mother of Jesus. They don't have faith that Jesus isn't there. They just knew his body was going to be there and yet he was gone. So you have the empty tomb, but you also have eyewitnesses to this empty tomb.
Speaker 2:I think the first eyewitness really I want to mention before we get to the people is multiple times here in 1 Corinthians 15, in verse 3 and 4, we see, according to the Scriptures, according to the Scriptures, jesus rose from the dead. According to the Scriptures, this is prophesied. The Old Testament spoke to this. Psalm 16 even talks about how the Holy One is not going to undergo decay, like Jesus' body wasn't going to undergo decay, he was going to rise again. Jesus even said about this, said this about himself. He even talked about Jonah and how there was no sign going to be given except the sign of Jonah, who was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights. So the Son of man will also be in the belly of the earth. He's going to rise again. So this is prophesied.
Speaker 2:But then Paul goes through and he starts listing names. He got Cephas. He appeared to Peter, he appeared to the 12. So we got 13 there. He appeared to more than 500 at one time and that seems like quite a bit of evidence, right? I mean we've got a bunch of 500 eyewitnesses that saw this. And he said, well, people could lie. I mean, yeah, you're right, people could definitely lie. But the next one we'll get at, I think, kind of refutes why they would lie. But he says here 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now. So you have people who can verify this.
Speaker 2:Paul's like hey look, just don't take my word for it. They're like there's hundreds of people who saw Jesus. You can ask them if they saw him. They can eyewitnesses, they can tell you. I mean, how many eyewitnesses does it take for us to believe something to be true? Like even in a court of law? I mean, how many do you need before someone can get convicted of a crime? But here there are hundreds of eyewitnesses.
Speaker 2:Paul even goes on to say he appeared to James. That's the brother of Jesus. That's an important one too, because even his own brothers didn't believe in him when he was doing his earthly ministry. That's told us multiple times in the gospels. His own brothers didn't even believe that he was the Messiah. And after he dies and rises again, his brothers are like oh yeah, we're on board with this, he's alive. And then Paul says and then, last of all, to me, one untimely born. He appeared to me and that's a huge bit of eyewitness testimony, because this is a guy again who isn't into the Jesus thing, he's anti-Jesus as you can get. And yet he's saying but he appeared to me. And yet he's saying but he appeared to me, I'm an eyewitness, he's alive. And it changed him. But then you have one other thing that I think is some just undeniable proof of the resurrection.
Speaker 2:Not only were there eyewitnesses in an empty tomb, but there are also some executions. Go back to verse six, second part of the verse. Again he said many of are alive, but some have fallen asleep. Some have fallen asleep. It's not saying they took a nap, it's not saying they were tired and they're asleep now. What Paul is saying is some of them are dead and the reason some of those witnesses are dead is because they've been put to death. In fact, the first time we see that terminology fell asleep in the New Testament is associated with Paul when he went by Saul, and the guy's name is Stephen, and Stephen is proclaiming the good news to the people that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And they stoned him to death. And it says he fell asleep there. He fell asleep and then the next thing you read is and there was a young man there named Saul, who was given hearty approval of them putting Stephen to death. Same guy here who's saying there's all these witnesses, and some of them have been falling asleep. Paul had his hands in that.
Speaker 2:And yet you have all these people who give their lives for this. You say, well, so maybe they were fooled, okay, maybe maybe they were fooled, but how about this? Maybe they were so convinced that they're willing to die for it. This is where I say I can't really say they were lying, because if they're lying, when someone says, well, all you got to do is admit you're lying and you can live. If they knew it was all just a crock, like you knew it was all just fake and they're just lying about it, then there's nothing for them out of it. Like if you die, you're not going to heaven, you don't have eternal life, because Jesus died, he didn't really rise again. So when they say. If they were to say, hey, don't talk about Jesus anymore, we're going to put you to death, they'd be like, okay, yeah, no problem man, yeah, we were just kidding. But every single one of them dies, and the only way you can make sense of that is they had to believe without a shadow of a doubt that this was real, even though they initially ran away. Something changed them, and it was trusting in seeing witnessing Jesus, and it changed them so much that they're willing to die. They wanted to die for it because they knew that Jesus had something better for them. So to me, this is just undeniable proof of the resurrection.
Speaker 2:Next, I want you to see that there is an unmistakable purpose for the resurrection. Let's pick up in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12. Now, if Christ has preached that he has been raised from the dead, how does some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise. If, in fact, the dead are not raised For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ is not raised, your faith is worthless, you're still in your sins Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep, paul said.
Speaker 2:Here's the purpose of all this. It's revealing that Jesus really is who he said he is. It shows us the deity of Christ. He's like look, if Christ hasn't been raised, none of this matters. But if Christ has been raised, he truly has been raised, then we're not dead in our sins, we're alive in him. The resurrection shows the world that Jesus was fully God and fully man. I mean, no one can rise from the dead unless he's truly God. There have been many people who claimed to be God, many people who claimed to be Messiah, but only Jesus rose from the dead.
