Wrestling with Belief - What About The Resurrection?

I,

I,

I see

All that. You've done

The

Conquer.

Whoa. Good morning, Man.

It's so good to be here. Adventure Church.

It is great to be here. Uh,

we got together on Thursday night,

and we got the pleasure of getting together

and, you know, a preview of the songs

that we're gonna do today.

And, uh, being on this platform

and just kind of going through everything.

And, and we knew that we're gonna present a new song.

We're gonna be doing this song on Easter,

and we thought, well, let's make sure the congregation gets

a chance to hear this song called Miracle Child

before we do it on Easter.

Right. That way all the visitors

that we're gonna bring on Easter for those three services,

we'll be like, man, everybody knows this song too.

This is incredible. Right.

Um, so while we were singing this song,

it just really was amazing.

It's kind of funny. I've got the,

I don't need the chord playing while I speak.

There we go. So, yeah.

So we're playing this song,

and this was, it was the first time for us too, right?

And it says this, um, I shouldn't be alive.

My future was six feet under one foot in the grave.

No hope to be saved.

I shouldn't be alive, but I'm a miracle child.

Defied every diagnosis,

and as close as it came, I can stand here

and say, I'm a miracle child.

Now that, that's true of me. That is true of you.

If indeed you have said you believe in the miracle child,

Jesus, then that makes you a miracle child too,

because you didn't do that in of yourself.

It's a miracle that any human being comes to that decision.

Bottom line, exclamation point. Right?

So, um, anyway, as we're doing the song, uh, Kathy,

uh, it was like really noticeable.

That was like, man, there's a lot that was resonating with

that song for you personally.

So just describe a little bit about what happened.

So, yeah, as we were, we had practiced for, uh,

Thursday evening, and we were, uh, singing this song.

And I, uh, you know, we, we, my phone was right here on the,

on the stand where the music was.

And so, um, a text popped up while we were singing the song.

A text pop popped up from one of my sons who I, who I, I,

I talked to, not as often as others.

He's we're all also so busy.

And I saw his name, and it was my son James.

And, um, my son James, um, has,

he was diagnosed at 15 with ulcerative colitis.

And, and it's, it's a health struggle

and there's a lot of complications that come along with it.

And so there's ups and there's downs.

And so we've gone through some, some, some valleys,

and there's been a valley, uh, recently,

but we're, we're, we're still so thankful, so hopeful,

but we're singing, you know, I, we had, I just talked to him

that day, which was so random.

It just happened to be a Thursday.

And then that evening we were at practice.

And I love how the Lord speaks

to us through worship, don't you?

I love it. And the first time it happened,

it was when Luke saying, he made a way, and I cried.

Um, but, uh, but this,

but this particular song, so I we're singing this song,

we're singing, and I see these words,

and then James' name pops up.

And I just thought, man, thank you Lord.

Thank you Lord, for the reminder that, that you see us.

That you, you know that it's such an honor to be able to,

to go through things and have hope in Jesus.

So I was so, so thankful,

so I was overwhelmed in that moment.

Thank you so much. Alright. Yeah. Amazing.

Don't just listen, sing along.

I, I'm telling you, it, it's such an amazing, it's,

it's something you can resonate with.

Okay?

Shouldn't be alive.

My future, one

foot in hope to be,

I shouldn't be.

I can stand here to say I'm miracle.

Built on

And raised with Christ

a miracle child.

Amen. Amen. Shout a praise. Shout a praise, everybody.

Come on. Are you a miracle child? Amen. Amen.

Go and have a seat, everybody. Good morning. Good morning.

We're so glad to have you here today. Uh, my name is Greg.

I'm one of the pastors here.

And before we get into our announcements, I wanted

to share just a really quick update with you today.

We're so glad. There you are. Hi everybody. Good morning.

Good to see you guys here today. Uh, max.

Bryan Max, go ahead and make your way up to the stage.

Where you at, brother? Yeah, give it up for Max, everybody.

Come on up. Max. This is Max Bryan,

and it was a few months ago.

How long have you been gone? Three months, dude. Wow.

I can't believe it. It seems like it was just

like a couple Sundays ago.

You were standing right here in the same spot.

So, uh, we took a moment in our service to pray for Max.

'cause he was on his way to Cyprus, uh, for a missions, uh,

effort, uh, through ywam,

which is the school he is involved in, uh, in Tennessee.

And, uh, he's back. And, uh, he's just,

just give us a quick, like, how was it, what did you learn?

What was the experience like? And, uh, let us know.

Yeah. It was just such an incredible experience.

I was like stretched personally in so many ways with like,

evangelism and even just like, worship and prayer.

Yeah. But then, like, on a bigger scale, to see

what God was doing in that nation was just

so amazing to be a part of.

And Cyprus is like a Muslim nation. Mm-hmm.

And so to just see all the openness

and even the lifes come

to Christ was just such a blessing to be there. Amen.

Amen. Awesome. Awesome.

So you're back from Cyprus

and, uh, that's not really the end

because you feel like God is leading you to,

to lean in a little bit more.

So, so what's next for Max?

Yeah, when I was there, um,

I felt like God was calling me into this secondary school

with the same program, ywam.

It's a three month Bible school. Okay.

And it's called Missy oday,

which is like the mission of the Bible.

And I feel like God is just leading me into this

to get a firm like foundation and solid understanding of the

Word. Awesome. We

sang that. How firm a foundation. Right?

So, good. Good word. Good word.

Uh, when do you, when do you leave?

I actually leave on Wednesday.

Wednesday. Wednesday. Okay. So we wanna pray for Max.

