Centering Faith on the Resurrection of Jesus

Sep 10, 2025

Devotional

Day 1: The Resurrection as the Foundation of Faith

The resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of Christian faith, not merely a supporting detail. The earliest followers did not believe because of ancient texts or prophecies, but because they encountered the risen Christ—an event that transformed their despair into hope and launched a movement that changed the world. Our faith, too, is not propped up by the reliability of every detail in the Old Testament or even the New Testament, but by the reality of the resurrection, which stands as the ultimate reason for our hope. Just as the first Christians’ faith was reborn at the empty tomb, so our faith finds its sure foundation in the living Jesus. [05:49]

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (ESV)
"For I delivered 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 Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred 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."

Reflection: If you were to explain why you have hope in Jesus, would you point first to the resurrection? How might your conversations about faith change if you started with the event of the resurrection rather than defending every part of the Bible?

Day 2: Faith Is Not Dependent on the Bible’s Infallibility

Many people walk away from faith because they believe that if any part of the Bible is questioned, the entire faith collapses. But Christianity is not a house of cards; it is rooted in the person and resurrection of Jesus, not in the perfection of a text. The Bible documents the birth and growth of the church, but it did not create Christianity—Christianity created the Bible. Our faith is not threatened by questions about the Old Testament or by scientific or historical challenges; it stands firm on the living Christ. [05:49]

John 20:24-29 (ESV)
"Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.' Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.' Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'"

Reflection: When you encounter doubts or questions about the Bible, do you feel your faith is threatened? How can you remind yourself that your faith is anchored in the risen Jesus, not in the absence of questions?

Day 3: The Power of Adjusting Our Approach for the Sake of the Gospel

The early church leaders, like Paul, were willing to adapt their methods to reach people where they were, focusing on the resurrection rather than defending every aspect of the Jewish scriptures. In our context, insisting that people accept the authority of the entire Bible before embracing Jesus can be a stumbling block. Instead, we are called to adjust our approach, putting all our eggs in the Easter basket, so that the message of Jesus remains irresistible to every generation. [21:06]

1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (ESV)
"To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings."

Reflection: Who in your life might be more open to Jesus if you focused on sharing the story of the resurrection rather than debating the reliability of the Bible? What is one way you can adjust your approach this week for the sake of the gospel?

Day 4: The Identity of Jesus Is the Heart of the Movement

The earliest disciples did not follow Jesus because of his teachings alone, but because of who he claimed to be—the Holy One of God. Even when his teachings were difficult or confusing, they stayed because they believed in him. The movement was not sustained by doctrine or content, but by the person of Jesus and the reality of his resurrection. Our faith, too, is centered on Jesus himself, not just on what he taught. [10:24]

John 6:66-69 (ESV)
"After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, 'Do you want to go away as well?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.'"

Reflection: When you face hard teachings or confusing moments in your faith, do you focus on the person of Jesus? What would it look like for you to trust in who Jesus is, even when you don’t have all the answers?

Day 5: Making Faith Irresistible for the Next Generation

If we want to reach the next generation and those who have walked away, we must shift the spotlight from defending the infallibility of the Bible to proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. The faith that changed the world was not text-based but event-based, and it was this focus that made the early church irresistible. By returning to this foundation, we can offer a faith that is strong, resilient, and compelling to those who are searching for hope today. [21:06]

Acts 2:32-36 (ESV)
"This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.' Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."

Reflection: What is one practical way you can help make faith in Jesus irresistible to someone in your life this week—especially someone who may have been turned off by debates about the Bible?

Sermon Summary

The heart of our faith is not a book, but an event—the resurrection of Jesus. In a world where “the Bible says” no longer carries the authority it once did, especially for those outside the church or those who have left it, we must return to the foundation that made Christianity irresistible in the first place. Many who walk away from faith do so not because of Jesus, but because of a fragile, house-of-cards version of Christianity that equates faith with believing every detail of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, as literal and infallible. When that version collapses under the weight of new information or unanswered questions, faith often goes with it. But this is not the faith of the first followers of Jesus.