Speaker 2:Romans 1, verse 4 says this about Jesus. It says he was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The resurrection proclaims powerfully that Jesus is the Son of God. Acts 2, 23 through 24 says this he was delivered over by the predetermined plan of God and you nailed him to a cross by the hands of godless man. He was put to death, but God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. It was impossible for Jesus to be held in the power of death.
Speaker 2:So one of the purposes we see in this is it's revealing that Jesus Christ is worth believing in, that he's truly God, that he transforms, that he changes, that he can save us from our sins. If Jesus couldn't save himself, he certainly couldn't save you. But if Jesus could save himself and he did save himself and did raise from the dead there's hope for us in eternal life because Jesus Christ is Lord. The resurrection also revealed and made it possible that we could have an escape from death. Paul admits. He says if Jesus isn't raised, then all this is worthless. It means nothing. But Jesus has been raised and he's the firstfruits of those who are asleep.
Speaker 2:You see, jesus gave his life in such a way that it rescued us from sin. He rose from the dead, showing a powerful life and death, and in Christ we are saved. You know, our security is not in heaven. Our security is not heaven. Our security is not in a place. Our security is in a person and his name is Jesus. And the resurrection demonstrates that powerfully. It shows us that Jesus paved the way for us to have life eternal.
Speaker 2:Romans 6.23 says the wage of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We have his life in us if we put faith in him, and he gives us life forever. In John 11, verse 25, jesus said it this way. He said I'm the resurrection and the life, and he who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. And here's the big question. Then Jesus asks do you believe this? Do you believe this? That's a question we all have to wrestle with and answer Like I believe this happened for a fact. But if you don't believe it, if you don't put faith and trust in Jesus, it doesn't really matter to you, it's not really going to have any effect on you. But if you do believe it, by faith, you receive eternal life by grace and your life will be changed forever and for the better. So we have this amazing, unmistakable purpose in the resurrection that paved the way to overcome death, and Jesus demonstrates who he is through that.
Speaker 2:You also see this unlimited power in the resurrection verses 21 through 27. Let's read that 1 Corinthians 15, starting at verse 21. For since by man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. This is why Jesus had to become a man. Through Adam all die, but through Christ all will be made alive. That's what it says, verse 22. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the first fruit, so he's paving the way, and after those who are in Christ, at his coming.
Speaker 2:Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he's established all rule and authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that will be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. When all things are in subjection to him, then it is evident that he is expected. Who put all things in subjection to him? So Jesus Christ is ruling over all. He has power over all things. The resurrection is proving that Jesus had power over Satan. Satan tried to kill him. So Jesus Christ is ruling over all. He has power over all things. The resurrection is proving that Jesus had power over Satan. Satan tried to kill him. You go back and look.
Speaker 2:Judas betrayed Jesus, but Satan entered into Judas to betray Jesus. I wonder what that was like for the devil by the way, I don't try to think like the devil much, but I wonder what that was like for him. You know Satan's like oh yeah, okay, I got Jesus, he's going to die, I'm going to win. So he enters into Judas, betrays him, judas goes to the cross. Devil's probably thinking done, I finally did it. I finally exalted myself over the Most High Easter Sunday. Stone rolls away. Devil's like oh man, because he's not all knowing. Only God is omniscient. The devil was learning this stuff in live action. I mean, he's like he's discovering that this is all worth like. His work is worthless.
Speaker 2:Jesus has power over Satan, even so much that he used Satan to put Jesus on the cross, which is exactly what God wanted to do.
Speaker 2:So think about that for a minute.
Speaker 2:So he has power over Satan. He has power over sin. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, demonstrated this by raising from the dead and power over death. In Christ, we can be made alive At the cross. Jesus paid the penalty for sin At the resurrection. He paved the way for us to have eternal life. He overcame death so that through faith, trust in Christ, we also can overcome death, and it proved that all things are in subjection to Christ. He truly is the sovereign Lord of the universe. He has the power in life to heal the sick. He has the power in the resurrection to raise the dead.
Speaker 2:And when you put faith and trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes and he lives inside you. And the same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in you upon faith in Christ, not just part of it. We pray, we need to be filled with the Spirit, like when you trust faith in Christ, not just part of it. I know we pray, oh, we need to be filled with the Spirit, like when you trust in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit comes in. You get all the Holy Spirit. It's not like he comes in and puts like the holy little finger in there, you know, or the holy arm or the holy leg. You know like you get the Holy Spirit. He's a person. He's not just coming in and dipping a little toe in there. Okay, he's got a little bit of Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes in. You get the wholeness of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:About being filled with the Spirit. It's really about surrendering your will to the Holy Spirit. But when he comes, the fullness of the power of God dwells in the believer. So we don't have to. We'll never have a valid excuse of, well, the devil made me do it, so we don't have to. We'll never have a valid excuse oh well, the devil made me do it. No, he didn't, we chose to do it. But if we're doing something good, we can say the Holy Spirit helped me do it. So the power of God comes and we see the power of the resurrection. If we trust in Christ, that power comes and lives in us and changes, transforms us from the inside out. So there's great power in the resurrection. The greatest enemy all of us face is death. That's it. And in the resurrection we see power over death.
