“He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral. those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death'” (Revelation 21:6-8)

If we are the church of Jesus Christ, then the church has no option than to teach and preach what God says in his word.

Sure. Some things that the Bible teaches may not be popular.

Sure. Some things that the Bible teaches may seem backward.

Sure. Some things that the Bible teaches may be offensive to modern Americans.

If we are to be the church of Jesus Christ, we have no other choice or option than to preach what Jesus teaches. We can’t make up our own stuff just because it may not be popular, or seem backward, be found offensive.

Here’s what the pastors at the Little Church and Lakewood Grace promise you: we will do everything we can to be faithful to what the word of God teaches. Nothing more, nothing less.

When it’s all said and done, the only thing that will matter is God’s truth and whether we were faithful to his teaching or not. And should our church change God’s teaching to accommodate American culture, we may find more friends in this world. But, when it’s all said and done, the very people we accommodated will demand to know why the church didn’t tell them the truth.

I know. Some things that the Bible teaches are not popular. In fact, some of it seems backward. And some of it is downright offensive to modern Americans. AND ALL OF IT IS STILL TRUE AND ALL OF IT IS STILL GOD’S TRUTH.

I don’t want to see anyone I know face judgment and eternal damnation. So I will tell you, to the best of my ability, what the Bible preaches. Because I have no other choice if I am to honor my calling. We preach God’s word because God loves sinners.

Church, we are not supposed to affirm and celebrate what God calls sin. We are supposed to repent and turn away from it.

If we are the church of Jesus Christ, the church has one mission: proclaim God’s truth.

Things Jesus never said:

• Listen to your heart
• Be true to yourself
• Trust your gut
• Feel good about who you are
• Happiness is what matters
• Just be a good person

What Jesus did say:

• If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23).
• If you love me, keep my commands (John 14:15).
• I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

“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” (1 Corinthians 15:14-15).

What’s the big deal about the resurrection? Why does the bodily resurrection of Jesus matter so much? Why can’t we just go with all the great truths in the teachings of Jesus? Why must we insist on the resurrection of Jesus?

Why must we insist on the resurrection? Because Jesus said he would rise again.

Not metaphorically. Not symbolically. But in actual reality. He would physically die, be buried, descend into hell, to rise again on the third day.

Every gospel records Jesus telling his disciples multiple times that he is going to Jerusalem to die. “He (Jesus) then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this” (Mark 8:31-32).

Tim Keller writes, “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”

If Jesus rose from the dead, he is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed One prophesied in the Old Testament. He is the one who dies for the sins of the world. He is the one who defeats death and conquers sin. He is the Son of God. He is God.

But if he doesn’t…well…he’s none of that. And if he’s not who he says he is, we don’t need to pay attention to anything he said.

But if he is the risen one, then we’re not just dealing with good teachings and truths, but the very words of God when we read the scriptures.

So, if Christ is not risen from the dead, our faith is futile and useless.

All of Christianity hangs on the reality of the resurrection.