All or Nothing

If Jesus didn't actually rise from the grave, then let’s be honest: our faith is a total waste of time. We’re just playing dress-up on Sunday mornings.

​We’re looking into 1 Corinthians 15. Paul explains that if Christ isn't raised, our hope is empty. But if He is? Then everything changes. Our past is forgiven, our future is secure, and our lives have an eternal purpose. There is no middle ground. It’s the ultimate "All or Nothing" moment in history.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

And howdy all, happy Friday. I know nor normally I am recording these podcasts and doing this podcast on Thursday. Had to take care of an appointment and do some other things. So thankfully, I have still enough time scheduled in my week where I can get on here and put up another episode. This is episode 10. Sermons and review. Again, we are in 1 Corinthians. We covered chapter 15 last Sunday on the 22nd. And it doesn't need a whole lot of introduction, so hopefully this introduction will be will be short and sweet. Paul covers a i in one chapter, in the chapter of 15, he covers one major issue, and that is the the belief in the resurrection. Apparently in Corinth and in the church, there was a struggle. And I want to emphasize something that really needs to be brought up. I get it. And I grew up going to a not when I say middle of the road, I mean we're we weren't uh the church that my wife and I grew up going wasn't wasn't too far right or left, I believe. We were right in the middle. We had an excellent Bible class program, Bible school program. We had wonderful people teaching our Bible classes, we had an uh an outstanding minister who uh really preached the truth, and even though I was persuaded and moved to become a Christian at an early age, if there was a conversation to be held about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, the struggle would be, I would say honestly, the struggle would be not that I didn't believe in the resurrection, I the struggle was how it all took place. I w I my hope is found in the fact that what is said in the Bible is true and factual. And while it is an amazing event in itself, there is a I can honestly say, at least it and it it this may just be me. I can honestly say that there is a hesitation to be as all in as Paul wants us to be. And I don't think that Paul is saying that if you are struggling with the resurrection, or if you are having difficulty with the resurrection, then you are not Christian. No, that's not what Paul's saying. Paul is saying that it is, and which is why I titled the sermon the way I did, all or nothing. The the trifecta of what happened on that day on the cross, death, burial, and resurrection are all interconnected and they all have a purpose. And many times, as Christians, we want to put everything into a nice little box and say Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is what saves us. Which is true. I do not deny that. But individually, you can see what was done on the cross was to take care of our sin problem. What was done in the tomb was to demonstrate Jesus' humanity. He was born like a man or a person or a human, and he died the same way. There was a in his human form, the the man-god or the god-man, however you you know, however you want to see it, there was a a a timeline. Every person, every human, every man is going to face birth and death. And Christ demonstrated that in the tomb. He was buried, just like every person in the world would and is going to be, unless they live to see the second coming. The resurrection is the overcoming or the victory, as Paul says in Corinthians 15, the victory over death. So there is a accomplishment. There is the accomplishment of on the cross, there is the victory over sin. Through his perfect blood, he takes care of our sin problems. Through his through his death, he demonstrates that a life lived in mankind. Jesus lived a Jesus lived uh in all terms and purposes, Jesus lived a perfect life as a man. I think it's also this is this this part's free, a little side note. I'm I'm gonna think about this. He was born and a man named Joseph was there when he was born, and a man named Joseph was there when he died and was buried. That is really, really cool when you think about how it all plays out. But the death of Jesus and being buried in a tomb demonstrated here lies a man who lived in st in lockstep with the law. He lived perfectly, committed no sin. So there's the overcoming of that, and then the resurrection has a different message than the other two. The resurrection is overcoming death, victory over death, so that in all of these three things that you see take place at the with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, you see the overwhelming completion of every obstacle that could separate our ourselves from our Heavenly Father. So let's go ahead and jump into it with the sermon on from the twenty-second entitled All or Nothing, based on chapter fifteen of First Corinthians.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Turn on your Bibles to First Corinthians chapter fifteen. And I will encourage you to go ahead and read ahead for next Sunday, Lord willing, we will be in chapter 16, where we will conclude our study of 1 Corinthians.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

