Living Today in Light of the Resurrection

And and it's a wonderful dinner and everything's great. And the host then starts to clean up the dishes around the table and gather things up. But they tell you, hold on to your fork. You know what that means? That means dessert's coming. That's what that means. She said, I love dessert. It's the best part of the whole meal. She said, I'm holding on to my fork because the best is yet to come. [00:46:30] (27 seconds)  #HoldOntoYourFork

Maybe you came here because it's Easter and it's just what you do. Maybe you come here because your family came. Maybe you come here because you're a part of the church and you know all of these things. But here's the great question. Do you really know and believe that Jesus rose from the dead? It's not an idea. It's not a story. It's not something you tell yourself to feel better. All of that is vanity. It's real. It really happened, and it really changes who you are and how you live. [01:02:51] (40 seconds)  #KnowJesusRose

Oh, no. The spirit goes. When you die, your spirit will go one of two places. For a believer, it goes into the presence of God and awaits the resurrection. For a non believer, it goes to a holding place that sometimes is called the prison or captivity, and it awaits a judgment. Your soul does not wander. Your soul isn't floating out there. And it all makes a difference in what you believe today. Paul says the resurrection is of vital importance today and after you die. [00:58:30] (41 seconds)  #WhereYourSpiritGoes

And they set it in that pot that casket. And here's what they said. Philip, you knew more about resurrection than we did, and we know who you are. We can't wait to see who you'll become. What you believe about the resurrection of Jesus changes everything about how you live today and is all your hope for tomorrow. Oh no, I think it's true. The night is almost gone. And the day is coming on. And when he returns, ain't no grave gonna hold this body down. [01:01:40] (47 seconds)  #AintNoGrave

So how do we see that? Well, first of all, let's talk about the gospel importance of what that means. We've looked at this several times over the last few weeks, but I want us to look at it, first of all, from this perspective, that Jesus and the resurrection embodies something of this gospel. We have seen him say that Jesus died for our sins, that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day. That resurrection is a central part of the gospel. [00:39:24] (27 seconds)  #ResurrectionIsCentral

It's the picture Paul has of the resurrection. He says, this is our hope. This is what it's about. This is how it changes every day. Because right now, we're living with the power of the Holy Spirit in us. But one day, we're gonna live in his presence perfectly made for all eternity. [00:47:33] (18 seconds)  #EternalHopeInChrist

And oftentimes, it is that which we do. We know it intimately. Paul says, I'd heard about Jesus, and then I saw him, and everything changed. Listen. I can tell you all about Jesus. I can tell you everything about him. We can go through every passage in scripture and and detail all of it. But if you don't know it in a way that it changes your life, it's just a story. [00:50:43] (32 seconds)  #KnowledgeMustChangeYou

In addition to knowing, you have to believe. We're supposed to believe in the resurrection. Look at what Paul says here. Go back to verse two. That I the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. He he says it's possible for you to hear all this, but you not believe it. And you say you do, but you don't really. You just go through the motions. It's just a religious thing. It's just a spiritual thing. [00:51:16] (30 seconds)  #BelieveNotJustKnow