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Christ Is Risen: The Map to Get Home

March 31, 2024 · Brad Yates

Scripture referenced 21 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

  • Luke 24:1-8 read at the opening to establish the resurrection account of the women at the tomb

    1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.

    2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

    3 They entered in, and didn’t find the Lord Jesus’ body.

    4 While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing.

    5 Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

    6 He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee,

    7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”

    8 They remembered his words,

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1 Corinthians 15:14-20

main text for the sermon on the resurrection as foundation of Christian faith

14 If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

15 Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.

16 For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised.

17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

18 Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.

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Romans 5

referenced to support that peace with God comes through Christ, not our own achievement

1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;

2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;

4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:

5 and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.

8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.

10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.

13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.

14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.

17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.

19 For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.

20 The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;

21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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John 14:6

quoted as one of Jesus' exclusive claims: I am the way and the truth and the life

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

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John 2

quoted as Jesus prophesying his own resurrection: destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up

1 The third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there.

2 Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the marriage.

3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”

4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”

5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”

6 Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews’ way of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece.

7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” They filled them up to the brim.

8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it.

9 When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn’t know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom,

10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!”

11 This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

12 After this, he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they stayed there a few days.

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

14 He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.

15 He made a whip of cords, and threw all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables.

16 To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!”

17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”

18 The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?”

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

20 The Jews therefore said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?”

21 But he spoke of the temple of his body.

22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did.

24 But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone,

25 and because he didn’t need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.

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John 11

quoted where Jesus says I am the resurrection

1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.

2 It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.

3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”

4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”

8 The disciples told him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”

9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”

11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”

12 The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.

14 So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead.

15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”

16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”

17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.

18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.

19 Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.

20 Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.

21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.

22 Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

28 When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here, and is calling you.”

29 When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him.

30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.

31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus wept.

36 The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”

37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”

41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.

42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”

45 Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.

46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.

47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs.

48 If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,

50 nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”

51 Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

53 So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.

54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.

56 Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, “What do you…

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John 5

quoted where Jesus tells the Jews that the scriptures testify about him

1 After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches.

3 In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water;

4 for an angel went down at certain times into the pool, and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.

5 A certain man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”

7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.”

8 Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”

9 Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.

10 So the Jews said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat.”

11 He answered them, “He who made me well, the same said to me, ‘Take up your mat, and walk.’”

12 Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your mat, and walk’?”

13 But he who was healed didn’t know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.

14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

16 For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.

17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”

18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.

20 For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.

22 For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,

23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.

24 “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

25 Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.

26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.

27 He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.

28 Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice,

29 and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

30 I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.

31 “If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.

32 It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true.

33 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.

34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved.

35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

36 But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me.

37 The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.

38 You don’t have his word living in you; because you don’t believe him whom he sent.

39 “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.

40 Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.

41 I don’t receive glory from men.

42 But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves.

43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?

45 “Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope.

46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.

47 But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

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Isaiah 53:5

quoted as a servant song prophesying the Messiah: he was pierced for our offenses

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.

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Psalm 22

quoted as David writing of the Messiah: they pierced my hands and my feet and cast lots for my clothing

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

2 My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in you. They trusted, and you delivered them.

5 They cried to you, and were delivered. They trusted in you, and were not disappointed.

6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.

7 All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,

8 “He trusts in Yahweh. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”

9 But you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust while at my mother’s breasts.

10 I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb. You are my God since my mother bore me.

11 Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

13 They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and roaring.

14 I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.

17 I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me.

18 They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.

19 But don’t be far off, Yahweh. You are my help: hurry to help me.

20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the lion’s mouth! Yes, from the horns of the wild oxen, you have answered me.

22 I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the assembly, I will praise you.

23 You who fear Yahweh, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him! Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!

24 For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, Neither has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried to him, he heard.

25 Of you comes my praise in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him.

26 The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever.

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.

28 For the kingdom is Yahweh’s. He is the ruler over the nations.

29 All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who can’t keep his soul alive.

30 Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord.

31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, for he has done it.

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Psalm 16

quoted as foretelling the resurrection: you will not abandon my soul to Sheol

1 Preserve me, God, for in you do I take refuge.

2 My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”

3 As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.

5 Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.

7 I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

8 I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety.

10 For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

11 You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

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Leviticus 1-8

referenced to describe the Old Testament sacrificial system that pointed to Christ

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Romans 4

referenced where Paul calls faith righteousness in the context of the Old Testament sacrificial system

1 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh?

2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God.

3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

4 Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed.

5 But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

6 Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works,

7 “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

8 Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.”

9 Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.

10 How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

11 He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them.

12 He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision.

13 For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he should be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.

15 For the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.

16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

17 As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.

18 Besides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.”

19 Without being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

20 Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God,

21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.

22 Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.”

23 Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone,

24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,

25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

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Philippians 2

quoted describing Jesus emptying himself and becoming obedient to death on a cross

1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,

2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;

3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;

4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,

6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,

15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.

17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.

18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.

19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.

20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.

