Life Lessons for Mother's Day

Several years ago, I must have heard or read a wonderful Mother’s Day message preached from Proverbs 1:7-9. The message was so simple and practical, I remembered it for a long time afterwards. The margins of the Bible I was using at that time still bear the outline, “Seven Life Lessons for Mother’s Day.” I thought I would share this outline with you today.

Begin with Scripture (always the best place to start). Proverbs 1:7-9 says:

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
⁸ Listen, my son, to your father's instruction, and don’t reject your mother's teaching,
⁹ for they will be a garland of grace on your head, and a [gold] chain around your neck (HCSB).

1. The first lesson we should learn is to honor our mothers. Even a great king, even the wisest man who ever lived, will bow to Momma. God chose the truthful sayings of wise King Solomon to convey truth about Himself in Scripture. For all his fame, for all his riches, and for all his splendor, even though they eventually brought ruin and apostasy to his life, Solomon never forgot to honor his mother, Bathsheba. Consider the model Solomon gives all sons and daughters with his reception of his mother as recorded in 1 Kings 2:19.

So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne, and had a throne placed for the king's mother. So, she sat down at his right hand.

We should honor our mothers. They are not perfect. Neither were Bathsheba or Solomon. Neither are any of us. Still, we should bestow upon our moms dignity and respect. For what it is worth, the One Man Who is perfect, Jesus, honored His mother, even seeing to her care as He hung on a cross!

2. The family is God’s idea. The Bible assumes a mom and a dad will speak into their children’s lives. “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). Families are not merely some social entity derived from behavioral or social instincts. No, God ordained the institution and design of family in creation. The first two chapters of the Bible clarify God’s original intent for families:

²⁷ So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.
²⁸ God blessed them, and said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth ...” (Genesis 1:27-28). … This is why a man leaves his father and his mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

God’s idea is that one man and one woman raise children who will know Him and make Him known. Families are His first plan to declare His glory among the nations. So, family is an important value to God, and should be to us!

3. To that end, family is God's basic school to teach children how to live in the world. Dad is to be an instructor and Mom is to be a teacher. So, the family is a school. Not only should families “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth …,” but God’s idea is that our families fill the earth people who know how to live in this world and be ready for the next.

4. The beginning of this knowledge, the core curriculum for the God’s school called family, is the fear of the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (verse 7). The basic theme of all of Mom and Dad’s tutelage in our lives should be the fear of the Lord. The words parents use, the way they live, all they convey to the next generation by declaration or deed, should be informed by and intended to promote the fear of the Lord. (We will discuss in more detail the fear of the Lord in this morning’s talk).

5. God’s Word says both fathers and mothers must share the responsibility to teach the family. He does not say, "Dads instruct, and moms change diapers." He does not say, "Dads work, so they are not responsible to teach their children." He does not say, "Moms work, so they can pass the responsibility to teach onto a care-giver." No, God says fathers instruct, and mothers teach. They both share this enormous responsibility.

6. God expects children to learn from their moms and dads. When children learn from their parents the fear of the Lord, their hearts are sealed and steadied against temptation and tragedy. When children, 4 or 14 or 40 or 80 years old, live what they learn, they honor their parents, one of God’s Top Ten Commands (Exodus 20:12), and so they honor God.

7. God promises a reward to sons and daughters who listen to and learn and live the lessons godly parents teach. These life lessons will be a will be “a garland of grace on your head, and a [gold] chain around your neck” (verse 9). Though we may not always feel like this is true, God-centered living and instruction is a source of tremendous joy and fulfillment. God guarantees these life lessons will adorn our lives and our children’s lives like victory crowns. In addition, lives grounded in the fear of the Lord will find “strong confidence, a fountain of life,” (Proverbs 14:26-27) and the road to life, so they will be able to “sleep at night without danger” (Proverbs 19:23).

Little wonder, then that Paul writes, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right. Honor your father and mother – which is the first commandment with promise – that it may go well with you may have a long life in the land” (Ephesians 20:12). What we call “traditional family values” bear a striking resemblance to God’s original family values.

To the ends of the earth until the end of time!