Speaker 2:Lastly, I want you to see the unfading promise of the resurrection In verses 50 through 57, we're going to skip ahead a little bit In 1 Corinthians 15, jump to verse 50. Paul says Now I say this, brethren, the flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery we will not all sleep, but we all will be changed In a moment. The twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed, for this perishable must put on imperishable and this mortal put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable and this mortal will put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of the sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, jesus Christ. He says therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain. In the Lord, apostles, look, if Christ hasn't been raised from the dead, it's all in vain. But Christ has been raised. So stay steadfast, be faithful, stick to Jesus, focus on Jesus, because it's not in vain. Another way to say that is it's worth it. It's worth it. This is a promise that transforms us, to transform the perishable to imperishable. We have perishable bodies. We see them perishing right before our eyes. We age and they begin to fall apart and not work like they used to. Some of you be giving amends right now, but you can't hear like you used to. We begin to fade away and perish, but, jesus, because of the resurrection, look, you can trade that perishable for imperishable. This body is just a shell. It will pass away.
Speaker 2:I read about a tombstone. I looked this up to verify. This is actually true, that some preacher somewhere did just make this up and it actually is true. There's a tombstone in London, england, at the gravesite of a man named Solomon Pease. He's a Christian man and this little saying he has on this little poem that they wrote on there, is fantastic to kind of explain this perspective. But this is what it says. It says beneath these clouds and beneath these trees lies the body of Solomon Pease. But this ain't Pease, this is just his pod. Pease shelled out and went to God. This is just a bod pod. When we trust in Christ, this is going to fade away.
Speaker 2:The perishable gets traded for imperishable because of eternal life in Christ Jesus imperishable because of eternal life in Christ Jesus. The resurrection promises immortality for mere mortals. That's what Paul says here. This mortal must put on immortality. You can try your best to do that. That's not going to happen in your own strength. Because of what Jesus did at the resurrection, that can be yours in Christ. Because he lives, we will live. Because he rose, we will rise. That is a promise from the word of God. We are promised victory over death because of Jesus. The day death died confirms the promise that it's all worth it Again, verse 58,.
Speaker 2:He says, therefore, because of all this. He says be steadfast, immovable man. These people became immovable. They had faith in Christ in such a way they were willing to pay the price, no matter what it is, to live for Jesus and tell the people about Jesus. He says be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain. Folks, this is the most important day in history. It proves that it's worth it. If you give your life to Jesus. That's not in vain. If you entrust Jesus with your life, you get something way more than just this earthly life. You get the power of God residing in you, you get forgiveness of sins and you get life forever. And what was perishable becomes imperishable, what was mortal becomes immortal, all because of Jesus.
Speaker 2:1 Peter 5, verse 10 says After you've suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls you to his eternal glory, will perfect, confirm, strengthen. Jesus says In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Jesus did it at the resurrection. In Galatians 6, verse 9, the apostle Paul says Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your work, your labor, your toil is not in vain. That's what we see in the resurrection.
Speaker 2:Maybe you're here today and you've never put your faith and trust in Christ Jesus. Romans 10, verse 9 and 10 says this if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and it's with the mouth you confess and are saved. We're gonna have two pastors up here, one on either side, at the conclusion of this message, after I pray. And if you've never trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I can't think of a better day to do it than today. So we're gonna stand and sing after I pray, and when we do that, if you've never given your life to Jesus, come up here and talk to one of our pastors. They'll pray for you and walk you through what it looks like to commit yourself to Christ and have him give you that imperishable, have him give you eternal life.
Speaker 2:The resurrection day can be a life-changing day for you. Maybe you're here today and you've trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, but you've taken your eyes off of Jesus. You haven't been living for him like you should, and you want them to pray for you so you can recommit yourself to Christ. It's a great day to do it today. Maybe you just need prayer Again. We'll have pastors up here at the front. You come as God leads, but don't leave here with unfinished business with God. You do what God is leading you to do.
Speaker 2:Would you join me in prayer, heavenly Father? We thank you, lord, for this day and the opportunity you've given us to trust you. We thank you that this is no ordinary day. This is the day that we remember Jesus rose from the dead. It's the day that death died and, lord, if there's anyone in here today that has not yet put complete faith and trust in Jesus, that they would do that today. That the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords would rescue them from their sins and give them eternal life. Father, for those of us who had Lord, we ask that, if we've done that, lord, that you want us to keep following you, so help us, father. Give you all of ourselves every day to die to self, to live for you. Thank you, lord, that our faith is not in vain. As we sing this last song, lord, may we all dedicate ourselves fully to you. We ask this in Christ's name.
