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I Believe in the hallways I Didn't I I I All right, good morning everyone you can please find your seats happy Welcome to steadfast baptist church Everyone can please find your seats help your neighbor here Here we go welcome to steadfast baptist church Everyone can find their seats We're gonna ask if anyone has an older child that you think could behave themselves to come sit in the front up here on This side of the room just to save space for people And we're gonna turn in our song books to song 162 to God be the glory Again if everyone if anyone has an older child that can behave themselves, please send them forth to sit right here And we'll turn in our hymnals to song 162 To God be the glory Song 162 sing it out to our Savior this morning 162 to God be the glory To God be the glory great things he hath done So loved he the world that he gave us his son Who yield in his life and Atonement for sin and open the life Praise the Lord praise the Lord Praise the Lord praise the Lord Rejoice To the father through Jesus the son and give him the glory great things he hath done Oh Perfect redemption the purchase of blood to every believer the promise of God the Vialist offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus Pardon me Praise the Lord praise the Lord Let the earth hear his voice Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord Let the people rejoice Oh Come to the father through Jesus And give him the glory great things he have done great things He have taught us great things he have done and great are rejoicing through Jesus the son but purer and higher and greater will be Our wonder our transport when Jesus we see Praise the Lord let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord praise the Lord let the people Rejoice Oh come to the father through Jesus the son and Give him the glory Great things Great singing let's open up in a word of prayer Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for this Easter holiday where we celebrate the resurrection of your son thank you so much for the unspeakable gift of eternal life and for the blood that your son shed for us and For going to hell and rising again from the dead for us. We love you so much and in Jesus name we pray. Amen All right. Let's go to song number 33 Christ the Lord is risen today song number 33 Christ the Lord is risen today song 33 33 Christ the Lord is risen today Christ the Lord is risen today. Ah Hallelujah sons of men and angels say ah Raise your joys and triumphs high Yeah singing heavens and earth Oh Lives again our glorious King Yeah, where oh death is now thy sting ah Yeah dying once he old of safe Hallelujah Where thy victory oh great Loves redeeming work is done Well fight the battle one Death in vain forbids him rise Christ has opened paradise So are we now where Christ has led Hallelujah following our exalted head Yeah made like him like him we rise Ours the cross the grave the skies Hallelujah Morning thank you for coming. Happy Easter If you don't already have a bulletin slip up your hand nice and high and one of our ushers Can come by get you a bulletin. We have our Bible memory passage, John 1 22 on the inside We have our service and so many times we have Spanish service at 4 30 and then our evening service at 5 30 Following this evening's Service we're gonna be doing the Lord's Supper as a church family and so I would encourage you highly encourage you to come even if you don't come normally on Sunday nights and I'll only be preaching for two or three hours. Okay, so that way you'll you'll get a good sermon and I'm just kidding and It's a great way to not be an Easter Morning service only Christian. So there you go helping you start with the second service All right, and then we have our so many times they're churchwide so many meets here at two and then we have our stats make sure to turn those into Your soul winning captain or your soul winning Lieutenant if you don't know who that is You could always see me or brother Dylan or one of our ushers and they could probably help you Figure out who that is But we try to make sure everybody is that a part of our church is a part of one of our soul winning tribes And so that's a great way to get plugged in with soul winning and to Make sure you're turning in your maps to brother Dylan Also with our on the right hand side. We have the list of expecting ladies continue to pray for all of them We also have our prayer list. If you have prayer requests, please email those in We have the homeschool field trip and the Mother's Day tea Those have already been Scheduled but for those that have signed up make sure to check your email just for any further details or information They'll probably even be just a reminder Friendly reminder about who out when where why and everything like that because nobody ever reads the bulletin anyways, so there you go And then we also have the Austin, Texas soul winning marathon And so hopefully you can sign up for that as well That's pretty much all I have for announcements this morning There is a lot of doughnuts the stuff up here. And so make sure to grab one before you leave. All right We're gonna go to our third song song 37. There'll be no dark valley song 37 Again that song number 37. There'll be no dark valley They'll Be No dark valley when Jesus comes there'll be no dark valley Jesus comes there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes together his loved ones home to Ones Oh Together love one's home there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home there'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes there'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes but a glorious tomorrow when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home together his loved ones home together there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home there'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes there'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes but a blessed reaping to gather his loved ones home to gather his loved ones home to gather his loved ones home there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home they'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes there'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes and a joyful meeting when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home to gather his loved ones home to gather his loved ones home there'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes to gather his loved ones home as the offering plates are passed around please turn in your Bibles to 1st John chapter 5 1st John chapter 5 and follow along silently starting at verse 1 as we read the whole chapter before the sermon 1st John chapter 5 the Bible reads in 1st John chapter 5 whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous for whatsoever is born of God overcome at the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith who is he that overcome at the world but he that believeth it that Jesus is the Son of God this is he that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and blood and it is the spirit that beareth witness because the spirit is truth for there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and there are three that bear witness in earth the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one if we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his son he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him if any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death there is a sin unto death I do not say that he shall pray for it all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not but he that has begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one touches them not and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness and we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his son Jesus Christ this is the true God and eternal life little children keep yourselves from idols amen let's fire heads for a word of prayer Heavenly Father we thank you for Easter Sunday and for the opportunity to celebrate the resurrection I pray that you would fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and help him preach boldly help us to pay attention to the message and think about the things of God today in Jesus name I pray, Amen so we're in first John chapter 5 look back at verse 6 the Bible says this is he that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and blood and it is the spirit that beareth witness because the spirit is truth and the title of my sermon this morning is the bodily resurrection the bodily resurrection and really we have several reasons why we believe in the bodily resurrection the the number one reason is because of the spirit the spirit gives testimony the spirit gives witness to the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ now here in verse number six it makes it clear that Jesus didn't come by water only but by water and blood okay and it says even which means specifically Jesus Christ and notice it says it's the spirit that's bearing witness and the spirit is truth now when we talk about the Spirit of God how do we hear his witness it's through the scriptures it's the Bible the Bible is written by the Holy Ghost the Bible makes it clear that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and so according to the Bible the Bible itself is under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and so therefore the