And you see the, can you throw that up on the screen again,

you guys, so there's a QR code if you wanna get a little bit

more information about what's going on with Max.

And if you would like to sponsor him,

if you'd like to help him.

Obviously he's super excited for our prayer support.

But anyone who feels led, uh, for some financial support,

I know that would make a big difference too.

And so we want to, uh, acknowledge that.

So let's just take a minute. God bless you, man.

We're gonna be praying for you. We're excited for you,

and we're grateful for the work that God is doing,

and it's always exciting.

I'd have just a moment where we can bring someone

that's within the church

and see what God is doing, you know, calling the missions

or doing whatever they're doing, uh, up on this stage

to, to honor them.

So we honor you and we thank you,

and we want you to know that we're behind you.

We're with you. All right. So

let's go ahead and pray for Max.

You wanna extend a handout, uh, just in blessing.

And, uh, we'll ask for God's continued protection.

Father God, thank you so much for this young man.

Thank you for the work that you have

already done in his life.

Thank you for the experience that in Cyprus.

Thank you for bringing him back home safely.

Thank you for the protection

and the provision, uh, that you've given him.

And Father, as he looks forward to this next step,

this next stage, this next opportunity, uh,

to dig a little bit deeper as he goes back to school,

bless him, encourage him,

and continue to use him for your kingdom.

The eternal work of the kingdom of God.

We're so grateful, we're so thankful.

So just put a hedger protection around him,

provide for him in every way.

Provide all the finances that are needed for him to be able

to, uh, complete this semester.

And we're just looking forward to the things

that you were gonna continue to do in him and through him.

We bless him in the name of Jesus,

all God's people said, amen.

Amen. God bless you, bro. Love you, dude. Awesome. Awesome.

Yeah. Yeah. Share out this video everybody

You see when we're in full relationship with him.

We don't have room for fear to take root.

Don't let Satan keep you from God's calling on your life.

All right. We're gonna be doing blush over at Adventure in

Roseville Bayside Adventure.

So ladies sign up today, it's on April 25th.

I'd love to get you out there. My name's Dave.

I'm one of the pastors around here. Welcome to Adventure.

Hope you guys have been blessed already this morning.

Uh, thank you for parking, uh, where you do, uh,

we know parking around here is at a premium.

Uh, but our neighbors there, uh,

where the chiropractic center is, they've asked us not

to park in that parking lot there.

So if you could refrain from parking there,

especially first service, that would be great.

We have the field out there behind the veterinarian clinic

and some other spots.

So thank you for your cooperation on that.

But we have blush coming up April 25th.

Uh, hey, by the way, if you're new, we'd love

to know how we can connect with you.

There's a connection card that came in your program today.

Please fill that out.

And, uh, and, and so we can, we can, uh, hit you up

with some emails and some information, uh,

and figure out how we can better serve you,

but also we can know how to pray for you.

'cause on one side of this card is, uh, your information.

The other side is a prayer request.

Uh, Easter egg hunt's coming up.

You guys excited about that? 75,000 eggs, by the way,

it's at River Valley High School this year, right?

Have you guys seen their football field? It is massive.

And that's where the Easter egg hunt's gonna

be, is on their football field.

We're so excited about that.

We're gonna have food trucks, all kinds of fun.

Uh, it's gonna be a great time for your kids,

but we need lots of help to make that work.

Takes about a hundred people or so to make that work.

So, uh, sign up to help with that.

Uh, there's other information in your program

that you received today.

Walk For Life is still, uh, taking signups.

So please, please, please sign up for Walk for Life.

We're looking to try to get a hundred walkers

and like a thousand people giving towards those walkers.

People gave to me last week. That was awesome.

I jumped from last place up to like second place.

So I'm, I'm excited. It's great.

Um, and then be the church Sunday.

You guys see your, your flyers in your programs.

You got be the Church Sunday coming up.

Uh, you can, you can sign up there,

you can go on the church app

and sign up on the church app as well.

Or you can just fill that card out.

Drop it in one of the boxes, uh,

on your way out today in the lobby.

And, and let us know where you'd wanna serve on Be The

Church Sunday, just so we can get a head start on

assigning people some of those jobs.

And then baptisms are coming up on the 30th of March.

If you feel God tugging on your heart, uh, to get baptized,

we'd love for you to sign up to get baptized on the 30th.

That's next Sunday you guys.

So, uh, sign up now if you want to get baptized,

it's gonna be an awesome, awesome week.

Uh, and this is a time in our service

where we bring the Lord, our tithes and offerings.

And you guys, it's, it's so exciting.

So it was super cool last week.

And, and you're gonna see the video, uh,

you're gonna see the video next week.

I'm gonna show it next week. But, um, one of the, one

of the kids leaders showed me a video

of all these little kindergartners

and preschoolers raising their hands

and worshiping the Lord.

And, uh, and we're putting a video together for that

for next week for you guys to see.

But you guys don't understand what goes on, right?

Be right on the other side of those walls.

We, on a, any given Sunday, we get about 200 to 250 kids

that get to hear the word.

They get to worship, they get to have some fun.

It's exciting over there.

And because of your generosity, we continue to make

that a better place for your kids.

Here's our goal. We want them to go,

I don't want to go to Disneyland.

I want to go to church, right? That's our goal.

'cause Disneyland shouldn't be the happiest place on earth.

The church should be the happiest place on earth

for our kids, and we wanna make it that way over there.

So your gifts go.

So those kids can have an amazing time in church.

So let me pray for our gifts today.

But here's how you can do that. You can give a couple ways.

One, you can text the word a CYC, give to 7, 7, 9, 7, 7,

the other way on your way out today.

You can drop something in one of those boxes.

