November 3, 2025 • 48 mins
What if the resurrection isn’t just a past event to admire but a present life to receive? We open 1 Corinthians 15 and trace the good news from cross to empty tomb, then further—to the startling claim that Jesus shares his risen life with anyone who believes. Not a receipt stapled to your forgiveness, not a theological footnote, but a living union that changes your motives, your energy, and your future.
We explore how the Old Testament hid the promise of rising in plain sight and how it all snaps into focus through Jesus. Then we walk through the eyewitnesses: Peter the denier restored, the Twelve regrouped, 500 at once, James the skeptical brother convinced, and Paul the persecutor transformed. Each story carries a theme of grace and points to a faith that is historically grounded and personally disruptive. If Christ is not raised, preaching is empty and faith is futile. If he is raised—and he is—then death is dethroned, and life and immortality stand open.
From Romans 6 to Ephesians 1, we unpack union with Christ as the core of Christian living: you died with him, and you live with him. That’s why grace produces love rather than apathy, why obedience becomes joyful rather than crushing, and why sin loses its appeal. The same power that raised Jesus helps you forgive, restrain your words, and keep hope alive. Two promises hold you steady: complete forgiveness and a new life that makes holiness possible. Ready to trade trying harder for trusting deeper? Press play, and let resurrection life do what effort never could.
If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find the good news.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
All right, today's sermon is called Have You Heard
the Good News?
Part two, the life.
First, for I delivered to you,first of all, that which I also
received, that Christ died forour sins according to the
scriptures, that he was buried,and that he rose again the third
(00:48):
day according to the scriptures.
Alright, so in this chapter,Paul says, I'm gonna teach you
the gospel.
And he says, the gospel isawesome if you receive it and if
you stand in it.
And that's what we learned lastweek.
The gospel in chapter in verseone, he said, It's amazing, it's
useful for any human being ifyou receive it and if you stand
(01:10):
in it.
And then we talked about thedeath of Jesus.
And so as I was growing up, Idon't know about you, but I
thought the death of Jesus waspretty easy to understand.
Because I did all kinds of badstuff growing up, and my dad was
always like, I'm gonna kill you.
And so when Jesus came and said,I'll take your death for you,
I'll be your substitute.
(01:31):
I was like, woo-hoo! Iunderstood substitutionary
atonement, is what that'scalled.
That I needed a substitute totake my place because I deserved
death.
And that's it, that's it, allpeople have fallen short of
God's glory.
And the the consequences ofbeing a sinner, being born in
(01:51):
sin, is that death is thenatural consequence.
So we all have this situationthat we need someone to die for
us, and so Jesus does that forus.
But resurrection, everyone toldme as I was growing up, well,
you it's the death andresurrection of Jesus.
It's like part one and part two.
It's like you gotta understandboth of them.
And they even told meresurrection is more important
(02:12):
than the death of Jesus.
And I was like, why?
And I couldn't get a good answerfor many years.
I actually did not get a goodanswer.
The closest I came, you know,was was when people said, it's
like the receipt that your sinswere paid for, or it's like the
proof that God accepted Jesus'sacrifice on the cross, God let
(02:34):
him rise from the dead becausehe was so pure and so wonderful
that that death couldn't holdhim down.
And so he's like Gandalf comingback as Gandalf the white.
Lord of the Wings nerd joke.
Where my nerds at Okay, so Ididn't understand about it until
(02:58):
God opened my eyes to what thewhat the gospel really teaches.
Okay.
See that whole receipt exampleor receipt understanding of of
the resurrection, it all seemsvery transactional to me.
Like, okay, I die for your sins,I rise from the dead, receipt,
(03:19):
here you go.
Like it just said it didn't seemrelational or what I really
needed.
And so I I already believed mysins were paid for by his death.
So I really didn't understandwhat the whole point of this
resurrection, this him comingback from the dead, uh, until I
read this.
And I'm gonna read you a quote.
It's from a pastor named AndrewMurray.
(03:41):
He was in South Africa in the1800s.
That's when all the besttheologians lived.
It was the 1800s.
So Andrew Murray said this.
In Christ's death, we see him inutter impotence, allowing and
counting upon God to work alland give him life.
What does that mean?
It means Jesus completelysurrendered to God's will.
(04:04):
He couldn't, he didn't want tosave himself, he couldn't save
himself.
He, and then God wrought awonderful transition, meaning
God uh raised him from the dead.
And in us, we see the same, hesays.
It is only as we give ourselvesunto that death also, as we
(04:27):
entirely cease from self and itsworks, as we lie as in a grave,
waiting for God to work all,that the God of resurrection
life can work in us all his goodpleasure.
(04:51):
That quote unlocked somethingfor me.
And the thing was theresurrection is not just about
Jesus paying for our sins oreven beating death, it's about
Jesus actually transferring hisliving, holy, pure, supernatural
(05:13):
resurrection life into my dirty,rotten carcass.
He does that.
The resurrection is about Jesustransferring his risen life into
my deadness and bringing me tolife with him.
(05:33):
And that changed everything asfar as how I understand.
It's a new source for living.
That's what the resurrection is,that's what's so important.
Like it's not Easter.
Why are we talking aboutresurrection?
Well, we're gonna be talkingabout it for a few weeks here.
It's not just a historical fact,although it's the most
(05:54):
verifiable event in all ofancient history, which we can we
will get into that.
But what's amazing about it,it's it's an actual exchange of
life.
My old life for his life, mybrokenness for his freedom, my
addiction for his satisfiedspirit.
(06:17):
Everything that I have that'swrong and broken and messed up,
Jesus says, give it to me and Iwill replace it with my
wholeness, righteousness,holiness, all that stuff.
So the resurrection makes hislife transferable to us in a
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very real way.
You could remember it like thisthe share you have with him in
his death is the same share youhave with him in his new life.
So if you believe Jesus died foryou, you also get just as much
of his resurrection.
We are one with him on thecross.
(06:59):
You died with him on the cross,and so you are also one with him
in his new life.
These are the if you can believethis, it will absolutely
transform your real life.
So look what he says in verse 3.
I delivered to you that which Ialso first received, that Christ
died for our sins according tothe scriptures, and that he was
buried and then rose again thethird day according to the
(07:23):
scriptures.
Okay, so what scriptures is hetalking about?
Well, in the Old Testament, Godhid a bunch of scriptures that
talked about the resurrection ofJesus.
Now, he did not just have versesthat said, My son, when he
comes, is going to rise from thedead.
He doesn't do that.
(07:44):
He hid them in plain sight.
And a lot of people ask and theywonder why would God do that?
Why didn't God just make itsuper plain?
Well, because Satan was alsoreading these scriptures and the
and the enemy was reading thesescriptures.
So the enemy probably wouldn'thave inspired people to murder
Jesus on the cross if he knewthat that's how his ultimate
(08:05):
destruction would happen.
So God had to hide it so thatwhen we look back on it, we can
realize that Jesus was gonnarise from the cross.
It was foretold, it waspredicted, uh, he was he it was
his plan all along.
So the first verse that we cansee that in is Hosea 6, 2.
And it says, After two days, hewill revive us, and on the third
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day, he will rise us up that wemay live in his sight.
So if you were just reading thatbefore Jesus, you'd be like,
okay, it's probably a prophecyof some weird thing, resurrect,
I don't know.
But after Jesus, you plug it in,you lay the resurrection, and
what really happened over that,and you can see that God was
giving us confirmation of whatwas going to happen with Jesus.
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Here's another one in Psalm 16,10.
For you will not leave my soulin Sheol, that's a word for
death, the Hebrew word fordeath, nor will you allow your
holy one to see corruption,which is what happens when your
body dies.
Both of those, if you just readthem at face value, you wouldn't
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be like, well, it means this.
But after you understand whatreally happened, you can see
that God's hand was in writingeach of these, and they were
these verses that are beingtalked about right now in 1
Corinthians.
So remember this.
When you read the Old Testament,you don't have the full story.
So God wrote the Old Testamentfor us in a way that you need to
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have Jesus and the Gospels inorder to understand everything
that was being written back inthe Old Testament.
So always remember that.
Everything is made clear whenyou lay the story of Jesus and
the gospel that we learn aboutJesus, his death and his
resurrection, lay that over topof what's being taught in the
Old Testament, and you canunderstand it much more clearly.
(10:00):
In 2 Timothy, it says it likethis, chapter 1, verse 10.
But now has been revealed thetruth, the gospel has been
revealed by the appearing of ourSavior Jesus Christ, who has
abolished death and brought lifeand immortality to light through
the gospel.
(10:22):
So Jesus explains everythingabout God's heart, plan, and
mission that was started in theOld Testament.
He finishes it all and he bringsit all to light through his
gospel.
The word gospel again means goodnews, his good news.
(10:42):
And part of that good news isimmortality, right?
He says it right here.
Immortality means, you know, youget forgiveness and eternal
life.