Pastor Rob

Such Love

Inevitable. Unavoidable. Inescapable. Even in the post-modern flush of our day, when apparently the only absolute is there are no absolutes, we all know some things in life are simply bound to happen … absolutely certain. Perhaps no two certainties are more universally accepted than death and taxes. At least, most of us assume the inevitable nature of death, which has served as a standard for the assurance of taxation in western thinking since Daniel Defoe linked death and taxes in 1726. Nearly 100 years later, Benjamin Franklin famously declared, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Perhaps it is part of our human nature, though, to try to escape the inescapable. Tell a child, “Don’t touch,” and they will race to touch. Tell a man, “You have to do such and such,” and he will set himself to prove you wrong. Some of our race have become quite adept, even profitable, at the discovery and manipulation of loop holes in tax laws to avoid the proverbially unavoidable – taxes. None but the most deluded of us, however, can lay claim to keeping from death its due. Regardless of the value or credence a person assigns to religion, we all know that all living things die, including people. Some folks may get out of taxes, but no one gets around death.

Still, I am most surprised by how surprised we are when death happens in our circles of influence. We know death is coming, but we seem to buzz on with living as if everybody dies except us and those we love. Then we are positively shocked that death would touch us. Margaret Mitchell quipped in her little 1936 book, Gone with the Wind, “Death, taxes, and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.” Surely, death is difficult to calendar, unless we employ unnatural means to that end. We should not be surprised, though, when death happens, should we?

Twist #1: I forget when or where this concept was introduced to me, but an idea about death set my feet on a path to life. The observable discomfort and borderline rebellion of our nature’s against death suggests we were not made to die. Think about this. The reason we find death itself unreasonable and unwelcome is simply that God did not mean for us to die.

God created man to enjoy eternal, unfettered bliss. He did not fashion Adam and Eve to die after 80 years in Eden. In fact, when Adam sinned, and all mankind was cursed, God expelled them from the garden and set a guard to prevent them from entering again in their now fallen state. Why? Because, if they stayed in the Garden of Eden they could have continued to eat from the Tree of Life and never die. Although, that sounds like a good thing, God knows to live forever in such a condition as to be alienated from Him is not really living at all. We were designed by God to live forever and to live forever in joyful communion with Him.

Twist #2: Wonderful! We were not made to taste death. However, now the only way to experience eternal life is to experience death. Now we must die if we will ever live. Now we learn that death is actually a special part of God’s plan.

Every day my prayers include petitions, intercessions really, for friends and family members who struggle. Some of the people I care for fight through hurt and heartache and pain and loss. Dreams bludgeoned, careers and savings lost, marriages broken, and health stolen away – these are all reminders to me of the minor inevitable, death.

To be sure, we will all face various degrees of devastation and loss. The lesser reason for this is that the minor inevitable, death, casts a saturating specter over all the inhabitants of these shadowlands, this twisted earth of fallen mankind. The greater reason is that God wants to demonstrate to each of us the major inevitable, His love.

The past two weeks, God has totally overwhelmed me with His love. He mercifully and graciously stopped me in my tracks by the awesome revelation of His great love for me and for you. Hear what His word says:

Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God’s children. And we are! (1 John 3:1).

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Can you make the connection with me? Taxes are not as inevitable as death, after all. People evade taxes every year, but no one eludes death. Get this, though: death (and all its offspring – sickness, suffering, sorrow) is not as inevitable as love, God’s love for you and me! To prove this, God gave His One and Only Son, Jesus, to die for us. Now, His love has made death little more than a door for us who know, love, believe, trust, and obey Him to pass through on the way Home. For us, death serves as a billboard on our journey to remind us to see everything, every pain and sorrow, every disease and disaster, every limit and loss, against the backdrop of His love for us.

God settled once and for all His love for us when Jesus died in our place. Now we know that anything that comes our way must pass through the Father’s heart and be shaped to serve His love for us. God is so powerful and He loves us so much that even death must serve His love for us. Whatever you are going through, God is saying through it, “Child, I love you. I love you with the same love that kept Jesus on the cross for you – eternal, unchanging, inevitable love.”

Pastor Rob

Whose Church?

