1 Corinthians 15: Part 4 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning. We’re talking this week about the death and resurrection of Jesus as the heart of the Christian faith and of what changes our lives.

Well, I love this theme. The resurrection of Jesus. The living Jesus Christ is the one who is changing lives across this world today. He’s changed my life. I hope he’s changed yours. If he hasn’t and you’ve never encountered the risen, living Jesus Christ, put your faith in Him and experience God in your life, shaping and changing your life to fit with His agenda in this world.

Well, I hope that you experience that before very long, because there is nothing better in life than your relationship with God. That is, after all, why you were made.

You were made for God to know Him, experience Him, and walk with Him throughout your life.

Paul’s just been talking about how there is no Christian faith if Christ has not been raised, and in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 20, he goes on to say, but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, that is, falling asleep in Paul’s terminology is dying, and he’s saying Jesus is the first one who, when he died, He rose from the dead. But that’s just it. He’s the first fruits, the beginning of the harvest season, the first one to go through that. But it’s the guarantee that God is going to raise us all from the dead.

Death is not the end for us, for as by a man, by Adam, the first man who sinned and broke our relationship with God. As by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, just like everyone who is descended from Adam in physical bodies will die physically. So everyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ becomes spiritual descendants of Jesus. We will be made alive. Our bodies will die. They’ll be buried. Our spirits will continue. And when Christ returns and makes everything new, then our spirits will be reunited with a new resurrection body.

But each in its own order. Christ, the first fruits. He’s already risen from the dead. Then at His coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power, for he must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

For God has put all things in subjection under His feet, but when it says all things are put in subjection, it’s plain that He is accepted who put all things in subjection under Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.

Paul goes on to say that our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ makes it all worth it.

There may come hard times as a result. You may not be treated well by people around you because of your faith in Christ, but it doesn’t matter. Your faith in Jesus, the assurance, the hope that death is not the end, that you will go on to live with God along with all of those who have believed in Jesus Christ. This gives us a hope in life and makes the Christian life worth living.

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What are you facing today? Remember the hope that is in Jesus Christ.

I’m John North.

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

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