Spirit is bearing witness to us through the King James Bible that we have in our hands okay so that's our primary source of understanding that the Lord Jesus Christ literally physically rose from the dead if we keep reading it says in verse 8 and there are three that bear witness notice this in earth the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one so notice he's saying there's three ways that we can tell that Jesus Christ literally came to this earth literally died and we also have the resurrection it's number one is the spirit now of course you say how do we have the spirit it's this book this is our primary source doctrine you know people say I'll prove to you the things of God without the Bible that's a foolish way to try to prove things because that's our number one witness you know if you're in an important trial and you had a really important witness one eyewitness you'd be like let's put them on the stand okay but we don't have one eyewitness we have three that bear witness in the earth we have the spirit and then we have the water and then we have the blood okay so point one is this the Bible and and we're gonna use a lot of Bible so I don't need to dwell on this point because we're gonna prove it over and over and over again in this sermon this morning but I'm not gonna try and prove to you that Jesus rose again from the dead outside this book okay this is where we're gonna try and figure out if Jesus truly died was buried and rose again and we want to use the Bible as our source for everything but go to the John chapter 19 because we had mentioned two other witnesses in that same verse that are in the earth specifically okay John chapter 19 is gonna have all three of these right here wrapped up and basically one or two verses here John chapter number 19 look at verse number 33 the Bible says but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already they break not his legs one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came out blood and water and he that saw it bear record and his record is true and he knoweth that he saith true that he might believe so right here in the Bible in John chapter number 19 we have all three elements because we have the blood and we have the water and it's being told us through the Word of God which is the Spirit of God and John who's the one recording this says hey I know my records true now you say how do you know that his records true because the Spirit is truth so he's saying hey I didn't just say this of myself the Holy Spirit came upon me and he told me to write these words and these words are about the blood and the water and so literally on earth there are three witnesses of Jesus Christ's death that he literally came and then ultimately we have his resurrection number one is the Spirit of God which is the Bible number two is the blood that was shed and number three was the water that was spilt out at the cross now what's very interesting about this is there's literally no physical evidence that Jesus is on this earth from his body except for the water and the blood he's the most influential person to ever live in all of human history yet we don't have his bones we don't have his body we don't have his grave we don't have any of those things so you have to ask this question like okay so what evidence what proof do we have that Jesus Christ was here well you have the water and the blood that was spilt at Mount Calvary and then you have the Spirit which is the Bible which is the Word of God now that's fascinating because we know we have the tomb of Muhammad we have the tomb of Buddha we have the tomb of all these you know cult leading followers going in these cult religions okay we have all of those people you know we don't have Jesus in fact there's only a handful of people that we could even say that about you know we have a couple like Enoch Enoch is just translated it's like where did he go I don't know right Elijah carried up in a whirlwind Moses you know there was a there's kind of this dispute with the devil wants to know where his body is okay so we kind of have a handful of people that are like this and I believe that's reminiscent or a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ is gonna be like that he's gonna come to earth he's gonna radically transform the entire earth but then it's like well where does body go where is this guy what happened you know as a picture about Jesus Christ is gonna rise from the dead and ascend back up into heaven yet we have the most influential person still despite we don't have his body or as you know bones we still have the major impact that he set in this world and you know it's probably good for a lot of reasons obviously but it's probably good that we don't have his body or we don't have his bones or we don't have some grave site because can't you imagine just hordes of people to go there and basically worship some dead body or go worship some kind of a flash or go worship some kind of a grave or something like that but we get to worship the true and living God which is in heaven now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 go to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 so of the bodily resurrection why do you believe it well number one the Bible number two the water and the blood now as we go through the scriptures we have more information about this look at 1st Corinthians chapter 15 and look at verse number 12 now Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some of you that there is no resurrection of the dead he's saying look if our entire religion is predicated on the resurrection of Jesus Christ how can you just literally even deny the resurrection at all he's like that's the most foundational aspect of what we're going around and preaching is not that some guy died but that some guy came back to life because you know what a lot of people are crucified in the Bible I mean it talks about it being a common thing we have multiple people at the time of Christ being crucified let alone all the other people that were crucified before Christ people that are crucified after Christ what makes Jesus different than all the rest well number one he didn't deserve it and then number two is the fact that he rose again from the dead now you say how does that happen it's a miracle of course it's not something that's naturally occurring it's the most unnatural thing because everybody else that dies stays dead okay so this was a major miracle and it's a proof of the deity of Jesus Christ it's a proof of him being God in the flesh it's a proof of him being the Son of God it's a proof also that we have hope that we too will be resurrected that we too will conquer death look what it says in verse 13 but if there be no resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen and if Christ be not risen then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain yay and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not so he's trying to say look if you don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ literally our faith is meaningless and what is faith faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God so we have that spirit when we have that water in that blood okay when we hear about that we choose to believe that that's our faith you know faith is not an abstract idea faith is believing something that you've heard when a preacher comes and tells you Jesus Christ died was risen three days later that's not something you can physically witness there is no movie there is no comic strip there is no picture how do you how do you understand that you believe it by faith by putting your trust and what the words of Scripture said now of course he's saying if if that's not even true then pretty much everything we've said is just false then we're false witnesses of God okay why would you believe in Christianity if you don't accept the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is basically what he's saying yet there are groups out there there are cults out there that literally deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ meaning like there's no point to your faith there's no point to your religion you're still in your sins and think about this if Christ did not die and was buried and risen again everyone would go to hell because the law doesn't save anyone oh I have to repent of my sins well here's the problem with that because you already sinned and there's already a punishment from that that breaking of the law and that sin that punishment is death so it doesn't matter if you follow all commandments if you just break one you're worthy of death you're worthy of going to hell and the law didn't save a single person that's why you can understand that the gospel existed in the Old Testament why because people went to heaven and they couldn't get to heaven through the law they couldn't get to heaven by following God's commandments because no one could follow God's commandments perfectly so they believed in the future coming gospel and of course we believe in the gospel after the fact but we're all pointed back to the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ let me remind you that Jesus before he ever died he told everybody about the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ you know they were in the Old Testament how can you say I mean there's no way to preach that the Old Testament didn't have the gospel because Jesus preached the gospel in the Old Testament now you say I thought