How many of you uh well before I get into that, let me do this real quick. Make sure I'm so Corinthians, we've been we've been studying a lot of different things in Corinthians. Um of you might look at all this and go, did the Corinthian church get anything right? I mean, I've I've asked that question myself sometimes in my studies. And it's not because we're thinking we're better than they are, or we we have we have the information that's been passed down. This letter's over a thousand years old. But in 15, 15 ends with some really good news and encouragement, and then that transfers into chapter 16. So I'm kind of giving you a little preamble here before we go into the lesson. How many of you here recognize this structure? Someone tell me what it is. The Washington Monument. That's right. The Washington Monument is a testament to our first president of the United States, George Watkinton. And it's a tribute meant to uh uh to uh memorialize his his leadership, his honor, and all the things that he did in helping found the United States. It's uh it's uh it's shaped in an Egyptian obelisk. What's interesting about this monument, though, from a historical point of view, is that it took roughly 36 years to complete. Anybody they got they got to working on it and building on it, and they got up to about 153 feet, and then all of a sudden it stopped. They ran out of money. Anyone want to take a gander? And I would give you some dates here. Between 1854 and 1879, does anybody want to take a guess on why funding was stopped?

unknown 11:31

Civil War.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Civil War. The war between the states. 25 years, a 25-year period roughly, and the construction halted at 156 feet, and this is what it looked like. Some people referred to it at as uh Washington's memorial stump because it looked like a tree stump. In fact, Mark Twain, Mark Twain criticized it and called it a hollow oversized chimney. It wasn't until the 1870s that Congress decided that this needed to be corrected and they started construction on it again. However, they ran into another problem. Some of you may not know this, but the original marble from the base up, from where this stands right now, came out of a quarry, a marble quarry in Maryland. And after the war was over and everything was said and done, that quarry was no longer accessible. And so they had to pull marble from Massachusetts instead. And in fact, if you look at it at present day, you can kind of see where the marble changes color. So, and and and in the the the visible color changed up to one-third of the structure, and that remain, and that's what it looks like today. When it was completed in 1884, it was this where I got my notes from, from it, it says it in 1884 it was the tallest structure in the world. Now I don't know about that, but I do know it was pretty tall, and it's probably the tallest thing they had in DC. The reason why I bring up the Washington Memorial and how it was started and then it stopped and then it was started up again is similar to what Paul is describing as the one of the one of the final problems that he is teaching and helping the Corinthian church understand. When it comes to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, our attitude about that, our faith in that, our belief in that is very much all or nothing. You cannot have those three things. Well, you cannot just believe one or two. You have to accept, believe, and set your faith on all three. We understand and we have an appreciation for Christ's death. We understand why that was done. Our communion service edifies that every Sunday when we take communion. And we understand and appreciate why there was a burial. After all, the human side, the man side of Christ goes through that every day. But then you get to the resurrection, and that's when the Koriq church, but a lot of people probably have to, they they want to, they have a but that there's a struggle. A struggle with the resurrection. And I will say this, if there's anybody here who also occasionally struggles with the concept of the resurrection of Christ, let me just put it this way. Good for you. Because what that means to me is that uh your faith is still growing. I can easily understand why someone would have a or someone would struggle or not necessarily fully believe in the resurrection. It would take some convincing. Now, some of you will go, well, that's silly, preacher, man. Why would you even say that when you know we have the whole account of the Bible? You just said last Sunday that God's word is the inspired word of God. And if we have God's word, then we really don't need anything else to have a full appreciation of it. That's true. But that's the whole emphasis of faith is what we're talking about here. Will Christians, well, hang on, before I get to that question, let me let me let me let me just ask you this question. And this is what I want you to think about as we go through the lesson this morning. If a researcher took a look at your life, took a look at your priorities, took a look at what you worried about just this past week, would they see someone living for a Savior who is still in the grave or a king who conquered it? That's what I want you to think about as we go through this lesson. Because the main point of chapter 15 is Paul is answering a question, and that is this will Christians really be raised from the dead as Christ was after the crucifixion? Some Christians in Corinth didn't think so. Some of them had a belief of that, some of them believed a false teaching that there is no resurrection, or there was a blending of teachings and faith. Some of it was Christian, some of it was Greco-Roman philosophies of that time period and of that day. And so when Paul writes this chapter, he is writing it to correct thinking. He wants them to understand. Look, I realize that believing in the resurrection is a hard task. But if you are struggling with it, then that means your faith is growing. That's why I say what I said. Paul writes this chapter to correct thinking. He doesn't really, he gets on to them just a little bit, but he really wants that, he challenges him about what the resurrection from the dead means to someone who is claiming and wanting to be a born-again believer. So Paul says in the very part, first part of the chapter that uh that that what you are about to hear from me talked about you is a foundational issue. It is it is it's really all that matters when you