Jesus Is Alive
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Of all the world’s religions Christianity alone purports to be based on the resurrection of its divine founder.The resurrection of Jesus is at the center of the Christian worldview and Christian devotion. The Gospels do not end with the death of Jesus but speak of an empty tomb, of his appearances and of a commission by the risen Jesus.
• As long as we’re sure that Jesus is the son of God, who died on the cross for our sins, and was raised from the dead . . . Christianity follows.
This is the foundation of our faith.
Why is the resurrection so important?
• Jesus is the only one who wrote a will, died to put it in force, and rose again to probate his own will
• There would be no church. It would have stopped at the cross
• There would be no Gospel.
• If He didn’t rise again there wouldn’t be a Acts chapter 2 when He sent the Holy Spirit.
• You would not have recieved healing when you prayed to him
• you and I would still be in our sins.
• believers have no advocate with the Father
• They have no hope of eternal life if not even their Savior gained eternal life.
• Our faith and preaching would be meaningless
• life would be meaningless
• and our death as well
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
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.
There is a simple way to prove the resurrection of Christ.
However I don’t believe it is necessary to get saved or to lead someone to Christ. All we need is John 3:16 or Romans 9:10
There are people who refuse to believe regardless. There are those who are atheist because they want to believe there is no God even in the face of common sense.
• Roman’s chapter one talks about the Gospel of creation. Looking at creation should bring you to conclusion that there is a creator. Just as looking at a building brings you to the conclusion that there is a builder. That there is a designer.
How can I prove the resurrection of Christ?
I watch a TV shows that deals with crime and when they want one of the criminals to flip on the other they threaten them with the full measure of the law to get them to crack.
Now lets look at the Disciples of Jesus. How do we know they saw the Lord risen from the dead and were not perpetuating a hoax?
1st ) they were not facing embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stoning, execution.
Peter and Paul
Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified upside down at his request since he did not feel worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.
Andrew
was been crucified
Thomas
he died when pierced through with the spears of four soldiers.
Matthew
It was reported he was stabbed to death
Philip
He was arrested and cruelly put to death
Bartholomew
There are various accounts of how he met his death as a martyr for the gospel.
James
The Jewish historian Josephus reported that he was stoned and then clubbed to death.
Simon
As the story goes, he ministered in Persia and was killed after refusing to sacrifice to the sun god.
Matthias
He was the apostle chosen to replace Judas. Tradition sends him to Syria with Andrew and to death by burning.
Every one of the disciples insisted, to their dying breaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead.
• Don’t you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did.
• Men will give their lives for something they believe to be true; they will never give their lives for something they know to be false.
• The apostles could not deny Jesus, because they had seen him face to face, and they knew he had risen from the dead.
• nothing less than a resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain their faith until their last dying breath that Jesus is alive and is Lord.
• Not only the Apostles but:
Mary Magdalene encountered him.
The women encountered the risen Christ.
Christ was seen by five hundred people.
Two thousand years later, nothing less than the power of the risen Christ could inspire Christians around the world to remain faithful—despite prison, torture, and death. Jesus is Lord: That’s the thrilling message of Easter. It’s a historic fact, one convincingly established by the evidence—and one you can bet your life upon.
Victory
We are not fighting the good fight of faith from the position from trying to get the victory but from a position from already won the fight that Jesus secured for us in the death, burial, and resurrection.
• This victorious life isn’t just for just for the preacher or the 5 fold ministry. Its for every believer.
• We must never except defeat and never surrender to spiritual darkness as a Christian.
2 Corinthians 2:14 ESV
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
Colossians 2:15 ESV
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
The triumphal procession was a big victory parade. It was conducted in Rome to celebrate great military victories.
Like a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Chicago, these were major cultural and civic events.
1 & 2 Corinthians The Fragrance of Christ / 2:14–17
a Roman general would drive his captives and the spoils of war before him down the main thoroughfare of Rome. He would be greeted by the loud cheers of Romans citizens, and a cloud of incense would be burned for the gods as they paraded to the temple of Jupiter. To the Romans, the aroma was the sweet smell of victory. To the captives in the parade, it was the smell of abject slavery and perhaps even death.
The captives would be the army, high ranking officials, the general, and kings. The parade would be a open show of their defeat. It wasn’t a private matter. They would parade the captives humiliating them by stripping them of their weapons and clothing and marching them through the streets naked. Eventually leading them to public execution.
They would also have all the spoils of the defeat. This would include the enemies possessions and what not.
If the enemy has your joy, peace, and health it doesn't belong to him anymore. Christ has defeated darkness and nothing can keep you from victory. Christ paid for your rest , joy, peace, love and all the fruits and gifts of the Spirit. Most importantly His presence.
This is what happened to the celestial enemy powers at Christ’s crucifixion.
To live in victory we must understand what Jesus did for us.
Seven fears related to death:
1) Fear of the process of death: But.....Jesus is with you.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
2) Fear of non-existence: But....You will be alive and well.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried,
23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
Imagine Heaven by John Burke
Colton Burpo
4 year boy died and when he left his body
described which room his mom was in while she was on the phone calling people to pray and then described his dad in the chapel room of the hospital while praying.
he mentioned that he had a sister in heaven when his parents never told him about it because she was miscarried.
he also talked about his great grandpa that he saw in heaven
3) Fear of bodily decay: But....You will receive a new body.
1 Corinthians 15:51-54 Philippians 3:21
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”
36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.
40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.
41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
4) Fear of loss: But.....To live is Christ and to die is gain.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
5) Fear of punishment: But.....there is no condemnation for those in Christ.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
6) Fear of leaving loved ones behind: But.....We will be reunited together one day in Christ.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And 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, and so we will always be with the Lord.
7) Fear of the unknown: Heaven will be perfect in every way
9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Seven fears related to death:
1) Fear of the process: But.....Jesus is with you.
– Psalm 23:4
2) Fear of non-existence: But....You will be alive and well.
– John 11:25-26
3) Fear of bodily decay: But....You will receive a new body.
– 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; Philippians 3:21
4) Fear of loss: But.....To live is Christ and to die is gain.
– Philippians 1:21
5) Fear of punishment: But.....there is no condemnation for those in Christ.
– Romans 8:1
6) Fear of leaving loved ones behind: But.....We will be reunited together one day in Christ.
– 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
7) Fear of the unknown: Heaven will be perfect in every way
– 1 Corinthians 2:9; Revelation 21:1-4