He Is Risen! | Liberty at Home

He is risen, but let's talk about why that fact is so

important on this week's episode of Liberty at Home.

Happy Easter from your friends at Liberty Baptist Church in

Easton. I'm Adam Rivero, the pastor of

LBC and your host for Liberty at Home.

Today, as always, we're broadcasting for the studios of

Easton Community Access Television.

We're currently I'm overloading the circuits in the studio with

crock pots filled with ham and about seven other traditional

side dishes. Today I want to take a few

moments to talk to you about the resurrection of Christ and how

the world often ignores it this time of year, all while saying

they still celebrate Easter. Now let's read First Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:12–17

chapter 15 verses 12 through 17. Now if Christ be preached that

he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no

resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection

of the dead, then is Christ not risen?

And if Christ be not risen, then there's our preaching vain.

And your faith is also vain. Yay.

And we are found false witnesses of God, because we've testified

of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up.

If so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, that

is Christ not raised. And if Christ be not raised,

your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins.

You know. Every spring, store shelves

filled with pastel colors, chocolate bunnies and, my

favorite, marshmallow Peeps. And for most of the world,

that's where the season begins and ends, a cheerful holiday

marked by egg hunts and family gatherings that have little to

do with anything beyond, well, the traditions themselves.

To be blunt, really, they're missing the point.

But here's what's remarkable, and perhaps a little unsettling.

People were already missing the point nearly 2000 years ago,

long before commercial holidays and candy displays ever existed.

When the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he wasn't

dealing with distractions from the outside world.

He was confronting something far more serious and far closer to

home. People sitting within the church

walls who were openly claiming there was no resurrection, no

life after death, nothing waiting on the other side of the

grave. Paul's response was not

emotional or defensive. It was sharp, methodical, and

logical. If you follow the argument Paul

makes all the way down throughout chapter 15, his

message is clear. If Christ didn't rise from the

dead, everything we believe collapses like a house built on

sand. Each apostle, every preacher,

and every believer across 2000 years of church history would be

nothing more than a liar and a false witness.

And we're not talking about some minor theological disagreement

here, but the complete destruction of the very

foundation upon which the entire Christian faith is built.

Beyond the question of credibility, faith itself

becomes hollow without the resurrection, since Jesus made a

specific and verifiable promise, repeated multiple times

throughout his ministry, that he would rise three days after his

death, and if he failed to keep it, our sins remain exactly

where they always were, unforgiven and unchanged.

Because, as one theologian powerfully stated, without the

resurrection the power of death remains permanently unbroken.

No resurrection means no salvation, and without it there

is no hope, Not for us as we face our own mortality, and not

for the loved ones we have watched lowered into the ground.

But there's no reason for despair, because even Thomas,

the disciple who flatly refused to believe without touching the

wounds of Christ himself, he came face to face with the risen

Lord. And Jesus didn't shame him or

turn him away. He simply said stop being

faithless and belief now That invitation still stands today

for every skeptic and every doubter, because the

resurrection is not a footnote to a spring holiday or a myth

invented by grieving followers. Rather, it's the single most

important event in human history.

And the only question that will ever truly matter is not whether

you celebrate Easter, but whether you believe he actually

rose the very fundamental upon which the Gospel rests.

Well, I'm glad you joined us for today's Easter edition of

Liberty at Home. I hope you join us again next

week as we celebrate our 100th episode on ECAP.

But no matter what, you can always find us at Liberty

Baptist Church. We're located at 800 Washington

Street, right across from Easton Pool and Spa.

Here in Easton. You can learn more about the

church by visiting our website, which is my libertybaptist.org.

You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, or your

favorite podcast app. Well, until next time, I'm Adam

Rivera reminding you that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there

is liberty. We'll see you next week for

episode 100 of Liberty at Home.