That is definitely included inthe gospel.
But then he says, He brought, heabolished death and he brought
life.
Okay, we can understand how heabolished death.
(11:03):
So when he died on the cross, wedon't ever have to die like
that.
We never have to experiencedeath.
When you die, when you die, it'sjust falling asleep, and you're
just waking up with a new life.
But we also get his resurrectionlife now today, and that's what
we're talking about today.
And he says here, he broughtlife.
(11:23):
That is our new shared life withGod that Jesus transferred from
God into you, he transferred hisown life into you, and we call
that our union with Christ.
So we are unified with Jesus andthen he has destroyed death,
(11:47):
abolished death.
So we never have to fear deathagain, because we never really
have to die, because he alreadydied our death for us.
What was wrong about that?
Why did people die?
People died because of sin.
If we had never sinned, wewouldn't have ever had to
experience death, but becauseAdam sinned, everything in the
(12:10):
universe dies.
So we also had to die, butbecause Jesus dies our death for
us, when we physically die, wedo not spiritually die, we
continue living.
There is no real death,spiritual death, for us.
We will just wake up to a newlife reality at the end.
(12:34):
All right, then it says, when herose from the dead in verse 5,
it says, and he was seen byCephas, which is Peter's name,
so Peter, and then by thetwelve.
So now Paul is going to starttelling us about the
resurrection, and he's going togive us some concrete proofs and
evidences that we have to so youcan know that Jesus did rise
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from the dead.
First, we have Cephas, which isanother name for Peter.
Why is it important that he'smentioned first?
Because Peter had just deniedJesus.
He had just messed up soterribly.
He wasn't a hero, he was a zero.
(13:22):
And what does Jesus do?
He comes back, he rises from thedead, and he's like, How do you
like them apples, Peter?
I'm gonna call you Cephasbecause nobody even knows that
name.
No, just kidding.
He did not do that.
Jesus says, you know who I lovethe most?
The guy who just screwed up.
(13:44):
The guy who just screwed up theworst.
Maybe not as bad as Judas, butclose.
He went straight to Peter.
And he loved him and he forgavehim and he restored him.
And now Peter is a picture ofredemption and restoration for
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all of us losers who have walkedaway from Jesus when we should
have stood strong.
I know I have denied Jesus withmy actions, with my words, with
my behavior, more times than Icould ever count.
(14:26):
Ever.
And you know what Jesus hasnever done to me?
He has never said a word aboutit.
Every time my Jesus has met withme, he has looked me in the eye,
and he has said, I love you.
Metaphorically, right?
He said, I love you.
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I have forgiven you.
It's not who you are.
That's not who you are.
Let me tell you who you are.
You are my son.
I live inside you, and I'm notangry with you.
I'm not upset with you.
That's our God.
People are like, why do you goto church?
Why do you spend all this timestudying God's word and
(15:08):
connecting with Jesus?
Jesus just blah blah blah blahblah.
And they say all kinds ofhorrible things about him.
But I know what Jesus has toldme.
And he has given me his lifewhen I deserved nothing but
condemnation.
Anyone, can anyone say amen tothat?
And that's been your story also?
(15:30):
Amen.
I love it.
Jesus isn't coming to bury us.
You see, you were already buriedwith him.
He's coming to give you the newlife, the resurrection.
That's what we're talking abouthere today.
He's coming to pick you up, dustyou off, set you back on the
path of life, that you can walkwith him.
(15:52):
And then it says that that he hewas seen by the twelve after he
rose from the dead.
So you might think Peter was theonly one who denied Jesus and
ran away in fear, but he wasn't,because all 12 of them, it says,
ran away with their tail betweentheir legs.
None of them stood with him.
They all ran away.
(16:13):
And Jesus went to each one ofthem, them.
Why is he doing this?
Because his life is shareable.
It's transferable with every oneof his messed up kids.
Every single one of us.
No matter how you're messed up,each of the disciples messed up
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in a different way.
And Jesus had grace for everysingle one of them.
He has life to answer everysingle one of their death
mistakes.
Grace is sufficient, is what welearn.
Alright, verse 6.
After that, he was seen by over500 brethren at once, of whom
the greater part remain to thispresent day, but some have
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fallen asleep.
Wow.
Did you guys know this verse wasin the Bible?
People are like, ah, Jesusdidn't rise from the dead.
No one even saw him.
Dude, the flipping Bible justsaid over 500 people saw him at
one time.
They were having some ragerparty, and Jesus showed up.
I don't know what was going on.
We don't know what happened.
(17:19):
That's what I want to think washappening.
Jesus showed up and 500 peoplesaw him.
And Paul is like, go ask one ofthem.
He said, they're all there.
All that anyone would need to doto disprove the Bible and say,
all these accounts you can'thave confidence in them, you
can't trust him, is for one ofthose eyewitnesses to say, no, I
(17:39):
was there and he did not showup.
Just one of the 500 people, justone would discredit the entire
group of witnesses.
But guess what?
Every single one of them agreedthat Jesus rose from the dead.
And Paul's like, go talk tothem.
They'll tell you.
They saw him, he was alive.
(18:01):
It's true.
Jesus wasn't hiding in theforest.
He was meeting with people, hewas eating with them, he was
hanging out with them, just likeyou would expect him to do if he
really did rise from the dead.
Okay, and through the years,there's been many attempts to
disprove the resurrection.
(18:22):
Some said that he didn't die atall, but he just swooned.
This is called the swoon theory,and meaning that he just passed
out on the cross.
And when they stabbed him andhis heart bled all out, he was
just fainted.
And he just magically got betterinside a tomb.
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And then he woke up and hepushed the 2,000-pound rock away
by himself after he just lostall his blood.
So it's a really stupid theory,but people believe it.
Because you have to believestupid stuff to not believe in
Jesus, to be honest.
You have to.
You have to deny what isevidence and what is real for
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something that's fake in a fairytale.
I get passionate about this.
Okay.
So there's the swoon theory.
Others said, yeah, he reallydied, but his body was just
stolen by his creepy disciples.
The ones that all just ran awayin fear.
They were so brave that theycame and attacked a Roman
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garrison of guys and killed themall, or knocked them all out,
and then moved the stone andstole his body, and then told
everyone he rose from the dead.
And then everyone's like, Did hereally rise from the dead?
Because we're gonna kill you.
And they were like, Yeah, hereally rose from the dead, and
then they killed every singleone of them.
But these disciples neverrecanted, they never said, Oh
(19:50):
yeah, sorry, don't kill me.
We were just joking.
What good does it do for them tolie about him rising from the
dead?
It does nothing except put atarget on their back.
It was illegal to believe inJesus.
It was against Rome and theirown countrymen, the Jews hated
them for it.
So literally, it was of no goodbenefit for them.
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Oh, well, they got the power.
No, they didn't.
There was no power in being aChristian.
You were only killed.
So the only way that they wouldbelieve this and stand up to
death and all be killed is if itwas actually true, because you
will stand for what is true.
And they do did stand for whatis true.
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The other only other option thatanyone has ever come up with is
maybe they all were tripping onacid.
They all hallucinated it all atthe same time, all 12 of the
disciples, and they're like,okay, but 500 people were all
(20:53):
eating mushrooms at the sametime, and they all saw the same
thing.
You can't get two people tohallucinate the same thing, but
they're saying a masshallucination.
Again, this is absolutelyridiculous if you think about
what is logical.
Okay.
That's why it takes more faithto be an atheist than it does to
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believe in the biblical accountthat is actually true and has
evidence.
It takes more faith to be anatheist.
And if you want a good book,there's a great book out there
called I Don't Have Enough Faithto Be an Atheist.
Highly recommend it.
Makes a great stocking stuffer.
All right, verse 7.
After that, he was seen byJames.
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Okay, James.
He was Jesus' brother, who theentire time Jesus was alive,
James was like, you're an idiot.
You're my brother.
You're not God.
James didn't believe in Jesus asthe Messiah until after, but he
appeared to James, which is veryimportant.
(21:59):
And then bought, and then by allthe apostles, it says, So Jesus
spent 40 days training hisspecial chosen little army of
guys to take over the world withthis gospel of grace that he was
bringing.
Okay, so he was teaching him allabout it.
That's what he spent 40 daystraining him.
All right, verse 8.
It says, Then last of all, hewas seen by me, this is Paul
(22:22):
talking, as one born out of duetime.
So Paul was also an apostle, butremember during Jesus' life,
Paul was a Pharisee.
And he was literally for thetime immediately after Jesus,
Paul was going around killingChristians.
But Jesus is like, Paul, I'vechosen you, I love you, I'm
gonna help you understand thegospel, and then you're gonna go
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be an apostle.
So he says, I, you know, was theworst of all the apostles.
Um and it it's there's no limitto who Jesus will save.
Uh Jesus says, I know that youhated me with passion, but I
still love you.
It doesn't make me mad that youhated me.
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It doesn't make me mad that youbelieved in weird stuff.