21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.

22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.

24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.

25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;

26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.

27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.

28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,

30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.

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Ephesians 3:10

referenced as Paul talking about God displaying himself to the heavenly realms

10 to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,

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1 Thessalonians 4

referenced where Paul writes that we grieve but not as those without hope

1 Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more.

2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,

4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor,

5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God;

6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.

7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.

8 Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.

9 But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,

10 for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more;

11 and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you;

12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.

13 But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

15 For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep.

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,

17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.

18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

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Matthew 28

referenced as the great commission where Jesus called us to make disciples

1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

2 Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

4 For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men.

5 The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.

6 He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.

7 Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”

8 They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.

9 As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”

11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.

12 When they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers,

13 saying, “Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

14 If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry.”

15 So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today.

16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.

17 When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted.

18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

19 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

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John 15

referenced where Jesus calls us to abide in him

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.

2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

8 “In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.

9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.

10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.

11 I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.

15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.

16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

17 “I command these things to you, that you may love one another.

18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.

19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

21 But all these things will they do to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.

22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23 He who hates me, hates my Father also.

24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father.

25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

26 “When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.

27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

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John 6:37

quoted where Jesus says whoever comes to me I will never drive away

37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.

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John 8

quoted where Jesus says if you do not believe that I am he you will die in your sins

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,

4 they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.

5 Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”

6 They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7 But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”

8 Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.

9 They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.

10 Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”

11 She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”

12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

14 Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.

15 You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.

16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

17 It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.

18 I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

19 They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

20 Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21 Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

22 The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come’?”

23 He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

24 I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

25 They said therefore to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.

26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”

27 They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.

28 Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.

29 He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

30 As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.

35 A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.

36 If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

37 I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.

38 I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”

39 They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

40 But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.

41 You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”

42 Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.

43 Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.

44 You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

45 But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.

46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

47 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”

48 Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”

49 Jesus answered, “I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.

50 But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

51 Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”

52 Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’

53 Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is…

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John 3

referenced where Jesus speaks of being reborn

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

2 The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’

8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things?

11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.

12 If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

13 No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.

21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”

22 After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized.

23 John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized.

24 For John was not yet thrown into prison.

25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with some Jews about purification.

26 They came to John, and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.”

27 John answered, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.

28 You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’

29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

32 What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.

33 He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.

34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.

35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.

36 One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

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Ephesians 3

read as a closing benediction praying for the church to be strengthened and rooted in love

1 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,

2 if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you;

3 how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words,

4 by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ;

5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News,

7 of which I was made a servant, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power.

8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9 and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ;

10 to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,

11 according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord;

12 in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.

13 Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.

14 For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;

17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,

19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

21 to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Easter Sunday this year, Brad Yates walked us through 1 Corinthians 15:14-20 to make the case that the resurrection is not a peripheral detail of Christianity but its entire foundation. He used Paul's argument to show that if Christ was not raised, the faith collapses completely, and he pressed the question of whether that belief actually shapes how we live from Monday through Saturday. The message closed with a call for each person, wherever they are in their walk, to take the next step.

What was said

Brad opened with a story about getting lost driving home from a concert at seventeen, wandering forty miles toward Oklahoma before pulling out a map. He drew the parallel directly: Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, is handing us the map we need. The point of the text is that the resurrection is not one doctrine among many. It is the foundation, and you cannot hold on to Christian faith while setting it aside.

He then walked through what he called the "provenance" of the resurrection, meaning what it authenticated. Jesus made claims that no ordinary good teacher would make, including that he himself was the resurrection, that he could forgive sins, and that he was the only way to God. Brad used C. S. Lewis's framework of lord, liar, or lunatic to press the point: these are not the claims of a moral instructor. The resurrection is what proved those claims true, and he noted that several well-known skeptics who set out to disprove the resurrection ended up becoming Christians through the research itself.

Brad connected the resurrection to the long thread of Old Testament prophecy, quoting Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, and pointing out that Jesus did not start a new religion but fulfilled thousands of years of prophecy pointing to him. The sacrificial system in Leviticus was always temporary and incomplete. The resurrection was God's receipt, the proof that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient and that the entire system had been completed.

He moved to what he called the "purpose" of the resurrection: it glorified God by putting his character on full display. Before the cross, the accusation could be made that God was powerful but not loving. At the cross and the empty tomb together, God showed that he both demands perfection and was willing to pay the price himself when we could not meet it. Brad also pressed the resurrection as the "first fruits" of our ultimate reality, pushing back on the idea that eternity means clouds and harps. He described it as a new kind of existence, not just a linear improvement on this body, but something as different as a seed is from a flower.

He turned then to what it means to live as "people of the resurrection," organizing his challenge around three categories: decider, disciple, and discipler. A decider is someone who has not yet put personal faith in Jesus, and Brad was direct that the choice the resurrection presents cannot be qualified or avoided. Either Jesus rose or he did not, and there is no middle ground. A disciple is someone who has made that decision but needs to keep moving, joining the church, finding community, abiding in Christ. A discipler is a mature believer whose job is to keep serving and reproducing, because Jesus called us in Matthew 28 to make disciples, not just converts.

