Tuesday, March 26, 2024

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - RESURRECTION - Sadell Bradley - 03/27/2024


WEDNESDAY'S WORD

RESURRECTION

3/27/2024

"Let every man and woman count themselves immortal. Let them catch the revelation of Jesus in His resurrection. Let them say not merely, "Christ is risen," but "I shall rise!" – Phillips Brooks, Clergyman

Resurrection is at the very heart of Christian belief. We celebrate it not just on "Easter Sunday", but on every Sunday...really every day. Christians have held services on Sunday, "the first day of the week," (John 20:19) as a commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ since the first century. RESURRECTION is restoring a dead person to life; reviving the practice, use, or memory of something; to bring new vigor.


In Christianity, The Resurrection is both the belief that Jesus Christ rose from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that humans will rise from the dead at the last judgment. Everyone will die at some point and afterward we will be held accountable to God for what we have said and done during our lives. (Matthew 12:36, Hebrews 9:27) We will also be held responsible for whether or not we have believed in, and identified ourselves with God's Son Jesus Christ, the judge of this world, (John 5:22-23) as Lord, King, and Savior. Christians believe that those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins through his shed blood on the Cross will be declared righteous by God. (Rev. 20:11-15)


Hebrews 6:1-3 gives us the building blocks of the Christian faith: repentance from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. These six "foundation stones" are the rudimentary (elementary) beliefs to which every Christ-follower is to adhere. Belief in the resurrection is a crucial Christian doctrine. Paul's words to the Church at Corinth confirm this:


13For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. 20But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. (1 Corinthians 15:13-20)

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Our hope of an eternal life in Heavenly communion with God our Father is directly connected to our belief in the Resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. The concepts of regeneration (being "born again") and baptism, reflect the old person's transformation process—dying to sin and self, and rising out of that state into a resurrected newness by their identification with Christ. In every healing, financial debt cancelation, mental health recovery, forgiveness, and reconciliation, we experience a form of resurrection. The theme of resurrection anchors the preacher and the parishioner. It is the continual hope that what we experience on this earth is not all there is. Something better awaits us as we believe!

Worship Service 10:00 AM - Bible Study 9:00 AM

691 Fleming Road, Cincinnati OH 45231

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