that was in Matthew Mark and Luke it is but here's we have to understand is the Old Testament law was still in effect in Matthew Mark and Luke and John not until after the Passion of Christ not until after the resurrection did we actually enter into the New Testament look it's stupid to say that there's no gospel in the Old Testament that person basically just doesn't believe the Bible and if you don't believe the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ you don't believe the Bible because the Bible proves this over and over and over again so we have three witnesses in earth we had what the spirit the water and the blood but if you go back to 1st John chapter number five there's another three witnesses okay because we don't have to just base it on a handful of witnesses we have a lot of witnesses this morning that we can base our faith on but we start with the most important which is the Bible secondary witnesses are the water and the blood now you and I have never seen the water and the blood okay John saw it he was there at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ he saw all the water and the blood come out of Jesus and he saw the resurrected Jesus so he saw all of it you and I have never seen that but there's three more witnesses on top of the Bible on top of the water and the blood what is 1st John chapter number five say there's three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one now of course a lot of people like to take this verse out of the context that it's in but what is the context of 1st John chapter number five verses six through eight it's we're talking about the witnesses confirming Jesus Christ coming to this earth so if it's important to decide hey Jesus came here Jesus came to the earth Jesus died Jesus rose again he's saying hey there's three that bear record in heaven meaning if I go up to heaven there's three different persons let me use that word persons that are gonna tell me what the same thing meaning they're not gonna have a different testimony of Jesus they're not gonna say well he came with water but only water or no he came with blood but no water no no they're all gonna say he came with by water and blood they're all gonna say he came with a Virgin Mary they're all gonna say every single fact that's found in your Bible what does that mean these three are one meaning they have the same testimony they are unified they are in perfect agreement just like the Spirit the water and the blood agree and one meaning they all have the exact same testimony of Jesus God the Father the Son of God and the Holy Ghost all have the exact same testimony of Jesus Christ if you ask God the Father about Jesus he'll give you the exact same story as Jesus would himself and as the Holy Ghost would give himself and when Jesus on this earth he said hey the testimony of two men is basically according to your law gonna tell you what's true or not he's like the Father's one that bear witness of me and I also bear witness of myself meaning what that we have those three witnesses now while Jesus is on the earth we had him here but he's not on earth anymore he's in heaven meaning I could go to heaven and I could have three different persons all give me the exact same testimony God the Father the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost okay this is a great verse on the Trinity because you have to have to believe that there's three you have to believe that there's three and the one the oneness aspect of what we're talking about in this passage is not that they're one person it's that they have one testimony it's that they have one record okay and it's the same record that they're all gonna deliver in fact think about the next few verses here when we get to verse number nine and it says in verse number nine if we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God which yet testified of his son so then notice it's going down and is explaining hey this is what this is what God the Father would say this is what God the Father would tell us this is the record that God gave of his son and you say well how do we have that record it's right here in the Bible and you also has that same record is the Holy Spirit which spake through the mouth of men and delivered us the gospel of Jesus Christ so we have the spirit that's in the earth through the Bible we have the water and the blood we have the Holy Spirit in heaven we have Jesus Christ in heaven and we have God the Father all testifying of one thing Jesus died was buried and rose again this is very important go if you would to Revelation chapter number 13 Revelation chapter number 13 so you're telling me pastor Shelley I can go to heaven and have someone other than God the Father tell me about the resurrected Jesus yes you know us will tell you Jesus the Lord Jesus Christ will tell you okay and and not just that he rose again from the dead the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ look at Revelation 13 now of course in verse number eight we're talking about the Antichrist but it gives a very interesting description here about people that are saved says in verse 8 and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world so this kind of the inverse of that but essentially there's a book in heaven it's a book of life of the Lamb and people whose names are written in it are saved those are the saved people and he's saying people that don't have their name written they're not on the list they're not getting in through the door they don't get to go into heaven but notice how it describes it of the Lamb notice this slain from the foundation of the world so if I were to look at Jesus what would he look like well good revelation chapter number five good revelation chapter five notice it describes him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world meaning that he's always been the Lamb slain now what sense would it make if I said hey here's the Lamb slain but he doesn't look slain at all he doesn't look like he's been killed at all he doesn't look like he has any physical wounds in his body that wouldn't really make any sense why would I call it the Lamb slain why would you call it the Lamb slain because it looks like it's been slain because it looks like it's been killed because it looks like it's died okay now look at Revelation chapter number five verse two and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and eluse the seals thereof and no man in heaven nor in earth neither under the earth was able to open the book neither to look there on and I wept much man wouldn't it be nice if people actually were sad they couldn't read books today you know it should be if you didn't have the Bible you should weep that you don't have the Bible to read and I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and read the book neither look there on and one of the elders saith unto me weep not behold the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed open the book and to lose the seven seals thereof and I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the others stood a lamb as it had been slain so notice when someone goes into heaven then we already read in first John chapter five there was three that bear record in heaven okay now notice if you go to heaven you're gonna see a lamb slain what is that representative of someone that's been killed okay but here's the thing the lamb is not laying there dead no no this lamb is look slain but is alive now what does that make you think of how about someone that died on the cross and rose again and still has the marks in his body from the cross wouldn't that look like someone who's been slain but yet they're alive it says having seven ends and seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent forth in all the earth and he came and took the book out of the right hand of men that sat on the throne and when he had taken the book the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full of olders which are the prayers of saints and they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and as redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people a nation so notice when they see this vision when these people at least when John is seeing his vision he's seeing other people looking at the lamb slain notice that they're saying you are the one that was killed you're the one that was slain and you redeemed us to God by thy blood now I've heard some wicked false prophet say this is like a literal animal no no no no no okay look when when Jesus Christ showed up at John the Baptist baptizing what did he say behold the Lamb of God was he looking at a literal lamb no okay look at verse number five again and one of the other say let me weep not behold the lion the of the tribe of Judah is that a literal lion okay now here's the thing in this vision we don't know exactly what John saw obviously it's using some really interesting language talking about the horns talking about the heads but here's the facts that we know this is Jesus and he looks slain now let me explain to you what that means it's the bottle it's the body of Jesus that was slain for us and the bottom look when Jesus came back from the dead he showed the disciples the holes in his hand okay now of course we understand that Jesus Christ is transfigured and glorious and bright but I believe he's still the Lamb slain and what a great picture when you get to heaven that you still get to see what the Lamb slain you know none of us get to see the