Brad closed by quoting Jim Elliot, who was killed while trying to reach an unreached tribe in Ecuador: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." He tied it back to Paul's warning that if there is no resurrection, we are fools, and then turned it around. We are not fools, Brad said, because Jesus did walk out of that tomb. The sermon ended where it began, with the map: whether someone has wandered far from home or has never been there, the resurrection is how you find your way back.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

  1. Brad talked about how he attended church for a long time but still wanted to live life his own way, and described that internal struggle over who was actually lord of his life as tearing him apart from the inside. Have you ever experienced something like that, and what did it look like for you?
  2. Brad described the culture's approach to spirituality as a cruise ship buffet, where you can mix a little of Jesus with other things and still end up with something decent. Where do you see that thinking show up, and how does Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 15 push back against it?

and 3 more questions in the guide

Open the study guide

Read the full transcript 7,553 words
Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Good morning. So I grew up on Easter doing the call and response. I don't know if anybody else grew up with that.
Where you say Christ is risen, and everybody says, he is risen indeed. So let's do that. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Awesome.
Okay. So I wanted to just read a quick scripture before we started because I thought it was beautiful. It was from Luke 24, and it's verses one through eight. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen.
Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee? The son of man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners. Be crucified, and on the third day, he raised again. Then they remembered that these words. So if you feel comfortable, we're gonna start our worship.
If you'd like to stand and join us. Amen.
Hey. Good morning. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to First Baptist Church. Have a seat. Happy Easter.
So glad to have you all here today. If anybody wants to, now is a great opportunity to move forward. Lots of empty seats up here, very full on the back. So if you wanna be one of those brave people, I'll give you a prize today. I will give you a prize if somebody listens to us.
You're already there. No. Come on. But for real, we would love it if you guys would move forward, especially if you've been coming here for a while, make some room for folks in the back. That'd be great.
As for morning announcements, the super exciting, happy, happy Good Times Budgeting Workshop is coming up. If you are interested in getting a budget together, if you just find yourself having a lot of questions, maybe you're just getting started in life and you want some advice, come on by. It's free April 16. It's it's the twenty third and thirtieth from six to eight. The first half of each of those sessions will be a little class.
The second half will actually be hands on time when you can work with your your loved ones to to make a budget, and I it is actually gonna be super exciting. Please bring your comfy slippers, your snacks, and your spouse if you have one. If not, maybe you'll find one. We'll we'll put it in the budget. It'll be great.
I'm I'm a part of that. Please RSVP if you would, though. It'd be really helpful. You never know. Things happen.
Miracles. I wanna see you at Owana. We don't have Owana for this upcoming week, but a week from tomorrow, we'll be back. You can find out more information on the website if if you have any questions. We always need volunteers for connect hour and the Monday night meal.
You can sign up down the hall. It's on the wall. It's a great way to get to to serve other people, and we'll we'll help pay for that too. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask me or Addy. There is a men's lunch study on Thursdays down the hall at 11:55.
Come and go as you please, guys. We would love to have you. And Brad, I believe we're doing that this week still. Right? He gives me the thumbs up.
We're still going for it this week. So come on, Brian. Bring bring a lunch, maybe something to share. Who knows? Next slide there, the Men's Alliance will be Wednesday, April 10 at 06:30.
Usually, it's the first Wednesday. This week this month, because of spring break, we're gonna push it back a week. April 10, super early in the morning, but we'll feed you, and we'll do a little Bible study. Great way to get connected, guys, too. And what's the net that's that's all we got.
Okay. But there's one more. Well, there isn't gonna be any high school, middle school kids Sunday school today. They normally will be down in the library, but we'd like to have everybody stay up here with us this week. And pastor Carl, pastor Ray, and pastor Mike are all out this week.
And Diane is leaving tomorrow, so it's gonna be very quiet around here. So feel free to call me with an encouraging word. I'll be the only person on staff. Take take it easy on me, would you? Just take it easy.
But we we're so thankful for all of our volunteers filling in with music today and downstairs. Thank you all for being here. God bless you. And why don't you stand up and greet one another just to say hello to everybody around you. We'll come back with some music in a sec.
Thank you.
I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer,
and just the
time I need him, he's always near.
He
lives. He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me alongside their way. Lives.
He lives salvation to and care I know the I know that he is leading through all the stormy blast the day of his appearing
Alright. I'm gonna say a quick prayer for our offering this morning. God, we thank you for this time to be together and celebrate you and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus this morning. We pray for all of our our friends and family members traveling this weekend and the coming week. We pray for safety for them.
And we pray for your blessing on these gifts, financial gifts, and gifts of service and time that folks are giving. We pray that that would just work to glorify you and all for you and not for our our glory. Amen.
Alright. So it is time for children's church. We're just not doing middle school or high school, just to clarify for everybody. Got it? Great.
