It Is Written

Great Chapters of the Bible: 1 Corinthians 15

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW019193S


00:19 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written.
00:21 I'm John Bradshaw. Thanks for joining me.
00:24 The late Charles Colson,
00:26 special counsel to US President Richard Nixon
00:29 during the Watergate scandal,
00:30 is probably best remembered
00:32 for his Christian conversion experience.
00:34 Took place during the time he stood for trial
00:36 for his role in the Watergate conspiracy.
00:38 In later years, he would point out
00:41 that what he and other Watergate defendants endured
00:44 as a result of their crimes
00:46 provided some of the very best evidence for the literal truth
00:50 of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.
00:53 The lesson of Watergate, Colson said,
00:55 is that a lie cannot live for long.
00:58 "Here were 10 of the most powerful men
01:01 in the United States," Colson said,
01:02 referring to the leading Watergate conspirators.
01:05 "With all that power we couldn't contain a lie for two weeks."
01:11 On that basis, Colson dismissed out of hand the theory
01:14 of certain ones that the accounts of Jesus' resurrection
01:16 were a conspiracy perpetuated by His disciples.
01:20 "Take it from one who was involved in conspiracy,
01:22 who saw the frailty of man firsthand," Colson declared.
01:26 "There is no way the 11 apostles,
01:29 who were with Jesus at the time of the Resurrection,
01:31 could ever have gone around for 40 years proclaiming
01:34 Jesus' resurrection unless it were true.
01:38 Had the New Testament account not been true,
01:40 he explained, "Peter would have been exactly like John Dean,"
01:44 referring, of course, to the White House legal counsel
01:47 who blew the whistle on the Watergate coverup.
01:50 If the apostles' story about the Resurrection had begun
01:52 to unravel as the Watergate coverup did,
01:55 Colson maintained that,
01:57 like himself and his fellow Watergate defendants,
02:00 "the apostles would have sold out to save their skins."
02:05 Let's also try to keep in mind
02:06 that those Watergate conspirators,
02:07 who in fact were sentenced to prison like Mr. Colson,
02:11 served their prison time
02:12 in relatively comfortable surroundings.
02:15 Unlike the disciples of Jesus-- all but one of them died
02:18 a martyr's death on account of their witness for Christ--
02:21 the Watergate defendants never even remotely confronted
02:24 the possibility of death for the conspiracy that they created.
02:28 That means the disciples of Jesus had every reason
02:31 to break down and admit the falsity
02:34 of the Resurrection story--if in fact the story was not true.
02:38 The point is if the Resurrection story is in fact a myth,
02:42 it's the strangest myth in the history of the human race.
02:47 Because if the Resurrection story is a lie,
02:49 it's the first time human beings have invented a lie
02:53 in order to get themselves killed.
02:56 People tell lies to get themselves out of trouble,
02:59 not to get themselves into it.
03:02 Now, some will always come back with the argument
03:03 that millions of people throughout the history
03:05 of the world have given their lives for something
03:07 that turned out to be not true, and that's correct.
03:11 But when they gave their lives for the lie,
03:14 they thought the lie was true.
03:16 They didn't know the lie was a lie.
03:18 Crusaders, terrorists, Nazis, Communists--
03:22 millions have in fact given their lives
03:24 for a host of falsehoods.
03:26 Those who flew airplanes into the Twin Towers
03:28 of the World Trade Center on 9/11 certainly died
03:31 for a falsehood.
03:32 But again, they thought the falsehood was true
03:36 when they died for it.
03:37 They didn't know it was a falsehood at the time.
03:41 This is the bottom line with the Resurrection story:
03:43 If in fact it's not true, those who invented or just exaggerated
03:48 the story and went on to deceive millions
03:51 would have known the story was false
03:53 when they were faced with a martyr's death.
03:56 They would have died for a lie they knew was a lie.
04:01 And who would do such a thing?
04:04 As we continue our series, "Great Chapters of the Bible,"
04:06 we're going to look at the literal truth
04:08 of Jesus' resurrection from the dead
04:10 and why it matters for our salvation.
04:14 The chapter our study will focus on is 1 Corinthians 15,
04:18 one of the most powerful discussions in all the Bible
04:22 on the subject of the Resurrection.