Or if you're watching us online, please, uh,

click the little button there and give that way.

So let me pray. Father, thank you

so much for all that you're doing.

We're so blessed, so blessed

by the generosity of your people, Lord.

And we ask you, Lord, to bless these gifts we bring

to you today so they can continue

to do a great work over in our kids' ministry

and our youth ministry, and all around this community.

We love you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Check out this video, you guys

On a cross called Calvary.

Jesus stopped what I deserved and gave me what he didn't.

You are here today because Jesus was mighty kind.

All right? So we're still encouraging you

to prayerfully consider coming to thrive.

First, uh, let's get our Bibles handed out.

So we're in first Corinthians 15.

So if you're here this morning and you don't have a Bible,

but you'd like a Bible, go and lift up your hand.

One of our ushers will get a Bible to you today.

Uh, if you don't have a Bible, this is our gift to you.

Please take it home. If you just forgot your

Bible, you can borrow this one.

Somebody else can use it next time.

So yeah, so the Thrive Conference is coming up May 1st

and second down at Bayside Church, granite Bay.

And, uh, we want to encourage you

to come and check that out.

We're trying to get a hundred people, uh,

to thrive this year,

and they have given us a special discount code

for just 99 bucks.

So it's a $250 conference that we get to go for $99.

Uh, so sign up a DV 99, that's the coupon code.

And, uh, if you have any questions,

please let us know about that.

Uh, we're gonna have a special gathering there at the

conference just for Adventure, Yuba City, uh,

to meet up, uh, while we're there.

And so, please, uh, get your, uh, name on that list,

and if you have any questions, uh, please let me know.

So, super excited to have you today. Thank you for coming.

We're, uh, concluding a series

that we started all the way back at the beginning

of the year, uh, called, uh, wrestling

with Belief Challenges to Christianity.

And so the whole idea has been to better understand both the

what and the why of our faith.

You know, uh, apologetics comes from the Greek word ap,

which means to provide a defense.

Like how, how well are, how well equipped are we

to defend what we believe?

And so we've taken the time to go

through these last several weeks.

And what I wanna do, and just starting, starting things out,

is just give kind of a quick fly by.

I know some of you may not even read our

church, you know, back in January.

So I wanted to give just a quick review of the different,

uh, messages that we've given.

And then we're gonna dive into this final

one, uh, this morning.

So we started, of course, with, uh,

January 12th with Mark Clark.

Mark Clark was here. That was awesome.

And we had a great time with him.

And, uh, he certainly enjoyed being here,

and that was a great way to get this

whole series, uh, kicked off.

Certainly wanna encourage you, uh, to check out, uh,

his books, the Problem of God, the Problem

of Jesus, the Problem of Life.

Uh, those are great, great resources if you're looking

to dive deeper into understanding our faith

and some of the, uh, associated issues

that people have with faith.

Um, those are great, great resources.

And, uh, we look forward to having Mark back again, um,

as soon as we're, uh, able to.

Uh, week number one then was what is this about?

Like, why did we even decide to

get into the series in the first place?

Well, uh, to enlarge our hearts, like we wanted to make sure

that this was not just gonna be, um, in,

in information exchange,

where we just give you a whole bunch of facts

and a whole bunch of figures and a whole bunch of charts,

and a whole bunch of data points so

that you could better articulate things.

No, we want, we wanted to take the time

to make sure we understand that there are needs around us.

There are people around us who are in need

and may God use this season to enlarge our hearts,

to see the needs of people around us,

to enlighten our understanding, to realize

that it's not by words of wisdom.

It's the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who does the work

and the hearts and lives of people.

We are the messenger, but God is the one who does the work.

The Holy Spirit is the one who does the work.

And so we wanna make sure that we understand our role,

our place in this process,

and then energizing our impact,

just making sure we understand that we have an opportunity,

whether it's at work or its school,

or in the neighborhood, wherever we might be,

to impact the people around us.

That's what this series has been about.

Week number two, we went into the Bible.

What about the Bible? So we looked at the maps, evidence,

manuscript evidence, archeological evidence,

prophetic evidence, societal evidence,

just putting some things out

before you to give us confidence to say, yes,

this book is not just a human book, it is a divine book.

It is a book inspired by God so that we might know the way

of salvation and that we might know the way of life.

And so we can have great confidence in knowing

that we have his word.

Week number three, what about science

and the existence of God?

And how do we correlate these things?

We looked at the clues.

We looked at the clues, the clue of design, the clue

of health, the clue of morality, the clue of beauty.

All of these breadcrumbs that have been laid out for us

that all point to a creator God.

Week number four. Uh, what about doubt?

You know, what about the folks who just really struggle, uh,

with doubt and, uh,

and just can't quite wrap their heads

around the various things of the faith?

Uh, well, we talked about finding the root issue,

like what's really going on?

What are really the things

that are driving a person's confusion,

misunderstanding about faith, uh, to examine the evidence,

to just keep going back to what does the evidence say?

What is the objective truth of what we learn about God

and his word and nature and creation and all the rest.

Uh, to invite the questions, inviting the questions

so important that we not be afraid

to invite questions from people.

And, uh, as people struggle

and as people grapple through their own, um, journey

of faith, uh, to invite those questions,

and then to show some grace.

I'd love to this point that we went

through just showing grace to people, showing grace

to ourselves as we go through certain seasons

that we can't quite make things make sense, um,

to show grace to people, show grace to ourselves.

Uh, that was great. That was week number four.

Week number five. What about hypocrisy?

What about all the hypocrites that are in the church?

What about all the judgmental people?

What do we do with that? Well, we reminded ourselves

that God uses flawed people.

