Behold I Show You A Mystery

“Behold I Show You A Mystery”. 1Cor 15:51. Text 1Cor 15:35-38.

Intro:

I like many people, like the thrill of a good mystery book. Where the information keeps you in suspense until we find out who done it.

They were fools those early disciples. They actually believed what Jesus had said that everything could be changed, right down to the way that people relate to people. So naïve believing that Jesus and they were going to live to see a new world come. How Prepostorous. Then the crucifixion came, and Jesus died. That should have been enough to make them see the foolishness of the things they have said and done. They should realize that friends die, and are killed, and dreams die ,even good ones; death is death and life is life. That’s just the way things are. But what’s this JESUS Is ALIVE!! This can’t be say the realists. and here is the mystery! The disciples so willingly accepted and published: God gives life where there is no life.-Hallelujah!!

EXPL: Because of their culture the Corinthians did not believe in the resurrection. Instead they belived that only the soul would be raised leaving the body behind.

It is not mrerly a mirror of natures cycle the resurrection of Jesus is something of an entirely different order. He was not a seed thaT LAY DORMANT in a tomb for 3 days and somehow woke up; as the Tulip bulbs do when the warmer weather arrives. He was Really dead. Life was gone! It would not be a mystery if the resurrection were simply someone waking up after a 3 day nap. It would not even be all that remarkable if Jesus woke up out of a coma, that happens.

The Miracle of Easter is something new, a Mystery of eternal significance. The resurrection was not God stirring up life that was already there. The Miracle of Easter is that God Gives life where there is none (Praise God). Meeting Christ and coming to New Life is not just a refurbishing job on the same old tenant Life In Christ is a life of a completely different order. It is a life Given by God. It is a Miraculos gift !! This means When I am used up in Spirit and there is nothing left of me, God Gives me life, When my dreams are dead and no one cares, God gives life. When there is no hope God gives hope! It is not simply more of the way things are every year. Seeds sprouting, and grass growing. It is God creating the surroundings all over again!! We can believe this mystery and all that Jesus said Our world can be changed right down to daily relationships, which can be infused with the radiant love of God.

ILL: A prominent minister in La. was holding special revival meetings in his church a few years ago. Among those attending night after night was a gentlemen obviously unacquainted with the general program. After a few meetings the preacher made a special point of speaking to him , and discovered that he was not even a Christian. What do you think of the Christian religion the preacher asked? Oh, the visitor said Christianity is very interesting as far as it goes, but I could never be a Christian. Why? Asked the preacher. Because I could never believe that I could get salvation from a dead Jew was the mans answer. Neither do I said the preacher. Oh yes youi do he said Don’t you Christians claim that salvation comes through the death of Christ? Not through His death alone said the preacher but rather because Christ rose from the dead. Ah said the visitor you can never prove that to me!

Concl:

Jack’s Lily:

A barking dog in the distance brought Jack out of his sleep and back into consciousness. He lay in the prison cell and curses the emptiness, the loneliness, the blackness around him. Morning was about to dawn, ushering in the anniversary of Lily’s first visit. Lily had been all that mattered to him in the world. From the day when she was born , she was fragile and sweet like the morning breeze blowing through the filed of lilies. No other name would have done her justice. But Lily never had a chance. When she was two, her mother walked out, announcing that she did not want to be tied down to a crippled child.

Jack wiped the cold sweat from his brow. Hatred and self pity overcame him out of the depth of his conscience. He never knew where his wife went, but his life hit a downward path--- too much drinking and gambling, too many fights. He recalled with an oath that the last fight over a game of cards when tempers and blood ran hot together. He was doing time now on a manslaughter conviction.