Moving forward, you're gonnahave me.
I'm gonna take over your life,and you're gonna have the truth,
and you're gonna, it's gonna beokay.
You're gonna follow me.
Well, how did Paul get saved?
Remember, Stephen was gettingstoned, he was being stoned, but
different different things.
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And he prayed.
Do you just get it?
Just kidding.
That's a good joke, right?
Anyway, Stephen's dying, he'spraying for Paul as Paul is
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leading the group of the peoplewho were killing him.
And and Paul hears Stephen prayfor him.
He loved Paul.
Stephen said, God forgive Paul.
I'm not angry with you, Paul.
He loved Paul, and uh, and Godsaved Paul.
God used that testimony inPaul's life to bring him to know
him.
All right, verse 9.
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Paul says this, understandingthat story about him, he says
this, for I am the least of allthe apostles who am not worthy
to be called an apostle, becauseI persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I amwhat I am, and the grace was not
toward me, was not in vain, butI labored more abundantly than
(24:30):
they all, yet not I, but thegrace of God which was with me.
So Paul has uh an attitude wecall humility, and that
humility, why is that important?
Because grace always goes withhumility.
It says in the Bible, God givesgrace to the humble but opposes
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the proud.
Exactly.
That's the way this new covenantof grace works.
God says, you can be the biggestsinner in the world, but if you
choose humility, if you chooseto say, God, I I need you, and I
and I'm gonna humble myselfbefore you, you will get grace.
So what is humility?
Humility is a heart that says,I'm not gonna trust in myself
(25:13):
and my own abilities, because Idistrust my flesh.
I need God, and so instead I'mgonna replace that with faith,
which is trust in Jesus insteadof myself.
So that's what humility is.
And then Paul says, I laboredmore.
I had a great conversation rightbefore church uh with someone
who said, What does James meanwhen when he says uh we have we
(25:36):
have to have faith and we haveto have works?
What is that talking about?
Look, Paul's gonna tell us righthere.
He says, I labored more.
God doesn't just forgive you soyou can live a life of sin.
He forgives you and then hetransforms you so that he can
live through you and he can getkingdom work done through your
(25:59):
life.
Your life has been bought andpaid for by God.
But it's not so that you can behis slave, it's so you can be
his son.
If you um anyone in here evertake over your father's
business?
Why is that funny?
Was your dad like a drug dealeror something?
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Like, family business.
All right.
If you take over your father'sbusiness, it's your name on the
line.
So generally, that's why fatherslike to hand down the family
business to their son, becausethey know it's not just gonna be
a job to them, it's going to betheir identity because their
(26:41):
name is on the sign outside thebusiness.
And that's what doing kingdomwork is like for you and for me.
Because we're not serving Godbecause we have to or because
it's the right thing to do.
We do it because we're called byhis name.
Because his kingdom is ourkingdom, his business is our
business, his business is savingpeople and loving people.
Guess what you're supposed todo?
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Love people, get them connectedto the Savior.
Paul says, I labored more thanall y'all.
Look, I learned a Texas word.
And this is what resurrectionlife looks like in us.
When resurrection life isflowing, what does it look like?
(27:23):
You're serving God with thefruit of love.
You're being a fruity Christian.
Grace isn't the freedom to justsin more, to do your own thing.
It's the power to live a lifethat matters and honors God.
Did your life matter today?
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It can.
Living by faith, Lazpaul,laboring for God's God's
kingdom, it making a differencein the world.
God, grace makes us notcomfortable in sin.
Grace makes us hate sin becauseI feel like I was just sinning.
I just wasted a half an hour ofmy life that I could have made a
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difference in this world.
I could have made a differencefor eternity, like Isaac was
saying.
I could have made a difference,but instead I was worried about
myself and my own thing, my ownkingdom.
Grace makes us hate sin becausegrace helps us understand we
died to sin.
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We are alive to God throughJesus.
Just like we died, Jesus died tosin and he lives for God's will.
We have the exact sameexperience.
We call it resurrection life,bro.
That's what it's called.
Your life is his life, he'sliving through you here on this
world.
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Yeah, but he says this um, yetnot I, but grace.
So it's never your efforts thatare laboring serving God.
It's never trying hard thatserves God.
And it's never because we'rejust doing the right thing.
I gotta go to church becauseit's the right thing to do.
That's not serving God either.
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It has to be grace working inour lives.
If you if you have a passion forGod and for his heart, that's
your clue that you're doing itthe right way.
I have a passion for knowingGod, I have a passion for
serving God, that's a clue thatyou you're doing it by the
heart.
If going to church and servingGod is a job, that's a clue,
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you're doing it the old way, theold covenant, which is the law,
which is not the gospel, andit's not the life of Christ, and
it's not what the Bible wantsyou to do.
If you don't want to come tochurch, don't go to church.
But if you're passionate aboutGod, if God has ransomed your
heart and touched your heartwith his love, then go to church
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and rejoice and give him thanksand praise and learn his word.
That's how freedom works.
You are free.
God says you are completelyfree, and I love you, and I'll
wait for passion to grab a holdof your heart until I require He
doesn't require anything of us,but He wants us to get that
(30:15):
passionate heart that He's givenus.
Verse 11 Therefore, whether itwas I or they, so we preach and
so you Believed.
Now, if Christ is preached thathe has been raised from the
dead, how do some say, someamong you say that there is no
resurrection of the dead?
(30:37):
So here he mentions Christ beingpreached.
Jesus is what we preach, Jesusis what we teach.
Jesus is what we talk about.
If you go to a church and theydon't talk about Jesus, don't go
back to that church.
Okay?
If you go to a church andthey're constantly talking about
other things, specifically whatyou should do, maybe think about
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going to another church.
Okay?
The church is supposed to preachabout one thing Jesus, his
death, his resurrection.
We call that the gospel.
Does that matter for just peoplewho are heathens, who need to
get saved, who need to getforgiven?
It matters to them.
They need to hear that, but itmatters just as much to us.
Because we know about the deathof Jesus, us who have a
(31:22):
relationship with him, but weare constantly learning more
about the risen life of Jesusliving through us.
That's how we live our livesevery day.
And that's what we have to growin is this resurrection life.
Resurrection life is how we'resupposed to be living.
It's not I who live, but it'sChrist who lives in me.
And the life which I now live inthe flesh, I live by faith in
(31:44):
the Son of God.
So resurrection life is a lifeof faith.
We get that.
That's why we preach the waythat we do.
Talking about Jesus, pointingeverything to Jesus and all the
good churches around thecountry, they point to Jesus,
right?
That's how it works.
We don't have to focus on us.
(32:07):
We're free from having to focuson us.
You don't have to worry aboutyour abilities or lack of
abilities or your good deeds oryour lack of good deeds.
The more you focus on thosethings, the harder it will be to
actually serve God.
The whole point of the gospel isto lift your eyes off of
(32:28):
yourself and onto the Savior.
He is life.
His words are life.
So we study his words, we getour eyes onto him, and then we
discover (32:38):
hey, this is what I've been missing the whole time.
And all the time I wasted tryingto live my own life, I wasn't
discovering it, I wasn't findingit.
Jesus said, if I am lifted up, Iwill draw all men to myself.
I'll draw all men.
So if I want to be appealing toall men, no matter what
(32:59):
condition or state they're in,I'm gonna lift up what Jesus has
done, what he's accomplished,his death and his resurrection.
All right, this is really theonly strategy for ministry,
obviously.
The real problem with theCorinthian church is that
they're like, yeah, we think theresurrection happened, but we
(33:21):
don't think it has anything todo with us.
They didn't understand how ithad to do with them.
So they were like, I don'treally think there is a
resurrection for you and for me.
Well, that's that's a reallyweird thing to believe.
But what what it speaks of isthat they didn't think that the
life of Jesus was transferableto them.
And guess what their liveslooked like?
(33:43):
Their lives looked like a messbecause they were trying to be
Christians in their ownstrength.
And what were they doing?
They were messing up at everyturn.
They were having sex withwhoever they wanted, they were
doing this, they were doingthat, they were, they were in
just, it was a mess.
They were completely focused onthemselves because they were
trying to live the Christianlife.
(34:04):
You know, Jesus never asks youto try to live the Christian
life.
He says, Your job is to die withme and then let me live through
you.
There's no trying.
It's like Yoda.
Do or do not.
(34:25):
There is no try.
That was a terrible Yoda today.
Okay, at some point we allstruggle with the same thing the
Corinthian church was, which isI'm gonna just try harder to do
good.
I'm just gonna put my best in.
(34:45):
And that is not the way ofgrace.
That's not the way of thegospel.
Instead of doing that, trustingin self, instead of trusting in
ourselves, I'm gonna try harder,we have a different way, which
is Jesus, I can't do anythingmore, humility.
So, Jesus, would you come andlive in me and live through me?
(35:09):
That is faith.
Humility and faith.
