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00:00:01 today's scripture reading is taken from 1 Corinthians 15 now brothers and sisters I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you which you received and on which you have taken your stand by this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you otherwise you have believed in vain for what I received I pass onto you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to cus
00:00:39 and then to the 12 after that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time most of whom are still living the some have fallen asleep then he appeared to James then to all the apostles and last of all he appeared to me also as to one I'm normally born for I am the least of the Apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God but by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace to me was not without effect no I worked harder than all of
00:01:16 them yet not I but the grace of God that was with me rather then it is I or they this is what we preach and this is what you believed but if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead how can some of you say that there is no Resurrection from of the Dead if there is no resurrection of the dead then not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith more than that we are then found to be false Witnesses about God for we have
00:01:49 testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead but he did not rais him if in fact the dead are not raised for if the dead are not raised then Christ has not been raised either and if Christ has not been raised your faith is frutal you are steing your sins then those also who have fallen as sleep in Christ are lost if only for this life we have hope in Christ we are of all people most to be ped but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for since death
00:02:24 came true a man the resurrection of the Dead comes also true a man for as for as in Adam all die so in Christ all will be made alive but each in turn Christ the first fruits then when he comes those who belong to him then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all Dominion 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 he has put everything everything under his feet now when it says that everything
00:03:04 has been put under him it is clear that this does not include God himself who put everything under Christ when he has done this when the son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him so that God may be all in all now if there is no Resurrection what will those do who are baptized for the dead if the dead are not raised at all why are people baptized for them and as for us why do we endanger ourselves every hour I face death every day yes just as Surly as I boast about you in
00:03:42 Christ Jesus our lord if I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes what have I gained if the day are not raised let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die do not be misled Bad Company corrupts good character come back to your senses as you ought and stop sinning for there are some who are ignorant of God I say this to your shame but someone will ask how are the dead raised with what kind of body will they come how foolish what you s does not come to life unless it dies when you
00:04:22 sow you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed perhaps of wheat or of something else but God gives it a body as as he has determined and to each kind of seed he gives his own body not all flesh are is the same people have one kind of Flesh animals have another Birds another and fish another there are also heavenly bodies and there are Earthly bodies but the Splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind and the Splendor of Earthly bodies is another the sun has one kind of Splendor the Moon another and the Stars another and
00:04:59 stars defer from star in splendor so will it be with the resurrection of the Dead the body that is swn is perishable it is raised imp perishable it is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is swn a natural body it is raised a spiritual body if there is a natural body there is also a spiritual body so it is written the first man Adam became a living being the last Adam a lifegiving spirit the spiritual did not come first but the natural and after that the spiritual the
00:05:40 first man was of the Dust of the Earth the second man is of Heaven as was the Earthly men so are those who are of the earth and as is the Heavenly men so also are those of are of heaven and just as we have born the image of the Earthly man so shall we bear the image image of The Heavenly Man I declare to you brothers and sisters the flesh and blood cannot inherit kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable listen I tell you a mystery we will not all sleep but we will all be changed in a flesh in a twinkling of an
00:06:21 eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be change for the imper for the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the Mortal with immortality when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the Mortal with morality then the saying that is WR will come true death has been soled up in Victory where oh death is your Victory where oh death is your Sting the sting of death is sin the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God he gives us the
00:07:02 victory to our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my dear brothers and sisters stand firm let nothing move you always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain this is the word of God good morning FBC give yourself a clap 60 verse wow I think this the longest reading ever and uh you know I struggled with this uh you know 60 verses but I I just think this is something the early church used to do you know they used to gather early morning and they would read out parts of
00:07:45 the letters of Paul and this is a discipline we need to get I know it's a lot we're not used to it but uh this chapter John Piper calls this the Easter overflowing chapter and really we won't be able to understand this chapter if you didn't read then entire chapter it's a fantastic uh chapter we won't go through everything I that there will be a three-hour sermon we will take bits of it and and you find the word what's the key word that repeats itself again again in the whole chapter the word Resurrection so this is basically the
00:08:20 Easter chapter and when we talk about Resurrection what does it mean to your life what does it mean to my life I mean are we doing this because it's a ritual because it's Easter Sunday and we just you know Christians have to come and and join in for Easter Service no we have a purpose for this and what we're going to talk about this morning is resurrection power and so that's uh something which power is something that's quite misunderstood we're going to understand power the way scripture defines it in
00:08:51 light of the Resurrection now I want to ask a favor right now um you know I we can see right now on Zoom many people don't have their videos on and and we don't want to be legalistic to to enforce this but I want to just say later on we're going to do Holy Communion and in Holy Communion it is critical that we see the body of Christ the function of Holy Communion is we are aware the body is with us it's very hard to do Hool communion when we staring at a blank screen so I'm going to encourage you if you don't want to put on your