cross per se but we get to see the repercussions of the cross by seeing what the Lamb slain look what it says in verse number 10 and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on earth and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sit upon the throne and under the lamp forever and ever notice that we're praising God the Father on the throne and the Lamb of God which is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ now you say well why why bring this up well here's a question why did Jesus come back in the same body why would you come back in the exact I mean the that body got kind of trashed on the cross didn't it I mean didn't that body get some nails struck through it then you get some some nails struck through his feet I mean didn't his side get pierced why why come back in that body well here's the thing if that body died and just rotted and just completely you know turned back into dust that we are because that's what happens to a body you bury it you know in the ground after a while turn back the dust eventually well here's the thing what would be the proof that Jesus Christ rose from the dead number one number two how did he even rise from the dead if his body perished because think about this okay everybody that dies according in the Bible their spirit is caught up into heaven right so what's the difference between them and Jesus Jesus still has that same body but has obviously been transformed it's obviously been glorified but also how is Jesus gonna prove to his disciples that he came back to death came back from the dead if he doesn't have the same body that was put on the cross but the bodily resurrection is so important because it proves the miracles of God and it proves that we to our body will come back out of the grave now obviously it's gonna be a glorified state don't hear me wrong some of us need to look a little better anyways but you're like man I don't know if I want this to come back out a little better okay go if you would to Luke chapter 23 go to Luke chapter 23 but Jesus when he showed up and he talked to his disciples after the fact so you know some people say oh they didn't recognize him that's because they thought he died my friend you know people that have already died you don't anticipate to knock on your door like if my my mom's already passed away but if some lady came and knocked on my door I wouldn't think like mom you know because I think she's already dead so I'm not anticipating her and in fact I guarantee my mom could probably show up maybe wearing sunglasses especially or something and she could start talking to me and I would just think of some woman that just looks like my mom or favors my mom a little bit or whatever because I would never think that it's literally my mom because she died okay so the same has got to be with Jesus Christ in the sense that yeah I'm sure he probably looks like Jesus to them still because it's Jesus we get that but they're just not anticipating him being Jesus in any way shape or form therefore it's not confusing to think like right when they run into this guy they're not instantly thinking it's Jesus because every person you run into you don't just instantly think is Jesus Christ okay and there's been people that you and I both know like you're out shopping you're out somewhere and you look at someone and at first you kind of think like oh they look like somebody I know but then like over then you kind of like realize oh no I don't think that's them even if they really look like them you're still kind of incredulous you're not really sure it's gonna be similar for the disciples that whenever they look at Jesus even though he's risen from the dead they're not instantly like oh it's Jesus they're thinking like who are you you look a lot like Jesus but I don't know who you are right but what sense would it make if I died and then all of a sudden Ben showed up your door and said I'm Jonathan you'd be like no you're not you don't look anything like him okay like it wouldn't make any sense for some random dude to just show up and then claim to be you in fact why would you ever believe that I would never believe that right I mean would you ever believe that I was brother Carlos I mean if I died and brother Carlos is like I'm really pastor Shelley like I don't think there's anything he could say I mean even if he had some interesting fact you would just be thinking like I don't know how he got that information but he's definitely not pastor Shelley okay like you would never believe that right you have to have the literal person that literally died come back now look at Luke chapter 23 look at verse 55 and the women also it's came with them from Galilee followed after and beheld the sepulcher and now his body was laid they return and prepared spices and ointments and rest of the Sabbath day according to the commandment now the reason why I read that verse is because it gives us the subject of what we're talking about women there is women that went that checked out where Jesus was laid and they're gonna come back later to basically anoint his body says in verse number one of chapter 24 now a upon the first day of the week very early in the morning they notice it as they that's why I went back there's you know who the day of the day is the women right they came under the sepulcher bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them and they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher and they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus and it came to pass as they were much perplexed there about the old two men stood by them in shining garments and as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth they said unto them why seek ye the living among the dead he is not here but it's risen remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee saying the Son of Man must be livid into the hands of simple men and be crucified and the third day rise again there was your gospel in the Old Testament FYI and they notice this remembered his words hey it's gonna be hard to confuse them and say hey you remember there was no gospel testament like no we remember he breezes the gospel in the Old Testament verse 9 and they returned from the sepulcher and told all these things under the 11 and all the rest it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and other women that were with them which told these things and the Apostles so we have Mary Joanna and Mary apparently they're from Mexico or something I'm just gonna go to Matthew 28 they all went to the sepulcher and there was no body now think about it this way if Jesus did not rise again from the dead wouldn't his body still be in the tomb and wouldn't it be even more difficult to believe you know if I die you put my body in a coffin and then Carlos comes up and says I'm pastor Shelley and then you're looking at my body in the coffin wouldn't that be really confusing you'd be like here's the body here's pastor Shelley okay it's right here it doesn't make any sense to try and suppose that it didn't really happen what would happen if you raise from the dead your body wouldn't be in the tomb exactly like the Bible describes it and they have this giant stone you really think Mary and Joanna are over here like in the WNBA pulling that stone away in fact the entire WNBA team wouldn't have been able to move that stone sorry they need a real man okay not you want a man or whatever some of you know what I'm talking about all right but it really important facts here that we have that the Bible is establishing there is no body think about this the most influential person ever we don't have his body we don't know where it is and in fact not even the Jews know where it is now of course they make a lot a little lie about it who is a liar but who is a Jew right okay Matthew 28 look at verse 9 and as they went to tell his disciples behold Jesus met them saying all hail and they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him then said Jesus unto them be not afraid go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me so I'm fast forward to this is a parallel passage they went to the tomb they saw the angels the angels are saying go back but on their way back Jesus himself met them and notice he said behold Jesus met them saying all hail and they came and held him by the feet notice this and worshiped him so were they convinced that this is Jesus absolutely they knew is Jesus they held him they literally worship him now the word worship in your Bible typically means bow down that's what that means so they literally bow down before Jesus they worshiped him and then they're going back so the first eyewitnesses according to scripture are these women now if you want to tell the whole world tell a couple women I mean case closed he didn't tell the twelve disciples he's like let's just tell a Mary and it's over you know and we all know if you tell the right woman everyone knows everyone knows and and when I say the right woman's just any of them really so but according to the Bible they got to see him he says don't be afraid tell them they're gonna see me too verse 11 now when they were going behold some of the watch came into the city and showed him the chief priests all the things that were done and when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel they gave large money under the soldiers now who's the they there it's Jews so those Jews have large money verse 13 saying say is disciples came by night and stole