That's how the gospel trulyworks.
All right, verse 13.
But if there is no resurrectionfrom the dead, then Christ is
not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, thenour preaching is empty, and your
faith is also empty.
Yes, we are found to be falsewitnesses of God, because we
have testified that God hasraised up Christ, whom he did
(35:31):
not raise up.
In fact, the dead do not rise.
For if the dead do not rise,then Christ is not risen.
If Christ is not risen, thenyour faith is futile.
You are still in your sins, thenalso those who have fallen
asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we havehope in Christ, we are of all
(35:52):
men most pitiable.
All right, so if we followPaul's logic here, it looks like
this.
If there's no principle ofresurrection, then Jesus didn't
rise from the dead.
If Jesus didn't rise from thedead, then death has power over
him, death has defeated him.
(36:13):
If death has power over Jesus,Jesus is not God.
If Jesus is not God, he cannotoffer his life as a sacrifice
for my sins.
If he didn't offer a sacrificefor my sins, then all my sins
are not completely paid forbefore God.
If my sins are not completelypaid for before God, then I'm
(36:34):
still in my sins and I'm goingto hell.
Therefore, if Jesus is not risenfrom the dead, he is unable to
save any person, and we shouldall go drink ourselves to death
because nothing matters.
The resurrection is thatimportant.
It matters that much.
(36:55):
If you have to live your lifealone without the resurrection
of Jesus, that's alone, then hecan't live his resurrection life
through you.
He wants to live with youthrough you.
That's what resurrection is.
It's not alone.
You don't have to live your lifealone.
He hasn't told you.
All right, verse 20.
(37:16):
But now Christ is risen from thedead and has become the first
fruits of those who have fallenasleep.
First fruits, that makes usthink of sacrifices that honor
God.
Okay, the life of Jesus is thething that honors God.
What did God say when he judgedJesus' life?
(37:36):
And Jesus was like, Here I am,God, and God ripped open heaven
for everyone to hear, and hesaid, That's my beloved son in
whom I am well pleased.
That's what God said.
So Jesus' life does impress God.
You know whose life doesn't?
All of us.
(37:57):
My efforts don't impress God.
But when I allow Jesus to livethrough me, which he promises to
do, then my life does honor Godin every way.
You are able to live a life forGod.
You're able to keep the commandsof God, you're able to be happy
(38:17):
in this life.
You know how?
Stop trying and start allowingJesus to live through you.
You can do what he calls you todo through that oneness with
him, through that life that weshare with him.
In Romans 6, it gives us a uhmore clear understanding of this
(38:39):
in verse 5 of Romans 6.
For if we have been unitedtogether, see those words
united, in the likeness of hisdeath, certainly we shall also
in the likeness of hisresurrection.
What happened to him happened toyou.
What happened to him happened toyou.
Okay.
Knowing this that our old manwas crucified with him, that the
(39:02):
body of sin might be done awaywith, that we should no longer
be slaves of sin.
For he who has died has beenfreed from sin.
Now, if we died with Christ, webelieve that we shall also live
with him, knowing that Christ,having been raised from the
dead, dies no more.
Death no longer has dominionover him, for the death he died,
(39:23):
he died to sin once and for all.
But the life that he lives, helives to God.
Likewise you also reckonyourselves.
So if all this is true, whathappened to him happened to you.
What happened to him happened toyou.
Likewise you also reckon, thatmeans count it all up, add up
(39:45):
all this evidence.
It's a math term.
That means count it all up.
Reckon yourselves to be deadindeed to sin, like Jesus, but
alive to in Christ Jesus ourLord, alive to God.
Isn't that amazing?
That's how what all ofresurrection is about is that we
live for God, to God, throughGod.
(40:06):
What happened to Jesus happenedto you.
We live a life that serves Godthrough the resurrection power
that He shares with you, that Hetransfers into you.
And how do you get it?
Only by faith.
You simply have to ask.
Jesus, live my life for me.
Jesus, here's my life.
(40:28):
Live through me.
And he's the first fruit.
So we know this that this worksbecause he's living a life that
honors God.
Where is he seated?
He's seated at the right hand ofGod, doing God's will, making
sure all God's stuff happens.
He's doing that.
And then he's doing it throughus on this earth.
He said it was better that hegoes away and sits at God's hand
(40:52):
so that he could live througheach one of us, scattered
throughout this earth.
He said that's a better way.
We're like, oh, I wish Jesuswouldn't have left because Jesus
was so good at being Jesus.
Yes, he was really good at it.
And guess what?
He's super good at being Jesusin you also.
(41:14):
All it takes is humility andfaith.
That is what is asked of us.
Verse 21 for since by man camedeath, by man also came
resurrection from the dead.
For in Adam all die, even so inChrist all shall be made alive,
but each one in his own order,Christ the first fruits,
(41:34):
afterward those are Christ whoare Christ at his coming.
So this is a really importanttruth that kind of helps us to
understand how this all works.
Adam, the first man, right?
He sinned, so everyone who hegave birth to, that, or he
didn't give birth, that Eve gavebirth to, that his descendants,
they all inherited that sindisease, that spirit.
(42:01):
Every human did that.
But now Jesus also became a man.
He's called the second Adam sothat he could save all humans.
So Adam, our hero, our firsthuman, he killed all people.
Way to go.
But he did better than we wouldhave done, to be honest.
(42:22):
He didn't have no dysfunctionalfamily.
His dad was literally God.
You know.
But he did better than we wouldhave done.
But he still screwed up, stillsinned.
Jesus had to become a man sothat he could also save men.
(42:44):
And he saves us by transferringhis holy resurrection life, his
pure life, into us by faith.
You have this resurrection lifeif you believe the gospel.
Guess what?
You don't have to do anythingelse.
You don't have to dance aspecial dance, you don't have to
(43:05):
memorize a thing, you don't haveto stand up and do a thing.
There is nothing you have to doexcept believe.
And this life is already yours.
It's much more about surrenderthan it is about doing stuff.
Colossians 2 says, We wereburied with him in baptism, in
(43:27):
which you were also raised withhim through faith in the working
of God, who raised him from thedead, and you being dead in your
trespasses and theuncircumcision of your flesh, he
has made alive together withhim, having forgiven all your
trespasses.
So again, we share his life hisdeath by faith, but we also
(43:51):
share his life by faith, his newlife.
It's a powerful life.
You know how much power it takesto raise something from the
dead?
Scientists have been trying toproduce life, and they're like
trying to estimate how muchpower, and they're trying to use
electricity on like mold, and itnever produces life, it just
kills stuff.
But they're like, we need morepower.
(44:12):
We don't have the powder,Captain.
Oh my Star Trek nerds are in thehouse.
Okay, I'm starting to feel youout.
So we're not so much Star Warsnerds in here, we're Star Trek
nerds.
I'm getting it.
Okay.
She's like, yes.
He's like, live long andprosper, man.
(44:34):
All right.
It is a power.
How much power does it take tobring something that was dead to
life?
Well, it's an infinite amount ofpower.
And I want you guys to get this.
If God is able to make you alivewhen you were dead spiritually,
will he answer your prayer forblah, blah, blah, blah?
Yes, he will.
He wants to answer your prayers.
(44:56):
We just doubt in his characterand in his heart.
And that's why we study the wordso we can learn the resume of
his faithfulness.
The last verse we're going tolook at today is this: Ephesians
1:18.
Paul prays for his church, justlike I pray for you guys, that
the eyes of your understandingwould be enlightened, that you
may know what is the hope of hiscalling, what is the riches of
(45:19):
the glory of the inheritance inthe saints, and what is the
exceeding greatness of his powertowards us who go to church
every week.
Is that not what it says?
I don't have it in front of me.
Who do all the right things?
It doesn't say that either.
Who tithe 10%.
(45:41):
That's not what it says.
What's it say?
Believe that's all we have todo?
To see his incredible,life-changing, exceeding
greatness of his power towardsus according to the working of
his mighty power, which heworked in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and seated himat the right hand in heavenly
(46:03):
places.
The exact same power that raisedChrist from the dead will help
you shut your mouth when youwant to be an idiot.
I guess we should end there.
Sometimes we say things we don'twant to say that are not the
life of Christ.
Sometimes we text things that wedon't we shouldn't have texted,
(46:25):
and sometimes we do things.
But it doesn't change the factthat God loves you, He's not
against you.
And He right now, today, offerstwo things to you.
I've died for you.
And I'm inviting you to share inmy death with me.
All you have to do is believe.
(47:01):
And he will stand by you nomatter what, and he will take
you on up into heaven.
You will be forgiven.
That's the first promise hemakes.
Second promise he makes, life.
Because you're dying to sin,sinning will never make you
happy again.
Let me say that again.
Once you become a believer, twothings happen.
(47:23):
Number one, you're forgiven.
Number two, you're foreverchanged, and you will never be
happy living in sin ever again.
Why doesn't getting plasteredwork anymore?