And if you think you're gonna hear anything that pretty from me, you are gonna be series of disappointments. Happy Easter. So if we haven't met, my name is Brad Yates. I have the terrifying privilege of serving as an elder here, and I am not Ray McDaniel. So start with a question.
Have you ever been lost? And I mean like lost, lost. Like I have no idea where I am, and I'm pretty sure that dog wants to eat me lost. I grew up in an era or I grew up driving in an era just before GPS and cell phones became omnipresent. And for my seventeenth birthday, my dad bought my friends and I tickets to see Robert O'Keefe play at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth.
Now I grew up in Dallas, and Fort Worth is close to Dallas, but it's not Dallas. And so for 17 year old me to navigate home in the dark, I lost sight of what I needed. And we didn't have the Grand Teton in the middle of the Texas Prairie to serve as a bearing no matter where you are. And I really could have used that because I got on what I thought was the right highway. And we were having so much fun recounting the concert and the songs and the encore and all that, that I didn't realize we were lost off of what should have been a thirty minute drive until we were about 40 miles south of the Oklahoma border.
And at this point, it is late at night. So we pull out the old Mapsco map, if any of you all remember these. If you don't, I bought one just to show it for you here today. But this map, it was the truth that I needed in order to get home. It showed me that I-35W was actually different from I-35E and was not taking me towards home, but instead towards certain death in Oklahoma.
So similarly today, Paul is pointing us to the map, to the basic truth that we need in order to get home. Our text for today, as it says up there on the slide, is first Corinthians fifteen fourteen through 20. And I'll read it all today, and we're gonna focus in on a couple key verses that are here in yellow. Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then 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 found even 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 sins.
Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. And if we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are all of most people to be pitied. But the fact is Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are who are asleep. So Paul has been summarizing the entirety of his letter to the church in Corinth. Throughout that letter, he's been dealing with a number of pressing issues, but he's closing with this, that if any of you do not believe that Christ was raised from the dead, you are missing out not on a major portion, but on the entirety of Christian belief.
This is so fundamental that you cannot go on in the Christian faith without understanding the resurrection. Paul talks a lot about hope in his letters. And what he's telling us here, and so what I'm gonna focus on today, is that whenever we read hope in the New Testament, we can think hope in what? The resurrection. Amen.
Because our hope is not in the gospel of good works or of following a good teacher, but in the gospel that Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, that he died for your sins, that he gave you peace with God that when you could never achieve it on your own, as Paul says in Romans five. That through him, we are reborn and will one day follow Christ in the resurrection. In contrast, I think our immediate culture tries to portray spirituality as kind of a cruise ship buffet, where you can mix different cuisines and still end up with a decent meal. You can do the caprese salad and sushi and guacamole and prime rib, and it somehow still works when you're eating at at what I call the squat and gobble. But but it it it it's it's not like that for us.
The culture wants you to listen to the teachings of Jesus about serving the poor or about loving your neighbor, but they don't want you to hear anything about the exclusive claims that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. No. The common confusion is that we can somehow have a little bit of Jesus, that we can call ourselves Christians without making him lord of our lives and everything in it. But Paul is saying here, and he's echoing the direct claims of Christ, that Jesus is the only way to God, Not just some vague idea of Jesus, not just not just the name, but the specific belief that he lived a perfect life and died the death that we deserve. And that on the third day, he was resurrected and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God.
Now for the longest time, I didn't understand this. I attended church, but I wanted to live life my way. And I never could have articulated it at the time. But that internal struggle over who was actually lord of my life, whether it was me or Jesus, that was tearing me apart from the inside. Thankfully, I had men in my life who, like Paul and our message today, pointed me to the true hope, to the real gospel.
Because otherwise, there is no telling what my life would be like today. So if that's you, if that sounds anything like you, know that we are not trying to chase you out of here. We are so glad that you were here. We are so grateful that you were trusting us with your time. Now what we are trying to do is point you to the truth so that you can be aware of it and can do something about it, can experience the life change that comes from the gospel.
Said another way, in the Christian faith, there are some nonnegotiables. A decent list of these is the Nicene Creed. I'd encourage each and every one of you to read it this week. It would be great to do a line by line study of it as a church one day, but for today, we're gonna focus on what Paul is talking about in our text, the foundation of the whole thing, the resurrection. Because it is, after all, Easter Sunday
Amen.
Which is not about bunnies or candy or eggs or depending on where you're from, seersucker suits and pastel dresses, but is instead a celebration that Christ is risen. So for our key text today, as I said, we're gonna look at these two verses. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins. If we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Do you believe this? Really believe it. Does it shape your life? Or do we say that this is true on Sunday, and then we live Monday through Saturday like functional atheists? There's a great couple of quotes by AW Tozier that I think are appropriate here, which is that we tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.