00:09:22 video now at least put it on during the Lord's supper and I tell you why this morning we're going to do it a bit different we're going to do it in a liturgical format meaning it's going to be participatory so get yourself ready at least by the time we go to lot supper if not now please have your video on because you will need to participate this morning it will not be something you watch it be something where you have to be engaged fantastic we suddenly getting a lot more people putting on their videos all right let's come before
00:09:52 the Lord in in prayer Lord we ask this morning we come with fear and trembling on this important topic of the Resurrection and how that fits into our everyday lives how does it fit in when we are sick when we have financial problem when we have struggles we struggling through sin struggling through Temptation how is it uh uh not just uh AR fairy theology but something practical we ask Lord that we speak and understand Resurrection in terms of power power that we need in this life and we say this in Jesus name
00:10:24 amen and um when we talk about rest power we think power is basically the ability to for example to do Miracles that's the way we generate thing of power but uh Paul doesn't talk about it in this chapter and we want to understand uh the word power the word Resurrection when you put it together how does that affect our understanding of power when we talk about Power by the way those of you who who were on Good Friday you know it was all for carries and all the OD people were there the what you call a silent generation today
00:10:56 we're going to let Generation Z and the millionaires take over so this is more more for the younger people you're a bit uh senior citizen here you don't understand the illustrations ask the grandchildren or your children and you know we not to be intergenerational in the way we approach scripture and you don't get more powerful than this so if you're gen Z you're millionaire you don't know this you be living in a cave you power is in the Avengers superheroes We in the we in the season where superhero movies have not lost theme is
00:11:25 still going on and on and on and part of uh The Avengers if you follow the The Narrative one of the character in there is Called Wanda all right she doesn't even have a name of a superhero she's Called Wanda maximoff and in in the last installment of Avengers her husband the vision dies and of course I'm going to give you a spoiler alert for those of you who have not who who may watch it I'm sorry there's spoiler alert here there's a series that came out called Wonder vision and unlike most popcorn
00:11:53 super hero movies this one has some depth and basically the this the story line deals with grief basically what the story is saying that Wanda the superhero here the what we got a lot of power her father and mother died then after that as the series goes on the brother passes away you learn and then the husband passes away and she's all alone as a very poan scene that basically shows her she cannot cope with the grief she's all alone and so what happens when a someone is struggling with grief but has immense power think
00:12:28 about it right she has the power to basically manipulate reality remember we talking about power this morning talking about power and she's struggling with grief what does she do she does what any sinful person would do she resurrects her husband but what happens when sinful man resurrects people when you resurrect someone for your own needs your own to meet your your grief to so that your grief goes away it becomes disastrous and so the TV series talks about the consequences when power is abused and
00:13:03 basically it gives you a definition of power now watch the rest of the series it's wonderful it's one nor more meaningful meaning meaningful uh uh uh uh superhero stories with it and so Paul deals with this and Paul gives you immediately the function of power at the end of the chapter 60 verses end of it this is what power is power is found in the resurrected Messiah man when when he tries to resurrect the body comes back decayed comes back you know when tries to resurrect the vision he looks like
00:13:37 this but when Jesus is resurrected the body is powerful the body is glorious the body is spiritual and the body is Immortal and what does this point to he points right now in this day and this age this is what is a function of power therefore my dear brothers and sisters stand firm let nothing move you and it's Sor just how we wand and the Avengers it means if you had power it's not the power to remove grief it's not the power to remove your problems is the power to withstand it and go through it that's
00:14:12 the key the key of the Gospel is that the power the whatever the world throws at you whatever circumstances come to you it comes like a flood it comes like a tsunamy it doesn't move you that's the first function of power the second function of power is outward is theological always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord you move in the power of the Lord to his work because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain and we're going to Anchor that as we go through the text um so let
00:14:44 us sort of just uh quieten down ourselves a little bit and uh let's see whether the Lord can just speak to us a little bit about power on this Easter morning I want all of us to just quieten our hearts and Lord we ask this morning that I do not speak but you speak with fill and trembling let this not be the wisdom of man but let it be your power through your word your word has power so so transform us oh Lord and we say this in Jesus name let's dive into the chapter we go straight off to the first
00:15:15 opening verses and Paul say this now brothers and sisters I want to remind you of the Gospel I preach to you which you receive and on which you have taken your stand notice again taken your stand stand firm by this gospel you are safe and again same thing you will hold firmly to the word I preached to you remember the closing of chapter 15 is basically let nothing move you otherwise you believe in vain and interestingly if you go back to chapter one Corinthians opens with the same thing so basically
00:15:47 the entire Epistle of Corinthians starts and ends with the definition of the gospel and what you can basically say the rest of the chapters are the outworking of the Gospel that's how you really understand the gospel and now he defines the gospel in his entirety he says this for what I receed I pass to you as of first importance and then this is the gospel definition Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to scriptures and then that he appeared to
00:16:22 sheas the 12 after that appeared to more than 500 brothers and sisters at the same time most of them still living though some of them have fallen asleep then they appeared to James then to all the apostles and last of all appeared to me also as the one am normally born and we know that in the book of Acts and so the doctrine of the Resurrection or understanding what the resurrection means in everyday living is Central to the gospel and sometimes I think we sort of gloss over this very much Evangelical
00:16:52 theology is very much rooted on Good Friday is about the sacrifice but what about the empty tomb how how is that really front and center in your understanding of the gospel and so first importance and why is Paul trying to say here Paul is saying number one I pass it on to you number two scripture talks about it and thirdly eyewitness account during those days no such thing as DNA evidence it means this is irrefutable proof you can debate about everything else you can debate about tongues about