Now that I'm a Christian.
Well, it might physically work,but your heart will never be
happy in that kind of lifestyle.
(47:44):
Or any sinful lifestyle,including pride, including
anything.
We cannot think that we can bechildren of God, which we are,
and walk in sin at the sametime.
We don't say this to put ruleson you.
We say this as identity.
This is who you are.
God has made you pure and holyand righteous.
And we should just sing to him.
(48:05):
I should stop talking.
Amen.
All right, today's sermon is called Have You Heard
the Good News?
Part two, the life.
First, for I delivered to you,first of all, that which I also
received, that Christ died forour sins according to the
scriptures, that he was buried,and that he rose again the third
(00:48):
day according to the scriptures.
Alright, so in this chapter,Paul says, I'm gonna teach you
the gospel.
And he says, the gospel isawesome if you receive it and if
you stand in it.
And that's what we learned lastweek.
The gospel in chapter in verseone, he said, It's amazing, it's
useful for any human being ifyou receive it and if you stand
(01:10):
in it.
And then we talked about thedeath of Jesus.
And so as I was growing up, Idon't know about you, but I
thought the death of Jesus waspretty easy to understand.
Because I did all kinds of badstuff growing up, and my dad was
always like, I'm gonna kill you.
And so when Jesus came and said,I'll take your death for you,
I'll be your substitute.
(01:31):
I was like, woo-hoo! Iunderstood substitutionary
atonement, is what that'scalled.
That I needed a substitute totake my place because I deserved
death.
And that's it, that's it, allpeople have fallen short of
God's glory.
And the the consequences ofbeing a sinner, being born in
(01:51):
sin, is that death is thenatural consequence.
So we all have this situationthat we need someone to die for
us, and so Jesus does that forus.
But resurrection, everyone toldme as I was growing up, well,
you it's the death andresurrection of Jesus.
It's like part one and part two.
It's like you gotta understandboth of them.
And they even told meresurrection is more important
(02:12):
than the death of Jesus.
And I was like, why?
And I couldn't get a good answerfor many years.
I actually did not get a goodanswer.
The closest I came, you know,was was when people said, it's
like the receipt that your sinswere paid for, or it's like the
proof that God accepted Jesus'sacrifice on the cross, God let
(02:34):
him rise from the dead becausehe was so pure and so wonderful
that that death couldn't holdhim down.
And so he's like Gandalf comingback as Gandalf the white.
Lord of the Wings nerd joke.
Where my nerds at Okay, so Ididn't understand about it until
(02:58):
God opened my eyes to what thewhat the gospel really teaches.
Okay.
See that whole receipt exampleor receipt understanding of of
the resurrection, it all seemsvery transactional to me.
Like, okay, I die for your sins,I rise from the dead, receipt,
(03:19):
here you go.
Like it just said it didn't seemrelational or what I really
needed.
And so I I already believed mysins were paid for by his death.
So I really didn't understandwhat the whole point of this
resurrection, this him comingback from the dead, uh, until I
read this.
And I'm gonna read you a quote.
It's from a pastor named AndrewMurray.
(03:41):
He was in South Africa in the1800s.
That's when all the besttheologians lived.
It was the 1800s.
So Andrew Murray said this.
In Christ's death, we see him inutter impotence, allowing and
counting upon God to work alland give him life.
What does that mean?
It means Jesus completelysurrendered to God's will.
(04:04):
He couldn't, he didn't want tosave himself, he couldn't save
himself.
He, and then God wrought awonderful transition, meaning
God uh raised him from the dead.
And in us, we see the same, hesays.
It is only as we give ourselvesunto that death also, as we
(04:27):
entirely cease from self and itsworks, as we lie as in a grave,
waiting for God to work all,that the God of resurrection
life can work in us all his goodpleasure.
(04:51):
That quote unlocked somethingfor me.
And the thing was theresurrection is not just about
Jesus paying for our sins oreven beating death, it's about
Jesus actually transferring hisliving, holy, pure, supernatural
(05:13):
resurrection life into my dirty,rotten carcass.
He does that.
The resurrection is about Jesustransferring his risen life into
my deadness and bringing me tolife with him.
(05:33):
And that changed everything asfar as how I understand.
It's a new source for living.
That's what the resurrection is,that's what's so important.
Like it's not Easter.
Why are we talking aboutresurrection?
Well, we're gonna be talkingabout it for a few weeks here.
It's not just a historical fact,although it's the most
(05:54):
verifiable event in all ofancient history, which we can we
will get into that.
But what's amazing about it,it's it's an actual exchange of
life.
My old life for his life, mybrokenness for his freedom, my
addiction for his satisfiedspirit.
(06:17):
Everything that I have that'swrong and broken and messed up,
Jesus says, give it to me and Iwill replace it with my
wholeness, righteousness,holiness, all that stuff.
So the resurrection makes hislife transferable to us in a
(06:38):
very real way.
You could remember it like thisthe share you have with him in
his death is the same share youhave with him in his new life.
So if you believe Jesus died foryou, you also get just as much
of his resurrection.
We are one with him on thecross.
(06:59):
You died with him on the cross,and so you are also one with him
in his new life.
These are the if you can believethis, it will absolutely
transform your real life.
So look what he says in verse 3.
I delivered to you that which Ialso first received, that Christ
died for our sins according tothe scriptures, and that he was
buried and then rose again thethird day according to the
(07:23):
scriptures.
Okay, so what scriptures is hetalking about?
Well, in the Old Testament, Godhid a bunch of scriptures that
talked about the resurrection ofJesus.
Now, he did not just have versesthat said, My son, when he
comes, is going to rise from thedead.
He doesn't do that.
(07:44):
He hid them in plain sight.
And a lot of people ask and theywonder why would God do that?
Why didn't God just make itsuper plain?
Well, because Satan was alsoreading these scriptures and the
and the enemy was reading thesescriptures.
So the enemy probably wouldn'thave inspired people to murder
Jesus on the cross if he knewthat that's how his ultimate
(08:05):
destruction would happen.
So God had to hide it so thatwhen we look back on it, we can
realize that Jesus was gonnarise from the cross.
It was foretold, it waspredicted, uh, he was he it was
his plan all along.
So the first verse that we cansee that in is Hosea 6, 2.
And it says, After two days, hewill revive us, and on the third
(08:29):
day, he will rise us up that wemay live in his sight.
So if you were just reading thatbefore Jesus, you'd be like,
okay, it's probably a prophecyof some weird thing, resurrect,
I don't know.
But after Jesus, you plug it in,you lay the resurrection, and
what really happened over that,and you can see that God was
giving us confirmation of whatwas going to happen with Jesus.
(08:53):
Here's another one in Psalm 16,10.
For you will not leave my soulin Sheol, that's a word for
death, the Hebrew word fordeath, nor will you allow your
holy one to see corruption,which is what happens when your
body dies.
Both of those, if you just readthem at face value, you wouldn't
(09:13):
be like, well, it means this.
But after you understand whatreally happened, you can see
that God's hand was in writingeach of these, and they were
these verses that are beingtalked about right now in 1
Corinthians.
So remember this.
When you read the Old Testament,you don't have the full story.
So God wrote the Old Testamentfor us in a way that you need to
(09:37):
have Jesus and the Gospels inorder to understand everything
that was being written back inthe Old Testament.
So always remember that.
Everything is made clear whenyou lay the story of Jesus and
the gospel that we learn aboutJesus, his death and his
resurrection, lay that over topof what's being taught in the
Old Testament, and you canunderstand it much more clearly.
(10:00):
In 2 Timothy, it says it likethis, chapter 1, verse 10.
But now has been revealed thetruth, the gospel has been
revealed by the appearing of ourSavior Jesus Christ, who has
abolished death and brought lifeand immortality to light through
the gospel.
(10:22):
So Jesus explains everythingabout God's heart, plan, and
mission that was started in theOld Testament.
He finishes it all and he bringsit all to light through his
gospel.
The word gospel again means goodnews, his good news.
(10:42):
And part of that good news isimmortality, right?
He says it right here.
Immortality means, you know, youget forgiveness and eternal
life.
That is definitely included inthe gospel.
But then he says, He brought, heabolished death and he brought
life.
Okay, we can understand how heabolished death.
(11:03):
So when he died on the cross, wedon't ever have to die like
that.
We never have to experiencedeath.
When you die, when you die, it'sjust falling asleep, and you're
just waking up with a new life.
But we also get his resurrectionlife now today, and that's what
we're talking about today.
And he says here, he broughtlife.
(11:23):
That is our new shared life withGod that Jesus transferred from
God into you, he transferred hisown life into you, and we call
that our union with Christ.
So we are unified with Jesus andthen he has destroyed death,
(11:47):
abolished death.
So we never have to fear deathagain, because we never really
have to die, because he alreadydied our death for us.
What was wrong about that?
Why did people die?
People died because of sin.