This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the church. He goes on in the same book to say this more famous quote, which is what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Worship is either pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. What we are constantly trying to do, and specifically today, is to have those high views of God. And what Paul is saying in our text today is that if you need a foundation of the faith, if you need to get a bearing, if you need a map when you are heading to demise in a spiritual Oklahoma, you can look to the resurrection.
We can have hope in it. We can trust in it. And God has shown us his own nature in it most completely in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Because if we dwell on this, it is the most life changing fact we can ever encounter. The worst day in history becomes good when our God was crucified, though he had been found innocent.
Good Friday is good even though God himself was unjustly murdered. Good Friday is good through the power of the resurrection. Many men throughout history have claimed to be a divine leader, that they had some unique inspiration from God, maybe they were a messiah, or they claimed to be God himself. But none of them could authenticate their message. They all died old and prosperous, and they died.
We can go see where they're buried. None of them were resurrected, but Jesus was. And that is critically important to us for two reasons today. One, what it proves, and two, what it achieves. So with that in mind, our outline for today because we're Baptist, we gotta use a little alliteration just to warn my new friends from Fresh Life.
Provenance of the resurrection, purpose of the resurrection, people of the resurrection. The providence, what it authenticated, what it proved. Purpose, what it achieved, and people, what are we to do about it? So the providence of the resurrection. This is borrowing an art term for alliteration.
What it authenticated. Because Jesus was authenticated. He said a lot of crazy stuff in his ministry, And I'm not going to cover each of these. It's probably too small a font now that I see it up on the big screen. But this is just a survey of things that I've that I've pulled out of out of the gospels.
Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Similarly, all these others are claims to exclusivity. Then here's two at the end with Jesus prophesying his own resurrection. John two, destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.
He warns the Jews. He says, an evil and adulterous generation wants a sign, and so a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah. Think about how dramatic it is what Jesus is saying here. These are bold claims to be God, to forgive sins, to be the resurrection. Remember when Jesus talked about the resurrection, he didn't just say he would be resurrected.
He said, like in John 11, I am the resurrection. These are not the claims of a good moral teacher. And I think many of you know that, but it's just worth reminding ourselves of that truth. Because there is a silent and growing heresy in our culture, and I don't think it's something that's being taught in the churches. But polls show it's something that people who call themselves Christians are increasingly believing, and we have to teach against it.
It's a lie from the enemy. Look at the exclusivity of Jesus' claims. This is not something that a normal person or a good teacher would claim. Now C. S.
Lewis wasn't the one who invented it, but he did popularize the paradigm of lord, liar, and lunatic. And here's the gist. It's that good teachers, good people, they don't say things like this. They don't make these claims. And before you think, well, maybe the disciples made this up.
It's been historically proven time and time again that these exact claims are the reason why the Sanhedrin conspired with the Romans to have Jesus killed. And it's the reason why all 11 of the faithful disciples were brutally martyred when all they had to do was say, this isn't true. All 11 of them. Because governments don't really kill good moral teachers. The resurrection is proof that Jesus wasn't a liar or lunatic, but the Lord, the eternal son of God.
This is why when critics wanna tear down Christianity, the thoughtful ones, they go after the resurrection. The funny bit though is if you study the history of the veracity of the resurrection, my bet is that you end up becoming a Christian. There are four guys that this famously happened to that actually ended up becoming authors, and here's a few of them if you want to look into it. They come from different backgrounds. So whatever your background, whatever your angle, even for for mature believers, reevaluate the resurrection.
Have that sure knowledge in your heart, and you will benefit from it. So if you're not all in on Jesus, bring your good questions. I would love to talk to you about what mine were before I really dedicated my life to Christ. Or bring yours, and we can talk about it. But know that for the most part, they're answered in satisfaction by looking at the cross and the resurrection.
Similarly, if you've never done a deep dive into the history of the faith or of Jesus, you're probably only vaguely aware of the idea that Jesus was the long prophesied and awaited for Messiah. Because Jesus didn't initiate a new faith at his coming. No. He perfected the thousands of years of prophecy that pointed to him. Here's what Jesus himself said in John five.
He said to the Jews, you examine the scriptures because you think that in them, have eternal life. And it is those very scriptures that testify about me. One of those scriptures that he was pointing to is we call them the servant songs, the most famous being in Isaiah 53. Here's verse five. But he was pierced for our offenses.
He was crushed for our wrongdoings. The punishment of our well-being was laid upon him, and by his wounds, we are healed. Amen. Later, King David wrote in Psalm 22. He's writing about the coming Messiah.
He said, they pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look. They stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and they cast lots for my clothing.
In Psalm 16, and these are the same words that Peter later quotes in his first ever sermon at Pentecost. So if I think it's a big deal summing in for Easter, Peter preaching at Pentecost would probably laugh at that. But he write he writes of the resurrection, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol. You will not allow your holy one to undergo decay. Guys, by his wounds, we are healed.
