The Resurrection Changes Everything! Series

The Resurrection Changes Everything!

Jeffery Anselmi

Resurrection Sunday / Easter; Resurrection / 2 Corinthians 5:14–21

Resurrection brings salvation, and with salvation comes a new identity in Christ and a hope that surpasses everything.

INTRODUCTION

• WOW! it is Resurrection Sunday!

• This is a day that we place special emphasis on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!

• Why would we take the time to place special emphasis on the resurrection?

• In other words, what difference does the resurrection make in your life today?

• What difference has the resurrection made in the world since this event took place?

• Many think the resurrection never took place and was a hoax.

• Yet if that were the truth, then nothing would really change; if Jesus stayed dead and rotted in a tomb somewhere in Jerusalem, then why are we here?

• Maybe you are sitting here with us today or watching online, and you do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If you are in that spot right now, so was I at one time. I am glad you are with us.

• All I ask is that you approach Jesus with an open mind.

• We need Jesus, and the only way that Jesus can do anything for us is if He is alive.

• According to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, if we are worshipping a dead Jesus, we are the most pitied of people along with the fact that we are making false claims about God.

• We need Jesus to have defeated death because we all have a serious problem that we cannot fix on our own no matter how hard we try.

• Human beings were made to be in communion with God, yet our original purpose and identity were lost because of sin.

• Author Thomas Merton in his 1955 book entitled “No Man is an Island, states:

“Sin strikes at the very depth of our personality. It destroys the one reality on which our true character, identity, and happiness depend: our fundamental orientation to God.

We are created to will what God wills, to know what He knows, to love what He loves.

Sin is … to love what He does not love.

Therefore, every sin is a sin against truth, a sin against obedience, and against love.

But in all these three things sin proves itself to be a supreme injustice not only against God but, above all, against ourselves”

• The resurrection of Jesus makes all the difference in the world, both this world and the next, eternity!

• Today we will focus on three things that the resurrection changes in our life when we embrace this truth by being baptized and becoming a new creation in Jesus!

• What I want to do today is simple, if you believe in the resurrection, I will show you some things that should change in your life due to the belief in the resurrection.

• We all know folks who do not believe in Jesus, God, or the resurrection.

• One of the most difficult things in life can be convincing someone of the truth concerning God, Jesus, and the resurrection.

• However, one thing that will help is to convince people of the truth is that we believe in that truth enough to change our lives.

• A changed life is one of the greatest testimonies of the truth about the resurrection we can offer.

• Let’s turn to 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 to see that the resurrection changes everything.

• We will examine three areas in our life that belief in the resurrection should change.

Our BIG IDEA today is: The resurrection brings salvation, and with salvation comes a new identity in Christ, a new life in Christ, and a hope that surpasses everything!

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 CSB

14 For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died.

15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

The resurrection invokes...

SERMON

I. A new motivation for life.

• What drives you in life?

• What motivates you to get up and take on the day?

• We all have something that drives us.

• For the Apostle Paul, he was driven by the LAW before he came to Jesus.

• Paul was a leading persecutor of the Way, as it was known.

• Paul was driven to follow the Law to perfection and stomp out anyone he perceived threatened the Law he so faithfully sought to follow.

• What motivates us says a lot about us.

• Some are motivated or driven by power, money, lust, selfishness, fame, success, or vengeance.