If we had never sinned, wewouldn't have ever had to
experience death, but becauseAdam sinned, everything in the
(12:10):
universe dies.
So we also had to die, butbecause Jesus dies our death for
us, when we physically die, wedo not spiritually die, we
continue living.
There is no real death,spiritual death, for us.
We will just wake up to a newlife reality at the end.
(12:34):
All right, then it says, when herose from the dead in verse 5,
it says, and he was seen byCephas, which is Peter's name,
so Peter, and then by thetwelve.
So now Paul is going to starttelling us about the
resurrection, and he's going togive us some concrete proofs and
evidences that we have to so youcan know that Jesus did rise
(12:58):
from the dead.
First, we have Cephas, which isanother name for Peter.
Why is it important that he'smentioned first?
Because Peter had just deniedJesus.
He had just messed up soterribly.
He wasn't a hero, he was a zero.
(13:22):
And what does Jesus do?
He comes back, he rises from thedead, and he's like, How do you
like them apples, Peter?
I'm gonna call you Cephasbecause nobody even knows that
name.
No, just kidding.
He did not do that.
Jesus says, you know who I lovethe most?
The guy who just screwed up.
(13:44):
The guy who just screwed up theworst.
Maybe not as bad as Judas, butclose.
He went straight to Peter.
And he loved him and he forgavehim and he restored him.
And now Peter is a picture ofredemption and restoration for
(14:04):
all of us losers who have walkedaway from Jesus when we should
have stood strong.
I know I have denied Jesus withmy actions, with my words, with
my behavior, more times than Icould ever count.
(14:26):
Ever.
And you know what Jesus hasnever done to me?
He has never said a word aboutit.
Every time my Jesus has met withme, he has looked me in the eye,
and he has said, I love you.
Metaphorically, right?
He said, I love you.
(14:46):
I have forgiven you.
It's not who you are.
That's not who you are.
Let me tell you who you are.
You are my son.
I live inside you, and I'm notangry with you.
I'm not upset with you.
That's our God.
People are like, why do you goto church?
Why do you spend all this timestudying God's word and
(15:08):
connecting with Jesus?
Jesus just blah blah blah blahblah.
And they say all kinds ofhorrible things about him.
But I know what Jesus has toldme.
And he has given me his lifewhen I deserved nothing but
condemnation.
Anyone, can anyone say amen tothat?
And that's been your story also?
(15:30):
Amen.
I love it.
Jesus isn't coming to bury us.
You see, you were already buriedwith him.
He's coming to give you the newlife, the resurrection.
That's what we're talking abouthere today.
He's coming to pick you up, dustyou off, set you back on the
path of life, that you can walkwith him.
(15:52):
And then it says that that he hewas seen by the twelve after he
rose from the dead.
So you might think Peter was theonly one who denied Jesus and
ran away in fear, but he wasn't,because all 12 of them, it says,
ran away with their tail betweentheir legs.
None of them stood with him.
They all ran away.
(16:13):
And Jesus went to each one ofthem, them.
Why is he doing this?
Because his life is shareable.
It's transferable with every oneof his messed up kids.
Every single one of us.
No matter how you're messed up,each of the disciples messed up
(16:33):
in a different way.
And Jesus had grace for everysingle one of them.
He has life to answer everysingle one of their death
mistakes.
Grace is sufficient, is what welearn.
Alright, verse 6.
After that, he was seen by over500 brethren at once, of whom
the greater part remain to thispresent day, but some have
(16:58):
fallen asleep.
Wow.
Did you guys know this verse wasin the Bible?
People are like, ah, Jesusdidn't rise from the dead.
No one even saw him.
Dude, the flipping Bible justsaid over 500 people saw him at
one time.
They were having some ragerparty, and Jesus showed up.
I don't know what was going on.
We don't know what happened.
(17:19):
That's what I want to think washappening.
Jesus showed up and 500 peoplesaw him.
And Paul is like, go ask one ofthem.
He said, they're all there.
All that anyone would need to doto disprove the Bible and say,
all these accounts you can'thave confidence in them, you
can't trust him, is for one ofthose eyewitnesses to say, no, I
(17:39):
was there and he did not showup.
Just one of the 500 people, justone would discredit the entire
group of witnesses.
But guess what?
Every single one of them agreedthat Jesus rose from the dead.
And Paul's like, go talk tothem.
They'll tell you.
They saw him, he was alive.
(18:01):
It's true.
Jesus wasn't hiding in theforest.
He was meeting with people, hewas eating with them, he was
hanging out with them, just likeyou would expect him to do if he
really did rise from the dead.
Okay, and through the years,there's been many attempts to
disprove the resurrection.
(18:22):
Some said that he didn't die atall, but he just swooned.
This is called the swoon theory,and meaning that he just passed
out on the cross.
And when they stabbed him andhis heart bled all out, he was
just fainted.
And he just magically got betterinside a tomb.
(18:42):
And then he woke up and hepushed the 2,000-pound rock away
by himself after he just lostall his blood.
So it's a really stupid theory,but people believe it.
Because you have to believestupid stuff to not believe in
Jesus, to be honest.
You have to.
You have to deny what isevidence and what is real for
(19:06):
something that's fake in a fairytale.
I get passionate about this.
Okay.
So there's the swoon theory.
Others said, yeah, he reallydied, but his body was just
stolen by his creepy disciples.
The ones that all just ran awayin fear.
They were so brave that theycame and attacked a Roman
(19:27):
garrison of guys and killed themall, or knocked them all out,
and then moved the stone andstole his body, and then told
everyone he rose from the dead.
And then everyone's like, Did hereally rise from the dead?
Because we're gonna kill you.
And they were like, Yeah, hereally rose from the dead, and
then they killed every singleone of them.
But these disciples neverrecanted, they never said, Oh
(19:50):
yeah, sorry, don't kill me.
We were just joking.
What good does it do for them tolie about him rising from the
dead?
It does nothing except put atarget on their back.
It was illegal to believe inJesus.
It was against Rome and theirown countrymen, the Jews hated
them for it.
So literally, it was of no goodbenefit for them.
(20:10):
Oh, well, they got the power.
No, they didn't.
There was no power in being aChristian.
You were only killed.
So the only way that they wouldbelieve this and stand up to
death and all be killed is if itwas actually true, because you
will stand for what is true.
And they do did stand for whatis true.
(20:32):
The other only other option thatanyone has ever come up with is
maybe they all were tripping onacid.
They all hallucinated it all atthe same time, all 12 of the
disciples, and they're like,okay, but 500 people were all
(20:53):
eating mushrooms at the sametime, and they all saw the same
thing.
You can't get two people tohallucinate the same thing, but
they're saying a masshallucination.
Again, this is absolutelyridiculous if you think about
what is logical.
Okay.
That's why it takes more faithto be an atheist than it does to
(21:14):
believe in the biblical accountthat is actually true and has
evidence.
It takes more faith to be anatheist.
And if you want a good book,there's a great book out there
called I Don't Have Enough Faithto Be an Atheist.
Highly recommend it.
Makes a great stocking stuffer.
All right, verse 7.
After that, he was seen byJames.
(21:36):
Okay, James.
He was Jesus' brother, who theentire time Jesus was alive,
James was like, you're an idiot.
You're my brother.
You're not God.
James didn't believe in Jesus asthe Messiah until after, but he
appeared to James, which is veryimportant.
(21:59):
And then bought, and then by allthe apostles, it says, So Jesus
spent 40 days training hisspecial chosen little army of
guys to take over the world withthis gospel of grace that he was
bringing.
Okay, so he was teaching him allabout it.
That's what he spent 40 daystraining him.
All right, verse 8.
It says, Then last of all, hewas seen by me, this is Paul
(22:22):
talking, as one born out of duetime.
So Paul was also an apostle, butremember during Jesus' life,
Paul was a Pharisee.
And he was literally for thetime immediately after Jesus,
Paul was going around killingChristians.
But Jesus is like, Paul, I'vechosen you, I love you, I'm
gonna help you understand thegospel, and then you're gonna go
(22:43):
be an apostle.
So he says, I, you know, was theworst of all the apostles.
Um and it it's there's no limitto who Jesus will save.
Uh Jesus says, I know that youhated me with passion, but I
still love you.
It doesn't make me mad that youhated me.
(23:04):
It doesn't make me mad that youbelieved in weird stuff.
Moving forward, you're gonnahave me.
I'm gonna take over your life,and you're gonna have the truth,
and you're gonna, it's gonna beokay.
You're gonna follow me.
Well, how did Paul get saved?
Remember, Stephen was gettingstoned, he was being stoned, but
different different things.
(23:28):
And he prayed.
Do you just get it?
Just kidding.
That's a good joke, right?
Anyway, Stephen's dying, he'spraying for Paul as Paul is
(23:49):
leading the group of the peoplewho were killing him.
And and Paul hears Stephen prayfor him.
He loved Paul.
Stephen said, God forgive Paul.