00:17:24 Eucharist about 5on Calvinism about mentoring discipleship all those things like to AR about you cannot argue about this this is what binds Christians together this is the core of your faith and this is something you must be fully convicted about and you must be unshakable about and this is thing you need to be very clear and every power comes from this let's do a little bit of this um Columbus Day is something Americans celebrate so to the Spanish when I was a kid I was brought up to understand he was a hero you know he
00:17:57 discovered America uh their statutes of him he basically was a father of modern day navigation but through the test of time through eyewitnesses account through what has been passed on down and drawn through carefully study of letters and of everything what we discover right now is Columbus isn't a hero he enslaved whole populations and he was basically a person who treated indigenous people very badly all in the name of missionary work by the way and so statues of Columbus are being lobbed off nowadays
00:18:34 so what happened Columbus did not stand the test of time eyewitnesses account and evidence shows otherwise when I was a kid I learned that Thomas Edison discovered electricity he invented the lamb but over time hundreds and hundreds of years later this which was mean to be fact and we find out as we dig up letters this is not true we find out that his first uh uh patent which he put out wasn't for the invention of the light bulb it was basically for basically the testing or multiple forces of the filament for the
00:19:13 light bulb and what th Thomas Edison did was he basically improved on the light bulb he never invented basically the incandescent lamp and so we notice history again shows us after hundreds of years it doesn't stand the test of time take a deep breath today is Easter Sunday try to imagine yourself at the time of Roman Empire and you say a Christian and you say oh really what do you believe I believe Jesus was God he died and he rose again what do you think the Romans would do to you they'll laugh
00:19:44 at you they say your God was a man yes and he was God yes he died yes he rose again yes oh well okay let's see how long it lasts and now here we are hundreds of years later irrefutable proof the test of time and Christians today celebrate Jesus rose from the dead and that has power and how what kind of power firstly it defines who we are and Paul goes on to says I'm the least of the Apostles I do not even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God but by the grace of God I am what I am
00:20:24 that's identity but his grace to me was not without effect I work harder than all of them that I but the grace of God that was with me the word Grace repeats itself three times and you must understand in these early days when the letters were given the letters were given to the church to be read out in public this is what we call rhetorical proposition and so he's saying I'm the least but because of the power of the Gospel in me I am the best see what he's saying I'm the least of Apostles but yet
00:20:54 I work harder than all of them not me but because of Grace the power power of Grace and then he goes right into the issue of the Resurrection he says this but if it preach that Christ had been raised from the dead how can some of you say there's no resurrection of the Dead if there's no resurrection of the dead then not even Christ has been raised and if Christ has not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith more than that we are then found to be false Witnesses of God for we have
00:21:25 testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead but he did not raise him in fact the dead are not raised and for the dead are not raised then Christ has not been raised either and if Christ has not been raised your faith is futile you're still in your sins and those who have also fallen asleep in Christ are lost for only for this life we have hope in Christ we of all people most to bee it what the word repeated again and again the phrase Christ has been raised and then you have been raised that is the thing that's
00:21:55 intermingling over is all about the resurrection here now what's the context the context is this the Corinthians think they're very smart the whole letter shows you they they puffed up with their knowledge and because they in a modern city a lot of Greek philosophy has come in the gnostics are there the forun the gnostics the sades could be around so a lot of this philosophy basically says this God is here to save your soul you hear that and the understanding of the soul is not like the way the Hebrews understood it where
00:22:26 the soul was everything they understood it in a metaphysical way God is here to save your soul not your body your body is evil your body is corrupt do what you want with it eat drink you know because when you die yes Jesus was crucified your body is going to go to an astral plane it's going to go to Corporal existence and you be eeral that is what salvation is that's a kind of false teaching has gone in and very often it comes from Greek teachers like Plato Aristotle epicurus if you read a lot of
00:22:57 what is known as the Greek thinking there's a separation between the mind the heart and the body the tripi understanding of it and so Paul goes right into this and Christians in the church who believed in this and you find this in Hindu thinking the Hindu thinking of the chakra the idea in New Age thinking where basically there is an astral body the new age believe that and your body itself this body gets sick this bodies you move to a higher plane of existence this is what Paul is trying to get it is much more real than we
00:23:30 think and Hollywood teaches us Hollywood teaches us the soul is disconnected to the body it's in all the movies you get it in Star Wars you get in everything so is this abstract version of God where God is not real God isn't a person who cries and touches God is his V abstract form and so when you die you also become this vague abstract eeral body that is what Paul is trying to get at um again to all you carries people you don't know who they are ask a young person around you if you are Millennial
00:24:06 and you or you're a gen Z you don't know this you're living in a cave all right but today is Easter I'm going to be gracious this is BTS all right and the head of the team the leader is a guy called RM look at him man he's hot he's goodlooking he can sing he's very intelligent by the way he intell he can speak multiple language and it's only 24 now here's a guy if he ever passes away and dies would wish when he when he is in the new Heavens he'll be exactly like that because he's got a package but you and I don't look like
00:24:48 RM how many people on the face of Earth look like him and have the package by the way do you know what RM stands for ordinally it was basically uh r monster and now as it gets older and he's gotten into Hollywood Fame he's now redefined RM as real me the real me look like that don't you feel a bit jealous I feel very jealous at 24 or 26 this is it rest of us the rest of us real me we don't look anywhere close like this and so you understand the predicament why Paul is bring this in lot of us have got weak
00:25:27 bodies a lot of us whether you realize it as John Piper says it unconsciously your body defines your identity you are body conscious you either become Vain and narcisstic about it or you find some replacement because you are not happy with your body to Define your identity and we see this really taking on a technological SL uh in the movie really play player one you're a kid abused at home your parents don't love you but in the technological world you are a cool dude you're an old man sick in the real