The earliest Christians did not believe because of a book; they believed because of what they saw. The resurrection was not a doctrine to be defended, but an event that transformed disillusioned ex-followers into bold witnesses. The New Testament documents, like a birth certificate, record what happened—they did not create the event. Christianity existed for centuries before there was a bound Bible, but it did not exist before the resurrection. The faith of Peter, Paul, and the others was not propped up by the reliability of the Old Testament, but by the reality of the empty tomb and their encounters with the risen Christ.

This approach does not diminish the value of Scripture; rather, it grounds its authority in the resurrection. Once someone is convinced that Jesus rose from the dead, they are naturally drawn to his teachings and the story that led up to him. Our friends and family do not need to accept the Old Testament as historically or scientifically accurate before they can embrace Jesus. The resurrection is the horse; the Bible is the cart. We must reverse the order many of us inherited and put the event back at the center.

If we want to reach the next generation and those who have left the faith, we must shift our focus from defending every aspect of the Bible to proclaiming the resurrection. Like the first Christians, we must be willing to adjust our approach for the sake of the gospel, making our faith irresistible once again—not by lowering the bar, but by returning to the unshakable foundation of the risen Christ.

Key Takeaways

1. Faith Rooted in the Resurrection, Not a Text The foundation of Christian faith is not the infallibility of the Bible, but the historical event of Jesus’ resurrection. The earliest followers believed because they encountered the risen Christ, not because of written documents. Our faith should be anchored in this event, which stands even if every other prop is removed. [05:49]
2. The Bible Documents, It Does Not Create Faith Just as a birth certificate records a birth but does not cause it, the New Testament records the birth of the church and the resurrection, but did not create them. Christianity existed before the Bible was compiled, and the authority of Scripture flows from the reality of the resurrection, not the other way around. [13:55]
3. Jesus, Not the Old Testament, Is the Stumbling Block Most people who leave the faith do so because of issues with the Bible, especially the Old Testament, not because of Jesus himself. Jesus remains compelling and attractive even to skeptics, and our focus should be on him rather than defending every aspect of the Old Testament. [10:24]
4. A Faith That Adjusts for the Sake of the Gospel The Apostle Paul modeled a willingness to adapt his approach to reach different people, becoming “all things to all people.” In our post-Christian context, we must be willing to shift our methods, focusing on the resurrection as the core of our hope, for the sake of reaching both current and future generations. [21:06]
5. Irresistibility Returns When We Center on Christ The early church was irresistible because it was built on the unshakable reality of the resurrection, not on defending every detail of Scripture. If we want to recapture that same power and appeal, we must return to this foundation, making the risen Jesus the reason for our hope and the center of our proclamation.

** [13:55]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:10] - Setting the Stage: Why This Matters
[02:45] - The Problem with a House-of-Cards Faith
[04:30] - Why People Walk Away from Christianity
[05:49] - The Birth Certificate Analogy
[07:20] - The Resurrection: The Event That Changed Everything
[09:00] - Why the Early Followers Believed
[10:24] - Jesus’ Claims and the Real Reason for Faith
[12:00] - The Role of the New Testament Documents
[13:55] - The Resurrection as the Foundation
[15:30] - Rethinking Our Approach to Scripture
[17:10] - Faith and Science: The Story of Catherine
[19:00] - Adjusting for a Post-Christian World
[21:06] - Becoming All Things to All People
[22:30] - Making Faith Irresistible Again

Bible Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide: The Irresistible Foundation – Centering Our Faith on the Resurrection

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (ESV)
> For I delivered 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 Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred 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.

John 6:66-69 (ESV)
> After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
> But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.

Observation Questions

According to 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, what did Paul say was of “first importance” to the Christian faith?
In John 6:66-69, what reason does Peter give for continuing to follow Jesus, even when others left? [10:24]
Based on the sermon, what event caused the first followers of Jesus to regain their faith after losing hope at the crucifixion? [05:49]
What does 1 Peter 3:15 instruct believers to be ready to do, and how does the sermon connect this to the resurrection? [21:06]

Interpretation Questions

Why does Paul emphasize the resurrection as the foundation of faith in 1 Corinthians 15, and how does this relate to the sermon’s point about “event-based” faith? [13:55]
The sermon says that the earliest Christians did not believe because of a book, but because of what they saw. How does this challenge or affirm the way many people today approach faith? [05:49]
According to the sermon, why is it significant that Peter and the other disciples lost faith after Jesus’ death, but regained it after the resurrection? What does this say about the role of the resurrection in Christian belief? [05:49]
The sermon mentions that most people who leave the faith do so because of issues with the Bible, not with Jesus himself. What implications does this have for how we share our faith with others? [10:24]