04:24 Paul starts this chapter by making it clear
04:26 just how important this topic is:
04:29 "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel
04:32 which I preached to you, which also you've received
04:35 and in which you stand, by which also you are saved,
04:39 if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--
04:43 unless you believed in vain."
04:45 That's 1 Corinthians 15:1-2.
04:48 In other words,
04:49 Paul is saying that what he's about to share with them,
04:52 what they and he have believed already,
04:55 is the means of their salvation.
04:58 He then goes on to speak of the Old Testament foundation
05:00 for this New Testament truth,
05:03 and the reality of all the witnesses who can verify
05:06 the fact that Jesus did rise from the dead.
05:11 "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received:
05:15 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
05:19 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
05:22 according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas"--
05:26 that's Peter-- "then by the twelve.
05:29 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once,
05:33 of whom the greater part remain to the present,
05:35 but some have fallen asleep.
05:38 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
05:43 Then last of all He was seen by me also,
05:46 as one born out of due time."
05:48 First Corinthians 15, verses 3-8.
05:51 It's important to notice that Paul doesn't make up
05:54 this doctrine of the Resurrection,
05:55 nor the doctrine of Jesus being sacrificed
05:58 for the sins of humanity.
05:59 It's the Old Testament scriptures that foretell
06:02 this decisive event in the sacred story.
06:05 The 53rd chapter of Isaiah
06:07 is one of the most powerful forecasts of the sufferings
06:10 of Christ and how He would die for the whole world.
06:14 "But He was wounded for our transgressions,
06:17 He was bruised for our iniquities;
06:20 the chastisement [of] our peace was upon Him,
06:22 and by His stripes we are healed.
06:26 All we like sheep have gone astray;
06:28 we have turned, every one, to his own way;
06:31 and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
06:34 That's Isaiah 53:5-6.
06:37 The Old Testament even pinpoints the time
06:40 when Jesus would come to die.
06:43 The prophet Daniel gives this information
06:44 in chapter 9 of the book he wrote.
06:46 In fact, you can see it in Daniel 9:24-27.
06:50 And that's a fascinating study in itself.
06:53 Now, in a moment, even though the Bible is so plain on this,
06:56 there are many Christians and even church leaders
06:59 who don't believe in the Resurrection.
07:02 How could that be? I'll be right back.
07:05 ♪[Music]♪
07:14 >>Announcer 1: Death is a coldhearted mystery
07:16 that can invade our lives without warning
07:18 and leave us with questions as big as the loss that we feel.
07:21 Today's free offer, "The Mystery of Death,"
07:23 provides biblical answers for the questions that haunt
07:26 the topic of death.
07:27 What happens when we die?
07:29 Where does our soul go? Is there an afterlife?
07:32 To discover answers to these questions and many more,
07:34 call 800-253-3000.
07:37 Write to the address on your screen
07:39 or visit iiwoffer.com.
07:44 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me on It Is Written.
07:47 I'm John Bradshaw.
07:48 We're looking at 1 Corinthians 15
07:51 as part of our ongoing series, "Great Chapters of the Bible."
07:55 Paul is unequivocal in this chapter.
07:58 Jesus died, he says, and Jesus rose again.
08:03 In fact, when he summarized what the gospel was
08:05 at the start of the chapter,
08:07 he made clear that to him the Resurrection
08:10 is an integral part of the gospel.
08:12 No resurrection of Jesus? No gospel for the world.
08:16 And what gives him his confidence?
08:18 Not only does Paul point back to the Old Testament as the basis
08:21 for Jesus' mission to die for our sins and rise again;
08:25 he makes it clear that eyewitnesses can verify
08:28 the testimony that he's giving.
08:30 We saw how he reminds his readers that he himself
08:33 is one of those eyewitnesses,
08:35 a point the book of Acts records in its account
08:37 of Paul's conversion.
08:39 That's Acts 9:1-6.
08:42 In Paul's listing of the witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15,
08:45 we find an interesting note that isn't found anywhere else
08:49 in the New Testament, not even in the four Gospels.