00:26:03 in the in the technological world you are powerful that's what it is technology does this this is more real and one day VR iot augmented reality will reach such a point put on your goggles and you go into virtual Heaven while your body waste away in a real hell that is why this text is much more real to us than we can anticipate so Paul now pulls us back into how God looks at eternity and he says this with Resurrection but Christ is indeed been raised from the dead and then he uses a word the first fruits of those who have
00:26:41 fallen asleep and here fallen asleep means passed away for since death came through a man the resurrection of the Dead comes through an Adam and then he pulls out what he talks about Romans 6 for as in Adam all die so in Christ all will be made alive but each in turn and gain the same with Christ the first fruits then when he comes those who belong to him then there is again the end of everything apocalyptic literature here the end will come when hands over the kingdom of God the Father after he
00:27:13 has destroyed all Dominion Authority and power for he must Reign until has put all his enemies under his feet The Last Enemy to destroy is death for he has put everything under his fear again that's a quote from the Psalms remember he's talking about the gospel so here's the first thing the definition of the Gospel is beyond just salvation of Souls and personal discipleship that is an American construct I'm not saying it's wrong but your un understanding the gospel has be larger than that and two
00:27:43 things are picking up from here firstly the understanding of the purpose of gospel is really New Creation that's what he says in here and New Creation has basically two impacts first the restoration of Justice that's what this is just this and number two is basically the liberation of every Believer from the fear of death these are the two things the gospel function has to talk about that's what the Full Gospel is leading to is New Creation Ephesians 1 basically says the same thing but I want to put this particular word now Paul
00:28:19 loves to use Old Testament terms in the First Corinthian text in 1 Corinthians 5 he says Christ is a Passover Lamb why does he say that because is talking about Sin and uses the idea of the Le a little Le basically goes into the whole braid a little sin you don't tackle it will spread and the whole church will be infected now he uses another Old Testament uh uh thinking he uses the feast the Feast of the first fruits and again part of the Feast of this in in this uh understanding is the first fruit
00:28:52 has two function if I give you the first fruits to the Lord what does it mean it means the Harvest will come is a guarantee of the Harvest that means the first fruit is the four taste if I give you the first fruit and if Christ is the first fruit we are the Harvest that's the what he's saying that's the first thing the second thing is the first fruit is the standard Bearer you give the best this is again Genesis language basically if I give you the best oh Lord the first fruits are of this quality a
00:29:25 sacrifice to you the rest of the Harvest will be of the same standard in simple English as Christ was raised so you too will be raised as Christ is alive so you too will be alive that is his point and let's develop that a little bit more and so he takes an opposition somebody will say how are the they race what kind of body will they come I'm fat I'm don't really like my body I rather have this Astro reality I'm not very proud I got some complex of about my body issues and he says how foolish and now he goes into
00:30:03 Genesis language what you s does not come to life unless it dies when you seow you do not plant the body that will be but just a seed perhaps a weight and something else what is this this is creation language you notice the entire text here is really Genesis replicated you find animals plants stun sun star Moon Fish animals the whole of Genesis packed right into here and he goes it vers 38 God gives you the body as he determined each kind of seed he gives it to his own body so first he uses the
00:30:34 idea of a seed the seed and basically from a seed creation comes not all flesh is the same people have what kind of Flesh animals have another birds have another fish another they Heavenly Bodies Earthly bodies the Splendor Heavenly bod is one kind the Splender Earthly body another the sun is one kind of Splendor the Moon another the Stars another Stars differ from Star his Planet what is he saying he's saying God in his sovereignty in creation which you can see around you has Splendor so don't
00:31:05 say your body you want to get rid of it and when and we get to heaven you have nothing to do with your body your body even though is corrupted by sin shows you about God's handywork that's what he's going on about and so creation points to Eternity even in this broken world look at a seed and he develops that later isn't it a seed must be planted a seed must be buried and then when you only when you're buried New Life comes out and that points to Resurrection isn't it you and I as Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 we must be
00:31:42 to understand the power of the Resurrection we must know the sufferings of Christ to be buried with him to partake of his suffering so that we too can be resurrected in him that's what Paul is saying and so it will be with the resurrection of the Dead the body that sown is perishable it is raised imperishable he basically gives you the contrast between the two it is swn this honor it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body basically you have four
00:32:19 parts of the quality of the resurrected body and one way if you read the rest of the chapter it says this the first Adam because of sin is mortal Jesus is a new Adam Immortal imperishable the first Adam because of sin is Dishonored Jesus the new Adam is glorified the first Adam is weak that's why we get diseases and have all these issues the new Adam has power the first Adam has a natural body goes back to dust the new Adam which is Christ is raised a spiritual body and always understanding in this life we have been
00:32:57 given a deposite of the spiritual body the a bit of that is given to us and so he wraps up we're just going to finish it soon and then give some some points I declare to you brothers and sisters flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God you're right Flesh and Blood can't because it's sinful the perishable cannot inherit the perishable then he gives the Hope listen tell a mystery we will not all sleep you will be changed in the flesh in the twinkling of an eye the last trumpet sound the day
00:33:29 we raised imperishable for the perishable must cloth itself with the imperishable notice that the Mortal immortality when the perishable has cloth with imperishable the Mortal immortality then the saying that written will come true death has the swallowed up in Victory now all of this sounds very profound but understand if you know scripture he's using again now he moved from a creation metaphor to a clothing metaphor and what's the clothing metaphor here the perishable must cloth yourself where do you get this from
00:33:59 you're getting this from Ephesians when Paul says You must put on the new self put off the old self so you notice the same language is basically a language of clothing and once you learn that because I can't do it on my own strength but I must put on the new self the perishable must cloth the S the imperishable then only where all death is your Victory where oh death is Sting the sting of death is sin the power of sin is the law thanks be to God he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ that is
