Resurrection Power

1 Corinthians 15:12-20 Common English Bible
12 So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, “There’s no resurrection of the dead”? 13 If there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. 14 If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless. 15 We are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, when he didn’t raise him if it’s the case that the dead aren’t raised. 16 If the dead aren’t raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. 17 If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins, 18 and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. 19 If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest[a] of those who have died.

We are continuing our Sermon Series in the book of 1 Corinthians. Today, Paul is explaining the importance of believing in the resurrection of Jesus. Passages like this give people hope about eternal life in heaven, but it is also for the here and now. The fact that Jesus overcame sin and death is a game changer. We can now wake up each day free from sin. Will we still mess up? Yes, but we are not slaves to sin anymore. We serve a God who can resurrect our lives and create new life in us. Addictions can be overcome, our attitudes and hearts can be changed, our savior is powerful and can change our lives! A famous gospel hymn, Because He Lives, was written in 1971 by the Gaither's. We are going to talk about some of the back story to why they wrote this song during an uncertain time in their life. We will also talk about verse 20, what does it mean when it refers to Jesus as the first crop of the harvest? Join us on Sunday and find out what it means for us.