them away while we slept notice number two the Jews they blame Christians number 14 and if they come to the governor's ears we will persuade them and scare you notice they bribe government officials verse 15 so they took the money and did as they were taught and saying this is commonly reported among the Jews under this day notice they're behind the biggest conspiracy ever denying the resurrection of Jesus Christ wicked synagogue of Satan okay but of course Jesus Christ realizing that there's gonna be this big lie out there he's gonna give eyewitnesses a chance to go out and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ he's telling these women they literally saw his body in the tomb and then they see it not there and then they see it right there up in front and they get to touch it now I think personally just my personal opinion for reading the scripture why did why did Jesus show himself in first of course we talked about that women love to share things okay but another reason is think about this they were purposely going there to anoint his body they loved Jesus they cared for him they wanted to take care of him even after death they wanted to anoint his body so it's not a coincidence that those are the people that Jesus shows up to first are the ones that want to see him and let me tell you something you want to see Jesus look for him because you can find them right here in these scriptures the reason why people don't find Jesus is because they're not looking because they don't want to find Jesus hey if you go to the sepulcher if you're going to anoint Jesus if you seek you shall find according to the scriptures and you know what you want to know Jesus Christ go look for him he'll find you'll find him he'll find you he'll show up and he'll say hey here am I you know it's like oh I want God to talk to me okay well if you seek him he'll talk to you maybe not in the way you wanted maybe not in the way that you expected right didn't they expect to find a dead body but then they found someone alive and you know what you go into this book saying it's just a book but you know what when you start reading it you'll realize it's alive you realize this book is living you'll realize that this book will literally describe every event of your life even right now it doesn't matter how much technology it doesn't matter how what goes on and not only that when you have the Holy Spirit inside of you who constantly remind you of Scripture he'll remind you of the words of God he'll constantly provoke you he'll convict you he'll approve you he'll rebuke you he'll comfort you he'll guide you and you actually get to be with Jesus every day of your life when you open up the scriptures and you let the Holy Spirit guide you now of course we're not eyewitnesses we don't have that privilege you know what he told Thomas hey blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe but of course you know the most important event to ever happen in human history was not without eyewitnesses oh no no the the God of the Bible doesn't try to leave his religion to the hands of a few pedophiles to tell the whole world no he gives it into hundreds of eyewitnesses hundreds of eyewitnesses okay the most influential person of human history acts chapter number 10 to have you turn there turn to acts chapter number 10 now these women went they told the disciples they were incredulous John and Peter go run to the sepulcher John's apparently a lot faster than Peter he likes to tell people about that but of course if you think Jesus is risen again from the dead what will be a great place to confirm that when the tomb you're like where is he because either one or two things happen someone moved his body or he risen he's come back from the dead okay and they're like well let's see if he's even there and it's not there it's like oh what happened okay now think about it from a disciples perspective according to the Jewish narrative according to the 9-11 official story the disciples took the body but if you're a disciple you know that didn't happen so you're like oh wow the only other option is that I took the body well I know I didn't take the body so what would what would be the only left as an option he came back from the dead he's living just like he told me I mean think about this he told me multiple times I saw the miracles the only option is that I took the body and I can't remember or it's exactly like he said and every other thing he's ever said happened exactly like he said right now of course then Jesus doesn't even leave it there he then literally showed himself unto his disciples he came in the midst of them he talked with them he ate with them okay now why did he eat with them because it was a physical resurrection and you know what I like he ate that means that I have hope that I'm gonna get to eat again in the future praise God now I wish he had had a steak but you know he still had fish so there you go some fish and some honeycomb and I don't think it was the cereal but maybe you have that in heaven too I don't know but but here's the thing he showed himself unto those disciples now that's important because they're gonna have to spend their entire lives dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ going out and being witnesses of the of the resurrection and they're gonna suffer a lot of evil and you know it's gonna help them it's gonna bolster them the fact that they've literally seen Jesus okay look at Acts chapter number 10 verse 37 that word I say you know which is published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism was John preached how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him and we are witnesses of all things which he did both the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they slew and hanged on a tree him God raised up the third day and showed him notice this word openly not to all the people but unto witnesses chosen before of God even to us meaning specifically to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead so notice we say not only do we see this guy not only hang out with this guy we ate and drank in his presence he ate and drank with us now he was open but he was only open to those that know him this is really kind of a picture of being saved you know everyone that's saved can see Jesus in the scriptures but you know what it's open I mean you just let the Bible fall open and you just see Jesus on every page you see all the pictures of Jesus through all the prophets you see Jesus and Joseph you see Jesus and Moses you see Jesus and Jonah but to the unsaved they just can't see him and it's the same with the Word of God all it takes is getting saved and then you can see Jesus it's open but you know what you had to believe first and you know what these disciples they dedicated their lives to Jesus they had faith in Jesus ever before the passion so of course he's going to show himself openly after the fact and that's one of the aspects of Christianity is hey you don't get to see all of the things beforehand you have to first believe without faith it's impossible to please them but you know what if you believe in Jesus Christ he'll open up your eyes and you'll be able to see everything so clearly you'll understand the world so much more clearly you understand the Bible so much more clearly you'll understand everything about yourself and your thoughts and humanity so clearly but you know what it takes that initial faith put in Jesus Christ that saves you put the faith in his death-bearing resurrection and it will save you okay and he's saying hey we we got to see it literally now he said in verse 42 and he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead to give to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins just saying look obviously we got to see it but you know what the whole Bible testified of Jesus Christ and every single prophet prophesied that if you believe in Jesus you have remission of sins notice the gospel is everywhere how people say oh there is no gospel no Testament no no no it's everywhere all the prophets give him witness they're all about Jesus the whole Bibles about Jesus you know I love that when I worked at this one church I didn't like the church but I just loved this moment in time I'm talking to this youth pastor and I was fortunate to kind of lead a youth group at the time and I I was just kind of curious I was like hey you know you don't have a curriculum so I just kind of want to make sure like you know is it okay if I preach certain parts of the Bible or like what do you want me to preach he's like as long as it's about Jesus and I was like good it's always gonna be about Jesus cuz look the whole Bible is about Jesus my friend it's all about him every single square inch in fact it is him you can't the Bible says that he's the Word of God okay and look the Word of God is walking around with Adam and Eve in the garden okay maybe they were talking about Leviticus 20 13 I don't know but you know and Adams thinking like that's so weird like I don't think we'll need that one oh yes you do okay go to John chapter 20 go to John chapter 20 look I had that moment when I was little all I would do is read the Old Testament over and over because I would like lose track after like Joshua judges or something and that would just start over so I just read like Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers just like over and over and over over and over and over it's like I didn't know the minor