00:34:34 power heavy let me give you a few key points read the rest of the chapter it's fantastic completely lifechanging number one the key to resurrection power is understanding our resurrected bodies that's something a lot of us in our gospel understanding have not come to terms to this we are still on Good Friday we are not on Easter Sunday this is it the gospel is both the cross and the empty tomb and there three things Paul picks up continuity he tells us that with the example of the seed it's the same seed change he tells us
00:35:13 that with the with the quality we have imperishable glorious powerful and spiritual and hope now let me give it in language we understand today is this I have been redeemed me not by my own work I have been redeemed I'm the same continuous I have been transformed I'm putting on the new self now and I'm giving a four days of it in a new heavens and earth I'll be completely transformed I have Victory now because I will not be movable I will not I will stand firm and in the new heavens and earth God will remove every tear all my
00:35:57 pain will be be taken away that's a now and a not yet in this language here and so our body life now points to a future bodily life that is what Paul is trying to get at and he's not the only Apostle who teaches this Peter says the same thing praise be to God our Father Lord Jesus Christ his great Mercy he's given us new birth that's it New Creation Resurrection into a Living Hope Living Hope today to the rest resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead into inheritance can never perish Paul or faith so let us have a few key points
00:36:37 and and some of these are so simple things that we don't quite pick up number one glorify God with how you treat your body this is part of the Gospel message it is Paul picks it in First Corinthians 61 19-20 glorify God your body why because it's the Temple of the Holy Spirit now the context here is sexual immorality it means treat your body with Purity when you look at a woman don't objectify her as a sexual object and look at a body but look at her with respect that's what he's saying now what we don't realize
00:37:17 Paul contined this throughout the letter the entire First Corinthian letter is about bodies chapters 8 to 11 is how you use the body to eat and drink to not stumble up others chapters 12 to 14 the body is a metaphor for the church so everything Paul teaches from chapters 5 to 14 finds his climax in chapter 15 about the resurrection of our bodies the resurrection of society and the resurrection of creation so how does this affect you and I every day it means every little thing you do what you eat
00:37:54 what you drink how many hours you binge watch Netflix how much hours you spend working whether you get sleep that's gospel living if you don't take care of your body you dis honor the temple of God and people will look at you so what we are trying to say is that the gospel message is holistic so ask yourself how are you treating your body how are you treating in what you eat after this how often how how often do you bchw watch do you exercise how do do you sleep enough you say why is that God to the gospel
00:38:26 it's got everything to do with the gospel because your body here is a hint it's the same body that's going to be redeemed in the new heavens and earth and you have to take care of it so that's one all right and here's the other thing we say well that's all very good that's got nothing to do with obedience that's got very little to do with uh learning scripture scripture is more interested in the renewal of mind but what does Paul say is present your body as a Living Sacrifice he Ties That with basically renewal of the mind and
00:38:57 the Proverbs tells us this do not forget my teaching keep my commands in your heart that's obedience and what happens and then it's tied to your body for they will prolong your life many years bring you Prosperity they will bring Health to your body and nourishment to your B so here's some good news you want to be healthy be obedient the more obedient you are to scripture you will put away bad habits you'll learn to take care of your temp of your body you'll learn to strengthen yourself in the end you will learn to
00:39:29 sacrifice body for the work of the Lord and the Lord will keep you that's point one take care of your body that's your gospel responsibility here's the second one which we really have normally don't take up time to look at it understand your identity through the promises of Grace by by the grace of God I am what I am here again I take a p uh page from Piper now you see Christians like to say you know what I don't really care about my body I I I'm renewing my mind and I'm giving my heart to Jesus but what Piper
00:40:02 says is true basically a lot of what we do subconsciously if you if you've been blessed to look like RM right you struggle with vanity and narcissism and you flaunted that's your idol if you don't have that you'll find something else to replace it you'll find glory and other things to compensate for the lack of it so let's go for it either you are very ashamed of your body or your body has become your idol that's one of the other so who who is this guy look at that man whoa Arnold schweger honor Lim honor chiger all
00:40:38 right never going to have six packs like him but this is what the world is telling us so what we ask ourselves am I good enough am I good enough am I smart enough if I'm not good enough if I if I don't have a b like him maybe I'll have a mind like someone else you know if I'm not as hot like him not accepted like him maybe I have money in the bank if maybe I'm not as good-looking him maybe I have some talents and I'll compensate for it you see whatever it is it comes from a body image subconsciously am I
00:41:08 good enough and women feel the pressure women feel it they struggle with it and and so you find people saying that if if only I was prettier I would have gotten this if only God had made me this I didn't need to struggle with loneliness these are things we don't talk about in church we struggle in we suppress it but the real reality is society bombards us with this and we ask ourselves how does the church respond the church responds with the gospel and you see all of this comes from this Greek thinking game this
00:41:39 is Leonardo uh D Vines uh what is known as the ven man and in the understanding of the ven man the ven man his proportions is perfection A Perfect Circle a perfect square it is Fallen man's understanding of of perfection get that is Fallen man's understanding of Glory is Fallen man's understanding of the imperishable this is what it is and that's why they want a higher body not the body we have and right now even the advertisement we have we tell you you have more hair you're more confident you
00:42:18 know you know you have a better figure you have more confidence you have this you have more confidence but what is Paul's confidence in Paul says his confidence is not in the flesh this is this is Paul's BTS moment know I mean basically in the Pharisee if you had all of this you will RM and he said none of this matters not my brains not my IQ not the fact I'm a CEO of a company I don't need to compensate not that I I look like a Greek god none of that and he develops this we all know this text but
00:42:51 what we have not really know is where the text leads to it leads to Resurrection I want to know Christ the power of resurrection and here again is the seed metaphor participation in suffering becoming like he death dying being buried and then Resurrection from the dead is what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 15 and where does that lead to it leads to this same thing for our citizenship is in heaven before he talk about those where their citizenship is their stomachs again body is a body metaphor again eally away the Savior