I'm not angry with you, Paul.
He loved Paul, and uh, and Godsaved Paul.
God used that testimony inPaul's life to bring him to know
him.
All right, verse 9.
(24:10):
Paul says this, understandingthat story about him, he says
this, for I am the least of allthe apostles who am not worthy
to be called an apostle, becauseI persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I amwhat I am, and the grace was not
toward me, was not in vain, butI labored more abundantly than
(24:30):
they all, yet not I, but thegrace of God which was with me.
So Paul has uh an attitude wecall humility, and that
humility, why is that important?
Because grace always goes withhumility.
It says in the Bible, God givesgrace to the humble but opposes
(24:51):
the proud.
Exactly.
That's the way this new covenantof grace works.
God says, you can be the biggestsinner in the world, but if you
choose humility, if you chooseto say, God, I I need you, and I
and I'm gonna humble myselfbefore you, you will get grace.
So what is humility?
Humility is a heart that says,I'm not gonna trust in myself
(25:13):
and my own abilities, because Idistrust my flesh.
I need God, and so instead I'mgonna replace that with faith,
which is trust in Jesus insteadof myself.
So that's what humility is.
And then Paul says, I laboredmore.
I had a great conversation rightbefore church uh with someone
who said, What does James meanwhen when he says uh we have we
(25:36):
have to have faith and we haveto have works?
What is that talking about?
Look, Paul's gonna tell us righthere.
He says, I labored more.
God doesn't just forgive you soyou can live a life of sin.
He forgives you and then hetransforms you so that he can
live through you and he can getkingdom work done through your
(25:59):
life.
Your life has been bought andpaid for by God.
But it's not so that you can behis slave, it's so you can be
his son.
If you um anyone in here evertake over your father's
business?
Why is that funny?
Was your dad like a drug dealeror something?
(26:20):
Like, family business.
All right.
If you take over your father'sbusiness, it's your name on the
line.
So generally, that's why fatherslike to hand down the family
business to their son, becausethey know it's not just gonna be
a job to them, it's going to betheir identity because their
(26:41):
name is on the sign outside thebusiness.
And that's what doing kingdomwork is like for you and for me.
Because we're not serving Godbecause we have to or because
it's the right thing to do.
We do it because we're called byhis name.
Because his kingdom is ourkingdom, his business is our
business, his business is savingpeople and loving people.
Guess what you're supposed todo?
(27:02):
Love people, get them connectedto the Savior.
Paul says, I labored more thanall y'all.
Look, I learned a Texas word.
And this is what resurrectionlife looks like in us.
When resurrection life isflowing, what does it look like?
(27:23):
You're serving God with thefruit of love.
You're being a fruity Christian.
Grace isn't the freedom to justsin more, to do your own thing.
It's the power to live a lifethat matters and honors God.
Did your life matter today?
(27:43):
It can.
Living by faith, Lazpaul,laboring for God's God's
kingdom, it making a differencein the world.
God, grace makes us notcomfortable in sin.
Grace makes us hate sin becauseI feel like I was just sinning.
I just wasted a half an hour ofmy life that I could have made a
(28:05):
difference in this world.
I could have made a differencefor eternity, like Isaac was
saying.
I could have made a difference,but instead I was worried about
myself and my own thing, my ownkingdom.
Grace makes us hate sin becausegrace helps us understand we
died to sin.
(28:26):
We are alive to God throughJesus.
Just like we died, Jesus died tosin and he lives for God's will.
We have the exact sameexperience.
We call it resurrection life,bro.
That's what it's called.
Your life is his life, he'sliving through you here on this
world.
(28:47):
Yeah, but he says this um, yetnot I, but grace.
So it's never your efforts thatare laboring serving God.
It's never trying hard thatserves God.
And it's never because we'rejust doing the right thing.
I gotta go to church becauseit's the right thing to do.
That's not serving God either.
(29:08):
It has to be grace working inour lives.
If you if you have a passion forGod and for his heart, that's
your clue that you're doing itthe right way.
I have a passion for knowingGod, I have a passion for
serving God, that's a clue thatyou you're doing it by the
heart.
If going to church and servingGod is a job, that's a clue,
(29:31):
you're doing it the old way, theold covenant, which is the law,
which is not the gospel, andit's not the life of Christ, and
it's not what the Bible wantsyou to do.
If you don't want to come tochurch, don't go to church.
But if you're passionate aboutGod, if God has ransomed your
heart and touched your heartwith his love, then go to church
(29:52):
and rejoice and give him thanksand praise and learn his word.
That's how freedom works.
You are free.
God says you are completelyfree, and I love you, and I'll
wait for passion to grab a holdof your heart until I require He
doesn't require anything of us,but He wants us to get that
(30:15):
passionate heart that He's givenus.
Verse 11 Therefore, whether itwas I or they, so we preach and
so you Believed.
Now, if Christ is preached thathe has been raised from the
dead, how do some say, someamong you say that there is no
resurrection of the dead?
(30:37):
So here he mentions Christ beingpreached.
Jesus is what we preach, Jesusis what we teach.
Jesus is what we talk about.
If you go to a church and theydon't talk about Jesus, don't go
back to that church.
Okay?
If you go to a church andthey're constantly talking about
other things, specifically whatyou should do, maybe think about
(31:01):
going to another church.
Okay?
The church is supposed to preachabout one thing Jesus, his
death, his resurrection.
We call that the gospel.
Does that matter for just peoplewho are heathens, who need to
get saved, who need to getforgiven?
It matters to them.
They need to hear that, but itmatters just as much to us.
Because we know about the deathof Jesus, us who have a
(31:22):
relationship with him, but weare constantly learning more
about the risen life of Jesusliving through us.
That's how we live our livesevery day.
And that's what we have to growin is this resurrection life.
Resurrection life is how we'resupposed to be living.
It's not I who live, but it'sChrist who lives in me.
And the life which I now live inthe flesh, I live by faith in
(31:44):
the Son of God.
So resurrection life is a lifeof faith.
We get that.
That's why we preach the waythat we do.
Talking about Jesus, pointingeverything to Jesus and all the
good churches around thecountry, they point to Jesus,
right?
That's how it works.
We don't have to focus on us.
(32:07):
We're free from having to focuson us.
You don't have to worry aboutyour abilities or lack of
abilities or your good deeds oryour lack of good deeds.
The more you focus on thosethings, the harder it will be to
actually serve God.
The whole point of the gospel isto lift your eyes off of
(32:28):
yourself and onto the Savior.
He is life.
His words are life.
So we study his words, we getour eyes onto him, and then we
discover (32:38):
hey, this is what I've been missing the whole time.
And all the time I wasted tryingto live my own life, I wasn't
discovering it, I wasn't findingit.
Jesus said, if I am lifted up, Iwill draw all men to myself.
I'll draw all men.
So if I want to be appealing toall men, no matter what
(32:59):
condition or state they're in,I'm gonna lift up what Jesus has
done, what he's accomplished,his death and his resurrection.
All right, this is really theonly strategy for ministry,
obviously.
The real problem with theCorinthian church is that
they're like, yeah, we think theresurrection happened, but we
(33:21):
don't think it has anything todo with us.
They didn't understand how ithad to do with them.
So they were like, I don'treally think there is a
resurrection for you and for me.
Well, that's that's a reallyweird thing to believe.
But what what it speaks of isthat they didn't think that the
life of Jesus was transferableto them.
And guess what their liveslooked like?
(33:43):
Their lives looked like a messbecause they were trying to be
Christians in their ownstrength.
And what were they doing?
They were messing up at everyturn.
They were having sex withwhoever they wanted, they were
doing this, they were doingthat, they were, they were in
just, it was a mess.
They were completely focused onthemselves because they were
trying to live the Christianlife.
(34:04):
You know, Jesus never asks youto try to live the Christian
life.
He says, Your job is to die withme and then let me live through
you.
There's no trying.
It's like Yoda.
Do or do not.
(34:25):
There is no try.
That was a terrible Yoda today.
Okay, at some point we allstruggle with the same thing the
Corinthian church was, which isI'm gonna just try harder to do
good.
I'm just gonna put my best in.
(34:45):
And that is not the way ofgrace.
That's not the way of thegospel.
Instead of doing that, trustingin self, instead of trusting in
ourselves, I'm gonna try harder,we have a different way, which
is Jesus, I can't do anythingmore, humility.
So, Jesus, would you come andlive in me and live through me?
(35:09):
That is faith.
Humility and faith.
That's how the gospel trulyworks.
All right, verse 13.
But if there is no resurrectionfrom the dead, then Christ is
not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, thenour preaching is empty, and your
faith is also empty.
Yes, we are found to be falsewitnesses of God, because we
have testified that God hasraised up Christ, whom he did
(35:31):
not raise up.
In fact, the dead do not rise.
For if the dead do not rise,then Christ is not risen.
If Christ is not risen, thenyour faith is futile.