prophets at all but I knew Leviticus I knew Deuteronomy and I remember reading through the Leviticus 20 and I thought like why do we even have this no one would ever do these things these are so weird and then it's like this is America 2022 it's so bizarre and then you start realizing I guess God smarter than me because you know if you'd asked me I would have said we don't need those rules we don't need those laws we don't need to bring that up no one would ever do that but God in his infinite wisdom knew everything that man would do knew all the evil that would follow us and he gave us the perfect commandments just like he knew everything about Jesus before it ever happened Jesus is not an afterthought Jesus is not plan B Jesus is the entire show it's all about him always was about him it was always about his death bear and resurrection and in fact that's what's so great when we do the Bible studies and we just sit there and we see the death burn resurrection in Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and in judge you know all throughout why because then it helps remind you the fact that it was always about Jesus and in fact you can also see that he was always about saving the Gentiles even in the Old Testament it was always about those who had faith never about works because no one had works enough to get into heaven and we see the same themes of the Bible carried forth over and over and over and over and over again these are really important and he's saying look you guys don't need to see Jesus to believe in him just believe the scriptures just believe the prophets but you know what even some of Jesus's does own disciples didn't Thomas right John chapter 20 look at verse 24 but Thomas one of the 12 called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came so he has not seen Jesus physically yet he hasn't seen it the other disciples therefore said unto him we have seen the Lord but he said unto them except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe and after eight days again his disciples were within and Thomas with them then came Jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said peace be unto you then say thee to Thomas reach into thy finger and behold my hands and reach into thy hand and thrust thrust through it into my side and be not faithless but believing and Thomas answered and said unto him my Lord and my God Jesus saith unto him Thomas because thou has seen me thou has believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed so notice he's saying hey I'm glad I'm glad you believed in me after you saw me but you know what's even better the people that didn't have to see it they believed anyways and you and none of us have ever seen yet we believed why look why would you want to why would you be a disciple all the other disciples are saying they saw it Mary and Joanna and the other Mary they all said that they saw it they're just lying the tombs empty it just didn't happen I mean you literally just have to ignore so many facts so much reality to be like doubting Thomas no we need to be believing and if we believe in the death burial and resurrection which arguably I mean when you think about things that are miracles in the Bible this is arguably one of the most difficult miracles to believe in because we've never seen anybody come back from the dead we've never seen Jesus we don't have you know historical documents outside of the scripture proving any of these things telling us all these things yet we believe it and if we believe that in the death burn resurrection of our Lord and Savior why wouldn't we believe the whole Bible why why can't we let this pass it because you know it's real easy to sit and be like Thomas of course Thomas didn't believe yet how many other places can I show in Scripture to Christians today and they won't believe those they'll condemn Thomas for not believing the death burn resurrection but then I can show them other places in Scripture and they're like that's Old Testament it's like yeah the Gospels Old Testament I'm why does it matter if it's old you know they just don't believe the Bible you know we should challenge ourselves to believe everything that's written whether we've seen it or not what would be something like that how about tithing that's not something that you can see you just have to do by faith right what about going to church and it changing your life that's not something you can see the effect of until you go to church you know how about soul winning you don't know how soul winning will change your life until you go so winning you don't know reading the Bible change your life until you start reading the Bible you don't know how having many as many children as you can possibly have will change your life until you have them and then you're like can I go back I'm just kidding you don't know what any of these things are like you don't know hey you don't know what it's like to discipline your child with the rod until you do it until they're until you've risen you know a child up until you've brought the child up and to an adult and then you can see the effects of your parenting okay so you say well how am I gonna live my life we're supposed to live it by faith not be like Thomas and be doubting and say well until I see my child doing right I'm not gonna discipline them according the Bible until I see my life change I'm not gonna go to church until Jesus shows up and tells me to read the Bible I'm not gonna read the Bible until someone falls down and says sir what must I do to be saved I'm not gonna go so winning you know that's a bad way to live your life and of course if that happened get them saved but blessed are they that haven't seen that yet and then they went out and then they got someone saved and you had to do it by faith and everybody that first went out they did it by faith so let's talk about why we believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ number one the spirit which is the Word of God number two is the blood and the water number three is the witnesses in heaven God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost number four is the eyewitnesses we literally had eyewitnesses go out into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole world and then those eyewitnesses religion exists today in Christianity the number one religion in the world obviously I'm throwing in Catholics just to be nice okay but if we're gonna say people that are claiming to follow Christ okay we're just saying they're somewhat following Christ even though we know they're not I get that okay we're just saying what's the most influential religion it's it's Christianity okay what's the next biggest influential religion Islam but see what's interesting about Islam is it's not there's like brand-new completely different religion it's just a perverted version of Christianity just like Catholicism I mean we have Christianity then we have a perverted version of a Christianity is what Catholicism then we have a perverted view even more perverted Islam and then even more perverted is like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons and then we have even more perverted Jews Judaism and really I mean that's like half the world I mean people that are of the quote Abrahamic religions I mean this is basically half the world believes in this stuff and I mean we're talking about a guy that we don't even have his body why because he lives he lives Christ Jesus lives today right that's why and we had those eyewitness testimony going out and change the whole thing about this if I said hey I want you to go ahead and create a brand-new religion that half the world's gonna believe in some version of it good luck with that how are you gonna do that so we have a fifth point that I want to make it's the fruit of the resurrection of Jesus Christ the fruit and and look Christianity while we understand it's not entirely new it is new it's the New Testament right it's the better Testament and it was a new religion because the Old Testament law is now been changed and altered so we now have a new way to worship God we have a new religion that's that's open to all that believe in faith and Jesus Christ so basically we have a brand new religion starting out after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and when did Christianity explode I mean did Christianity explode in 500 BC no did it explode in 500 AD no it exploded when right after the resurrection of Jesus Christ why because that was the catalyst of Christianity you know Islam is several hundred years later with some pedophile person that goes into caves and sees visions of demons how is that the same and and think about this we had dozens of eyewitnesses of the resurrection where are the dozens of witnesses of the demon that came and talked to Muhammad it's one man isn't it it's one person you know the Apostles went preaching everywhere they were literally martyrs for the cause of Christ you know it's hard to convince someone to be a martyr you can pretty much only do it through severe I'm through sincere devotion or through extreme fear and intimidation now we do have people that will die for their religion today jihadists but are they really doing it out of sincere love and appreciation or are they doing out of carnal desire and fear intimidation I get 72 virgins in heaven that guy's not doing out of a sincere love of God he's doing that up because he's a pervert or most of the time I believe it's out of fear and