00:43:27 from there the Lord Jesus Christ who by the power enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowely bodies so they will be like his glorious bodies isn't this 1 Corinthians 15 and before this the earli verses is all about how you treat your body the God is their stomachs so what does it tell us about our glorious body uh we tried this in the first service we had a hit I'm going to ask this again all right how do you say Jesus inide language anybody there I'm now looking at Zoom if you know show
00:44:01 it to me we first service we have someone all right someone go to Peter David scroll down to see what Peter David doing those of you Peter David do it again all right we have Peter David doing it Peter David understands that all right Peter David is up live that's right that's great about Zoom Peter David do it again come on come on come on one more time one more time all right all right thank you let me show you the video right I'll go back to my video all right this is what it really is now you
00:44:27 know when we look at people who are deaf we tell ourselves they're not very uh they don't have bodies like us they're impaired they don't have Perfection pull pull them they're not like us they are impaired but this is God's economy the sign language shows us perhaps the death person listens better than us you know what that sign shows us do you know where that's pointing to and do you know why is Jesus is pointing to this is pointing to the scars but this is the resurrected body this is the body
00:45:02 imperishable this is the body powerful this is the body glorious and this is the body full of spirit but it bear scars you see God's standards of perfection is not our standard of perfection we don't over spiritualize this but here's a simple question will Jesus be the only one in heaven with scars now why am I saying this it basically means this you see if you honest yourself a lot of us have body issues we have identity issues with body a minority of us struggle with vanity because God has blessed you with great
00:45:42 looks and a great physic the majority of us because we don't have it we try to compensate with in other areas so here's this simple thing you know I'm short let's just say and you say Lord I don't want this body and I get to Heaven Lord I Hope You Make Me A six-footer to look like that you so that I could play with the LA Lakers and the Lord will tell you who said you're short in my eyes you're tall and say Lord I I I'm I'm I'm fat I'm I'm quite ugly I'm you know I I don't have the kind of look people don't
00:46:18 people don't glance at me and you we get to Heaven's Gate the Lord will look at you and says you're beautiful and gorgeous you know where we going with this you say Lord I I have a stutter I can't speak well and I I can't do much but when you get to heaven the Lord says you speak perfectly you see Perfection is in the eyes of the Lord now God doesn't mean that we go there with impairment which and hideousness but what we're trying to say is this our understanding of perfection is shaped by the world now why is all of this coming
00:46:56 through because what I would like all of you to do is this except for the minority of you who look like RM after this service go look in the mirror and say I am beautiful I have self digity and I am who I am by the grace of God and with that our identity is in Christ Jesus let me end by giving you the last point and the main point is the best way to live this life is it is not your life this is not your best life it's the Paradox the ultimate Paradox of Easter the best way to live this life is to recognize it's not your best life
00:47:37 that means you're a surgeoner now let me give you a verse I've always struggled with right I I preached these verses in Philippians 4 6 to8 I think three times and I think after so many times I feel like maybe found a missing pie all right you know why I preach this so often because I struggle with this because I'm an anxious person person and you look quickly how the verse links the verse links with another verse in verses 12 to 13 and you read what Paul writes here the way he's living here this is living
00:48:08 as a sojer this is living as a stranger this is living because he can do all this through him who gives his strength he's living light he's living like he's passing through but where's that coming from this is basically the outflow of this but do you know what's the key to this do you know why he's not anxious about anything do you know why he's always happy because of this because he's got the power of the Resurrection so after many years of struggling with this I for all of you who worry like me who Kong you know
00:48:40 what's the key to not be anxious and to have the Peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding there's only one simple truth is very difficult to do learn not to fear death learn not to fear death learn to want to participate in the sufferings of Christ to be buried like him then you can be resurrected in his power that's the key and that's why he says for me to live is Christ to die is gain you find in the earlier chapters of Philippians that is the key to overcoming worry so therefore my dear
00:49:12 brothers and sisters stand firm let nothing move you why because of this you are seeking for power here's the good news you already have it you already have it by the grace of God because he has given you the Holy Spirit and put a deposit in you so live like you are powerful not as the way the world defines it but as the way God defines it and go unleash the gospel to the Nations to the poor to the sick to the aliens why because always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord because you know
00:49:55 your labor in the Lord is not in vain blessed Easter let us pray Lord let us understanding let us understand what the Full Gospel is the Full Gospel isn't just a sacrifice of Christ it is the resurrection and let us be excited that that resurrection power resides in us because you have given us the deposit of the Holy Spirit and so how we live today in our bodly points to our Eternal uh dwelling so let us live with d it and and an identity in you let us not be ashamed of this body given us although we are some of us are very ill
00:50:34 some of us very old some of us speak we were stutter some of us aren't very good-look some of us are fat some of us are this but this body is redeemed and one day you will change it and so we have Victory death has lost its thing and so Lord we are not ashamed of the Gospel we will give ourselves to the work we will stand firm we will treat this body like the Temple of the Holy Spirit and we will unleash the gospel to the Nations and Lord May that it be Easter every day and we say this in Jesus name amen worship team is going to
00:51:07 take you through a song which really captures the spirit of it you will rise as Christ has risen beneath the waters you will rise as he has risen so over to Brandon and the worship team [Music] is my reel Christ Jesus crucified [Music] salvation true repentance at the cross [Music] she now here my Absolution forgi for my [Music] sin I see beneath the waters that Christ was buried [Music] in I will rise I will rise as Christ was raised to life now in him now in him [Music] I stand a new creation bapti BL and
00:53:16 fire no fear of condemnation my faith I'm Justified I will rise I will rise as Christ was raised to life now in him now in him I now we'll rise I will rise as Christ was raised to life now in him now in him [Music] I how right s you are is declare your rule and reign my life confess your lordship and glorify your name your word stands Eternal your kingdom knows no end your praise goes on forever and on and on again no power can stand against you no curse assault your throne no one can steal your glory for
