Skip to content We Need Each Other's Testimony - The Humanity of Christ, Part 3 Mar 31 · 40 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
156K followers
Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
156K followers
0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:31 I wanna talk to you on this topic today, the humanity of Christ part 3. Here we go. We need each other's testimony. Now in part 1, I said of this series, just recap real quick for anybody who's here for Easter,0:43 and I understand lot of guests, and here we are expecting to be, you know, right into this part 3. Don't worry about it. You can see those in YouTube, youtube dot com slash waters church. But today, I wanna just give you0:53 a real quick recap recap. The humanity of Christ teaches us how to be human. How do I do humanity? How many know that it's1:04 hard to be human? Yeah, it's not There's no instruction manual, is there? There is someone we can look to. Jesus the Christ. He was fully1:16 human, and he lived amongst us, and he walked amongst us, and he was tempted like us. He knows how it feels. So if you've ever been struggling, there's good news in1:28 the gospel. We've got a person in heaven who's been there, he's done that. He knows, and he can help you. And we talked about in week 1 that the first thing that he did was he formed a community. He formed a group.1:40 He called some people to follow him, and we said, we need each other. That was part 1. We need each other. Turn to your neighbor and say, need you. I need you. Turn to your second choice and say, and you1:52 too. Last week, we talked about the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is praying, sweating drops of blood. He's overwhelmed with the fact that he's going to the cross. He's bearing the sins of the world.2:04 He pray he asks for prayer, partners in prayer. Jesus, God the Son, asked for partners in prayer. We need each other's prayers. We need I need I need you to pray for me.2:17 I I I pray for you. We pray for each other. That's the part of why we're saying so much this weekend on Easter, get into a life group. Get step up to life group leadership. Because so many people, they're going through2:29 so many different challenges. They don't know what to do. Well, we're here to help each other. We're here to pray for each other. I don't know about you, but when I get in together with other people and pray, my prayers2:38 are elevated, and to know that other people are praying for me elevates my life. We need each other's prayers, but number 3, we need each other's testimony. First Corinthians chapter 15, that's where we're gonna go in2:47 just a moment. I wanna bring you to the empty grave though. John chapter 20 is the moment that happened 2000 years ago that we're celebrating right now. Where the scripture says that in the early morning, Mary and the2:59 other Mary, this is Mary Magdalene, and there's another woman named Mary, not Jesus' mother Mary, there's another Mary. Very common name, named for Moses' sister Miriam, that's where the name comes from. Very common3:09 Jewish name. So they go to the tomb early in the morning. It's still dark. This is John chapter 20. And they noticed that the tomb is open. The grave the the the stone has been rolled away, and they're shocked by this.3:21 They did not expect this. No 1 that was following Jesus, even though he told them several times, I'm gonna die and I'm gonna rise again, they did not get it. It never registered in their heads. And so they go to the3:31 tomb, and there there's nobody. So Mary immediately leaves. She's shocked. She's bewildered. She runs to the disciples. She tells Peter, look, we went to the tomb. It's open, and there's no body there. And the disciples3:41 are shocked too. So so Peter and another disciple run to the tomb, and they poke their head in just for a moment. And they say, oh my no. He's not there. So they they walk away. And and now picking up the story in verse3:52 11, check out what happens. Mary brought the disciples. The disciples look in and they go away. Verse 11, but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. How many know women4:02 like to investigate? It's like your spiritual gift, We thank God for that sometimes. We thank God for that. My wife needs details. She likes details. I say we went4:14 to the store, we had this conversation, we left. What'd you talk about? I don't know. I don't remember. What'd they say? What'd you say? How many times did they blink? How many times what were they wearing? What was4:22 their color of the shirt? I'm like, I don't know. I didn't realize that I was giving, you know, legal testimony in a court of law, but I will do better next time, honey. Women love to investigate. Thank God for you4:32 women. Love you. But she's instig she's like investigate. What? Let's just check again. She sees an angel, now 2 angels actually. And they say, woman, why are you weeping? The word for weeping here is the Greek word for4:44 the strongest kind of crying you can do. She's not just teary eyed. She's bawling her eyes out. She's distraught. She has broken up. And then she says she says to the to the angels, they4:56 verse 13, they have taken away my lord, and I don't know where they have put him. I don't know where he is. Now