think about it truthfully. Paul does a, in many ways, he does a regrounding. He he gets them re-anchored into what is of most importance. When he says, starting in verse 1, he says, I know, uh I have made known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preach to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, by which you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I have preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Verse 3, for I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and then he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and then he appeared to Cephas, then the twelve, and then after that he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles, and at last, as of one untimely born, he appeared to me also. Now, if you highlight in your Bible, you will see that the phrase according to the scriptures is mentioned multiple times. And there's a reason for that. Paul points back to Scripture to say it was supposed to happen this way. Because that's what the prophets and the and and and all the other writers of the of the testament were trying to emphasize. He emphasizes that the gospel is not an opinion piece, the gospel is a historic reality. And so there are three pillars that Paul highlights in this section, and that is Christ died for our sins. He was buried as a man, and then he rose again on the third day, all according to the scriptures. I like to look at it this way: Christ didn't just do one great thing that day, he did multiple things that day on the cross. He died on the cross so that we can overcome our sin. And then he rose from the dead to overcome death. And some of them go, son, this isn't, well, it's it's all the same thing. That's true. But if we are going to emphasize Christ's crucifixion, then we have to do his resurrection equal emphasis. But that's hard. It's hard to represent coming back three days in a tomb? Yes, I know he raised Lazarus from the dead. Yes, I know he brought the widowed son back. But who was supposed to bring Jesus back from the dead? That's the significance. Of his resurrection versus the other two that we read about in the gospel accounts. So Christ died for our sins. He rose again on the third day, all according to the scriptures. And Paul says this is of first importance. And let's face it, we live in a world that's full of distractions. We come in here to not necessarily shut out, but to turn down the volume of what's happening on the outside so we can focus on what's going on on the inside here as a family, glorifying God and our worship and what we do. But don't miss this. In a world full of distractions, these facts that I just mentioned are of first importance. If we lose these, we lose everything. Did you notice that Paul did a list of all the eyewitnesses? Peter, the twelve, five hundred brothers and sisters. And then he appeared to Paul himself. And all of that is to prove that this is not just some fabulous, miraculous story. Paul uses this as cold hard fact. But if that doesn't convince you in believing wholeheartedly in the resurrection, Paul, in a way, kind of kicks it up a notch. He does what some might refer to it as reverse psychology, some, you know, or he or he plays the what if game with a lot of people. Either way, he inserts some resurrection logic to show if this doesn't happen, then this is what is taking place. If this didn't happen, then this is what it means. And it goes a little something like this. He calls it futile. It is futile. To believe that Jesus was willing to go to the cross for you, but not be willing to overcome death for you is futile. It's foolish. Look at verse 12. This is his logic here. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. I clicker, there we go. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. 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, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sin. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hope in Christ only in this life, we of all people are the most pitied. He says, if Christ is still in the grave, then there are basically six implications of no, of that. If there's no resurrection, then six implications are implied here. One, preaching is all in vain. In other words, I'm up here talking through my hat. Every sermon that I have preached or you have heard preached is empty. It is useless. It's all one big fat lie. He says the second thing is the faith is futile. In other words, you're still lost in your sin. You have not received forgiveness. You have no idea what it like would be like to experience grace. He says, the apostles and you all who believe the apostles are a bunch of liars because you're going around telling everybody that this all happened. You're a false witness against God. If you don't believe in the resurrection as much as you believe in Christ's death on the cross, then guess what? You are a liar, and everyone who has died and gone before you is just collecting dirt and rotting away. If we only have, if there is no resurrection, then the only hope we have in this life is this life. And we should be pitied because we are the most foolish people in the world. They should feel, in other words, if we don't believe in the resurrection, then the world outside has the right to look at us and go, bless your heart. Bless your heart. You poor, ignorant, absent-minded people. If Jesus did not raise, rise from the dead, then Christians look stupid. If our Christian life, then our Christian life is a sham, a shred, a joke. And we deserve that compassion because we're that ignorant. The apostles suffered for nothing. Got sacrificed for nothing, put to death in multiple different ways. Nothing. Faith is futile. Like I said, we're still in our sin. No resurrection means sin wins. You understand me on that? Do you understand the seriousness behind that? Sin wins over Christ. And continues to win over people. If Jesus remains dead, then we are going to remain dead. Because the power of sin remains, and the power of sin is death. Jesus is not raised from the dead. He accomplished nothing for you and me. However, the resurrection of Jesus validates the work of his death in the forgiveness of our sins. Paul says in Romans 4.24, but for our sake also to whom will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was raised for our justification. And if Jesus rose, then the power of death is broken, and final victory is assured.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