08:52 We saw how Paul says that Jesus after His resurrection
08:55 "was seen by over five hundred brethren at once,
08:59 of whom the greater part remain to the present,
09:01 but some have fallen asleep."
09:04 That's verse 6.
09:05 Now, you won't find reference to this encounter anywhere else
09:09 in the Bible.
09:10 It's like that statement in the book of Hebrews about the time
09:12 when Moses "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter."
09:16 You won't find that incident recounted
09:18 in the Old Testament story of Moses.
09:20 It's like the verse in Acts chapter 20, verse 35,
09:24 which quotes Jesus as saying,
09:26 "It's more blessed to give than to receive."
09:28 You won't find this saying of Jesus
09:30 in any of the Gospel accounts, but it clearly happened,
09:33 and it's quoted there in the book of Acts.
09:35 Now, this helps us understand that in order to understand
09:37 the full truth of the Bible, we have to consider everything
09:40 it includes regarding a subject or an historical event.
09:44 Obviously the story of the 500 seeing Jesus
09:46 after His resurrection is one of those examples.
09:49 It was a fact well-known to the apostles,
09:52 and the witnesses in question were obviously still alive,
09:54 many of them,
09:56 when Paul wrote this passage to the church at Corinth.
09:59 Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 15 to point out
10:02 that if Jesus didn't rise from the dead,
10:05 the faith of the Christian loses all meaning:
10:09 "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised
10:12 from the dead, how do some of you say
10:15 that there is no resurrection of the dead?
10:18 But if there is no resurrection of the dead,
10:21 then Christ is not risen:
10:23 and if Christ is not risen,
10:26 then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain.
10:31 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
10:36 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile;
10:40 you are still in your sins!"
10:43 That's verses 12-14 and 16 and 17.
10:46 In fact, he goes on to say in verse 19
10:48 in the King James Version,
10:50 "If in this life only we have hope in Christ,
10:53 we are of all men most miserable."
10:57 But a survey commissioned by the BBC in Great Britain,
11:01 a survey of Christians in Great Britain,
11:03 revealed that a quarter of British Christians don't believe
11:08 in the resurrection of Jesus.
11:10 The idea seems to go all the way up to the highest levels
11:14 of church leadership in Britain.
11:17 A senior church official acting as his denomination's ambassador
11:20 to the Vatican City has been quoted as saying
11:23 that the resurrection of Jesus shouldn't be seen
11:27 in physical terms, but as a spiritual reality.
11:32 He said the disciples only felt Jesus' presence after His death,
11:37 and that what we read in the Gospels
11:38 isn't an historical record as we would write history today.
11:42 In other words, the Bible clearly says it,
11:45 but you can reject it, if you wish.
11:47 In fact, he says you should reject it.
11:51 But in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains why the Resurrection
11:54 is essential to the Christian faith and why without it
11:58 the enemies of the gospel remain victorious.
12:02 He wrote, "For since by man came death,
12:05 by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
12:09 For as in Adam all die,
12:11 even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
12:15 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
12:20 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death."
12:24 Verses 21 and 22 and 25 and 26.
12:28 Here we find Paul taking up a theme he explains elsewhere
12:31 in his writings.
12:32 In chapter 5 of the book of Romans,
12:34 he speaks of how the first human being, Adam,
12:37 was the one who brought sin and death to the world,
12:40 and that as a result, Jesus has come to this world
12:43 to make available salvation and life everlasting.
12:46 In the book of Genesis, death was the first great enemy
12:49 presented to Adam and Eve.
12:51 This is why God forbade them to eat
12:53 of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
12:56 The Genesis story tells us that "the Lord God commanded the man,
12:59 saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
13:03 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
13:06 you shall not eat,
13:08 for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'"
13:12 Genesis 2:17.
13:14 When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and eat
13:16 of this fruit, it became important that the sin
13:19 they had committed not become immortalized.
13:23 It was for this reason that God said they couldn't stay
13:26 in the garden after the Fall, in case they should eat
13:28 of the fruit of the tree of life and make sin last forever.
13:34 Sin, in other words, must die.
13:38 And all who cling to sin, according to the Bible,
13:41 are destined to die along with it.
13:43 It's Romans 6:23 that says, "The wages of sin is death."