the reason why she was distraught was because in those days, somebody who was crucified, in order to the the5:08 Romans, they were very vicious, and sometimes to to be extra vicious to a crucified victim, they wouldn't allow a proper burial. They would either just lay let them hang on the cross all all the all until they were5:19 deteriorated, or they would throw their bodies onto a garbage dump in the Kidron Valley in the south portion of the city of Jerusalem. It was called Gehenna. Jesus talks about that when he references hell. He5:31 says it's like Gehenna, and in that area, there was a a fire that never stopped burning because people would just throw their garbage there, and there were bodies there too. This is a gross place. So she's distraught5:40 because she thinks maybe somebody came, took the body, and threw them on the garbage. I mean, talk about insult to injury. She's already lost her savior. She's already lost her lord, and now she thinks he's he's5:51 deteriorating physically somewhere in a in a in a a heinous place. And and then she turns from the angels and Jesus is there. And she doesn't recognize him and she doesn't know it's6:03 Jesus and and he says, woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? And the bible says she thought he was the gardener. She thought he was So she says, in in verse 50, she says, Lord, just tell me6:15 where you put him and I'll go take care of it. And then Jesus decides, okay, now time to reveal. Big reveal, verse 16, and Jesus said to her, Mary, I love this. Look at the tenderness of our savior. Look at the6:27 tenderness of Jesus. And let me just say to somebody here, on Easter Sunday 20 24, can I tell you, he knows your name? He knows your name. This is so beautiful. This is the picture of our savior Jesus. He rises from the6:38 grave and he sees Mary, and she's just weeping, tears in her eyes, just balling her eyes out. What is happening, my Lord? Mary. And look at, she turned to him and said in Aramaic, that was the common language of the day.6:48 That's what Jesus spoke, Aramaic. And there's an exclamation point because she shouts it. And this woman was the first person to realize that the grave was not the end for Jesus Christ.7:01 This is a beautiful moment. I mean, I don't know if you can understand the magnitude of this moment. You've walked with this guy, you've followed this guy for 3 years, you've seen him raise the dead, heal the sick, cast7:09 out demons, and then you saw him brutally murdered on the cross 3 days earlier, and you thought the movement was over, and you thought it was all done, and you are weeping and bawling your eyes out, and then suddenly you7:19 come face to face with Jesus himself. On the other side of all of this, talk about your joy coming back. Talk about getting happiness in your7:31 heart. Talk about just this moment of emotional transition. I don't think anyone could possibly really encapsulate the way she was just transitioned from sadness to everlasting7:43 joy. Verse 17, do not cling to me. Like, woah, cold water, Jesus. I mean, let her hold on for a little while,7:55 Think of what she's been through, but look what he says, this is powerful, I never saw this before. Don't hold on to me, I haven't yet ascended to the father, but go and8:07 tell my brothers that I am ascending to the father. This was priority 1 in Jesus' mind on Easter Sunday. Here here's what the priority was.8:18 I need you to tell somebody I'm alive. And I want you to think about this today. We're all here and all I'm doing is telling you that somebody who is dead is8:30 alive. That's the movement of Jesus. Now if I was Jesus on resurrection morning, forgive me, I'm gonna get in the flesh a little bit here, okay? I would've done8:42 it differently. I would've woke up, resurrection morning, and I would've kicked that rock out of my way. I would've walked out, and I would've just, with like Superman8:54 laser vision, pow pow, to the guards. Then I would have showed up at Pilate's house and said, stinks to be you, Pilate. I'm back, baby. You know what I'm talking? I'm talking full9:05 Terminator style. I am on a mission. And I if I was you, I would have come out of that grave with a cane in my hand that I was gonna open on every man that tried to hurt me. But Jesus9:17 doesn't do that. Here was his priority, I need you to tell somebody. And everybody who's ever heard the gospel, and everybody who's ever believed that Jesus rose9:28 again does so, think about this, because somebody told them. We need each other's testimony. Here's something else.9:41 I need you to tell me again that Jesus is alive. Anybody like me? Sometimes I forget. Sometimes I forget he's alive. Anybody can I be honest? Can I can9:53 preacher be honest this morning? Because when I am on the road and somebody drives slowly in front of me,10:05 inordinately slowly, I mean, you know that the speed limit is the speed suggestion. Right? That's the suggested speed for people who have no place to go. That's what that speed is. In10:16 those moments, if I'm honest, I forget that Jesus is alive. And then there's times when I'm angered by real things. Like, that's not a real thing, but real things. Or I look on the news and I see10:28 the tragedies, and I I watch the heartaches and the and the