Can I get an amen? Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.

God uses flawed people. But that's the reality.

That's the truth. Um, he is flawless. We are, uh, flawed.

Um, God calls us to love. God calls us to love.

So a reminder that we ought not be that hypocritical,

judgmental Christian, that the world looks

so negatively upon, God has called us to love

and got a reminder that God shines his light

through us, through me.

And, uh, the reminder, uh, of what, uh,

perceptions people have about God and Christ and the church

and the faith based on how I present it, how I represent it.

Uh, week number six, what about pain and suffering?

How do we deal with this subject, pain and suffering?

The evil in the world, the struggles in the world, the,

the difficulties that people have, the diagnosis

that they receive, uh, uh, the breakups and the breakdowns,

and all the different things that happen in this world?

Well, we remind ourselves that number,

and this was the YWHY letter.

W we live in a broken world.

We reminded ourselves of the realities of what it means

to live in a broken world, in a broken system, in a broken

nature, because of sin.

Uh, the second one, letter h, he will make all things right.

We believe this in his time and in his way.

A day with the Lord is a thousand years.

A thousand years is a day.

But he will make all things right.

And then the letter Y is your response is a choice.

How we respond to pain

and suffering, how we respond to trials,

how we respond to struggles.

That's on us. Okay?

That's a choice that we get

to make based on the circumstances

that are happening around us.

And then last week, week number seven,

uh, was what about Jesus?

And we looked at John chapter 14, his exclusive claim,

John 14 · chapter mention

that he is the way, he is the truth.

He is the life. No one comes

to the Father except through him.

Hard, hard truth in today's pluralistic society, uh,

the exclusive claims of Jesus.

But we also examined the inclusive invitation to come

to salvation, to come to Christ, to respond to the gospel.

And I pray that we will be about the business of trying

to reach as many people as we can with the truth

of the gospel, as long as God gives us breath,

and God gives us energy.

So that's where we've been.

Today's subject is one

that is absolutely foundational to all the others.

And that is, this question is alive,

is Jesus alive?

This was gonna be part of last week's message,

and I just felt like it needed its own.

It, it just needed its own space.

So this was kind of a bonus message for you, uh, today, uh,

to be thinking specifically about the resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

Did he rise from the grave? Did he come back from death?

This is the singular issue

that separates our faith from every other one.

If this is true, if it is true

that Jesus came back from the dead, then everything

that flows from his life and teaching falls into place.

And if it is not true,

if Jesus is still buried in a cave in the Middle East

somewhere, then this is all completely useless.

There is no point to anything that we are engaged in

because it all rises and falls.

Our faith rises

and falls with the singular truth

of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is no middle ground.

The resurrection changes everything. It changes everything.

Now, you know, think for a moment, uh, back to in your life,

to the things that you've engaged in, things

that you've experienced that have

significantly changed your life.

Like life. It used to look this way,

and now it looks this way

because of the changes that have happened in your life.

I'll never forget, and I get made fun of for this,

but I'll never forget the first time my wife

and I got a DVR box from the cable company,

and no longer did we have to watch through the commercials,

no longer did we have to like find VHS tapes

to record our favorite shows.

You just told it what to do, and it did it.

And my life changed forever.

I could just look up the cubs,

I could look up whatever I wanted to look up.

I could watch it whenever I wanted to watch it.

There was no going back

to pre DVR TV after that point, right?

Change everything. Um, it could be,

uh, the birth of a child.

You know, you bring a new baby into the house,

that changes everything.

Can I give that man Kayla Gardner over

here, my daughter and son in-law?

Yeah, that changes everything. All of a sudden.

Like there's all this schedule and there's all this time,

and there's all this harmony, and there's all this,

and all of a sudden this little creature comes into the mix

and it changes everything about everything

that's happening in that, in that, um, household.

Um, we got a marriage, we got a married couple in the house.

Marriage changes everything. Where, where are they at?

Okay, stand up, you guys.

Amy and Carson got married yesterday.

Give 'em a shout everybody.

This is Amy and Carson Locke, Mr. And Mrs.

Locke, Amy's usually up here singing on stage.

She's part of our, our worship team.

And, um, they've been together for a long time.

They've been through lots of ups and downs

and in between, as we talked about,

but marriage changes, everything.

Everything. Here they are. Gimme one more shout everybody.

Congratulations. We love you guys.

That was wedding number five for me this year.

I was so glad I just got their names right.

You know, it's like, you know, chase and Rachel.

No, that was, that was Gar. That was a different, different.

That was a different wedding. So, um, you know,

it changes like li like life cha things

that change us friends.

There is nothing, nothing, nothing.

That changes things like the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

because Jesus is alive today

because he did not stay in the grave.

Everything is different because of that.

And so we wanna celebrate that today,

the greatest event in the course of human history,

the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So we're in First Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

I wanna read through the first 20 verses.

So if you'd stand with me this morning,

that's our custom here at adventure.

We just stand for the opening reading of scripture.

We do that just outta respect for God's word

and gives us an opportunity

to just long form reading of the scriptures.

This is kind of just how I'm wired.

I I love the long form reading of scripture in church.

And so, uh, you follow along as I read, uh, it's page 9 98.

I don't think that's right. Actually, it might not be,

that might not be the right page number.

What is it? 10 60 10 63. Thank you. 10 63.

Yes, it's right on this, but it's not right up there.

So page 10 63, if you've got one

of those blue adventure Bibles, we just hand it out.

You follow along as I read about

the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Verse number one. Now, I would remind you brothers

of the gospel, I preach to you which you received

and which you stand, and by which you are being saved.