I have given a great deal of thought, prayer, and study lately to this question: Whose church are we? I have come to a new, deeper appreciation of how we each tend to understand the church we attend, the fellowship of faith with whom we participate, as “our” church. For many of us, in fact, I fear “our” church or “my” church sometimes obscures our view of God’s church. First Baptist Church, South Lyon, must daily determine, member by member, ever and always to be His church. If we are not His church, we are no church at all worth mentioning.

Why is it so important that we be His church? You have heard me talk before about Brad Powell, the lead pastor of the dynamic NorthRidge Church in Plymouth. Brad maintains, “The church is the hope of the world – when it is working right.” The trouble is most churches do not appear to be working right. Today, 92-94 percent churches are plateaued or dying. Where’s the hope in that? If we are not His church, we have no real hope to offer.

The current state of the church is all the more befuddling when we consider what Jesus says about His church: “… I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18). Any honest churchman must at least try to reconcile Jesus’ claim with contemporary evidence. Did Jesus really mean what He said? Was He mistaken?

For my part, I choose to believe Jesus knew full well what He said and implied. Moreover, I am convinced Jesus continues to build His church today and the defenses of darkness continue to crumble before the advance of His church. The issue is not whether or not He will build His church but whether or not what we call church actually represents His church. The question is “Whose church are we talking about – His or ours?”

Here are four descriptions Jesus gives of His church:

1. We are the people of His purpose. Jesus says of His church “all who know Me will be among My ‘called out ones.’” He calls us His ekklesia, His church. To be called out implies purpose. Our purpose originates from the One Who called for the assembly.

2. We are the people of His promise. We expect Jesus to do what He promises to do. He guarantees He will build His church. Most church-goers grant mental assent to this notion but act as if we are responsible to build His church.

3. We are the people of His priority. For our part, Jesus expects us, His church, to use the keys of the kingdom – the Gospel witness. The living church must tell people Who Jesus Christ is and why it matters.

4. Finally, we are the people of His power. Jesus’ church does not merely endure storms and siege. His church is not under attack but on the attack. We who live for His purpose, rely on His promise, and maintain His priority can be confident – we are the people of His power.

Whose church? Jesus’ church, and His alone! That anyone would think that I as pastor would even imagine trying to make His church “Rob’s” church horrifies me. Two statements from this week’s unit of Experiencing God brought my study of Jesus’ church to bear on my personal life and call to ministry.

1. On page 35, Henry Blackaby observed: “We cause some of the wreck and ruin in our churches because we have a plan. We implement the plan and accomplish only what we can do. We ask God to bless our plans, and then we promise to give Him the glory when He does. Yet God is not glorified by making our plans succeed. He receives glory when His will is done in His way.”

I reword this statement in a prayer like this:

Lord God, I love Your church! I am so honored to be a part of the beautiful body of Christ, and I am thrilled to serve and shepherd this precious flock. But, my Lord, I know I can “cause some of the wreck and ruin in” Your church precisely because I have a plan, my plan, and I work to implement that plan. Father, I will not ask you to bless my plans. You are not glorified by making my plans succeed. Keep me ever from being such a sad hindrance to Your church and Your glory. Manifest the truth about Yourself, King Jesus, by doing Your will Your way.

2. “Understanding what God is about to do where you are is more important than telling God what you want to do for Him” (p 37).

My prayer:

Lord, I know it is more important for me to know what You are about to do and for me to adjust to Your activity than for me to tell You my plans. Please illumine me. Illumine us, Your people, Your church. Show us Your plan.

Repeatedly, my thoughts turn to the attitude of John the Baptist.

No one can receive a single thing unless its given to him from heaven. … He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete. He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:27-30).

Whose church? His church!

Pastor Rob

Truth Does Indeed Transform

With honor to the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, I borrow from the title of his radio broadcasts, “Truths that Transform.” I simply cannot think of a more apt way to describe the ministry of God’s Word in the life of any believer who would make himself subject to Scripture. Our first full week in Experiencing God reminds me that Truth does indeed transform.

