1 Corinthians 15: Part 1 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning.

Starting a new week is always a good thing, and no better way to start it than by reading a bit of God’s word, the Bible, and saying, God, what do you have to say to me today?

Because one thing you can be certain of, God has something to say to you every day of your life, if you’re listening, and if you put yourself in the place to hear what He has to say.

There’s no better place for that than by opening your Bible.

So let me open the Bible, and I want to spend this week in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 in the Bible.

This great chapter focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus. The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthian church, says:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you. Unless you believed in vain, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, (Cephas is Peter), that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James. Then to all the apostles, last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me, for I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.

Well, it’s very clear that Paul is saying something very important, isn’t he? The gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved – here is the core of what a person needs to know and understand, to be born again, to be forgiven of their sins, to be right with God, to be welcomed into God’s family and have their life changed from the inside out.

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Not from the outside in by a whole bunch of rules and expectations placed on them by the church they go to that never saved anybody. It’s by being born again in our spirit, in our inner lives, that then changes the way we live on the outside.

That is what being born again means, and this is how it happens. Paul says, I gave to you as of first importance what I also received the same message that changed my life.

That Christ died for our sins.

Paul says there’s this problem between you and God. You know you need this new way of life. You know you can’t change yourself. You know that life isn’t just about having fun, that it’s about meaning and purpose, and you cannot make that happen.

Well, Paul says there’s a problem between you and God that keeps His activity, His life transforming activity from taking place in your life, and that is that you have so many times done what you knew was wrong. God gave you that sense of right and wrong, and if you’ve been exposed to His Word, the Bible, then you know that so often you’ve broken God’s way of living, His laws of life.

That stands between us and God. It makes God angry, and as the judge of the universe, it is an offence that has to be held account.

But here’s what Paul says. The good news Christ died for our sins.

Jesus, who didn’t deserve any of that stuff, said, I will take their place. I’ll be their substitute, and I will take the judgement that they deserved. And so he died on the cross, experienced enormous pain and suffering, and the separation from God the Father that we deserved, all so that – the barrier that’s between us and God could be removed, and we could be welcomed into God’s family, forgiven and transformed.

If you need that, you know, you can just come to God and say thank you so much for what Jesus did for me on the cross. He died on the cross for me. And not only that, but Paul says, and on the 3rd day he was raised.

And so your second point of confidence is: God, thank you that Jesus died on the cross for me and made a way for my sins to be forgiven, but thank you also that he’s alive today and can be a part of my life and change me from the inside out.

I’m John North.

To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.

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