3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by [a]Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have [b]fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
On Friday we talked about sin entering the world, and God’s plan to deal with sin.
Because of our sin, we should have to die; that would be fair. God owes us nothing.
But God had compassion on us; He sent His Son Jesus to die instead of us.
All we need to do is humble ourselves, believe this message, repent of our sins, and receive the gift of salvation.
We should all be prepared to share this message to others out there.
That’s our challenge today. Let us share the good news of the Gospel.
We said, ‘It’s Friday; but SUNDAY is coming!
Acts 1:3 After His suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave them many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the Kingdom of God.
Good Friday: is about the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.
He died for our sins.
Sunday is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There is much evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Over 500 of His friends saw Jesus after the resurrection.
There are 24,000 ancient manuscripts that prove the accuracy of the New Testament.
So, we KNOW our gospel message is true!
So, why is the resurrection of Christ so important?
I Corinthians 15:12-19
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, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
18 Then also those who have [c]fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
Without the resurrection, we have NO GOSPEL MESSAGE! No Salvation is possible. The resurrection of Christ proves that the gospel message is true.
There is no other religion where the founder rose from the dead.
The founders are ALL DEAD!
-Confucius, -Muhammad, Gautamia Buddha, Joseph Smith, Charles Russell
But Jesus is alive
In America we use the phrase, THE LATE, for dead people.
The Late Tanaka san, The Late Ueda San, The Late Mieko san, The Late Otto san……. Pat san, and now Annette Betts. We attended her memorial 2 weeks ago in Lewiston.
But NEVER the late Jesus Christ. Because: Jesus is alive! He’s NOT the Late______.
Revelation 1:17-18
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying [i]to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.
And I have the keys of [j]Hades and of Death.
John thinks, “Who is this?” Ver 18 answer. This is Powerful!
How does Jesus identify Himself? “I was dead and now alive forever more.”
John 3:14-17
14 And 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 [c]not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
That is the good news we should be sharing!
Some say, “All religions lead to God, just in different paths. they are ALL good.”
No, ALL religions are NOT the same; they are NOT all equal.
Jesus is the ONLY ONE who rose from the dead!
We have the TRUTH to share. Let us be totally confident in this message.
Let’s share the gospel to those around us.
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