One of the features I find most helpful in the Experiencing God study is the daily review. At the end of each daily lesson, we review what we have learned in three parts:

1. What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture you read today?

2. Rewrite the statement or Scripture into a prayer response to God.

3. What does God want you to do in response to today’s study?

Here are four profound statements that brought renewed focus to my life this week:

1. “Anyone who takes time to enter an intimate relationship with God can see Him do extraordinary things through his or her life” (p 27).

I reworded this statement in the form of a prayer.

Dear God, help me invest anew in an intimate walk with You. The most extraordinary thing You would ever do through me would necessarily begin with this intimacy. And this intimacy is extraordinary enough.

2. “When you believe nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have declared about yourself” (p 27).

I would reword this statement in a prayer perhaps very familiar to many of you by now:

Father, I believe You are Who You say You are. I believe You can do what You say You can do. And I believe I am who You say that I am. Lord, like the desperate father of the demon-possessed boy I plead, “I believe; help Thou my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

3. “The people we generally see in the Scriptures were ordinary. Their relationships with God and the activity of God made them extraordinary.”

My prayer:

Almighty God, I would be so bold and outrageous as to expect You, the extraordinary Redeemer King, to make much of Yourself, to bring renown to Your name, even through someone as ordinary as me. Be glorified!

4. I found the words of our Savior to be the most meaningful to me this week. Jesus says: “I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me” (John 15:5).

What a tremendous and marvelous testament to God’s grace this reality is! I do not deserve the privilege that is mine to be your pastor. No man is worthy of such an honor. Indeed, I am not redeemed by any merit of my own. I am not His son or His servant because of any good in me. I know painfully well that I can do nothing of kingdom value apart from Christ.

As a branch, I owe all my sustenance to the gracious provision of the Vine. Based entirely on His good pleasure and grace, the Vine supplies us with all we need to grow and be fruitful. Furthermore, the Vine supports the branches for His own purposes. Branches have no purpose of their own except that given them by the Vine, chiefly, to produce much fruit.

Grace, grace – God’s grace – grace that will pardon and cleanse within!
Grace, grace – God’s grace – grace that is greater than all our sin!

Oh, beloved, how completely dependent we all are upon the matchless, marvelous, infinite grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!

What a tremendous and marvelous testament to God’s glory this reality is! The Vine produces fruit and flower to the praise of His nature through fragile branches that wither up like twigs apart from vital union with Him. God displays His power, wisdom, and character for all of heaven and earth to behold through frail failures like me. How wonderful! How marvelous! That God Most High makes so much of Himself through such as us. It is to the praise of His glory not only that He can but also that He chooses to do so! Lord, I’m amazed!

So, I pray the words of Jesus:

My Lord, my Vine, You alone are the source of my salvation and strength. I am in awe of Your desire and design to channel Your will and work and ways through me for Your purposes. All that the Vine is You make available to the branches. Thank You for Your promise to remain in me. I desperately want to remain in You, Lord. Hold me fast to Yourself. Make me faithful and fruitful for Your glory.

What does God want me to do in response? Be His, be still, be fruitful, and believe. What does God want you to do?

Pastor Rob

The Right Question

We now have as many as 82 people enrolled in our Experiencing God emphasis. Wow! I believe God will bless richly those folks who embark upon this journey together. Moreover, I am convinced God Most High (El Elyon) will use what we learn together to clarify His vision, His values, and His purposes for His church.

One of the first and foundational lessons we will learn together this week is that we must learn to ask the right question. We tend to approach the Creator King with the wrong question: “God, what is Your will for my life?” I confess, I often ask this question – many times every day, in fact – without any thought to whether or not this is a valid or worthy question.

Perhaps many of you, like me, do not immediately recognize the subtle error in our thinking this question exposes. So, let me add some emphasis to the question: “God, what is Your will for my life?” Do you see it now? It is an error of focus.

When we ask, “God, what is Your will for my life?” we make more of ourselves than we should. We are, in effect, asking Father to show us only a part of His will or to limit His purposes to our lives. This approach requires God Almighty (El Shaddai) to accommodate His magnificent will to our personal agendas. When seen in that light, it seems to me like trying to capture and contain the Infinite in a Mason jar.