evil, and I see what's happening to, you know, the world, and I watch, you know, injustice win, or I see leaders10:40 fail, or, you know, government do what government does, which is basically nothing, and and I just get so angry, and I say and and then in those moments, if I'm like you, if you're like me, I forget that Jesus is10:52 alive. I do. Because my my my mind and my soul have been morphed back to earth, and I gotta remind myself, and I need you to remind me, and we need to remind11:04 each other that Jesus is still alive. I'm talking to somebody, 20 24 has been a bad year so far. Got good news for you, Jesus is still alive.11:15 The grave is still empty. He's still at the right hand side of God the father. He still rules and reigns. He's still got a purpose and a plan, and he's not done with you yet. We need to be11:27 reminded. So here's what I want you to write down in your notes. If Jesus told people to tell people he's alive, I need people to tell me that Jesus is alive. That's a that's a mouthful. But it's worth11:39 writing down because I forget. The Corinthians forgot. The Corinthians are the church that the book I just read from is written to. It's not a book, it's a letter. Paul the apostle writes this book.11:51 This letter, first Corinthians, to a church in Corinth in the first century, that's why it's called Corinthians. It was a letter, and and the reason why he write wrote to this church is because the church was messed up.12:01 The church forgot the gospel. And I like going to first Corinthians in my Bible because when you read first Corinthians, you see what Paul has to deal with in that church. He's writing a letter of12:12 instruction to a a church just like us. Just like us. Let me tell you something. Our church is our church is not perfect. But this 1, I mean, this 1 wins the award for12:24 the most dysfunctional church in the New Testament. They were divisive. They were sexually immoral. There was a guy in the church sleeping with his father's wife. It's just gross. That's in first12:36 Corinthians chapter 5. Have you ever have you ever wondered where that was? And Paul's like, this is bad. Even the pagans think you're crazy. You gotta stop this. In chapter 6, he tells us you gotta stop bringing each12:45 other to court, suing each other. They were suing each other. Imagine this. In chapter 7, he talks about the fact that they were giving up on their marriages. In chapter 11, you get to that chapter, he says, look, when12:56 when you take the Lord's Supper, can you all just kinda get along? When you come to the communion table, if you're Catholic, when you come to the Eucharist table, he said, hey, can you just some of you guys, when you13:04 come this is what he says to them. When you come, you drink so much of the cup, you get drunk. Could you imagine that? Somebody come to the community and be like, alright, Jesus,13:16 hallelujah, praise the lord. This is what's happening in the first century church in Corinth. This is a messed up church. Chapter 12, they are all chaotic in their services, and people are speaking13:27 out of tongue out of line in tongues, and people are, you know, shouting from the audience in crazy ling language. He's like, gotta stop doing that too. Chapter 13, that great passage of love that we read at weddings is13:36 because they didn't have love for each other. That's why he wrote Chapter 14, they were elevating each other based on their spiritual gift. My spiritual gift is more important than your spiritual gift. And Paul's like,13:44 no, everybody in the body matters. And then go all the way back to the gospel in chapter 15. Verse 1 of chapter 15, look what the first words are. Now I would, what?13:55 Remind you. Could be that this church was so jacked up because they forgot that Jesus was alive. Let me make it more personal. Could be that your family is so jacked up because you forgot that Jesus is alive.14:07 Could be could be your marriage is where it's at right now because you forgot that Jesus is alive. Could be you you you're struggling with the same stuff and the same issues and the same heartache right now because you14:18 forgot that Jesus is alive. Because if he's alive, he's not done. If he's alive, there's hope. If he's alive, your trouble is just a tunnel, and there's a light at the end.14:30 And the light is the return of Jesus Christ. You gotta know this. You gotta get this back into your spirit because it's easy to forget. Is anybody like me? Do you get in your own head sometimes? Does anybody get in their14:42 own head? You know what I'm talking about? Hey, let let me tell you what the real pandemic was. Are you ready? Loneliness. Social distancing. I'm so glad it's all over, and y'all are14:54 like, shoulder to shoulder today. Amen. It's good to be back to that. Praise God. But I I remember just a couple months ago hearing. They came out, they said, yeah. You know the whole 6 feet distance thing? We made it15:06 up. Just made it up. These are the experts making stuff up. Yeah. Sounds right. And all we know from that point now, after all the studies and all the research shows us, we15:17 jacked ourselves up with all this stuff. We're not made to be separated. You're made for community. You're made to have people that15:29 you know that know you, that love you, that face you, that that walk with you, that pray with you, that do life. And sometimes you need somebody to remind you when you're acting like a15:41 spoiled brat and you think the world's falling apart, you need somebody to come alongside you. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Gospel's still real. Jesus is still alive. God's not done yet. The best is yet to come. I need somebody15:52 to do that for me. You know, I spend a lot of time alone. That's why I say I get in my own head. I spend a lot of time alone. It's not good. It's not good. There there there's there's a prison in in Japan. I just read16:03 this earlier this week. There's a prison in Japan. It has quadrupled in population in the last 5 years, quadrupled, and mostly amongst the inmates, 62 years old and older.16:16 Bunch of old people going to prison in Japan right now, and they and they found out why. You'll never believe this. Old people in Japan are so lonely that they will commit petty16:27 crimes so that they can get thrown into prison because they're that alone. At least they have company in prison. That's crazy to me. You know what it means? It means that loneliness is worse than16:39 prison. Some of you are there right now. You don't have Christian friends. You don't have anybody that locks arms with you, lifts you up, prays for you, builds you up, and you have a chance to build them up and think of16:48 somebody other than you. And and this is such a a healing medication for some of you. Some of you you don't even realize. You see that the drug company will never prescribe this because they can't make money off of it.17:00 But people helping people is what we're made to do. The gospel goes forward when people connect to people. People tell people. Somebody talks to somebody else. Do you have17:12 people in your life that will talk to you about Jesus still being on the throne? Because if not, this is your Sunday to walk out of our sanctuary into our lobby and sign up for a LifeGroup. Sign up to17:24 get involved. Not just some of you are here. It's it's Easter, and you're just doing this thing again. You're just doing this. You're tapping your toe into the it's Waters Church. It's Waters Church. So you're just17:33 you're tapping. This is what you do. And every Christmas, you do it too. You're like, Christmas, oh, baby Jesus. Amen. Tap. Tap. Tap. I know. Oh, yeah. Easter Sunday. That's right. He's alive. Tap. Tap. Tap. I'm asking17:43 you to just jump into the deep end of the pool and enjoy all that God has to give you through the community of faith. We'll forget,17:55 we get into our heads, there's a community in in Israel, the Rahadim community, and they are a very strict orthodox religious sect of Jews. They are 12 percent of the population, and they live on a18:07 steady diet, you'll never believe this, of cream, sugar, and butter. Amen. That's my love language, dietarily. Anybody with me on that? That's my love language. And18:19 you know, accordingly, they are also some of the most obese people in Israel. And so you would think that because of that, they wouldn't live long. Au contraire. This18:30 group lives longer than their secular, non orthodox Jewish counterparts. Do you know why? They found out. Because they get together, and they fellowship, and they have community, and18:42 they're tight knit, and they focus so much on being together. It literally extends their lives. Hey, better than a diet can. Oh,18:54 that's so good. I'm about to give somebody some great Easter news. Are you ready? I'm about to make your day. If you get into Christian community, you can eat whatever you want19:07 and still live a long time. What else proof do we need than from the last 4 years and all the way to this moment to realize that, man, we're not made to do life alone, and the19:19 gospel ministry of spreading the word happens, not through visible signs in the sky or, you know, miracles bringing up. You know, the atheist scorns19:31 and says, I'll believe when I see something supernatural. Man, every sunrise is supernatural. Every day I have breath. Have you ever heard a baby laugh? Man, it's gorgeous.19:43 It's wonderful. I mean, this is the beauty of our world, and they all point to a beautiful God who made it and is bringing it back to himself. So God does not19:55 win people to himself through visible signs in the sky. This is how it goes. People tell people that Jesus is alive. And just like the first Corinth first century church of Corinth, sometimes20:07 I need people to remind me that Jesus is alive. And if you're honest today, you do too. 3 points, and then we're done. Write this down. Number 1, because of the resurrection, I have a hopeful determination.20:19 Because of the resurrection, Paul Paul is gonna make a point here in this chapter, I can get through whatever I'm going through. I have a hopeful determination. I can't be stopped.20:31 I wonder what's stopping some of you. Mom died, grandma died, somebody left you, somebody abandoned you, somebody betrayed you. Man, life is difficult, challenging, it hurts. And Paul says this in the20:43 first he argues from the negative in in verse 13. He's talking to them because the Corinthians actually started to disbelieve in the resurrection. Thought it was already over or it was just spiritual or it wasn't gonna20:52 happen at all. So in verse 13, it says this. He says, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ look at this. And if Christ has not been raised, then you are your faith21:03 is futile, and you are still in your sins. In other words, he's saying, if there is no resurrection, there's no point to this movement. He goes on. He says, and those who have fallen asleep in Christ21:15 are they're dead. They're dead and gone. And then verse 19. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. In21:27 other words, the the Christian movement hinges on the resurrection. It hinges on the resurrection. Why? Because this life's gonna challenge you. This life's gonna pinch21:39 you. This life's gonna disappoint you, and you're gonna get beaten down. What keeps you going? The resurrection. This is not the21:51 end. I can press forward in Christ Jesus. Later in verse 30, he says, why are we in danger everywhere hour? Paul's making this personal point. He says, look, why do I go through what I'm going through?22:02 He says, I die every day. I die every day. I get hostility, Paul says. I get hostility against me every day. And he says, I fought wild beasts in Ephesus. He's talking about people there. How22:14 many got some beasts in their own lives? He's, I fought these wild beasts in Ephesus, and I did all that, and I pressed through. And if the dead are not raised, then all of this is useless and worthless.22:27 But because of the resurrection, I can keep walking forward in my life. Paul, by the way, struggled intensely for the gospel. If you have a bible, you wanna go there, second Corinthians chapter22:38 12 tells us what he struggled for how he struggled through the gospel in second Corinthians chapter 12. Listen to the list of persecutions from Paul the apostle. He writes in verse 24. 5 times22:50 I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes minus 1. In other words, on 5 different occasions, Paul the apostle was whipped 39 times. How do you get23:02 through that if there wasn't a resurrection? He says 3 times I was beaten with rods. He goes, once I was stoned. Not not that's not the that's the people's23:14 chucking rocks at your head. Stone. Because some of you might read that like, I'd get stoned too if that was me. I just I just thought of you. He was stoned. Rocks were chucked at his head. And23:26 then he goes, 3 times I was shipwrecked. 3 times? You know, some some Christians lose their faith if their cruise is late. Come on, somebody. This guy was shipwrecked, not once, not23:37 twice, 3 times. He goes, I spent a night and a day on a drift to sea, and then he goes just on a litany. Listen to this litany. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger23:49 from my own people, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger at sea, in danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger, thirst23:59 without food, in cold exposure. And apart from all that, I have on my heart the daily anxiety that I have for all the churches in Christ. This is a man who suffered and was persecuted24:11 and was hunted down and hated. So you get the idea here. What got him through? The hope of the resurrection. And let me tell you something. You gotta get reminded24:23 that there's a resurrection, or you'll let this world drag you into the depths of despair. I got good news for somebody in this house. You might be walking into the valley of the24:35 shadow of death, but I don't care how dark it gets because Jesus Christ is our good shepherd. We're coming out of that valley of the shadow of death. His rod and his staff are comforting us, and we will dwell in the24:47 house of the Lord forever in Jesus' mighty name. That's our hope. Matthew Henry said that men men have enough religion to to live by, but they don't have enough24:59 religion to die by. In other words, I know I can I can get through even death because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? And I don't know if you're seeing what I'm seeing, but the the temperature is25:10 getting turned up on Christian persecution in this country. In this country. Don't blame me for this next few moments in my sermon. But our president25:22 just announced that today isn't Easter Sunday. It's National Transgender Visibility Day. Yeah. You didn't hear about that because the news wants you to think that he's still Catholic.25:35 He's about as Catholic as Donald Trump is evangelical. This is our government taking the holiest Christian day of the year25:46 and destroying the sentiment through absolute confusion. But this is where the country will continue to go. The question is, will you still stand?25:58 I got enough Jesus. I'm willing to die for it. And it might get to that point. I I don't think in my lifetime, but I think it'll get to that point. That's it might be good for the church, by the way, too. Kinda separates26:09 the weak from the chaff. Kinda separates the real believers, the true believers from the false believers. That you can stand there and say, if you take my life, I don't care because Christ holds my life in the palm of26:21 his hands, and no one's plucking me out. Then I saw on X, this is the, you know, formerly Twitter, this was26:33 I couldn't believe this when