Our sin is paid for. And what Paul is saying today, what Peter here is quoting and what David had foretold is that in the resurrection, we have receipts because Jesus was approved. We had certainty that Christ's payment was sufficient. For example, if you look at the the Old Testament, the Jewish system of sacrifices in Leviticus one through eight, you were always going back to the temple. There was the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering.
You were always going back. And those offerings alone didn't reconcile you to God. The faith that you had in God that he would accept those sacrifices and the perfect sacrifice that is to come, that's what reconciled you to God. That was your righteousness, as Paul calls it in Romans four. But now we have the perfect offering.
We have the one Passover lamb whose righteousness and self sacrifice was sufficient enough that the entire system of sacrifices and ceremonial law was completed. And this isn't about Easter, but this one's for free. This is why there's a lot of confusion out there. Why do we as Christians still follow the moral law in the Old Testament, but not the civil and the ceremonial law? It's because it was completed.
So we can follow the moral law in the Old Testament, but we also get to eat bacon and shrimp. And if you want that tattoo, you can get it. We have freedom in Christ. And aren't we glad for it? We are.
And we get to be sure of it through the resurrection. Because in Exodus, that sacrificial lamb died, and he didn't come back. And that would be really creepy. A zombie lamb. And I don't want to eat the same same lamb chop twice.
But our lamb, the lamb of God, the lion of Judah, he rose again on the third day, fulfilling the scriptures and displaying the faithfulness and holiness of God. So God approved the sacrifice of Christ at the resurrection, and he approves of us if we would but identify with Christ in his death, his burial, and his resurrection. That's what we signify when we do public baptism. So point to the purpose of the resurrection. It glorified God.
It displayed the faithfulness of God and gave us a more sure hope in him, and it's to his glory. Because we have to remind ourselves and everyone around us constantly that that's the point of everything, is the glory of God. That was true of Jesus. That was true of Paul. That's true of Ray and me and all of you here is to glorify God.
And I know that's a bunch of churchy words, but I'm trying to be very specific in that. Because God showed us a lot about himself in the birth and the crucifixion and the resurrection. So that when we and the angels worship him, we do so more accurately and with hope. If I tell you that I love my wife, Natalie, because she's five feet tall and has black hair and is super adventurous, and then you meet my wife, you're gonna recognize that none of what I just told you is exactly true. We can only love somebody well and glorify them well when we do so accurately.
Paul writes this in the church to the Philippians, famously in chapter two, talking about Jesus that he already existed in the form of God and did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a bond servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Guys, God showed us and showed the heavenly realms, as Paul talks about in Ephesians three ten, that he is truly perfect and demands perfection from us. But knowing that we were sinful, he made provision for us and then loved us enough to redeem us when we fail. Doesn't that sound like a good father?
Like the best father? That the standard is perfection, but that there is grace and love to meet us when we fail, no matter what, and that he had the strength and the wisdom to make it all work for good. Because before the redemption of mankind, Satan and the demons, just like the new atheist movement, could accuse God of being all powerful, but not of being all good or all loving. And stay with me here because this is powerful medicine. Because God not only created us, but he gave us a will.
And when we rebel against him, he could prove his love and faithfulness to us anyway, all as a part of his plan. And this is what happened at the cross and at the empty tomb. Because at the cross, God showed us that he himself demanded atonement with his perfect standard, and yet was willing to pay for our sins to allow us to be reconciled to him. At the empty tomb, he showed us that he was merciful and loving and that the one perfect payment would be sufficient forever. And you need to know that doesn't cheapen grace.
It doesn't make our sin okay, but it makes it paid for. Whatever you have done, for however long you have done it, it's been paid for expensively by the blood of the very God himself. And why is this good medicine? It's because when we can't see the point of what God is doing in our lives, we can still trust him because no matter what's going on, God actively put himself through worse voluntarily. And then he showed it would never need to happen again.
There's a saying that you may have heard that when we can't trust or we can't see God's hand, we can still trust his heart. And this is why well, not that. This is why it's true. Because Jesus was the first fruits of the ultimate reality, the eternal life that is to come. Because we can recall from the gospel accounts of the resurrection that Jesus didn't just disappear from the grave on the third day.
We don't have a missing body claim. Scripture says he did all of the following. Too small again. Walked around for forty days and appeared to at least 500 people. This is a short list of things that he did between the resurrection and the ascension.
So clearly, the gospel claim is not a missing body. The gospel claim and the hope of the church is resurrection. It's a new body, the truest version of us that has eternal life and doesn't bear the stains of a world marked by sin. We will then follow Jesus in that resurrection, but we need to get our ideas right around what resurrection means. Because just like angels, they're not babies, they're not your dead great grandparents, and they're not timid.
Just like that, our resurrection hope is not that we will be floating around on clouds like chubby babies playing the harp. That would be a terrible way to spend eternity. No. It's an eternal restoration of all things made right. It is an unveiling of God's truest purpose for each and every one of us, that we will work without growing tired.