You are still in your sins, thenalso those who have fallen
asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we havehope in Christ, we are of all
(35:52):
men most pitiable.
All right, so if we followPaul's logic here, it looks like
this.
If there's no principle ofresurrection, then Jesus didn't
rise from the dead.
If Jesus didn't rise from thedead, then death has power over
him, death has defeated him.
(36:13):
If death has power over Jesus,Jesus is not God.
If Jesus is not God, he cannotoffer his life as a sacrifice
for my sins.
If he didn't offer a sacrificefor my sins, then all my sins
are not completely paid forbefore God.
If my sins are not completelypaid for before God, then I'm
(36:34):
still in my sins and I'm goingto hell.
Therefore, if Jesus is not risenfrom the dead, he is unable to
save any person, and we shouldall go drink ourselves to death
because nothing matters.
The resurrection is thatimportant.
It matters that much.
(36:55):
If you have to live your lifealone without the resurrection
of Jesus, that's alone, then hecan't live his resurrection life
through you.
He wants to live with youthrough you.
That's what resurrection is.
It's not alone.
You don't have to live your lifealone.
He hasn't told you.
All right, verse 20.
(37:16):
But now Christ is risen from thedead and has become the first
fruits of those who have fallenasleep.
First fruits, that makes usthink of sacrifices that honor
God.
Okay, the life of Jesus is thething that honors God.
What did God say when he judgedJesus' life?
(37:36):
And Jesus was like, Here I am,God, and God ripped open heaven
for everyone to hear, and hesaid, That's my beloved son in
whom I am well pleased.
That's what God said.
So Jesus' life does impress God.
You know whose life doesn't?
All of us.
(37:57):
My efforts don't impress God.
But when I allow Jesus to livethrough me, which he promises to
do, then my life does honor Godin every way.
You are able to live a life forGod.
You're able to keep the commandsof God, you're able to be happy
(38:17):
in this life.
You know how?
Stop trying and start allowingJesus to live through you.
You can do what he calls you todo through that oneness with
him, through that life that weshare with him.
In Romans 6, it gives us a uhmore clear understanding of this
(38:39):
in verse 5 of Romans 6.
For if we have been unitedtogether, see those words
united, in the likeness of hisdeath, certainly we shall also
in the likeness of hisresurrection.
What happened to him happened toyou.
What happened to him happened toyou.
Okay.
Knowing this that our old manwas crucified with him, that the
(39:02):
body of sin might be done awaywith, that we should no longer
be slaves of sin.
For he who has died has beenfreed from sin.
Now, if we died with Christ, webelieve that we shall also live
with him, knowing that Christ,having been raised from the
dead, dies no more.
Death no longer has dominionover him, for the death he died,
(39:23):
he died to sin once and for all.
But the life that he lives, helives to God.
Likewise you also reckonyourselves.
So if all this is true, whathappened to him happened to you.
What happened to him happened toyou.
Likewise you also reckon, thatmeans count it all up, add up
(39:45):
all this evidence.
It's a math term.
That means count it all up.
Reckon yourselves to be deadindeed to sin, like Jesus, but
alive to in Christ Jesus ourLord, alive to God.
Isn't that amazing?
That's how what all ofresurrection is about is that we
live for God, to God, throughGod.
(40:06):
What happened to Jesus happenedto you.
We live a life that serves Godthrough the resurrection power
that He shares with you, that Hetransfers into you.
And how do you get it?
Only by faith.
You simply have to ask.
Jesus, live my life for me.
Jesus, here's my life.
(40:28):
Live through me.
And he's the first fruit.
So we know this that this worksbecause he's living a life that
honors God.
Where is he seated?
He's seated at the right hand ofGod, doing God's will, making
sure all God's stuff happens.
He's doing that.
And then he's doing it throughus on this earth.
He said it was better that hegoes away and sits at God's hand
(40:52):
so that he could live througheach one of us, scattered
throughout this earth.
He said that's a better way.
We're like, oh, I wish Jesuswouldn't have left because Jesus
was so good at being Jesus.
Yes, he was really good at it.
And guess what?
He's super good at being Jesusin you also.
(41:14):
All it takes is humility andfaith.
That is what is asked of us.
Verse 21 for since by man camedeath, by man also came
resurrection from the dead.
For in Adam all die, even so inChrist all shall be made alive,
but each one in his own order,Christ the first fruits,
(41:34):
afterward those are Christ whoare Christ at his coming.
So this is a really importanttruth that kind of helps us to
understand how this all works.
Adam, the first man, right?
He sinned, so everyone who hegave birth to, that, or he
didn't give birth, that Eve gavebirth to, that his descendants,
they all inherited that sindisease, that spirit.
(42:01):
Every human did that.
But now Jesus also became a man.
He's called the second Adam sothat he could save all humans.
So Adam, our hero, our firsthuman, he killed all people.
Way to go.
But he did better than we wouldhave done, to be honest.
(42:22):
He didn't have no dysfunctionalfamily.
His dad was literally God.
You know.
But he did better than we wouldhave done.
But he still screwed up, stillsinned.
Jesus had to become a man sothat he could also save men.
(42:44):
And he saves us by transferringhis holy resurrection life, his
pure life, into us by faith.
You have this resurrection lifeif you believe the gospel.
Guess what?
You don't have to do anythingelse.
You don't have to dance aspecial dance, you don't have to
(43:05):
memorize a thing, you don't haveto stand up and do a thing.
There is nothing you have to doexcept believe.
And this life is already yours.
It's much more about surrenderthan it is about doing stuff.
Colossians 2 says, We wereburied with him in baptism, in
(43:27):
which you were also raised withhim through faith in the working
of God, who raised him from thedead, and you being dead in your
trespasses and theuncircumcision of your flesh, he
has made alive together withhim, having forgiven all your
trespasses.
So again, we share his life hisdeath by faith, but we also
(43:51):
share his life by faith, his newlife.
It's a powerful life.
You know how much power it takesto raise something from the
dead?
Scientists have been trying toproduce life, and they're like
trying to estimate how muchpower, and they're trying to use
electricity on like mold, and itnever produces life, it just
kills stuff.
But they're like, we need morepower.
(44:12):
We don't have the powder,Captain.
Oh my Star Trek nerds are in thehouse.
Okay, I'm starting to feel youout.
So we're not so much Star Warsnerds in here, we're Star Trek
nerds.
I'm getting it.
Okay.
She's like, yes.
He's like, live long andprosper, man.
(44:34):
All right.
It is a power.
How much power does it take tobring something that was dead to
life?
Well, it's an infinite amount ofpower.
And I want you guys to get this.
If God is able to make you alivewhen you were dead spiritually,
will he answer your prayer forblah, blah, blah, blah?
Yes, he will.
He wants to answer your prayers.
(44:56):
We just doubt in his characterand in his heart.
And that's why we study the wordso we can learn the resume of
his faithfulness.
The last verse we're going tolook at today is this: Ephesians
1:18.
Paul prays for his church, justlike I pray for you guys, that
the eyes of your understandingwould be enlightened, that you
may know what is the hope of hiscalling, what is the riches of
(45:19):
the glory of the inheritance inthe saints, and what is the
exceeding greatness of his powertowards us who go to church
every week.
Is that not what it says?
I don't have it in front of me.
Who do all the right things?
It doesn't say that either.
Who tithe 10%.
(45:41):
That's not what it says.
What's it say?
Believe that's all we have todo?
To see his incredible,life-changing, exceeding
greatness of his power towardsus according to the working of
his mighty power, which heworked in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and seated himat the right hand in heavenly
(46:03):
places.
The exact same power that raisedChrist from the dead will help
you shut your mouth when youwant to be an idiot.
I guess we should end there.
Sometimes we say things we don'twant to say that are not the
life of Christ.
Sometimes we text things that wedon't we shouldn't have texted,
(46:25):
and sometimes we do things.
But it doesn't change the factthat God loves you, He's not
against you.
And He right now, today, offerstwo things to you.
I've died for you.
And I'm inviting you to share inmy death with me.
All you have to do is believe.
(47:01):
And he will stand by you nomatter what, and he will take
you on up into heaven.
You will be forgiven.
That's the first promise hemakes.
Second promise he makes, life.
Because you're dying to sin,sinning will never make you
happy again.
Let me say that again.
Once you become a believer, twothings happen.
(47:23):
Number one, you're forgiven.
Number two, you're foreverchanged, and you will never be
happy living in sin ever again.
Why doesn't getting plasteredwork anymore?
Now that I'm a Christian.
Well, it might physically work,but your heart will never be
happy in that kind of lifestyle.
(47:44):
Or any sinful lifestyle,including pride, including
anything.
We cannot think that we can bechildren of God, which we are,
and walk in sin at the sametime.
We don't say this to put ruleson you.
We say this as identity.
This is who you are.
God has made you pure and holyand righteous.
And we should just sing to him.
(48:05):
I should stop talking.
Amen.
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com