2020 Daily Devotion - Day 20
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 NRSV
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
So how do we really know that Jesus is raised from the dead? There is evidence. Lee Strobel was a news reporter whose wife became a Christian. He didn’t agree, and set out to prove Jesus was never raised from the dead. After many years of research, he came to believe that it was true. Because of all of the evidence and proof of the resurrection he found, he too, became a Christian. He even wrote a book about all of the evidence.
Lee Strobel put it like this: “If we were holding a trial to determine the facts
concerning the resurrection, and if we were to call to the witness stand every witness who personally encountered the resurrected Jesus, and we cross-examined them for only 15 minutes, and if we went around the clock without a break…we would be listening to first-hand testimony for more than 128 hours…that’s over 5 days’ worth of testimony…who could possibly walk away unconvinced?”
The stories…they are too close. The written history is too strong to deny what they saw and what they experienced.
One psychologist even said, “Over 500 people having the same hallucination would be more of a miracle than resurrection itself!”
It’s a “powerful and persuasive equation…EARLY ACCOUNTS + an EMPTY TOMB + EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY = RESURRECTION!”
Pray with me:
Heavenly Father, we thank You because the resurrection of Jesus is true. Everything He ever promised is true. Help us to rely and trust in this great truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Yours because of Him,
Pastor John R. Steward
Senior Pastor
Mount of Olives Church
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
So how do we really know that Jesus is raised from the dead? There is evidence. Lee Strobel was a news reporter whose wife became a Christian. He didn’t agree, and set out to prove Jesus was never raised from the dead. After many years of research, he came to believe that it was true. Because of all of the evidence and proof of the resurrection he found, he too, became a Christian. He even wrote a book about all of the evidence.
Lee Strobel put it like this: “If we were holding a trial to determine the facts
concerning the resurrection, and if we were to call to the witness stand every witness who personally encountered the resurrected Jesus, and we cross-examined them for only 15 minutes, and if we went around the clock without a break…we would be listening to first-hand testimony for more than 128 hours…that’s over 5 days’ worth of testimony…who could possibly walk away unconvinced?”
The stories…they are too close. The written history is too strong to deny what they saw and what they experienced.
One psychologist even said, “Over 500 people having the same hallucination would be more of a miracle than resurrection itself!”
It’s a “powerful and persuasive equation…EARLY ACCOUNTS + an EMPTY TOMB + EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY = RESURRECTION!”
Pray with me:
Heavenly Father, we thank You because the resurrection of Jesus is true. Everything He ever promised is true. Help us to rely and trust in this great truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Yours because of Him,
Pastor John R. Steward
Senior Pastor
Mount of Olives Church
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