What Will You Do With Your Summer?
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The Resurrection:
The Resurrection:
1 Corinthians 15 gives a great follow up to the resurrection of Christ!
We have been hyping up Easter and talking all about it, but when its over, we quickly forget about Jesus’ sacrifice and what it means. Then we are left with the thought: “what next?”
Well this chapter destroys the argument that people had been falsely spreading through the church in Corinth.
The false teaching was: there is no resurrection from the dead.
Paul then goes through a process of explaining why this is ridiculous to believe this. If you are a Christian, then it makes absolutely no sense to even believe in God if there is no resurrection of our bodies one day.
What do I mean by resurrection? The bible explains that if you are a Christian, when you die, your spirit goes on to be in heaven with God. However if you are not saved, your spirit goes on to be separated from God.
The Bible then says (and Jesus said) that He will return again. One day Jesus will return again and when he comes, He will resurrect our physical bodies and they will be what the bible calls “glorified”. That means that they will have a similarity to our human bodies, but they will not be limited to physical weakness and death. No longer will we have to be subject to a body of diseases and sickness. Doesn’t that sound amazing! I know I’m looking forward to that! So essentially this idea that heaven will be us like little spirits just floating on clouds and playing a harp is just completely false. We will have glorified bodies and we will be getting to explore the new earth God creates and enjoy worshipping Him forever.
With this in mind, people were going around saying that the resurrection doesn’t exist. It was like the idea that many people today believe. When you die, you simply cease to exist. I think thats why people have adopted this phrase: YOLO. You only live once. While I understand what the people mean by not holding back, but live life to the fullest, I disagree with the notion that it brings. You don’t only live once. Your soul lives forever. Whether you will be in eternity with God or eternity in hell with just punishment for your sins. It sounds harsh, but it also makes that Gospel sound so great! God is offering a way of forgiveness. He is just and can’t ignore sin, but if we are willing to turn to Him, He is willing to allow Jesus’ payment to cover your sins.
So let’s build on this idea of why being a Christian and believing in the resurrection are so foolish to combine!
Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
12 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?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;
14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;
17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
If there is no resurrection, then that means that Jesus is still dead and satan and death defeated Him.
If Jesus is still dead, then my sins are not forgiven, because Jesus would have been defeated and we would be worshipping a dead god.
If we know that there was no resurrection, then we should be the most pitied people to exist. For we would be hoping in something false and living a life of discipline and self-sacrifice for nothing.
4. Why would we be baptized if there is no resurrection (explain baptism motions…we should stay under the water if there was no resurrection)
Read 1 Cor. 15:32-34
32 If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
34 Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
5. If YOLO is true, then why not “eat, drink” and live it up however we want, for one day we will die. So why not enjoy life to the fullest amount of pleasure that we can now?
6. But read verse 20 again! Christ has risen!
7. Re-read vv. 33-34 - If Jesus has risen then that changes everything. Our hope and faith are not in vain!!!
Main Point: What we do now with our time here on earth will determine what will happen to us for eternity. So maybe YOLO isn’t what it hypes up to be. Maybe we should consider what we should spend our time and priorities on now.
(use rope and eternity illustration)
I know this to be true, but maybe you don’t.
But hearing this, don’t you wonder “what if he is right?”.
What if there is an eternity beyond here on earth. Are you willing to risk eternity for the sake of maybe 70-80 years? With only about 30-40 of those years really being able to do what you want.
You work your whole life to live it up in retirement once your old and can’t move???? Or maybe you try to live it up now and then end up dying at an early age due to heart or kidney failure or some other disease brought on by poor lifestyle.
This is the introduction of what I want you to be thinking about.
We only have like 1 more normal Wed. night before we start back up at Limestone park over the summer. So I want to help you all be prepared for how you are going to spend your time. So that will be the main emphasis on what we talk about next week on our last normal night of Bible Study.
WARNING: WED. MAY 10th is “The Well” - I believe that Jesse from James River will be coming to talk with everyone. There will be other people here, but that night is centered around youth. Things will not run the same as they do on a normal night here. There should still be a meal, but then the lesson is going to start and it will be in the main sanctuary and its not going to be a “free-fr’all”. If you come to eat, then thats your commitment to be here for the night, and I expect you all to be respectful and listen and not be goofing off while Jesse is talking. With that being said, WE WANT YOU ALL TO BE HERE! But keep those things in mind!