We will fight battles for God without even the possibility of losing. We will enjoy the unveiled company of the creator God of the universe. There will be no sickness, there will be no sorrow, and there will be no death. You've all heard it said that time heals all wounds. And while that is partially true, how much more will it be actually true in eternity?
Because for those of us that are in Christ, it will make every bad thing, every sickness, every trauma, every loss, all brokenness, not only that it never happened, but that it was actually a good thing in hindsight. Because if every sad thing just becomes untrue, then there's no real point in suffering. We're just supposed to look through it. But instead, the Bible calls us time and time again to rejoice in trials, not for the trials, but to rejoice in trials. And we can do that when we have an eye towards eternity.
Because if everything truly works for our good, then we can rejoice in those trials. Okay. So the purpose of the resurrection. Two points. It displayed the faithfulness of God that that perfect sacrifice satisfied his divine justice.
And two, it showed Jesus as the first fruits of our ultimate reality. It showed us what it's gonna be like for us. So how do we now, in view of that, live as people of the resurrection? Because we have the power of the resurrection in us. Simply put, we don't live as if this world is all that there is.
Because if you don't follow Jesus, you better live your best life now. You better get it right. Because this world has all the good in it that you are ever going to get. In spite of popular cultural claims, hell is not going to be a place of rock and roll rebellion and partying. There will be nothing good in hell.
There will be no music. There will be no friendship. There will be no light. There will only be sorrow and regret. Instead, if you have a hope in the resurrection, then you can truly do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
And that doesn't mean that I get to dunk a basketball or tear a phone book in front of you guys. What it means is that I can have peace in my life regardless of circumstances. I don't have to live my best life now. And when there is tragedy, and gosh, this church has seen it already in this year, we grieve, but we don't grieve as those without hope as Paul writes in first dusk four. No.
We grieve because we miss our brother or our sister in Christ. We miss our friends, but we know that we'll see them again at the resurrection that is to come. And living as as if life this life is not all that there is, it also sets us free from the scarcity mentality that's so pervasive in this world. It sets us free from this idea that I gotta get mine. We have that idea around money or time or leisure or powder days, and it's a lie.
But the interesting thing about any resource, any gift, any talent is it's only when you've given a bunch of it away that you can truly have mastery over it. Only then can you recognize that it's a lie that you need just a little bit more or that you don't have enough. So how do we become people of the resurrection today, church? Whoever we are, whatever stage we're in, we just take the next step in faithfulness, not to be satisfied with where we currently are. It's progress, not perfection.
So I've put it in three categories today. We're gonna call it decider, disciple, and discipler. So a decider, this is somebody that has not yet put their personal faith in Jesus. You need to know that you are not just a debtor in prison. You are not just a slave.
You are not just somebody in a dead end job or a sick person in need of medicine. You are dead in your sins, and you are in the grave. But so was Jesus. And he is the only man to ever defeat death. And because he did, if we would but believe in him and make him lord of our life, then we will get to participate in that resurrection with him.
And this isn't just a resuscitation. Thank God. Because I don't want this broken body that gets hurt, that gets sick, that needs sleep. I want the new resurrection body. I want the one that can work or run without ever getting tired.
I want the one without this goofy neurological thing that I've been dealing with for a few years. Because our resurrection bodies, they will be perfect. And I don't just mean that as like a linear improvement on where we are now. We're not just gonna taller or stronger or better looking. We will be new in ways that we can't even fathom.
Not different in degree, but in kind. Like the difference between a seed and a flower. Paul, later in our text in First Corinthians 15, he describes our current bodies as seeds that need to go in the ground and die in order for our resurrection bodies to flower. And here's a crazy example, if maybe you've never thought too much about this. Did you know that we're probably going to have way more senses than we do now?
Like we won't be dependent upon just sight, taste, touch, smell and sound. We're gonna have new senses, thousands of them. It will be like trying to explain the sunrise to somebody that was born blind. And it's also that we can better understand, appreciate, and therefore, glorify God. So if you've not yet made a personal decision to follow Jesus, would you take that step in faith today?
Because we're not ever guaranteed tomorrow. Whereas for our disciples, these are people if you have made a decision, then pursue what Jesus has called you to. Abide in him, as Jesus said in John 15, because he gave us each other to help do that. So join the church. Join a small group.
Don't be that disembodied hand or foot lying bloodied in the corner. Happy Easter. Find someone to disciple you Because we don't get freed from our sin to choose ourselves or our hobbies or even our families as master. We are set free so that we can choose Jesus as the only good master. We get to daily choose the best master, the good shepherd, the one who laid his life down for his flock.
We get to live with joy and purpose, and we get to have the true freedom that comes from serving the only kingdom that will actually live forever, the only one that brings true life. This is how we get to live as Christ, to die as gain. Because if I can find joy and purpose in my life, and if I'm doing it in serving Christ and someone has a problem with it, and they hurry along my otherwise inevitable demise, then I get to be home with Jesus. And at first in the intermediate paradise, like Jesus promised to the thief on the cross, and then after the second coming with that resurrected body here on the new earth where all things are made new. Third, for our disciples.