Application Questions

The sermon suggests that our faith should be rooted in the resurrection, not in defending every detail of the Bible. How does this change the way you think about sharing your faith with someone who has doubts about Scripture? [13:55]
Have you ever felt pressure to defend a “house-of-cards” version of Christianity, where one difficult question about the Bible could make your faith feel shaky? How did you respond, and how might the resurrection-centered approach help? [02:45]
Think about someone you know who is skeptical or has left the faith. How could focusing on the resurrection and the person of Jesus, rather than arguments about the Old Testament, open up new conversations? [10:24]
The sermon uses the analogy of a birth certificate: the New Testament documents the event, but doesn’t create it. How does this analogy help you understand the relationship between the Bible and the resurrection? [05:49]
The Apostle Paul said he became “all things to all people” for the sake of the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:22, referenced in the sermon). What is one practical way you could adjust your approach to faith conversations for the sake of reaching someone in your life? [21:06]
The sermon says, “Irresistibility returns when we center on Christ.” What would it look like for our small group or church to make the risen Jesus the center of our message and hope? [13:55]
Catherine’s story in the sermon showed that her faith wasn’t shaken by new scientific ideas because it was rooted in the resurrection. Is there an area where you feel tension between faith and new information? How can you respond in a way that keeps Jesus at the center? [19:00]

Sermon Clips

“Most people who've walked away from faith walked away for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. They walked away from a version of Christianity that could be compared to a, well, to a house of cards. And here's what I mean by that. If someone convinces them the earth wasn't created in six literal days, they may begin to wonder if there's any reason they should believe Jesus rose after three. If any part of the 66 books of the Bible is proven to be untrue, then the Bible isn't true. And if the Bible isn't true, then their version of Christianity comes tumbling down.”

“In my conversations with deconverted people, I have never heard a deconversion story involving disbelief in something essential to following Jesus. Now, I've talked to plenty of people who found it impossible to keep believing things they were taught, things that they were taught were essential to faith, and they're often shocked and, honestly, sometimes relieved when I assure them that I don't believe what they don't believe either or that a person can actually follow Jesus without believing whatever it is they've decided they no longer believe.”

“Christianity can stand on its own two New Covenant, nail -scarred, resurrection, first -century feet. The Christian faith does not need to be propped up by the Jewish scriptures. In a post -Christian context like ours, our faith actually does better without Old Covenant support.”

“While many modern folks may hesitate to recognize Jesus as divine, They are not in the least bit hesitant to praise him as someone whose life is worth imitating. In other words, people don't generally leave the church or the faith because of Jesus. He's not the stumbling block. We have put other things in their way, things that have made us unnecessarily resistible.”

“Peter, Andrew, James, and John did not decide to follow Jesus because of something they read. They followed him because of something they saw. Now, maybe this will help. What would happen to you if you lost your birth certificate? The answer is nothing. Your birth certificate documents you. It did not create you and it doesn't sustain you.”

“In other words, we don't believe because of a book. We believe because of an event that inspired the book. To put it another way, the Bible did not create Christianity. Christianity created the Bible. The Christian faith existed for 200 plus years before there was a the Bible, but it did not exist before there was a the resurrection.”

“When Jesus uttered his last word and breathed his last breath, everybody who had believed stopped believing. There is no evidence that any of his former followers were planning to keep the dream alive or to somehow keep the movement moving. I mean, after all, if Jesus couldn't keep himself alive, what hope did they have of keeping his movement alive? Besides, why bother? The fact that Nick and Joe were taking a lifeless body down from a Roman cross was all the evidence anyone needed to know. Jesus was not who he claimed to be.”

“Peter and the boys didn't choose to stay with Jesus because of what he taught. They chose to stay with Jesus in spite of what he taught. They hung around because of who he claimed to be. Here's Peter's actual response in John chapter six. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life and we have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God. So there it is. The reason they stuck with Jesus is because of who they believed he was, the Holy One of God.”