13:49 And once the wicked are forever destroyed in the fires of hell,
13:53 the Bible tells us what will happen then:
13:56 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes;
14:00 there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
14:04 There shall be no more pain,
14:06 for the former things have passed away."
14:09 Revelation 21, verse 4.
14:12 That's what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 15 when he says,
14:15 "The last enemy that will be destroyed is death."
14:19 The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate guarantee
14:22 that the final enemy, death, will one day cease to be.
14:28 That's why Paul describes Jesus as the firstfruits of those
14:31 who've fallen asleep.
14:33 But if Jesus hadn't been raised from the dead,
14:35 then this hope doesn't exist.
14:38 The first and final enemy of God's universe, death,
14:43 which the entrance of sin made inevitable,
14:45 would always be the persistent companion of God's children
14:50 if Jesus hadn't shown that it could be conquered.
14:53 Because in fact Jesus has achieved this conquest,
14:56 we can be certain that His victory over death
15:00 can be ours as well.
15:02 Now, was there ever a time that you wished
15:04 you could do something about your body?
15:06 Maybe you wished there was less of it.
15:08 You want to lose weight.
15:10 You might wish your hair was different--or that you had hair.
15:13 You might wish your back didn't ache,
15:15 or that you could walk again,
15:16 or that you didn't get migraines,
15:18 or that you could see better.
15:20 Well, if you've ever had a thought like that,
15:23 I've got good news for you. Paul offers us real hope.
15:27 I'll tell you more in just a moment.
15:28 ♪[Music]♪
15:37 >>John: Thank you for remembering
15:38 that It Is Written exists
15:40 because of the kindness of people just like you.
15:43 To support this international life-changing ministry,
15:46 please call us now at 800-253-3000.
15:50 You can send your tax-deductible gift
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15:53 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
15:57 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support.
16:00 Our number again is 800-253-3000.
16:04 Or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
16:08 >>John: It was like a ticking time bomb
16:10 just waiting to explode, and when it did,
16:13 a city was plunged into chaos; a town was completely destroyed.
16:18 More than 300 people were left dead
16:21 and thousands left homeless.
16:23 It remains one of the nation's least-known atrocities,
16:26 yet it was one of the most destructive race riots
16:29 in United States history.
16:31 Join It Is Written on location in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
16:35 for "Black Wall Street," as we look at the problem of evil.
16:41 We'll investigate the destruction of a community
16:43 and ask some searching questions.
16:46 How can this happen?
16:47 [Fire crackling] And who would do such a thing?
16:49 How do "good people" commit truly wicked acts?
16:53 "Black Wall Street" will take you there to the very streets
16:56 where evil reared its ugly head in a way not often seen.
17:00 Don't miss "Black Wall Street" on It Is Written TV.
17:08 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me today
17:10 on It Is Written.
17:11 First Corinthians chapter 15 is truly one of the great chapters
17:14 of the Bible.
17:16 And in 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
17:17 the writer, Paul, offers us great hope.
17:20 He tells us that Jesus has conquered grave and the death.
17:24 In fact, that through Jesus, death has been destroyed.
17:28 And he offers you and me real hope on a very practical,
17:32 tangible level.
17:33 If you've ever had a backache or a knee ache or a sore throat
17:36 or a headache or a sore shoulder
17:38 or a bad back or an accident of some kind,
17:41 and you've, you've felt less than satisfied
17:45 about your physical condition,
17:46 well, Paul offers us hope when he tells us
17:48 that our resurrected bodies will be different
17:51 from our present natural bodies.
17:54 And the reason for that is because they will be made
17:57 to last forever.
18:00 Starting in verse 40, he writes,
18:01 "There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies;
18:05 but the glory of the celestial is one,
18:08 and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
18:11 The [terrestrial] body is sown in corruption,
18:13 it's raised in incorruption.
18:16 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
18:19 It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
18:23 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
18:28 There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."
18:32 Verses 40, 42, 43, and 44.
18:35 Now, I do need to point out that while our resurrected body
18:38 is described as spiritual,
18:41 this doesn't mean it's not also physical.
18:44 Jesus made this plain when He appeared to His disciples
18:47 in His resurrected body in the upper room,
18:50 and He said to them,
18:51 "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
18:56 Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones
19:00 as you see I have."