If you hold fast to the word I preach to you,

unless you believed in vain, for I deliver to you as

of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died

for our sins in accordance with the scriptures

that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day in

accordance with the scriptures.

And that he appeared to CEUs, then to the 12.

Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most

of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Last of all, as to one untimely born.

He appeared also to me, for I am the least

of the apostles unworthy.

This is the apostle Paul unworthy to be called an apostle

because I persecuted the church of God,

but by the grace of God, I am what I am.

And his grace toward me was not in vain.

Can I get an amen on that one? That's a great verse.

That's a great life verse.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them,

though it was not I,

but the grace of God that is with me,

whether then it was I or they.

So we preach. And so you believed.

Now, if Christ is proclaimed verse 12,

as raised from the dead, how can some

of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead,

then not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised,

then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.

We are even found to be misrepresenting God

because we testified about God, that he raised Christ

whom he did not raise.

If it is true that the dead are not raised for,

if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised,

and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile,

and you are still in your sins, powerful words,

then those also

who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only,

we are all people most to be pitied.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead,

the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the time together this morning.

And we thank you. We praise you for the gospel.

We thank you for the death of Christ, the burial of Christ,

the resurrection of Christ.

And I pray that as we take a few moments

to wrap up this series, that our hearts would just be

so refreshed and so encouraged to know

that we serve a living savior today.

And the resurrection changes everything. It's changed me.

And so I pray, father, your blessing on each one who's here

today, those who are watching us online, we give you thanks,

we give you praise in Jesus' name.

Amen. Thanks everybody. You may be seated.

If you wanna take some notes with us today, please feel free

to take some notes on that note sheet, uh,

or, uh, on our church app.

You can take some notes as well.

So why I encourage you, um, make yourself a note if you,

if you'd like to dig a little bit deeper, uh, some

of the info today, uh, the case for Easter by Lee Strobel,

the case for Easter by Lee Strobel.

You can find it on Amazon. It's, it's like two bucks.

It's super, super cheap. It's 97 pages long.

You can read it in an afternoon. Um, great, great resource.

Um, so the case for Easter, uh, by Lee Strobel.

Lee Strobel was the, um, he was the, uh,

atheist newspaper journalist, newspaper man in Chicago, uh,

who set about to try to disprove Christ to disprove Jesus.

If you're familiar with this story, his wife gets saved.

And he is like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna destroy this.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna bury this.

I'm gonna make sure people understand that this is not real.

And as he investigated the evidence, he got saved

because he recognized that the evidence was there.

And so, of course, he's most known for the case for Christ,

and we've gone through that as a church before.

And he's got these other, um, a little booklets as well,

case for Easter, uh, is one of those.

So, uh, so do check that out as we get, uh,

approaching the Easter season, uh, here.

Uh, so just, uh, a few things I wanna share

with you today related to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Number one, Jesus was dead. Okay?

Jesus was dead.

There can't be a resurrection if there isn't a death.

Does this make sense? I know I'm being really rudimentary,

but that, but that's the reality,

because one of the shots, one of the criticisms that comes

to the teaching of the resurrection is

that Jesus wasn't actually dead.

He just swooned on the cross.

Uh, he wasn't, he did not really die.

He just kind of fainted and swooned.

And then, so there was no, you know, resurrection power.

Was it a hoax or did he actually die on the cross?

Now, I'm not gonna spend the time this morning

to get into all the nitty gritty of the nature

of crucifixion, but let me just tell you,

the crucifixion was the most

horrific way someone could die in the ancient world.

When you look at the, uh,

Philippians chapter number two in the Bible talks about

how Jesus was obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Like there's a special category of pain and torture

and shame and punishment associated

with being crucified on a Roman cross.

And we think so much about, you know, the nails

in the hands, the nails in the feet,

and all that is true, the crown of thorns.

We, we see this bloody picture.

But friends, there's so much more going on inside,

inside the heart, inside the lungs.

You know, the, the need to have to, you know, gain a breath

by pushing up on the nails on the cross, just

to most people died of suffocation on the cross.

It wasn't, it wasn't because of blood loss,

it was suffocation, or it was cardiac arrest

because of the, the great trauma

and pressure that would be placed on the heart

during someone's death on the cross.

This was a horrible way to die.

And one of the things that Lee Strobel points out is

that there is, there is no record of anyone anywhere

surviving a Roman crucifixion.

There are just not those accounts to be found. Okay?

Once you were nailed to a cross, you died, okay?

And Jesus was completely dead.

Uh, even the Journal of the American Medical

Association, check out this quote.

Clearly the weight of the evidence indicates

that Jesus was dead, even

before the wound to his side was inflicted.

And how about this quote from Jared Luman, uh,

who's an atheist, by the way.

So this is an atheist scholar.

He said historically, it's indisputable that Jesus was dead.

Okay? So the first thing,

and I know it seems a little, you know,

counterintuitive, but it's true.

It, it's important to, to talk about it.

How do we know this to be true? How can we be sure?

Well, the first point, Jesus was dead.

Number two, how can we be sure?

There were early accounts, there were early accounts, belief

that it is legend

and myth that took a long time to develop.

People will talk about this like,

oh, it's just, it's just a legend.

It just kind of, it just kind of grew and grew and grew.

It's kinda like, you know, the stories you tell in your

families about the fish that you caught, it just gets bigger

and bigger and bigger

and bigger, you know, as time goes along, okay?

Or whatever the game is that you caught,

or, you know, just how close you got to

that hole in one on the golf course

and what the distance was and what club.

The story just kind of changes through the years.

And the legend grows. The myth grows about these things.

And so a lot of people have put

that impression upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Oh, these were just some people who were just hopeful

and they wanted it so badly.