00:54:57 it is yours alone I stand to sing your Praises I stand to testify for I was dead in my sin now I Rise I will rise as Christ was raised to life now in him now in in him I live and I will rise I will rise as Christ was raised to life now in him now in him I and now we rise I will rise as Christ was raised to life now in him now in him I [Music] I Rise as you are risen declare you rule and Reign my life confess your lordship and glorify your name I will rise as Christ was raised to life now in him I
00:56:53 live live brothers and sisters the way God God wants you to live not in timid fear not in insecurity not in depression not in sinful bondage not in guilt but live in him a new creation we are now going to come to a time of Holy Communion to further uh resolve our commitment to stand firm in the Lord on the resurrection power now what we want to do is we need your participation and we're going to do it a bit different this morning at the bottom of your screen you will see something called Zoom reaction and a function to raise
00:57:38 hands what happens as we go through the Lord's Supper we will be asking you to participate in a congregational response this is called the Liturgy of the sacrament it is a gospel centered Holy Communion done for centuries and many times the Evangelical Church has just dumb Traditions uh throughout the baby with the water and we really need to ReDiscover sacred traditions of the early church so I'm going to take you through that right now we're going to prepare our hearts and Minds for this very solemn sacred moment as we prepare
00:58:13 for Easter communion I'm going to walk you through from the cross to the empty tomb and want you to feel as Christ feel felt so you can feel your hearts repent of your sin sins and find Hope and victory in Jesus Christ and so let's begin this Easter Holy Communion with some silence quiet in your hearts right now the Lord's presence is here and we'll begin at the feet of Jesus where all men and the equal at a cross and now imagine Jesus broken body battered a crown of thorns on his head imagine on
00:58:56 that Good Friday and as he's about to give up his Spirit what does he say he says I am thirsty take a moment now to just feel the humanity of Christ the body broken for you and we turn it around and ask this morning are you thirsty of for him will you drink of him will you come to the bread of life take a moment to pause and as as he gave up his spirit for our sake as he was about to enter at that threshold back to the father he said it is finish it is finish and the Greek word for this simply means paid in full paid in full
00:59:53 he paid for my sins he paid for your sins sins he paid for all our sins paid in full take a moment right now to meditate and say my sins your sins all the things we struggle with paid in full and so then Saturday came and then Sunday as Mary rush to the tomb looking looking where is the body of my savior and suddenly somebody says he is risen we read it again Peter says praise be to God and Father Lord Jesus Christ that's what we sign as he rise We rise as he is risen and now in him we live in his
01:00:42 great Mercy has given us New Birth into a living hope to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into inheritance that can never perish spoil or faith so get ready your emblems as we take out ourselves through this journey this Easter communion and we now going to come to a time of participation what will happen is that I will speak the first line and you the body of Christ all of you out there you will respond with this H Allelujah then I'll speak this and then you'll respond here we
01:01:17 meet all who share with us the hope for brighter future I will speak this and then you will say let us eat together let us prepare ourselves as we come into the invitation Liturgy of the communion so let us begin the resurrection has begun the day of Celebration is here hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah We Gather at the table to share in the banquet of life all who wish to follow the way of life are welcome to eat and drink at God's table let us together so we prepare our hearts now to come to the love Feast of the Lord
01:02:14 and we come to the REM remembering part of the Liturgy As We Gather this table we remember a story told M days ago we remember that Jesus gathered with his closest friends in an upper room to share the Feast of Liberation and while sharing the ancient story of Freedom he called them to remember the promised freedom of God's kingdom remember that at that table he took the bread gave thanks for it blessed it broke it and passed it among them saying prepare yourself now and take out your bread this is my
01:02:50 body broken by and for the world whenever you eat eat it remember me we now partake of the emblem we continue on remembering then later on he took the cup of wine blessed it and passed them saying this is the cup of the New Covenant sealed in my blood whenever you drink it remember me and look towards the Fulfillment of God's kingdom let us drink of the blood of Christ let's have a moment silence and be conscious of this the Lord's presence is with us the early Church believe it was a real presence so where you are
01:03:51 right now even where you're seated in front of your computer with fear and trembling recognize God's presence is with you this is a sacred moment as we lift out our bodies what we have just done is to offer bodies as a sacrifice to the Lord we have just ate and drank of the lord we ask this oh Lord we feel and trembling that resurrection power comes in us that we are one with Christ and we live this world alive as you want us to live so right now we ask entire congregation to join we will now recite
01:04:27 the closing prayer together as the body of Christ as a count of tree all present here as the body of Christ at the church calicos at the church Universal will recite this together you may mute yourself please all of you can unmute yourself you please get yourself ready unmute yourself I'm now seeing the screen a lot of you are still muted please unmute yourself some of you are still unmuted Yes unmute yourself where you can some of you are still M please unmute we going to go with the Holy Spirit and we're going to be as one body
01:05:00 right now all right as we ready now remembering one again unmute and a count of three one 2 three we have [Music] eaten the beginning of the newe stay together together [Music] bless all Hallelujah Hallelujah you any prayer requests please send it to FBC via Zoom if any you feel the Lord's presence there spoke to you please share it with us scan this QR code if you are new and today you have decided the resurrection is real and you want that in your life you want to invite Jesus as your lord and savior
01:06:20 scan this and let us know number two um you are like doubting Thomas you need to feel his scal you need to have questions as Paul did with eyewitnesses account come and be convicted of the Gospel or perhaps you need to be part of the body of Christ then come and the live group or you have any request your body is not functioning you're not well any emotional needs let us know we are now coming to some time of ABC News I want to just uh get us ready as we just go into some time of tights and offering
01:06:53 and today being Mission Sunday the collection will be for that so as usual prepare yourself do it now uh bt76 not BTS H bt76 H all right uh and give as the Lord has given him who given us his body broken for us so that we have new life and once you are ready uh those of who have done it uh earlier uh just spend some time looking at the names here to prepare your hearts and mind to pray pray for them meaningfully uh those of you who still need a bit more time take your time to do this get yourself ready as I just take us through
