Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - "Christ Died for Our Sins" Tuesday, 6 January 2015 - Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15: Resurrection1-2 Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I’m assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you’re in this for good and holding fast.)
3-9 The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence.
10-11 But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven’t I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn’t amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it’s all the same: We spoke God’s truth and you entrusted your lives.
12-15 Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.
16-20 If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.
"Christ Died for Our Sins" by Stephen Mayes
“I could not understand how Jesus would die for a terrible guy like me,” Fadama* shared. By an inexplicable inner grip he responded to the Good News call as the greatest story of all times beamed forth through the JESUS Film.
Fadama was known by a nickname in this Freetown, Sierra Leone community that suggested his toughness. He survived by pushing drugs. He was a gang member, known for attacking and terrorizing people. He made off with what he could get. “No one ever told me about God . . . because they were afraid of me and they knew I would not listen.”
“Christ died for our sins:” The power and beauty of that message brought him weeping to the foot of the Cross. The next night Fadama brought his mother. She had been the head of a powerful secret society known for darksome practices. Her heart too was captured and she gave her life to the One who died for her.
This is our message “of first importance.” Someone saw it that way for my life. In His name we pass on the joyous tidings!
*Name changed to protect identity.
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