The Foundation Of The Gospel Series

INTRODUCTION

BEGIN WITH EASTER VIDEO

 SLIDE #1

 This is a joyous occasion we celebrate today! Today is Resurrection Sunday! On this day we celebrate the greatest moment in the history of mankind! It is the time in which we celebrate God raising His Son Jesus from the dead.

 The Resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in human history. The resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in history because this one event still impacts us today. Because of this event, we can have the opportunity to spend eternity with the God who created us and who loves us with all He has.

 SLIDE #2

 ROMANS 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 The resurrection of Jesus puts a stamp of authenticity on Jesus as being the one and only Son of God, the one and only truth and the one and only way to God.

 When you go to the tomb of Confucius, it is occupied, when you go to the tomb of Mohammed, it is occupied, when you go to the tomb of Buddha it is occupied, when you go to the tomb of Jesus, it is EMPTY!

 The resurrection of Jesus is also one of the most attacked events in the Bible. That is understandable, the event is incredible in itself and if you are a follower of another religion, or if you are a god unto your self, the resurrection would have to make you think about your position.

 Once you understand that God raised Jesus on the third day, you have a quite a predicament if you have not given your life to Jesus yet.

 Today I want us to focus our thoughts on why the resurrection is the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus. When God builds a church, it is centered on the resurrection.

 There are some serious implications that would result if the resurrection indeed did not happen.

 Today as we look at the resurrection, I hope that if you are one of those who are skeptical about it’s’ validity that you will examine this issue with an open mind. If you are already one who embraces the resurrection, I hope today will be further cause for celebration.

 SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. THE RESURRECTION WAS THE FOCAL POINT OF THE GOSPEL (1-4)

• Let us look at 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

• SLIDE #4

• 1 Corinthians 15:1 - 4 (NASB) 1Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

• In these first four verses, we are giving the importance of the subject at hand.

• In verse 1 we are told that this GOSPEL which when received and stood upon saves us!

• Verse two continues by saying we are to also hold fast to this gospel unless we believed in vain!

• Now look in verses 3-4 for the message.

• Naturally there are many facets of God’s work in Christ that Paul both preached and taught about, but he wants here, in 15:3-5, to emphasize the centrality of four of these major points. Each of these is introduced by the term “that”.

• The message was that Christ died for OUR sins according to the scriptures and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. And finally, that He appeared! THIS IS THE FOCAL POINT OF THE GOSPEL!

• Now let us look at the issue of His appearances.

• SLIDE #5

II. WITNESSES OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST (VERSES 5-11)

 Why does Paul go to the trouble of listing those who witnessed the risen Jesus?

 This letter was written around 57 Ad, Jesus died and was raised in 30 AD, and it had been over 25 years since the resurrection by this time. Some of the people for whatever reason, most likely societal pressures were starting to doubt the possibility of resurrection.

 Paul wanted to the people to remember there were many people who saw Jesus after the resurrection!

 These were objective appearances; they were not the figment of someone’s imagination. Paul is giving a list of those who would have been known to the Corinthian church, and these are not all who saw Jesus, but a fraction of the appearances.