The story just grew and grew and grew and grew.

But the reality is, the truth is that we see the creeds

of people from the very beginning

recognizing the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You know, we think about creeds, C-R-E-E-D-S, okay?

And what we see here in one Corinthians 15, that is a,

that is a creed.

Uh, many first century people were illiterate, you know,

and, and, and no, no access to, to books and scrolls and,

and literature and things of this nature.

So it was all about oral tradition and passing things down

and memorizing things.

It would memorize it, and it would go from, from generation

to generation to generation, and from person to person.

And early Christian creeds were statements of shared belief.

They were short memorizable statements about Jesus

and their content covered early beliefs

in the Christian community.

These creeds were an excellent way to spread the truth.

And we see such a creed here in First Corinthians 15.

Look at the words again in verses three through six,

for I deliver it to you as of f first importance.

What I also received, what that Christ died

for our sins in accordance with the scriptures

that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day in

accordance with the scriptures.

And that he appeared tous then to the 12, then he appeared

to more than 500 brothers at one time.

That's a cradle statement,

that the early church would recite to one another to

remember and to learn about the truth of who Jesus was.

And one of the things that we learned from, uh, our study

of history and certainly ancient history,

is the closer you get to the source of the events,

the more accurate the story is going to be.

Okay? The closer to the source,

the more reliable the evidence.

We talked about that a little bit with the reliability

of the scripture and the

manuscript evidence of the scripture.

And that we have all this different manuscript evidence, um,

from the ancient world for all these other

historical documents.

And we don't have, there's not near, uh, the amount

or the closeness to the original source

as there is the scriptures.

And we see the same thing happening

with these early accounts of Jesus Christ.

This is, this is 80 50.

I mean, this is just, this is not long

after this within, you know, just the first, uh, couple

of decades that people can go back and see.

These are the cradle statements being made about the

resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So how can we be sure? Number one, Jesus was dead.

Number two, there were early accounts.

Number three, I love this one. The tomb was empty.

There's no body, there's nothing there.

The easiest and simplest way

to disprove the resurrection would've been

to produce the body of Jesus.

They could not do it.

Christianity the way would've died right then and there.

Nope, he's right here. That's right. He's dead.

No, they could not produce a body.

Even the opponents of Jesus admitted

that the tomb, uh, was empty.

So on your, on your note sheet, uh, here today,

you've always got on the back, you've got a place for, um,

growth, group life application, discussion questions.

So we've got a couple groups in the church that they go

through this, you know, and they go

through this as part of their growth group.

But this is also, again, just a great way for you to kind

of process through what we talk about on Sunday.

I use it as a devotional tool. I use it as a study tool.

But one of the things I wanted to point out

to you is, is, is number three.

It says, read through the different resurrection accounts in

the gospels and take some time to discuss the events of

that first Easter Sunday morning.

So I'd encourage you, that'd be your homework this week.

Just go through and read the different gospel accounts

of the resurrection.

And, and that's a fascinating, um, read.

So the whole idea of the disciples stealing the body was one

of the things that they wanted to get out ahead of.

And we actually read about this in Matthew

27 and Matthew 28.

I'm gonna show you the words up on the screen.

So, uh, check it out. The verse one, Matthew 27.

Okay, so this is after Jesus has been crucified.

The next day, that is

after the day of preparation, the chief priest

and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate

and said, sir, we remember how

that imposter said while he was still alive.

After three days, I will rise. Okay?

Jesus said these things, therefore the order,

therefore order the tomb to be made secure

until the third day, lest his disciples go

and steal him away

and tell the people he has risen from the dead,

and the last fraud will be worse than the first Pilates said

to them, you have a guard of soldiers, go make it

as secure as you can.

So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone

and setting a guard.

So they were anticipating this, like this was part

of their strategy to know that, okay, remember what he said,

he talked about coming back

and three days he's gonna rise again.

And just to be sure, we don't want this to get outta hand.

We don't want this to spread.

We don't want be, we're, we need to set a guard

and make sure that this does not happen.

Okay? Well, the first part of chapter 28,

Jesus rises from the dead.

Okay? Epic fail, okay. By the people that tried to do that.

So after that,

after the resurrection, we read in verses 11 through 15,

up on the screen while they were going, behold, some

of the guard went into the city

and told the chief priests all that had taken place,

I'd have loved to have been a fly on

the wall for this conversation.

And when they had assembled with the elders

and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money

to the soldiers and said, tell people his disciples came

by night and stole him away while we were asleep.

And if this comes to the governor's ears,

we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

So they took the money and did as they were directed.

And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Fascinating, fascinating story. Okay?

He said he was gonna rise again.

They anticipated that story might get out.

They tried to stop it, couldn't stop it,

and now they're trying to subvert it.

Can't subvert it. Why? Because the tomb was empty.

There's no body, because Jesus is alive

and he rose from the dead.

How can we be sure? Number one, Jesus was dead.

Number two, there were early accounts.

Number three, the tomb was empty.

Number four, there were eyewitnesses.

There were eyewitnesses.

There were people who saw Jesus alive in any court of law.

Any examination of history,

eyewitness testimony will be key.

What did people actually see? What did they observe?

I dunno, how many of you have ever been in a,

a courtroom setting?

Uh, I've been in a few courtroom settings.

Um, you know, as a witness, I've been,

I've been in a courtroom setting, uh, as a potential juror.

Um, I was in Yuba City for probably like two months.

I had not been in Yuba City very long, 22 years ago.

And I got my first jury summons to appear,

and I went to report for jury duty.

Turns out it was gonna be a murder trial

that was gonna last about seven months.