Frankly, I am at a place where I don’t think I truly want God to do my bidding. I have been reminded this week how unimaginative and short-sighted self-centeredness makes us. I find the notion distasteful. How tragic it would be if all the King of glory ever granted me were what I believed would make me happy or satisfied or even successful in His kingdom. Honestly, being the best I can be and doing the best I can do seems hollow when I dare to dream of a higher perspective, a God-centered view.

Here then is the right question: “God, what is Your will?” Our focus needs to be on God, not ourselves. Instead of asking God to minimize His purposes, we should ask Him to maximize our capacity to participate in His purposes. When we ask, “God, what is Your will?” we emphasize His sovereignty, His primacy, and His majesty. We come closer to approximating the truth of Scripture as well:

You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail (Proverbs 19:21, New Living Translation).

I would rather, after all, God accommodate me to His big, prevailing purpose than insist He squeeze or reduce His will to fit into my limited plans. Wouldn’t you?

This Experiencing God project is far more than a plan to take as many people as we can through the same workbook exercises. This is much more than an attempt to give as many people as possible some sort of spiritual buzz. Our focus is not personal blessings or deeper Bible study or even to strengthen our connections in small groups. Our aim is to see what God is doing, to hear what God is saying, to declare His truth, and to align ourselves with Him so that He can do His will His way through us.

This project represents our submission to discover and pursue together God’s will. What we discern together from God over the next three months will determine our plans in the near and distant future as a church.

I believe God. I believe He is Who He says He is. I believe He can do what He says He can do. I believe I am who He says I am (not who I think I am or who other people say I am or even who “the accuser of the brethren” suggests I am). I also believe God has brought us together for some God-sized tasks. Furthermore, I believe He does not want us to accomplish these tasks for Him, but He wants to accomplish them through us. So, I believe our task is simply to align ourselves to His will, His work, and His ways.

To these ends, then, we are about to set sail. Beginning with the message this morning, for the next 13 weeks we will give God our attention as we learn and put into practice the following seven realities of Experiencing God:

1. God is always at work around you.

2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.

3. God invites you to join Him in His work.

4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.

5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.

7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.

To the ends of the earth until the end of time!

Pastor Rob

WIll It Ever End?

Thursday evening I sat in my study and watched snow blanket my backyard for the umpteenth time this winter. Did I say winter? “For the love of Abner Doubleday,” I whimpered, “the Detroit Tigers are wrapping up their Spring Training and heading north to play their home opener in just two days! Will this winter ever end?!”

By Friday afternoon, the sun melted much of winter’s overnight deposit, and God used my impatience to teach me about hope. I thought of Robby and Teresa Green, who are about to be first-time parents. Her due date was last week, and several false alarms have surely taken their toll. In fact, Robby called Thursday night to say they were going to the hospital where her labor would be induced. Saturday afternoon, and they are still waiting. Their hope is nearer than ever before. I imagine, however, she has wondered a time or two recently, “Will this ever end?” Hope says, “The pain you experience now is minor compared to the joy you will soon embrace in your arms.”

Randy conducted the funeral service for his youngest sister Friday afternoon. Her family members, all devout people of faith, still mourn. They grieve, though, with hope – a hope that assures them they will see her again, and then forever. Randy reminded us all: “Life is short. Death is sure. Sin is the cause. Christ is the cure.” An unvoiced question, nevertheless, must burden their broken hearts: “When will it ever end – this waiting for reunion?”

More than a few of my dearest friends face stages of life now where pain and struggle are their constant companions. Some gasp for breath. Some grasp for moments of lucid thought. And some have willing spirits frustrated by bodies gradually shutting down. They surely wonder “When will this ever end?” But they rarely ask out loud. “Whiners never win; winners never whine.” My friends are winners who bravely press on informed, inspired, and empowered by hope. Yes, their suffering will indeed end, and then … glory!

Most times when I wonder “Will this ever end?” my concerns are a bit less substantial. Will winter ever end? Will my diet ever end? Will our church’s slumber and our nation’s cultural decline ever end? Will this economic recession ever end? Will wars and sickness and divorce and death ever end?