These are for the mature Christians. Keep going. If you have spiritual maturity, then be serving the body, be leading, help it reproduce, die to self, find others that need your leadership and wisdom. When Jesus gave the great commission in Matthew 28 right before the ascension, he didn't call us to make converts. He called us to make disciples.
We can and should live as if God has a purpose for each and every one of us to serve the kingdom. So what do we do about this? All of us. We cannot want anything more than we want Jesus himself. Even salvation, even the fruits of the spirit, the good works, the salvation body, all of these are great things, but we cannot want them more than we want Jesus himself.
He is what our primary hope is in. But because God is perfect, he's made it so that if you want Jesus, you get him, and you get everything else thrown in with it. You get the Holy Spirit. You get the resurrection body. You get the joy and purpose of a life well lived.
God has promised that for those who love him, who truly love him, that all things work for our ultimate good. That's true of each and every one of us. It's true of our brothers and sisters around the world that face persecution, physical and legal, every day because of their faith. It was true of Paul when he got his head chopped off after being in prison. Because if this world is not all that there is, it this is but a dim vision of what ultimate reality will be.
And so when we throw in with the church, when we commit, we'll still sin, but we'll no longer be owned by it. For the first time in our lives, we'll be set free for the desire to desire the things that God wants us. We'll be free to glorify him. I don't have a slide for this, but in in John six, Jesus says that we get to rest in him. He says in verse 37, whoever comes to me, I will never drive away.
So many of us are looking for God. I hear it when people say, where is God? He feels distant. Church, he's right where he said he would be. He's here in the midst of his people whenever we gather together, what we call the church, the ecclesia.
In every one of us that have made a real decision to submit to him. And when we gather together, he's here with power. And, yes, we live out our calling imperfectly, but we get to remind ourselves and everyone around us that there is grace there to meet us in it. And we get to see miracles. We get to see dead people walk.
We get to see people set free from the bonds of sin and shame and and slavery to despair and addiction. They can be set free here in Christ. Because the resurrection presents us with a choice that cannot be avoided, cannot be qualified. And hear me. Either you believe that Jesus was resurrected or you don't.
There is no middle ground. In John eight, Jesus said, I told you that you would die in your sins. If you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins. If Jesus rose from the dead, it changes everything. And if he did not, then we are fools.
There is no third choice. If he is who he said he is, then we give everything for him. Not just Sundays, not just some fixed percentage of our money, everything. There is no claim on our lives that Jesus cannot make, and yet his burden is light. And any other burden that we take on will crush us and bury us.
Or we're all fools, and there's no point to any of this. And it's a huge waste of time, money, and effort. But guys, this bet, it cannot be hedged, and we must bet our entire life on it. But because of the resurrection, we can have hope. Not in the, I hope it snows tomorrow or I really hope this time winter's over, But in the the resurrection is true.
Therefore, my hope cannot be shaken. So I'll challenge you to think on a few closing comments because I really don't want this to be an annual Easter ceremony. I want this to be resurrection day for our hearts, for each of us, no matter where we are in our walk with the Lord. Each of us to be reborn as Jesus said in John three. Because how much did it cost your God to love you?
So many people these days, they don't want to accept an idea in their hearts of a God that is both perfect and holy and merciful and loving. We tend to forget one aspect or the other, and they are both shown in perfect display at the cross and at the resurrection. Because Jesus paid the debt so perfectly that God resurrected him as the first fruits of what is to come. We cannot incur a debt to God greater than what Jesus has already paid for if we but put our faith in him. I'll invite the band back up, but what you need to know is that Jesus was the only truly willing sacrifice history.
Yes. There have been other martyrs. Yes. There have been other sacrifices. But all of those were by mortal men and women that were already going to die anyway.
Jesus was the only one as we looked at in Philippians two that never really had to die, but he took on flesh for you. When he was in the Garden Of Gethsemane, he set his face to die for you, for me. And God is just. He cannot accept payment for what has already been paid. So I've said this before, and I'll say it again.
Christian, please hear me. Stop trying to earn what has already been given to you. Because tomorrow is April Fool's Day. And Paul says in our text today that if there is no resurrection, then we are fools. But church, we're not fools.
Because Jesus did walk out of that tomb, and history has never been the same and neither have I. Jim Elliot, who would be murdered shortly after writing this, he died trying to witness to an unreached tribe in Ecuador. He wrote this, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Jim knew that he would rise again at the last day, and so he was no fool. Don't be a fool.
Don't live denying the truth of resurrection. When I was lost after that concert some twenty years ago, I pulled out the map, and I knew that I was a long way from home. But Paul is showing us today how to get there. Whether you've wandered away from home or you've never been there, the resurrection is the key to life. Believe in it.
Profess that Jesus is your savior and Lord. That the grave is empty. Receive the Holy Spirit. Read and share the written and inspired word of God. Church, he is risen.
Happy Easter. Thank you.
When Christ shall come
Amen. For a benediction today, I'd like to read to you a prayer that was for the church in Ephesus. It's from Ephesians three, and I wanna pray this over everybody today. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people.
Amen.

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Written up from the message given at First B Jackson. If something here reads oddly, the recording is the record.

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