Don’t Waste Your Summer:
Don’t Waste Your Summer:
What can you be doing that will be productive for your faith and for eternity?
What can you be doing that will be productive for your faith and for eternity?
I am interested to know a few things:
Do you want a relationship with God???
Do you already have one, but want to work on making it more of a priority?
Are you on the fence but aren’t sure what you want to believe yet?
Well if you find yourself in any of those categories (or could be more), then what we will be talking about tonight should be helpful in leading you towards a closer relationship with Jesus! We want to best equip you to succeed in your relationship with God but also in life in general. And I think people get the priority of these two things mixed up. They think that they should get things in life in order first and then when they have spare time, maybe they will go to church every once in awhile or something like that!
Make God a priority in your life 1st and I can promise you that things in life will start to pan out so much better. (I’m not preaching a prosperity gospel here. I’m not saying that when you become a Christian that you will get everything that you have ever wanted. Rather when you become a Christian, you have daily hope and the ability to navigate the difficulties of life with the strength and peace that God offers.
Okay, so lets get into the Bible and see what God has to say to us about ways for us to make Him a priority in our lives.
1st we have James 4:8
James 4:8 (ESV)
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you...
God tells us to that if we should draw ourself closer to Him, that He will do the same towards us and our relationship will experience this greater level of closeness and peace.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
In this last passage from Jeremiah, we see a message from God to the people of Israel. Yet I 100% believe that this is true us today as well. When a person seeks the Lord with their whole heart, He will never turn you away or hide Himself from you.
So I ask you, do you want to seek God?
Maybe all of a sudden this is getting real in your life right now. We spend a few months going through John. Spent a lot of time talking about the crucifixion and resurrection and now we are here at the this point where you have to make a personal decision.
Will you seek God or will you treat Him as something casual or on an “if I have the time basis?”
For those of you who want to make that decision right now to pursue God and seek for Him with your whole heart, lets learn how you can do that. And please remember, God is not someone far off that you have to do really difficult things to find. He is nearer than you could ever understand and He desires a relationship with you!
1st Step is choosing to trust in Him as your Savior. Thats what the bible calls eternal salvation:
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Salvation is acquired through faith in Jesus. It is a gift to be received not something to work to earn!
Now What? Once you are a Christian, what can you be doing to draw close to God?
Spend time reading the Bible and applying what it says!
When (not if) you have questions about what something means, come and ask us! We want to help you understand the Bible clearly. Every Christian goes through the stage of learning how to read the Bible and its a lifelong process of choosing to carefully study it to make sure that we aren’t twisting the meaning of the Bible to what we want to hear (vs. What God is wanting to tell us)
Think about it this way: When you are making a new friend, how will you get to know them? By spending time with them…by talking to them…by listening to them!
That what we do through reading the Bible (reading what He has told us) and prayer (us talking to God…thats all prayer is…us communication our heart to God).
Some follow up questions that would go along with this are:
Do you own a Bible? If not, would you like to? (I know that most of y’all have smart phones that you could use, but there is great value in putting the phone away when we spend time with God…you don’t need notifications coming down and distracting you).
If you do have a Bible, where would be a good place to start reading? Come and ask us and we would love to help direct you to a great passage of scripture to read and pray through!
2. Spend time praying to God
3. Make sure that you commit time to being in Church and surrounding yourself with godly people who will encourage you and keep pointing you to Jesus
4. This is a commitment to make.
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
We must be willing to count the cost long term and make the decision to follow Jesus! Are you willing to go “all-in” for Jesus and for the first time in your life truly experience what everlasting joy and peace feels like?
I want to leave you with one last verse to think about tonight:
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
You must be willing to give up the priority of everything else in your life and now allow God to be your #1. There cannot be anything else you value or would listen to more than God. If there is something else that has that priority, thats what the bible calls an idol.
For what is worth holding onto that you are willing to lose your soul for?
Let’s pray and then break up into our groups.