So Paul switches from this negative resurrection logic of what is to the positives. The positive facts. And here they are. Look at verse 20. But the fact is Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man death came, there we go. And also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, also in Christ all will be made alive. Paul says Christ is the first fruits. Christ's resurrection is the down payment. Christ's resurrection is the guarantee that we will follow him in a bodily resurrection. Now, go down to verse 23. But each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, after that, those who are Christ at his coming. Then, then comes the end. When he hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when he abolished all the rule and all the authority and all the power.

unknown 32:17

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Now that analogy, read out loud, kind of go, well, kind of what's going on here? What Paul does is he directly answers these questions later, but he uses an analogy that helps us understand what he's talking about, and that is, he uses an analogy from nature. He says in verse 35, but someone will say, How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come? You fool. That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies. He says, and that which you sow, you not sow the body which is to be but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body just as he wished, and each of the seed of the body of its own. He says, look at how a farmer plants or sows his crop. What is sown or planted just like a seed in the field doesn't come to life unless the seed sheds its outer hull first, dies, if you will. And Paul goes on to show that the resurrected body is very much similar in that sense to a pre-death body. It's merely the seed that is much better, that has a much better chance of getting a body that God planned for us. Look at verse 42. So also in the resurrection of the dead, it is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. And everyone here understands what that means. We will not all sleep, he goes on to say. We're going to be changed into an imperishable, immortal body. But then he gets a little more specific. He says in verse 51, Behold, I'm going to tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, in the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. Death's going to get swallowed up in victory. Hallelujah. The sting, sin, is going to be removed through Christ. For if the perishable must put on the imperishable, then the mortal must put on immortality. But when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that was written, O death, has been swallowed up in victory.

unknown 35:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is in the law. Yes, sir. But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

unknown 35:47

Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

It's all or nothing. And I'm not necessarily challenging you or anything else. I just want to encourage you. You can't have one without the other. If you are struggling with any of this message of the gospel, the death, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ, good. Your faith is growing. And then for some of us, all we have, and then there's some of us out who, I'm fully convinced, Bland. I'm fully convinced. I don't know how he did it, but he did it. I don't know how he got raised from the dead, but I believe he did. Great. How are you living? Are you living like a savior still in the grave? Or are you living like a king who conquered the grave? Paul says that the takeaway is how Paul ends, chapter 15. Paul says, you got to be firm. Not in your language, not in your strength, but you've got to be firm in your belief. Having completed a main thrust of his letter, Paul brings this instruction and teaching to a conclusion by saying, Therefore, brothers, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm and movable, always excelling in the works of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in the Lord. No, labor is not in vain, excuse me. Vain in the Lord. He says this, he says, be firm. He urges the Corinthians to be strong and faithful. By the way, he tells them that he loves them. After all the mistakes that he has tried to help them overcome, he still believes that they are still in God's grace and they are still a congregation of Christ, even though they have all these issues. He says, be steadfast. He wants them to be faithful to the Lord. He wants them to understand his teachings about the Lord. And he wants them to keep on going. He says, be immovable. Paul is very concerned about the church's tendency to compromise their behavior even if, even for their beliefs' sake, so that they can be peaceful and harmonious and tolerant in the culture in which they live. Thank goodness we don't have those kind of problems today in 2026. I'm going to say that again because I don't. Paul is concerned that the Corinth churches have a tendency to compromise their behavior and even their beliefs for the sake of culture in the place in which they live. Paul says you have to always be abounding in the work of the Lord. Paul has been clear that God gives each believer ways in which they can serve Him, the Lord. And so the Corinthians should be doing this with enthusiasm. I have a gift, I have a talent, I have a work, and I'm doing it for Jesus. Oh, yes. But even with all those issues taking place, all the things that he's helped them understand a better way, and all these things about the things we've looked at all through this time, Paul doesn't want them to misunderstand. And Paul identifies them as still belonging to the Lord. At no time in this letter has their salvation been cast in doubt. At no time have they been said, well, you're not really Christian because of the misconceptions that they accepted. Paul is convinced that they, the Corinthian church, is in Christ. And one day they're going to be resurrected into a new glorified body where they will spend eternity with the Father. Paul remains confident, not in them, per se, but he remains confident in the grace of God. Because the Corinthians' faith in Christ still have their faith in Christ despite all their failures. So if you are struggling with some of the things that you may have believed in for such a long time, good for you. No, we've got to grow in this church. When you come out of the waters of baptism as a brand new believer in the body of Christ, you're a babe in Christ. You still have work to do. That's not the end, that's the beginning.

