John K. Jenkins Sr - Significance of His Resurrection

I want to walk through today, and I want to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let me just ask you to turn there for a moment. I'm not going to read the passage right now because I'm going to go through and read it in just a moment, but I want to talk to you today about the significance of His resurrection. Say that: the significance of His resurrection. Tell that to your neighbor: the significance of His resurrection. I want to discuss this because the Apostle Paul is writing this book, this Epistle of Corinthians, to the church in Corinth. He helped found this church and was very much involved in pouring into the lives of these members, but they reached a point where their lives were chaotic. There was a lot going on in the Church of Corinth . He ended up writing two Epistles to them: the first Epistle and the second Epistle, trying to straighten out the mess . I mean, they had people lying on each other, arguing, fighting, and causing dissension. People were not speaking. When someone came into the church, if they saw someone they didn 't like, they were making a maze to get to the other side of the building. They were suing each other and taking each other to court, arguing and fighting over parking spaces. There was promiscuity, lesbianism, homosexuality , and adultery. It was like the ancient-day First Baptist Church of Glen, AR. I've mentioned that multiple times. They had a lot going on, and he was trying to straighten it out, trying to get them to live holy and righteously, just like so many of you want to live righteous lives . You try to change and do right; you want to live holy, but you keep falling, you keep tripping up, and you keep going back to things you don't want to do . Paul understood that in order for people to live a victorious life, there are certain things they have to understand. One of the things he knew they had to understand was what he spent the entire 15th chapter talking about, and that is the resurrection. It is impossible for you to live the kind of life Christ wants you to live victoriously if you don't understand the full capacity and significance of, and if you don't believe in, the resurrection. So he spent the whole 15th chapter discussing the resurrection . I'm not going to cover the whole chapter because it has 58 verses. Somebody look at your neighbor and say, "Thank God he isn 't going to discuss all 58 ," but I am going to try to cover at least half of it . You all are supposed to say, "Go ahead, Pastor!" [Applause]

What is happening in the church , and the reason some of them cannot live victorious lives, is that not everyone in the church believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ . And we have some people here today-y'all might as well tell the truth-because not everyone here believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ . Look up and down your row and see if you can figure out who those people are because if you truly believe in the resurrection of Jesus, your life would be different . If you really believe that He is God, that He died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, you would be in church every Sunday. Look at your neighbor and say, "You'd be in church every Sunday." We would have this parking lot jam-packed and people overflowed in every service, every Sunday , but you don't believe it. That 's why your life is the way it is. But Paul says to them that if they want to live victoriously, they have to believe that. Now, start with me at verse one. Are y'all with me? Verse one - he's going through the previous 14 chapters about living right. He says in verse number one, "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel ." He says, "I've been trying to straighten you out on all of these other things, but let me also remind you that I have declared to you the gospel which I preached to you , which also you received and in which you stand." You accepted it . He said to them , "You joined the church; you became members; you said you accepted the gospel ." He continues in verse one: "By which also you are saved ." You accept the gospel, and you get saved. He says right here, then he says, "If you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." Now that's an important statement, and I need to bring clarity because some people have interpreted this statement. When he says, "If you hold fast that word which I preached to you ," they take it to mean that people could possibly lose their salvation if they stop believing. But that's not what he's saying . Here 's what he's really saying: If you really, truly believe- and here's what I believe-I believe if you really, truly put your faith in Jesus and believe that He died, was buried, and rose again from the dead and had an encounter with God, I believe it's impossible for a person to have an encounter with Jesus and then later in life decide they don't believe anymore. Let that digest for a moment . I'm not talking about having an emotional feeling ; I'm not talking about you coming to church and ...