this happened a couple of weeks ago. The the words Christ is king started to go viral. Christ is king. I thought, oh, cool. Christ is king. Amen. So I started checking out. Turns out the only26:45 reason why it went viral is because some some moron living in his parents basement decided to say that the term Christ is king is actually anti Semitic, and we shouldn't say it. What?26:57 This is the this is the lunacy of our age. You you you understand that we have people in the streets of America every single week chanting pro Hamas ideologies, pro terrorist ideologies, sympathizing with27:09 terrorists who raped and murdered and pillaged Jewish people a couple months ago. And and and and that's fine. But people who say Christ is king on social media or something anti Semitic talk about missing the forest for27:19 the trees. Let me just say something emphatically on Easter Sunday 20 24. Christ is king. He's king of the Jews. He's king of the Gentiles. He's king of the atheists. He's king of the agnostics.27:31 He's king of you. He's king of me. You don't even have to acknowledge that he's king because my bible says he's king of kings and he's lord of lords, and every tongue's gonna confess and every knee's gonna bow. Jesus27:40 Christ is lord to the glory of God the father. That's the truth. I don't have to convince you of that. That's the truth that God has proclaimed in his27:52 word. So I was thinking about that term too, Christ is king, he's not just king of us, he's king of the cosmos. He's king of Jupiter. Like, he's the 1 that gets28:04 to decide if Pluto is actually a planet or not. Amen? Amen. It's Easter Sunday. Some of say, I don't understand why Easter Sunday is always a different day of the year. Why is that the case? Okay. I got I28:16 got I gotta give you a little information about that because I just learned this myself. It's actually a cosmic ordering, and I think it it make makes perfect sense. You know, Jesus' birth was announced by a28:28 star, and the cosmos bore witness to Christ coming to Earth. Well, the church, many centuries ago, decided we gotta align his28:40 resurrection with the cosmos. And the reason why Easter is a moving date, it can go from March 20 second to April 20 ninth, anytime between then, is because officially, they wait until the days get starting to get28:51 longer, and then they wait, and I just found this out last week, that Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. So technically29:03 speaking, you should be saying to each other, happy first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. But because that doesn't fit on a Hallmark card, we just call it Easter. Amen?29:15 And and what I'm trying to tell you though is that even the cosmos points to Jesus. He's king overall. And then Isaiah 57 verse 15, this is why this matters,29:27 because it says this in Isaiah. I'm the high and lofty 1. I dwell in a high and lofty place, but also Somebody say, but also. But also. Check this out. The king of the cosmos also29:39 dwells with the 1 who is of a contrite and lowly spirit to revive them. Here's what scripture says about Jesus is that he fills all in all. He fills all in all.29:50 That means he fills the cosmos and he can fill your heart, and he can help you press on. Because in the resurrection, you have you have a holy determination in Jesus Christ. Point30:02 number 2, because of the resurrection, I have a heavenly destination. I'm just a pilgrim passing through this life. And yeah, this life can have a lot of joys, it can also have a lot of sorrows, but it's not home.30:15 It's not home. Here's what's Here's the reality for anyone listening to me, I beg you to listen. You are gonna die. You are going to die. I don't30:27 care what you believe, you're dead, you're a dead man waiting. And the reason why Paul unpacks here in first Corinthians is why the resurrection is so important. In30:39 verse 22, he says, as in Adam, all die. All die. The atheist dies. The agnostic dies. The skeptic dies. The Muslim, the30:50 Hindu, they all die. But then also in Christ Jesus, all will be made alive. Each in his own to order Christ the first fruits, then all who then all who at his coming who belong to Christ. Now the reason31:02 why we die, Paul says, is because of 1 man. What's that man's name? Adam. What happened to Adam? In the garden, he was in perfect harmony with God. God set down 1 rule.31:14 Genesis chapter 2 17. And God said, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat it, you shall surely what? Die. Now the Hebrew is even deeper. The Hebrew text the Hebrew31:26 translation of that text says, and in dying, you shall die. Think about that phrase. In dying, you shall die. So31:38 here's the truth. We're not just gonna die, we are dying. Scientifically, when men turn 21, they stop growing and they31:49 start deteriorating. Yeah. Ladies, bad news. It happens even earlier for you. When you turn32:01 18, you stop growing, and you start deteriorating. Slowly. But it's happening. You have less32:13 cells, you have less life in you than you did only 1 hour ago. Happy Easter.32:26 But sometimes, you know, we wanna deny this. It's a reality. Your body is slowly decomposing. Some of you, it's very obvious. Some of you,32:38 far less. You can you can cover things