unknown 41:41

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

And I'll tell you something right now. I mean, you might get called out, you might get called out for it. Come on, Mike. You really believe that that man spent three days in the tomb, and on the third day he came, he came he rose up from the dead. Mike, you better believe it. I know, Mike. I know he'd say that. I mean I say it that way. Someone would ask uh Sherry or Cheryl the same thing. Oh yes, I believe that wholeheartedly. Well, tell me how. Well, I don't know. I just know that he did. I just know that he did. My hope, my faith is set in that. Jesus died, was buried, and he rose again. And when my time comes, or if I'm still a mother, it's gonna happen to me, and I'm gonna get a new body. I'm gonna be with my Father in heaven. Where I'll be able to live out the scriptures. Like in Genesis, where we can walk and talk with God in the pool of me. If you don't get this, I'm not saying you're less of a Christian or your faith is futile. Paul says that, not me. Paul says that. But what I will say this is that there might be a chance that maybe you didn't get it. Maybe you didn't hear it completely. There is such a thing, I know. I mean, I'm I'm not trying to sound whatever, but understand me when I say there is such a thing as an incomplete faith. And some of us have been wondering what's what's wrong, what's wrong? Why am I feeling this way? Well, maybe there's a maybe maybe that's what it is. I don't know. What I do know is this we're not required to get this right overnight. We grow into our faith, we build on it, but from Pete say, don't step back. Keep moving forward. Standing firm in what you believe and what you know. And let the rest come to you when the time comes. So you will feel more you will be you'll be more empowered to do more for your Lord. Appreciate Paul's logic in chapter fifteen. He addresses these what I refer to as pillars, and he he uses those statements of if Jesus didn't resurrect from the dead and come out of that tomb, then these things are still taking place. These things are still seen, and we are in many ways, we're not who we say we are. We are living a hypocritical life. We're lying. The number of people who went to their deaths standing firm in the belief of Jesus and the gospel, died for nothing. And he and he does a great job of listing all these logical things. And at the same time, really wants to hold the Corinthian church's feet to the fire, if you will, to say you have come this far, you have believed this much. He never tells them, and we'll Lord willing, next Sunday we're going to conclude in chapter 16, but he never tells them with all the things that they're dealing with, with all the issues that they're having in this church, with all the problems that are coming up, and Paul's diligence in correcting and trying to straighten the right the ship, straighten out the path for them, he never once tells them, You as a congregation are so far outside of Christ, it's it's it's it's it's hard to it would be hard for you to come back. He refers to them as beloved children. So what does that tell us today for churches in our lives in 2026? It tells us that there is going to be and will continue to be until the Lord comes back. There's going to be a struggle. Churches are going to struggle. We are a bunch of sinners, forgiven sinners, who are trying to replicate something that is that is perfect, and we're going to fail miserably. But the struggle's going to be pop up in so many different areas depending on what's taking place in those churches. Paul says that in Paul told the church in Corinthians, look, none of the other churches, and when it comes to certain issues that we looked at in the past, Paul says, hey, some of these issues the other churches are not dealing with. The church in Philippi and Ephesus, they're not dealing with this stuff. Only you are having this problem. And so this is how you correct it, this is how you fix it. And Paul, I think, does a really good job of saying that you should struggle with the belief in the resurrection. When you think about the resurrection, you think about the fact that, well, well, you know, preacher man, they they've they've there's been resurrections before. Absolutely right. There's one in the Old Testament. Jesus accomplished two resurrections in the Gospels. Both Paul and Peter um raised people up who were dead. But the reason why Jesus' resurrections is so special is because no one resurrected him on earth. And the mystery, and and that is where the mystery lies. That's where the struggle is, is because all these resurrections that have taken place thus far since Pentecost or since Resurrection Sunday, Easter, if you will, which we're coming upon, ironically. All these resurrections took place by someone raising the other up. But this took place on its own. It was assisted by angels who moved the stone away, but pretty much. This this resurrection was was special in itself, and I can totally appreciate and understand why there is a struggle to believe in the resurrection. I'll tell you a quick story. And um they they are in they were in a couple of weeks ago, they were in the section in Samuel where David is telling King Saul, hey, let me tell you something. I can I can I can defeat this giant. God was with me when I uh uh helped free the the sheep from the lion and the bear. And he talks, and David talked about how he he grabbed