I was like, I just got Yuba City.

Like, like, I ain't got time for this.

You know, like, I got, I got work to do,

you know, and, and all the rest, right?

And so, you know, there's,

there's always that kind of battle.

There's always that kind of struggle, like, you know,

how are we gonna, how are we gonna manage our, you know,

our civic responsibilities

and all the other things that are, that are expected of us.

Um, my daughter, are you in here, Gracie somewhere? Yeah.

So my daughter, my daughter got called for jury duty,

you know, for the first time my

18-year-old, you know, and she's like, what?

Like, what, what is this?

I'm like, welcome to adulthood, welcome, welcome, welcome,

welcome to our free country.

Here you go. Um, you know, you, you gotta, you know,

so she calls and like, you know,

I'm like, I'm like, just call.

You're gonna get dismissed. Like, not a problem.

Nope, nope, you gotta report.

So she reports and she's there

and she's like, what am I gonna do?

And she has to talk to the judge and all this kind of stuff.

And she's texting, you know, mom

and dad, like, you know, pray for me

and I'm not sure what to do, and I'm nervous

and I'm scared, and I'm not sure.

And all the rest, right? Uh, what is that?

It's, it's, it's, it's the witness. It's the witness stand.

It's being brought before the judge.

And the eyewitness testimony.

The eyewitness history, the observable history.

Um, I would suspect,

I don't wanna be too broad in the statement,

but I would suspect that there's not anyone in this room

who ever saw or met George Washington.

Nope. I think we're good. Okay?

But we all believe that there was a George Washington,

because there was someone

who saw George Washington and put it in a book.

That person told another person, and they put it in a book.

And that person told another person. They put it in a book.

And we have the, we have the eyewitness history, okay.

Of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln

or any other historical figure.

And we don't have any issues putting those things in

context, but, oh, if it's Jesus, there's some kind

of weird magic, you know, thing going on there.

No, it's eyewitness testimony.

There were people who were eyewitnesses to his resurrection.

Again, back to our texts, you see, he appeared

to see in verse number five, then he appeared

verse number six to more than 500 brothers.

Then he appeared to James and the apostles.

And then last of all, he appeared to me,

to the Apostle Paul.

He says, he appeared to many, there were many eyewitnesses

who saw alive.

How can we be sure? How can we be sure of the resurrection?

There were eyewitnesses. The last one.

Number five, lives were transformed.

Live lives were transformed.

As with most of the things we've been talking about

over the course of this series.

There will be certain elements that resonate more

with one person than somebody else.

Uh, there'll be one person that really wants

to dig into the, the scientific evidence and creation

and nature and all those kinds of things.

There'll be others who really get, um, motivated, inspired

by, you know, archeological evidence and ancient texts

and scrolls and all that kind of stuff.

There. There're always different things that kind

of resonate with different people.

Okay? Uh, this is the one that always resonates with me.

This is the one that always just speaks

to my heart in such a powerful way.

Because these were people,

these disciples think about the setting.

They're in the upper room,

they're enjoying the Passover meal.

Jesus institutes the, the Lord's Supper.

They go out to the garden

and he prays, he's betrayed, he's arrested,

he's put on trial, he's beaten, he's scoured,

he's taken to the cross, he's crucified,

he's killed, he's dead.

And the Bible says that this band of people, this group

of people, these followers of Jesus

were locked away, hidden in a room.

I mean, imagine the terror. Imagine the fear.

Imagine the confusion.

Imagine all of the emotion that they must have been feeling,

not knowing what we all know.

And we can look at the scriptures

and say, well, they should have known, but they didn't.

For whatever reason, friends,

if Jesus had not risen from the dead,

we would've never heard from these people again.

They would've been, they would not have been whispered

in the annals of history.

It would've been just another supposed prophet that rose up

and preached and talked and had followers and then died.

And the, and the followers scattered.

But that's not what we see happening with these disciples.

They are completely transformed.

They're completely invigorated, filled

with the Holy Spirit of God.

Look at these verses in Acts 17.

It's a little bit long, but I wanted

to give you this in context.

Text Acts 17, one through eight.

Now, when they had passed through emus

and a Pollyanna, they came to Thessalonica

where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

And Paul went in, as was his custom.

And on three Sabbath days, he reasoned

with them from the scriptures, explaining

and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer

and to rise from the dead.

And saying, this, Jesus, whom I proclaim

to you is the Christ.

And some of them were persuaded

and joined Paulen Silas, as did a great, many

of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women,

but the Jews were jealous

and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob,

set the city in an uproar

and attack the house of Jason, sorry, Jason.

Jason's attack the house of Jason.

Jason's a hero in this story, by the way.

And, and they, and when they could not find them,

they dragged Jason and some of the brothers

before the city authorities shouting,

these men look at these words, who have turned the world

upside down, have come here also.

And Jason has received them.

And they're all acting against the decrees

of Caesar saying that there is another king.

Jesus. And the people

and the city authorities were disturbed when they

heard these things.

Friends, this group of followers, this band

of believers went from being hidden in a room

with a closed door, huddled in fear

and terror to a group of people

who turned the world upside down.

It was not for a lie. It was not for a lie.

It was based on the truth

that Jesus came back from the dead.

And we see it in the fate of the disciples.

This is from Fox's Book of Martyrs.

There's obviously lots of different sources about

what may have happened to the disciples.

Um, but here is a, a, a compilation from that, um, um, book

that I read as a high schooler.

Uh, so if you're looking for some light reading, um,

do not read the Fox's book of Martyrs.

It will, it's something, it's something else.

Andrew was crucified, bartholomew beaten, then crucified.