intimidation basically they say hey we'll kill your family we'll chop you up we'll do this evil stuff to you or you go and blow yourself up and then let's go do it but they're not doing it willfully they're doing it under lots of pressure or someone's forcing them no one was forcing the Apostle Paul to go from town to town to preach the gospel they're thinking this guy's crazy why is he doing this why is he doing his own volition why because he truly believed the gospel he truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and we created the largest religion to ever exist and money the false religions are just cults slanted off of Christianity here's another one the Jehovah's Witnesses right now again I want to just take a second and debunk a couple of their claims because if you run into a Jehovah's Witness here's a really important fact they don't believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus and let me tell you something they're not saved even if they did believe that they still believe it works they still have a perverted Bible they have a perverted religion now here's another thing about them they just deny so much reality they're pretty much typically not receptive the gospel at all so I don't really want to waste a lot of time with them but you know maybe someone that's kind of a jack Jehovah's Witness some of us not really there or barely went there they came and had a Bible study with them one time you need to rescue them quick because this false religion is so wicked but they said I went to their website and it talks about the resurrection being not physical and says let's look to the Bible good acts chapter 13 go to action for 13 they said the Bible says that Jesus was put to death in the flesh but made alive and the spirit so they're saying oh it's just a spiritual thing which in the King James Bible they're quoting first Peter chapter number three but it says he was quickened by the spirit okay I mean he was just made alive by the spirit that doesn't mean that his body didn't come back to life in fact there's no it does it just really is kind of a straw man because there's nothing to do with what we're talking about the method by which Jesus rose again from the dead has no impact on if he did come back from the dead or not or what body that was okay but they're trying to twist the words of the Bible to say made alive in the spirit so they're saying oh it wasn't in the flesh it was in the spirit but you know the King James Bible says by the spirit that's a really important word by and it's important to get in every word Bible like the King James Bible not their twisted perversion and look plenty of people say like oh these nuances don't matter in the modern Bibles but look how an entire cult is literally hinging on one prepositional phrase in or by just that one little and of course some of that saved is never to come with these stupid doctrines but notice how the unsaved twist perverted scriptures to their own benefit now they also go to Acts chapter 13 verse 34 and this is a proof text that Jesus did not rise again physically well let's read it acts chapter 13 verse 34 and it's concerning that he raised him up from the dead now no more to return to corruption he said on this wise I will give you the sure mercy of David now didn't that just point-blank prove that he didn't rise from the dead physically I'm thinking like I don't even know what their point is exactly I guess it says to no more return to corruption and they think that his physical body was corruption but that that can't be true because Jesus Christ was not corrupt if Jesus Christ was corrupt in his physical body when he died on the cross then he couldn't have died for our sins he was incorruptible okay and the Bible explicitly states that his flesh did not see corruption and you'd say well well where is that in the scripture let's just read a couple more verses and we read this 34 let's keep reading verse 35 wherefore he sayeth also in another psalm thou should not suffer thy holy one to see corruption for David after had served his own generation by the will of God fell on a sleep and was laid unto his father's notices and saw corruption but he whom God raised again saw no corruption he's saying look you idiots look you morons David died and his body rotted but Jesus body didn't rot so then how can you literally say that proves that he didn't rise again physically it's like that's exactly what the whole point of this passage is it's like how stupid can you be it's saying look David died and his body rotted we don't have it anymore but Jesus Christ didn't his body was in the in the tomb for three days but you know it came back to life and it saw no corruption we still have the same body what kind of a foolish idiot literally turns here to try and prove the physical resurrection didn't actually happen someone is blind this is what you have to understand about false religion in the Colts it's not that they don't have the answer it's that they don't want to see it they could have the resurrected Jesus standing in front of them in bodily form saying put your finger in the hole of my hand and they would say I thought it was a torture stake they wouldn't believe it you say no no no no if they saw Jesus they would believe it oh yeah like the Pharisees when they saw Jesus literally casting out Devils before their eyes and then they said he did it by the power of the devil and let me tell you a secret it's not a secret but I'm gonna tell you see all right if people won't believe the Bible they wouldn't believe anything this is the greatest proof this is what we put our faith in and you know it's it's it's like well they won't believe the scripture what what can I do now walk away there isn't another option it's not like a you know Jesus was I'm sorry Abraham told the rich man down in hell he said look even though one rose from the dead they still wouldn't believe it why because it's not about seeing it's about faith here's another point they may go to John chapter 2 if that wasn't enough which that was enough okay I mean talk about I was just I was so incredulous that they have that I mean go to Acts chapter 2 which also says that he saw no corruption neither does flesh see corruption okay clearly indicating that it had to come back from the dead but they also say this Jesus own words show that he would not be resurrected with his flesh and blood body he said that he would give his flesh on the behalf of the life of the world as a ransom for mankind if he had taken back his flesh when he was resurrected he would have canceled that ransom sacrifice this could not have happened though for the Bible says that he sacrificed his flesh and blood once for all time if Jesus was raised up with a spirit body how could a disciple see him so they basically just say like if Jesus died and came back to life that would have nullified our salvation think about how satanic this doctrine is they're literally saying like if you actually believe the real gospel then you're denying that Jesus could even save us it's like no no no no the fact that he came back from the dead proves our salvation it's the proof of our salvation it's the hope that we have that we'll be resurrected again one day Oh Jesus own words said that he wouldn't come back physically oh yeah well let's see John chapter number two look at verse number 19 and Jesus answered and said unto them destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up again they said hey destroy this and I'll bring it back what is it what are we talking about well let's keep reading then the Jews said then said the Jews forty and six years of the temple and building and wilt thou reared up in three days but he spake of the temple of what his body hey Joe's false witness Jesus said he would bring back his body oh yeah how do you argue that again because they're idiots I don't like Joe's witnesses I'm just gonna tell you okay they are idiots and they walk around slow and depressed because they're going to hell they say this after his resurrection Jesus also assumed human form temporarily just as angels had previously done as a spirit creature though he was able to appear and disappear suddenly the fleshly bodies that he materialized were not identical from the one appearance to the next so he showed up as Carlos and then he showed up at the bin you know then then he showed up as a black woman that cooks pancakes or something I mean think about this satanic doctrine they're literally teaching you can show up in any form that he wants you know who actually does that the devil the devil will show up all of a sudden in a snake he'll all of a sudden show up and inhabit someone else's body isn't that what the devil does it's called demon possession where they show up and they take over someone's body and they start spouting false wicked doctrine you know what Jesus doesn't do he doesn't ever impersonate other people why would he do that anyways that would be inferior to who he is Jesus shows up as himself and every time Jesus shows up they always fall down because it's so glorifying he's so he's a glorified he's so you know terrifying as the Bible describes him you couldn't stand in his presence you just forced an eel just like it's kind of the Sun if you don't have sunglasses on especially you can't just look at the Sun you're forced to look away and and as much as that's true it's even more true that if Jesus was in your presence you would literally fall face-flat on the