the lion by the head, struck it, pulled the sheep out from the from its mouth, and then killed it. And one of the college kids who was learning about the Bible and learning about the events that took place in the Bible, Old Testament and New, he was like, wait a minute, there is no way in the world that this boy did what he did. That sounds so far-fetched. He went up against a lion with a with a staff and a and a rod. You know, I mean, if you want to get specific, I mean he could have used his sling, I don't know, but it looks as if when you read that event that took place that David talks about with Saul, it looks as if David went after a lion with a stick, pried the mouth, pried its mouth open, rescued the lamb and then sl and then killed it with a stick with a stab and a rod. And this this young college kid was like, that's that's that's far-fetched, man. That's hard to believe. Well, let me ask you this then. If a if a a college kid has trouble believing in what David did and what David said he did, why is this no different than that? So it is I would say it is a sign of of a uh of a growing faith that the resurrection, the the details of the resurrection are are still mysterious to some, to many people. I believe that you can believe in the resurrection and not know how it exactly happened. Because that's not what God's asking, that's not what God's asking of us. That's not what Jesus is asking of us. Jesus is basically in many ways, the the the the Jesus, the Jesus that we read about in the Bible basically tells them in advance, if you remember this, and it's in it it's in all three of the all four of the gospels, Jesus tells them in advance, I am going to Jerusalem, I am going to get persecuted, I'm going to be crucified. Specific details on how they say that. I'm going to die, and then I'm and then I'm going to come back to life. That is what is expected of us to believe. And how it takes place, I I I'm not trying to say we I'm not saying that we don't need to worry about it or we need to deal with it. We just need to accept that it happened. Which is why I concluded the lesson with this idea of I know that there's a lot of faithful people out there who who if you were to set them down and say, you explained to me how it all took place, their statement would be similar to the statement of the blind man who got healed by Jesus. I don't know how he did it, but he did it. And that for Christians everywhere is enough, which plays into the theme of Corinthians. Paul, in many ways, is telling the church in Corinthians, you have more than enough attributes, qualities, abilities as a church to not only worship him in spirit and in truth, but to be a powerful impact in your community. You don't need extra special spiritual gifts, you don't need uh uh allegiances to uh different uh missionaries or preachers, you don't need to have to incorporate new ways of worship or bring in outside influences into the congregation in order to make the worship service any more special. You have all that you need, and that includes a belief in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. And I believe that message is still take place today, takes place today. I'm sure there are churches out there all over the world, maybe you're a part of one, who is uh on an endless search to improve, be better, uh, do more, and sometimes we are encouraged to think outside the box when the truth of the matter is we have more tools in our shed than we uh care to admit. We just need to take them out and use them. We have the Bible, we have a fellowship of believers, we have a congregation that loves Jesus, loves the community, wants to worship him in the way that is is described in God's word, and and that's really all we need. Because if we try to add to it or if we try to put more into it, then it's gonna look like it's it came from man and not from God. If we if we don't use what we're doing, then we're we're it's it's a it's a waste of time. We have more than enough. And while the details are not there in a way, we have more than enough truth to believe in not only Christ's death, not only Christ's burial, but we have more than enough to believe and have the hope and rest and breast our hopes on things eternal, like we sing in the song. But we have more than enough to rest our hopes in that if God raised his son from the dead, he too will raise us from the dead. Once again, I want to tell you thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. I appreciate all the the uh encouragement from that. If you have a question or a comment, if you have anything that you would like to um me to look into, maybe talk about on the podcast, however, whatever it is, we can help you with that. We want you to know you can contact us at preacherman1178 at gmail.com. That's preacherman1178 at gmail.com. I'd be more than happy to take your email, look at it, and maybe we can do something with your question or your comments on the podcast. In the meantime, I'm gonna sign off and let you get back to whatever it is you were doing. Thanks for tuning in and listening. Hope hope to have next week uh the conclusion of First Corinthians. We're Lord willing. Next Sunday we will jump into chapter 16, looking at the uh words of encouragement that Paul ends his and concludes his letter with to the church in Corinth. This is the preacher man signing off. Hope you have a blessed day, and always remember who you are and whose you are.