Last Sunday we celebrated Resurrection Day … fittingly, I now think, with snow on the ground. Snow melts. Winter breaks. Likewise, sin and suffering and death … die. How can we be sure? Because Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! So, hope reigns!

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen (Hebrews 11:1, HCSB).

To the ends of the earth until the end of time!
Pastor Rob

Christ Is Risen!

Tradition suggests that in the earliest days of the church, especially in those days when persecution was the rule rather than the exception, when believers met, they commonly greeted one another in this way. One would announce: “Christ is risen!” The other would respond: “He is risen, indeed!”

Over time, this salutation became known as the Paschal greeting. Today, as has been true for nearly two millennia, certain groups of Christians customarily welcome one another on Easter with this greeting. “Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!”

Whether or not this greeting was a security measure, a kind of code that established ground for safe and confident relations, it clearly identifies the non-negotiable essential core of our faith and our fellowship. More than our family histories, more than our nationalities, more than our political persuasions, more than our racial identities, more than our religious/denominational preferences, this truth defines us and the nature of our bonds. “Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!”

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the linchpin, which, like the metal pin used to prevent a wheel from sliding off the axle, holds our spinning lives in proper association to the axle of truth. If the resurrection of Jesus Christ is true, then, to borrow from Richard John Neuhaus, “it is, quite simply, the truth about everything” (Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus, 2000, p xi). If it is true, the resurrection of Jesus Christ reveals the truth about God, about man, about sin and death, about grace and mercy and love, about life and eternity, about … everything.

On the other hand, if the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not true, then we are of all people the most pitiful. So observed Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19.

… if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is without foundation, and so is your faith. ¹⁵ In addition, we are found to be false witnesses about God … ¹⁷ and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Therefore those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If we have placed our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

The enemy appreciates the vital, strategic nature of the Christ’s resurrection. For this reason, he works feverishly to stir up opposition to the facts. He must discredit the truth. So, from the very first Resurrection Day, arguments have been hurled against the evidence for the resurrection in vain attempts to discredit “the truth about everything.” The Jewish priests and elders bribed the guards to say Jesus’ disciples stole His body while they themselves slept (Matthew 28:11-15).

Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ so important? Space and time allows for only two quick answers here:

The resurrection of Jesus Christ affirms the identity of our Savior. He is Who He says He is. As CS Lewis famously asserted, Jesus is either liar, lunatic, or Lord. We cannot “come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (Mere Christianity, 1960, pp 55-56).

He is Lord of all! He is the one and only Son of God and God the Son. He is the Lamb of God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ declares the capabilities of our Sovereign. He can do what He says He can do. He is indeed the resurrection and the life (John 11 :25). He conquered sin and death; He will surely empower us to do the same. He is indeed able to keep that which is committed unto Him against that final day (2 Timothy 1:12). He can transform us and fit us for Father’s pleasure and presence.

How can we know the resurrection of Jesus Christ is true? Space and time allows only just one suggestion here:

Did you know the Bible says we owe the people of the world an apology? Peter exhorts us “always to be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). The word translated “defense” is apologian, from which we get “apology.” It does not mean “I am sorry.” It means “defense” or “answer.”

Beloved, people need to hear a reasoned defense of the resurrection. I commend resources such as Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ to anyone who will honestly and with integrity invest in reasoned research, committed more to truth than to prove their agenda or to substantiate their preconceived notions. In his quest, he borrowed from his award-winning journalistic experience, much of it in courts, and identified 14 lines of evidence against which to investigate the claims of Christianity about Jesus Christ. His third section of the book focuses on “Researching the Resurrection.” Therein, he addresses four key questions often raised by skeptics themselves:

1. The Medical Evidence: Was Jesus’ Death a Sham and His Resurrection a Hoax? No. Evidence proves Jesus died.

2. The Evidence of the Missing Body: Was Jesus’ Body Really Absent from His Tomb? Evidence proves the empty tomb.

3. The Evidences of Appearances: Was Jesus Seen after His Death on the Cross? Yes! Evidence supports many witnesses!

4. The Circumstantial Evidence: Are There Any Supporting Facts that Point to the Resurrection? Too many to list here!

“Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!” Let’s make this reality known to the ends of the earth until the end of time!
Pastor Rob