“Everybody, as in even his most devout followers, expected Jesus to do what all dead people do, stay dead. Nick and Joe prepared Jesus' body for burial because they expected him to stay buried. On Easter morning, no one was standing outside Jesus' tomb counting down backwards from 10, anticipating a miracle. On the contrary, a group of women left home just before dawn to re -prepare Jesus' body for burial.”

“No church, there were no christians just broken -hearted disillusioned x jesus followers that is until a handful of those followers encountered their risen savior and decided to re -follow and when they did something new was unleashed in the world something standalone something birthed in a nation for all nations something forecasted foreshadowed foreseen a new movement fueled by a new covenant and guided by a new governing ethic the resurrection signal the inauguration of the ecclesia the assembly the congregation of jesus we call it the church.”

“The Christian faith began with the resurrection of Jesus in other words a birth not a birth certificate our faith began when a handful of jesus followers saw him alive from the dead and just as the resurrection of jesus served as the reason they would later give for the hope that was alive in them so his resurrection must serve as the reason for our hope as well to state it more directly we don't believe because the bible says we believe because jesus rose.”

“Why do we believe that jesus rose because the bible tells us so no it is way better than that we believe jesus rose from the dead because matthew tells us so mark tells us so luke tells us so john tells us so peter tells us so james the brother of jesus believed it to be so and last but not least the apostle paul came to believe it was so eventually church leaders collected these individual declarations of faith including the four accounts of jesus life and teaching the gospels and bound them together entitled it the new testament.”

“Once someone accepts the historicity of the resurrection you don't generally have to convince them to lean into what jesus said and did and when somebody becomes fascinated with jesus they usually become fascinated with the backstory as well the jewish scriptures the moral of this story should be quite encouraging to most of us your unbelieving friends don't have to accept the old testament as reliable or even the new testament as inspired as a precursor to embracing jesus as savior.”

“The resurrection is the horse the bible is the cart unfortunately most of us grew up with that particular cart sitting in front of that particular horse we were taught to believe that everything in the bible was true because it was in the bible we inherited a text -based faith so we grew up believing jesus rose from the dead because well because the bible says he rose from the dead. But once upon a time, our faith was event -based. Perhaps, just perhaps, we should start showing off the baby from Nazareth instead of trying to convince everybody that his birth certificate is accurate.”

“If the church is going to regain the first century status of irresistible, we have to change the way we talk about the Bible and we have to shift the spotlight off the infallibility of the Bible and onto the resurrection of Jesus. Why? Because most educated people have an educated opinion about what the Bible is and what it isn't. They do not walk into our churches and our Bible studies with a blank slate. They walk in with full slates.”

“Our faith doesn't teeter on the brink of extinction based on the archeology or the history of the Old Testament. Anyone who lost faith in Jesus because they lost faith in the historical and archeological credibility of the Old Testament, well, they just lost faith unnecessarily. The faith of Jesus' earliest followers did not rest on a historically, archeologically, or scientifically accurate book. And yours shouldn't either.”

“When skeptics point out the violence and the supposed misogyny and the scientific and historically unverifiable claims of the Hebrew Bible, instead of trying to defend those things, we can just shrug and give them our best confused look and say, I'm not even sure why you're bringing this up. My Christian faith isn't based on any of that. And by the way, it isn't, or it shouldn't be. Peter's wasn't, Paul's wasn't, Catherine's isn't.”

“The approach to preaching, teaching, writing, and evangelism that most of us saw modeled and consequently inherited is perfectly designed for a culture that no longer exists. The Bible says does not carry the weight that it once did. But fortunately, first century church leaders showed us the way forward. They put all of their eggs in one basket, the Easter basket. They leveraged the event of the resurrection. And the time has come for us to do the same.”

“If we genuinely care about unchurched people, if we genuinely care about post -church people, if we genuinely care about the faith of our kids and our grandkids, we will. The Apostle Paul, who was more than willing to adjust his approach, summed it up perfectly when he wrote these words. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. And I do this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. I love that, all possible means. So let's just do that. Let's adjust our sails. Let's shift our approach for the sake of the gospel. Your faith doesn't depend on it. My faith doesn't either. But the faith of the next generation just might. The faith of this generation just might as well.”

“Let's step back onto the firm foundation we discover in the early church. The foundation that birthed a version of our faith that was stronger than Roman steel and tougher than Roman nails, a version the ancient world found to be irresistible.”

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