01:07:34 some prayer um we will pray for the collection and we will pray for the uh those who are ill all together in one shot so get yourself ready give yourself and then we'll offer a prayer of and ask the Lord to receive the Thanksgiving prayer of the collection of the arms and then we will pray pray for everybody now if you're all quite ready let us come before the Lord in prayer as we pray for the offering and we'll pray for the names here Lord we ask that the the money we collected this morning is
01:08:11 an offering acceptable to you we give it to you in the same way we give our bodies to you we give our entire selves to you uh as a Living Sacrifice oh Lord that is our act of worship and so Lord we pray for those in our midst whose bodies are failing or bodies who are struggling Lord we pray that you as a great physician in your mercy you heal them but Lord in your Sovereign will we ask you comfort all of them that they will be renewed and transformed in the new heavens and earth this body you give
01:08:44 them although they struggling with it will be transformed it will still be them so give them the hope and that they will be encouraged and that death will lose its thing we we pray for these names now Amanda ping chiha chuin Daniel qu Gloria Roy Judy Lim Chrystal litan Lam CH la king Leong fuin Mary Chong marong Patricia chin Professor tan tan Kim Lo T Leu Victor Leo viven newu and Wong Kim L now we have a special treat for you uh for for uh Easter but before that we just want to give some uh remembrance to both brother Titus who
01:09:33 pass away he's been long time with us and our father to our sister Cynthia and julam Dr Lim boxing and so now I'm going to pass the time over to the media team who will show us a baptism video of our brother Robert Ling and Linda law [Music] now in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit baptize you okay thank you everyone it's a privilege to be part of First Baptist Church and to go through this baptism especially during this difficult times I'm actually feeling very thankful and very grateful
01:10:38 to the whole team here to everyone here because um to to share in this joyous uh and meaningful time uh of of my life uh why uh do I have this baptism my daughter challenged me and said why now why a baptism now and the reason is because it is what Jesus would want me to do uh because uh he said Make Disciples of all men and you know BT baptize them in the name of the father Son and the Holy Ghost uh Holy Spirit and I for me to share uh what the Lord has blessed me with I first need to be baptized um I was baptized as a a child
01:11:19 uh that was my parents decision today it is my decision to make and I thank everyone here to share in this uh uh this lovely uh time because it is about a Community of Faith of of community of saints because we are of One Faith one Lord and one God uh father of us all uh to always walk in God's purpose and to be in his will and uh to be with uh the community so that we are together uh serving the lord thank you in the name I now baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy
01:12:09 Spirit I'm so great that I done this uh go through this process of baptism which is I think very much long overdue even though I know that partisan is only a public Declarations of my faith in in Jesus Christ who had died for my sin and well with this uh public Declaration of my faith in Jesus Christ and ready to work in this journey with Christ and I expect my brother and sister to be constantly watching and looking at the me to ensure that I and I am accountable for Christ and I really want to praise the
01:13:06 Lord for his son Jesus Christ who died for my sins and and because of Jesus Christ who had died and who had uh after three day have resurrected we has eternal life and and and because of his love for us I think we had to return in love for Jesus Christ praise the Lord amen [Applause] encouraging uh to see both brother Roger and sister Linda taking the commitment for baptism and this is what the body of Christ is like uh we're now going to have some announcements and the media team is going to take us through some
01:14:10 announcements they're going to show us some videos right now so I'm going to pass the time over right now to them we have a new look and a new title for the newsletter it is now called FBC today it has new engaging contents that encourages and edifies download the latest issue at fbc.org [Music] [Music] [Music] for those who desire to be baptized there will be a pre-baptism class beginning on May 6th at 8:00 p.m. for more information you can contact the church office or lamon please look at the number on the
01:15:16 slide there is a zoom prayer meeting every Saturday to Thursday at 9900 p.m. the zoom prayer meet now requires a password pray let us come together as the body of Christ to encounter him in prayer and worship on April 24th from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. please note the zoom meeting ID on the slide and the password Pray when the word comes alive is launching a podcast series under the name a can a not a podcast where we have a genuine conversation about Christian issues by asking the question can we do
01:16:05 that or not we are launching our first episode so check it out on our YouTube channel understanding the gospel is crucial to the Christian faith but once we understand what the gospel is is there something more how can we stop seeing the gospel as just the first step of faith and actually start thinking of it as the lens by which we see everything else come join our Zoom webinar by gospel City network with Dr Kyle Essie on what is the gospel happening on Sunday April 11th from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30
01:16:48 p.m. Dr Kyle estri has lived in the US Yemen China and is currently living in Malaysia he is a husband to one wife a father to four children a lecture in biblical studies at four seminaries in Southeast Asia and a church planter FBC needs you are you wondering how you can serve God in the church find your opportunity here there are many different ways to serve in church and you can scan the QR code on the slide to register or you can call call the church office to sign up today a gentle reminder for those at
01:17:31 home to prepare the Lord's Supper elements to partake together after the [Music] sermon always remember this if I say goodbye doesn't mean you get to leave when I say goodbye it means we see you in the breakout room okay so please remember that goodbye means see you all right in the breakout room and here a few breakout rooms for all of you so once again don't run off after the service even spend just a short while there are many breakout rooms here they all here if you're new especially please
01:18:12 join us and let us find some time to fellowship and get to know each other better the service is over let me just end with a benediction for all of you and is it a benediction for Easter so let us close our eyes prepare our hearts to receive the benediction from the Lord now onto him who was raised from the dead as the first fruits for all of us may the power of the Resurrection reside in us both today tomorrow and until eternity let us stand firm let us not be moved and let us give ourselves to the
01:18:51 work of the Lord and may the gospel be Unleashed through us and we say this in jesus' name God bless you all have a blessed Easter and goodbye which means see you in the fellowship room goodbye [Music]
