Does death win?

Discussion

What was your biggest take away from the Pre-Work this week?

Hear updates on Practicing Mission/Story of Scripture projects

Main Point: In His resurrection and ascension, Jesus Christ is the King who has won victory over sin, Satan, guilt, and death.

Does death win?

If you were to ask your neighbors what they believe happens after death, what would their answers be?

What surprises you most about the resurrection accounts you read across the Gospels?

1 Corinthians 15:20 ESV

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

How is the resurrection of Christ connected to our salvation?

What do we lose if we neglect to include it in our understanding of redemption?

The ascension is the forgotten act of Christ.

Without the resurrection and ascension, we don’t have good news.

We have a King.

This is a hard concept for us to get as Americans

The good news is more than just Jesus rose again, but that He is currently ruling and reigning as King.

Because Jesus died and rose again, Paul says, Philippians 2:9-11

Philippians 2:9–11 ESV

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When does Jesus offer the sacrifice to God the Father?

Some might argue the crucifixion.

Jesus brings it into the presence of God after the ascension.

Hebrews 9:1-14; 10:11-12

After He presents the sacrifice, He sits down to rule and reign.

This also shows us Jesus’s ongoing ministry

He is governing as King, dispensing His Spirit to His people

He is mediating between God/man

He is bestowing the benefits of His Kingdom to His people.

How is the resurrection of Christ connected to the restoration of the world?

What are the ongoing implications of Jesus’s resurrection?

The undoing of death/decay

The overarching story of the Bible is that death was never meant to be.

Death is the reversal of all that God meant for us.

Adam was taken from the dirt.

Death puts us back into the dirt.

The second Adam went into the dirt and was raised again from it.

The resurrection of the body.

1 Corinthians 15

We will be raised

We will have glorified bodies

Will we be supermodels?

We focus on the appearance of the glorified body, but what is it for?

The focuses is not to be pretty.

The focus is to restore us to wholeness.

He is going to make us the hands and feet of the Kingdom.

Our resurrected body will be doing the good work that we were created to do but cannot because of sin.

Cultivating and governing creation.

A dear friend is a Physical Therapist.

She hates chiropractors.

Her job is to retrain/strengthen to restoration, not a temporary fix.

She said, “I want to give people the hope of restoration to a body the way God intended it and if they trust in Jesus, will experience fully in the resurrection.

The renewal of the world.

Revelation 21-22

We will be in God’s Kingdom and in His presence.

All of this hinges on the resurrection and ascension.

The resurrection is bringing order out of chaos—bringing life where there is death.

As God’s resurrection people, we have the opportunity to bring the resurrection future into the present.

We live for/work to the kingdom now.

Discussion

What is your main takeaway from this session?

Why does Christ’s resurrection matter? What hope do we have if Christ hasn’t been raised?

Why does Christ’s ascension matter?

Pre-Work 2.18.26

Turn and Tell: With whom can you share something you learned in this session? What do you plan to share with them?

Continue working on the “Story of Scripture” and “Practicing Mission” assignments

Write a paragraph doctrinal statement on what you believe about “Soteriology: How individuals are saved and reconciled to God”

Read Romans 5; 6:1-11; 10:5-17, Ephesians 1-2

Take five minutes and pray through Romans 11:33-36. Read it once out loud then use it to shape your prayer.

Next Big Idea question: “How are we saved?”

Theological focus: Soteriology “Doctrine of Salvation”