James the son, OFA, stoned to death.

James, the son of Zebedee, beheaded Judas,

not a sct, was stoned to death.

Matthew was speared to death. Philip was crucified.

Simon was crucified. Thomas was speared to death.

Matthias was stoned to death.

Peter, he was crucified upside down

because he did not feel worthy

to be crucified in the same manner in which

Jesus was crucified.

So he requested an upside down crucifixion.

And there's only one apostle that died of natural causes.

That was John the Apostle.

But he was boiled in oil

and exiled to Papus, where he writes the book of Revelation

for us friends, you would not suffer and be tortured

and executed for a lie.

Their lives were completely transformed.

It was all because of the resurrection.

I know this is, this quote gets a little bit more dated

as time goes along, but Chuck Colson was a

primary figure in the Nixon administration,

and he was a part of Watergate.

And so he got in trouble and broke the law and went to jail

and ended up founding Prison Fellowship Ministries,

which our own David Mariscal works, uh, works for.

Okay? And we support, we support that, uh,

we support that ministry.

And, uh, Chuck Colson said this,

and it's up on the screen for you.

He said, I know the resurrection is a fact.

And Watergate proved it to me. How?

Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the

dead, and then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years,

never once denying it.

Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned, and put in prison.

They would've not endured that if it weren't true.

Watergate embroiled 12

of the most powerful men in the world,

and they couldn't keep alive for three weeks.

You're telling me 12 apostles could keep alive for 40 years,

absolutely impossible.

I love that quote. They

did not die for a lie.

They were not beaten for a lie.

They were not tortured for a lie.

It was for the truth, the truth of the resurrection.

Jesus is alive. Those are great.

But what about the transformation in me?

What about your own personal transformation

that is all bound to the power of the resurrection?

The power of the resurrection is in your life.

We've been talking throughout this series to,

to be the living proof of a loving God, right?

That's been one of our great themes

throughout this entire series.

You be the living proof that there is a loving God.

How about this one? I am the living proof of a risen savior.

I'm the living proof of risen savior, the work

that I've seen God do in my life.

And, and make this personal for yourself.

What work has God done in your life?

What supernatural,

miraculous power has God demonstrated in your life?

Lives are transformed in our lives,

in our marriages, uh, in this church.

I, you know, I say this from time to time,

but I think it bears repeating that we have this, you know,

this understanding of, uh, you know, people talk about

sometime like, like why doesn't God do miracles?

Like, like, you know, he used to do miracles and stuff.

And I always remind people, if you're part

of adventure church, you're sitting in a miracle.

Like this is a miracle of God.

This was a supernatural something.

I remember when, when we first moved in,

we always had, we, we picked themes.

And so we were over in the temp space.

We had the letters hope, and then we first moved over here.

It was made new. You remember that?

You know, it was kind of that Lincoln Brewster song made new

and the building's made new and we're being made new.

And now we're in this next campaign.

So we put next up there,

and I had someone come in not too long ago,

and they walked in and they looked at the room

and they said, who's the next Jesus?

Jesus? And I was like, yeah, no, that's not exactly

what we're going for at all, I promise.

Um, that's, that's not the idea, okay?

But the idea of like, like, God,

our God is still a miracle working God.

He's still doing miracles.

He's still freeing people from addiction.

He's still restoring marriages. He's still raising up kids.

He's still protecting people. He is still saving people.

God is still working. Friends don't buy the lie of the devil

that says, God's not working anymore.

God is working, and our lives are living proof

of a living savior.

How can we be sure Jesus came back

from the grave?

Well, he was dead. And there were early accounts,

and the tomb was empty, and there were eyewitnesses

and lives were transformed.

I wanna end this whole series

with this quote and worship team.

You guys can start making your way out.

Uh, this is CS Lewis.

One of my favorite quotes from CS Lewis Christianity,

if false is of no importance,

and if true of infinite importance,

the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

And if I were to give one word

to the American church, it would be this.

We have reduced Christianity to being moderately important.

And it's time for us to recognize that the power

of the resurrection is the power that lives in our lives.

It's the power that works in this church.

It's the power that is working around the world

for his purposes.

And we celebrate that.

We celebrate King Jesus, no longer in the grave,

in heaven, making inter intercession for us,

waiting for the return.

Amen. Let's stand together.

Let's stay in this moment, and let's sing this song together

in praise and reflection.

And if God is leading in your heart, speaking in your heart,

you feel like he's leading, you to prayer, whether it's

for salvation, whether it's for a need in your family,

whether the a struggle that you're going through personally,

we wanna invite you to come to the cross, come to the front,

me a prayer partner and pray with someone.

Or just pray alone, whatever you're most comfortable with.

But to just take these final moments, to just be reflective

of the great God that we have, the great God that we serve.

Thanking him for the gospel, for his presence,

for his death, for his burial, for his resurrection,

the power that's available

because Jesus is no longer in the grave.

May God bless you this week. Let's sing this song together.

The best of breathing.

When I'm not somebody I believe,

hold on me.

When I,

when,

hold on,

hold on

Me.

I, I have reached,

I, I

I'm tired.

I start

on to,

I

shown, I have reached.

Hold on.

Amen. What an amazing day.

And listen, we've said this a lot in these last weeks,

and we wanna remind you,

The spirit of God's been saying something to your soul

and you need to speak it out.

Meet us at the cross and pray. Okay?

Amen. I was made to

Just between you and

me, love you.

I was made

To, oh,

now I have a purpose.

Now I have a

glory purpose.

Now I have a, you,

me, no one else.

No one else. Love you. Like I love you.

Any name

and no one Love you.

You made,

made.