Everything hinges on this one thing.

Listen along here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/1a6c0447/everything-hin...

People are looking for substance, looking for fulfillment, something to believe in, something that will satisfy. People are looking for what we have: Truth.

Take Jessie on a cross-country flight, God is in Your Story, https://conta.cc/3ApAj6P. After a few remarks back and forth, he turned and said, ‘Hey, so I have some questions--you know about Christianity.' And then, in a challenging tone, 'I mean, come on—do you really think Jesus was alive again after he was dead?  Like seriously, you think he rose from the dead? How can you think such a thing—just because it says it in your Bible?  Maybe you just wanna believe that…’

How did I answer Jessie?  I told him the truth. *in order to speak the truth, we must know it and be able to articulate it to someone else.

Yes, Jesus Christ rose from the grave, the only religious Leader who does not have a tomb that his followers can visit.  He rose from the grave because he is what he claimed to be, the only Son of God, who the gospel writer John described as both light and life.   Brilliant are these words of John’s: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.¹

How do we know that after he was dead and buried Jesus was alive again?  Because he was seen by other people!  Who?  More than 515 people. Notably, Jesus talked with the women at the tomb, the 11 disciples--most importantly, Thomas to whom Jesus showed his nail-scarred hands, inviting him to touch his wounded side, and Peter, who he restored to himself.  Such love – that Jesus did not criticize Thomas for demanding proof, nor did he resent Peter who had denied him at crunch time. Instead, Jesus looked into their eyes and righted relationship with each of them.  

Jesus also walked and talked with two men on the Road to Emmaus (seven miles outside of Jerusalem), in what was surely a conversation the pair would never forget as “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself…”²  Remarkable indeed!  How I would have loved to have heard all he said to them.

And then from atop the Mt. of Olives, Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at one time, and gave a simple, powerful charge, one that goes out to you and me to this day. Recorded in all four gospels, Jesus commissioned his followers to go and tell what they had witnessed of him.  From the pen of Matthew, “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”³

Back to Jessie, my young airplane friend from Kansas City.

The kind of questions he was asking require clear answers about the claims of Christianity. You and I are charged to be able to give the reasons for our faith in Jesus Christ... a reasonable explanation.4

If true, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event in history.

Here's some evidence for it:

1.the tomb of Jesus Christ was empty.

2.More than 500 people saw Jesus alive, in indoor and outdoor settings; they even ate with him.

3.His disciples did what Jesus told them to do--they shared their eye witness testimonies, told what they had watched him do and heard him say; they described when they were with Jesus at his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, and his death on the cross

4.Even when threatened with death, those men would not deny what they saw and experienced of Jesus Christ; of Jesus' disciples, all but John were martyred because they would not denounce him. People do not die for what they know is a lie. 

5.The disciples were courageously emboldened after the resurrection. Just take Peter, the impetuous disciple we love, who was so radically changed by what he saw that he stood up and preached the gospel, [which of course, includes the resurrection of Jesus] and more than 3000 people were saved! And this, just about 50 days after the Resurrection. Remember, those 3000+ people would have shouted him down if he was lying! It was common knowledge around Jerusalem--the rabbi Jesus was crucified but he was resurrected on the third day as he had said he would be.

6.One last example--James, the half-brother of Jesus, did not believe Jesus was the Messiah until he saw Jesus after he defeated death. He could not discount him any longer. When writing, James then referred to himself as a 'servant of the Lord Jesus Christ' in James 1.1, became the first leader in the Jerusalem church. 

Jesus did indeed rise from the grave, and he is alive! We who follow him serve a living Savior, not a dead teacher. 

Back to the question at hand: Why Am I a Christian? Why Should You be a Christian?

(1) Christianity is the best explanation for reality.

(2) The Resurrection is Proof that Christianity is true.

The historical event of His resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God; he miraculously did what he said he would do: rise from the dead.

He's Alive! Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtvXcRRiH3s&list=RDqtvXcRRiH3s&a...

We must be able to share the evidence of the Truth we believe!

Christine!

PastorWoman.net

^{1 – John 1.4-5, ESV}

^{2 – Luke 24.27}

^{3 – Matthew 28.18-20}

^{4 - 1 Peter 3.15}