By Johnson V
1 Corinthians 15 1-10
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
JESUS CHRIST came to earth because there was a need in the world. He died on the cross and on the third day came to life. And was seen in many places for forty days. Romans saw Him and even they believed in Him believed because they themselves crucified Him on the cross and they understood that whatever Jesus said was true.
What did Jesus achieve through resurrection?
We are created in the image of God. We share certain nature of God and culture of God, like God never dies. He was, He will and He is. Similarly even human beings never die. Our body may end but we will continue to live.
When He died and rose again He brought eternal purpose to human life. Death was brought from the devil but Jesus Christ our lord He destroyed it in his body. God said your body might die but I will bring eternal life to you through me.
Everything began but God always was. Our brain can’t understand God.
Everything has expiry date but God has none. Same way body will end but not you. You will continue to live.
God created us to enjoy life. God wants you to prosper, be happy, have victory in everything we do, but devil brought wickedness in human life. Death, old age, sin became part of live. But devil brought curses to the world. Humanity is bound with slavery, diseases, Inequity, death, sin which is brought by devil.
God is not calling us to become very religious.
Every good thing has bad side because of devil. Like medicines have side effects with the healing.
God wanted life to be without stress. Resistance is gift of life. Stress is from devil. But God will help us to manage stress.
Bible says everyone is born a sinner. So when God became man, He didn’t choose to be born by natural birth.
He performed millions of miracles and died for us as a sacrifice. The greatest enemy of human life is death. When He died He was buried for three days. Then his spirit came back to his body, revived it and He went out of the cave, met with people and dealt with them.
When He died and rose again He brought eternal purpose to human life. Death was brought from the devil but Jesus Christ our lord He destroyed it in his body. God said your body might die but I will bring eternal life to you through me.
For all who believed in Him He gave them the power to be called as sons of God and opened a way to eternal life. He didn’t only come to give us eternal life but abundant life on earth too.
Adam and Eve are the ancestors of human generation. Christ is the ancestor of spiritual generation. As soon as you believe in Him, you get filled with the Holy Spirit and you become a child of God. God said all you have to is to believe in Him. He is the only savior. He is only son of God. No one else but Jesus brings freedom from eternal death.
The writer is the pastor in-charge of Bethel AG International Worship Center in Bangalore, India. More columns.
