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| April 16, 2006 EASTER MAKES A DIFFERENCE! I Corinthians 15:1-23, 51-58 I. WHAT IF THERE WAS NO RESURRECTION? A. If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: V. 13 B. If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain V. 14 C. Your faith is also vain. V. 14 D. We are found false witnesses of God V. 15 E. If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. V. 17 F. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. V. 18 G. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. V. 19 II. BECAUSE OF THE RESURRECTION WE HAVE THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE CROSS & THE TOMB A. Before His resurrection, the cross was known only as an instrument of horrible death, But today, because of His resurrection, it is the symbol of hope and we wear a replica of the cross as a piece of jewelry B. And what about His tomb? Before the resurrection, for most of the world, the grave was looked upon as the final chapter, the closing of a great door, the end of everything. But because of His resurrection, we can rejoice today that beyond death is where life really begins. III. BECAUSE OF THE RESURRECTION WE HAVE THE TRANSFORMATION OF TIME I Thessalonians 4:16,17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. IV. BECAUSE OF THE RESURRECTION WE HAVE THE TRANSFORMATION OF LIFE John 10:10 �I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. V. BECAUSE OF THE RESURRECTION WE HAVE THE TRANSFORMATION OF DEATH I Corinthians 15:20-22 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. I Corinthians 15:55, 57 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. |