up. You know what I'm talking about. Let me pick on me, so I don't feel like you're getting poked at, okay. I used to run 3 miles a day, 432:50 times a week. I don't anymore. My knee says, mm-mm, no. We're not doing that anymore. I got plantar33:02 fasciitis. Anybody with me? Got that over here. If run for even like 30 seconds, next morning I wake up pain, agonizing pain. I've been to 2 doctors and they're like,33:16 welcome to old age. And and and I this is something else that happens to me, maybe someone can run. I go to bed healthy.33:29 I wake up injured. I don't know, I think my wife is secretly beating me up while I sleep. She's probably like, and that's for yesterday, and this is for33:41 I know you're gonna blow it. I'm thinking about getting 1 of those nest cams in my bedroom just to make sure. Is she no. She's not. In dying, you shall33:52 die, and there ain't nothing you can do to stop it. But if you're born again of the Holy Spirit, that's not the end. And34:05 so the scripture says Adam caused us all to start dying. And you say, I don't like that. That's unfair. Why should I be held accountable for what Adam did? Okay. I get it. That's totally reasonable. But notice how the34:16 bible ends it. And in Christ, all were made alive. 1 guy got you into it. Good news. 1 guy gets you out of it. It's it's it's equal. The the the34:27 plane is equal. Now now you just put your faith in Jesus, and and the Holy Spirit comes in, and and you're yeah. Your body is still going to die, but your spirit is alive, and what death what happens at death?34:39 You are just facing a doorway of transition to a new life that will never die. Paul says in verse 51, behold, I tell you a mercy a mystery. He says, we shall not all sleep. That that now now when he34:51 talks about death, notice that he says it's sleep. It's not death. It's not an end. It's just sleep. You just couldn't take a nap. And you will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trumpet, the35:02 trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable. You will never deal with dying bodies again, which brings me to point number 3. Write this down. Because of the resurrection, I'm bound for35:13 bodily transformation. Transformation's in my future. So, yeah, National Transvisibility Day. I'm35:24 getting resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ain't that good news? And this is the hope of our35:36 faith. You don't you don't have to be feeling like you don't belong because I thought about this. This is the this is what this35:48 is what everyone struggles with in some way, shape or form. And if you're honest, and I'm honest, we all know it. I'm not in a hole I'm not at home in this body. Anybody with me on36:00 that? I'm not People say, oh, death is a part of life, it's a part of Man, that's just baloney. That's like saying divorce is just a part of marriage.36:12 Paul will say in this text, the the last enemy is death. Death is not natural. It's unnatural. You were not intended to die. You were intended to live with Christ,36:24 and your body is betraying that reality every single day. But in Christ Jesus, you're getting a new body. First Corinthians 15 35, he says, but someone will ask,36:36 how are the dead raised, and what kind of body did they come with? He says, foolish person. Then he he goes all agricultural on us. He says, when you sow into the ground, you don't you don't put what comes into the what36:46 comes out of the ground is not does not look like what comes into the ground. It's a it's a kernel that dies, and then and then a plant comes up. That's how the resurrection is gonna look. And and and then he says this,36:58 it is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in natural body. It is raised in spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there's also a spiritual body. Oh,37:09 this is good. This is good. This is why they didn't ex this is why they did not recognize Jesus when he rose again. This is why. Because he looked different. So good news for anybody who doesn't37:21 look good. It's not your final body. Amen. Might be the best news someone's heard all year. You're getting a heavenly body.37:32 Jesus' heavenly body was indestructible, is indestructible. My heavenly body will be indestructible, will not deteriorate. I get to run again. Hallelujah. I I get to rollerblade again. Yeah. Used to rollerblade37:44 too. I was a weirdo. Yeah. I get to do all those. My body will live forever and there will be no disease and there will be no pandemics and there will be no status and there will be no death and there will be no loss and37:54 there will be no pain and there will be no divorce and there will be no dysfunction. There will just be eternal glory for all eternity in the presence of our almighty god. So happy38:05 transformation day in Jesus name. Philippians chapter 3, Jesus said Paul says, our citizenship is in heaven, and we await a savior, the Lord38:17 Jesus Christ, who will, here it is, transform our body to be like his glorious body. And then he says this, that's how you stand firm. If the resurrection38:29 didn't happen, nothing matters. But because it did but because it did, you matter. And your pain is not permanent, and yourShow more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.