floor you would be hiding and in essence you know and whenever Jesus returns all the unsaved are going and hiding in rocks with their prophet Muhammad saying fall on us but think about how this doctrine fits well with the Antichrist since he can appear in any form some random dude is gonna show up and it's gonna be Jesus and guess who's gonna believe in that the Jehovah's Witnesses and you know what that body's not gonna have the crucifixion wounds but look if we saw Jesus in heaven what did the Bible say we would see the lamb slain that's a pretty big difference and you know when Thomas was looking at you think about the logic of this okay Thomas is saying unless I see the print of the nails like in his hands he didn't say in someone's hands in his hands right and his feet and then he's like behold my hand you know why would I think like okay brother Carlos has holes in his hand why would I believe that's me because there's holes in his hand what about the two thieves that died on the cross next to Jesus if we saw them and put our finger through their hand why would I then believe in Jesus because of that this is the dumbest religion on the planet why would I believe that Jesus showed up in a random body that was trashed and then that was Jesus that's not even faith that's stupidity that makes no sense we they obviously saw the body that was on the cross they saw it in the flesh they touched that body because Jesus wasn't like hey this is just some random body I just made a you know trash some body just to show you this no no it was his body to prove what that he rose from the dead go to Romans 6 last place overturned Matthew 22 says I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead with a living look when someone dies they go to heaven and they're in a spiritual body okay in a sense it's just your spirit right obviously that spirit has a form whatever that is it's your spiritual body okay if Jesus Christ did not come back from the dead physically what would separate Abraham Isaac and Jesus what makes Jesus different than them how would Jesus be the first begotten of the dead he wouldn't you know it makes him the first begotten of the dead because he has that body while the rest of us our body is still here except for a few exceptions okay Elijah or somebody I don't know I don't know how that works okay throw them let's cast them aside the rest of us our bodies are here and what happens think about in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 we have to plant a seed into the ground and then it springs up is the same as our bodies being down on the earth and what's gonna happen they're gonna come back out how could you even make sense of Ezekiel when you have the dry bones literally putting flesh back on them you know obviously our flesh right now is a corrupted flesh we'll put it on a glorified flesh but you know what we're still gonna have flesh we're still gonna have a body and not just a spiritual body but one made like unto Christ okay because we are gonna take on his image now obviously we don't look exactly like him I'm not Peter Ruckman up here saying that all the women are gonna turn into a 33 year old man that sounds like the doctrine of Caitlyn Jenner or something but obviously just like we're human as Jesus is a man whatever his glorified state is we're gonna take on that same state and we're gonna have an incorruptible flesh and we'll get to be with Jesus now think about think about this okay well we're kind of trashing the Jehovah's Witnesses what's what's our church doctrine Baptist and what's a really important thing about Christianity baptism I mean and think about how many people have been baptized since the resurrection since John the Baptist till now I'm what we're talking about millions and millions potentially even billions billions of people have been physically baptized now whether they were saved or not obviously plenty of people in baptized are not saved but notice that a lot of people have been baptized okay what is baptism picture I wonder okay it pictures Jesus Christ's death burial and let me tell you something physical resurrection we don't hold you down and squirm until your spirit comes out otherwise not very many people want to get baptized by me it's usually cold anyways it's not that much fun but I'm saying hey we bring you back up Romans 6 look at verse 3 know you not that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized in his death therefore we are buried with them by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life for if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with them that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin now we talked a lot about the bottle of resurrection we obviously have proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt let's talk about the application what's the application of the physical resurrection well number one is we get baptized baptism is the first step after getting saved if you got baptized before you got saved all you did was get wet and I don't care how many times you got wet it doesn't matter to me now after you get saved you only have you baptized once just like you were born once just like you were saved once okay but baptism pictures that you want to die to the old man and you want to walk in newness of life when we put on our new body our glorified flesh we are not gonna be able to sin of course Jesus never sinned okay but he also coming up is picturing the what the newness the new man the not sinning so by believing in the physical resurrection and by getting physically baptized what we're saying is we don't want to serve sin anymore we want to serve Jesus we want to walk in the new man so you know what let's go beyond just believing the fact that Jesus rose again from the dead why don't we live like Jesus rose again from the dead why don't we walk a life that looks like it came back from the dead and you know what talk about the fruit that helps me believe in the physical resurrection how about the change lives of people that start serving God and of course we don't believe in our church that you have to have a changed life to go to heaven but you should and we've seen it how many people have been just a loser a derelict a drunk whatever their problems are and then they get saved then they get baptized then they start reading the Bible and it's a completely different person in fact if your old friends ran into you they would say who are you I don't recognize you anymore you seem completely different and you know what that's a testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ that's a testimony to him becoming new is that we too should become new we should walk different we should look different you know I guarantee if you come to our church and then you visit almost any other church out here you say y'all Church is different I hope so I hope it's different than Steven Furtick's Church than TD Jake's Church and you say why because those people aren't even saved they don't have the real power of the gospel and look the power of the gospel will change lives it'll make people different they'll act different they'll speak different they'll think different everything about them can be different and you know what you need to get baptized to get in that newness of life but if you've been baptized shame on you if you're not walking that newness of life you need to get plugged in you need to start living like you believe and stop being a doubting Thomas believe all the scriptures serve God with our lives let's go some prayer Thank You Heavenly Father for giving us the gospel thank you for giving us your son the Lord Jesus Christ thank you so much for his death burial and physical resurrection I pray that we would understand the importance of this doctrine I pray that we'd never be carried away with some some foolish idea some lie some Jewish conspiracy but rather we would believe the scriptures and not just concerning the gospel but all the scriptures I pray that those that need to be baptized would get baptized those of us that have been baptized we be reminded of what we did the choice that we made so that we would walk in newness of life that we would not henceforth serve sin but rather we would serve the true and living God that we go out and be a living testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that one day we'll get to see the lamb slain and give him the honor and the glory that's due to his name in Jesus name we pray amen right for a final song we'll go to 34 I know that my Redeemer liveth song 34 I know that my Redeemer liveth song number 34 I know that my Redeemer liveth let's sing it out together I know that my Redeemer liveth and on the earth again shall stand I know eternal life he giveth that grace and power are in his hand I know I know that Jesus liveth and on the earth again shall stand I know I know that life he giveth that grace and power are in his hand I know his promise never fail let the word he speaks it cannot die death my flesh assailed him by and by I know I know that Jesus liveth and on the earth again shall stand I know I know that life he giveth that grace and power are in his hand I know my mansion he prepareth that where he is there I may be Oh wondrous thought for me he careth and he at last will come for me I know I know that Jesus liveth and on the earth again shall stand I know I know that life he giveth that grace and power are in his hand happy Easter God bless you are dismissed you