19:01 Luke 24:39.
19:03 First Corinthians 15 just has to be included in any list
19:07 of the great chapters of the Bible.
19:09 It tells us there is hope beyond the grave.
19:11 It tells us Jesus conquered sin and death.
19:14 It tells us we have so much to look forward to.
19:18 And as the apostle concludes the chapter,
19:20 he draws back the curtain of the future
19:23 and tells us how this final victory over death
19:26 on the part of God's redeemed saints will occur
19:29 when Jesus comes back to the earth at His Second Coming.
19:34 "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep,
19:39 but we shall all be changed--in a moment,
19:43 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
19:46 For the trumpet will sound,
19:48 and the dead will be raised incorruptible,
19:51 and we shall be changed.
19:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
19:55 and this mortal must put on immortality.
19:59 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption,
20:02 and this mortal has put on immortality,
20:05 then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
20:08 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'
20:11 'O Death, where is your sting?
20:13 O Hades'"--that's the grave-- "'where is your victory?'
20:18 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
20:21 through our Lord Jesus Christ."
20:23 Verses 51-55 and 57.
20:26 Here Paul gives us a picture of the Second Coming of Jesus.
20:30 He's clear that some people will be alive when Jesus returns,
20:33 which is why he says, "We shall not all sleep."
20:37 But he's equally clear that both the Christians who are raised
20:41 from the dead and those who are taken to heaven
20:44 without seeing death will have new bodies.
20:47 In 1 Thessalonians,
20:49 Paul describes this breathtaking event in similar language:
20:52 "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
20:55 with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
20:58 and with the trump of God:
21:00 and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
21:03 then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
21:06 together with them in the clouds,
21:07 to meet the Lord in the air:
21:10 and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
21:14 Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
21:16 First Thessalonians 4:16-18.
21:19 ♪[Soft music]♪ What a remarkable promise.
21:23 Death isn't the end because Jesus died and rose again.
21:28 Everyone who believes in Him and trusts in Him
21:32 and claims His power and His presence in their life
21:35 will one day rise again.
21:39 As Jesus was about to perform what might even be
21:41 His greatest miracle,
21:43 raising His friend Lazarus from the dead,
21:46 He spoke to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, and He said this:
21:50 "'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to Him,
21:53 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection
21:56 at the last day.'
21:57 Jesus said to her,
21:59 'I am the resurrection and the life.
22:02 He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.
22:08 And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.'"
22:12 John 11:23-26.
22:15 This was a theme Jesus reiterated again and again
22:18 during His ministry.
22:20 Earlier in the Gospel of John,
22:21 Jesus said in John 5, starting in verse 28,
22:25 "Do not marvel at this;
22:27 for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves
22:29 will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good,
22:34 to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil,
22:38 to the resurrection of condemnation."
22:41 Death is the one human circumstance
22:44 that not one of us can do anything about.
22:48 Although people are trying.
22:50 There are agencies that believe cryonics is the best hope
22:53 that we have of living forever.
22:54 Cryonics involves freezing people in liquid nitrogen
22:57 in the hope that one day science will have advanced
22:59 to the place where frozen people can be thawed out and revived.
23:03 Mmm, no.
23:06 Scientists are discussing switching out aging body parts
23:10 with newer, younger parts so that you might be able
23:12 to stay at, say, 30 years of age.
23:15 Hmm, no again. No way.
23:19 Another thing that's being proposed
23:20 is that your brain could be uploaded to "the cloud,"
23:23 and then you could download it into an android body.
23:27 So they're saying that you could download your brain
23:29 into an android, a robot, basically, maybe in India,
23:32 and then you could visit the Taj Mahal
23:34 without going to India.
23:36 And when are these things likely to happen?
23:37 They say maybe 30 or 40 years from now.
23:41 Again, hmm, no.
23:45 The good news is God has a better plan.
23:47 But the old saying is that
23:49 "there are two things that you can't avoid: death and taxes."
23:53 The gospel of Jesus Christ is unique.
23:56 Jesus offers you an end to the tragedy of death,
23:58 once and for all,
24:00 when Jesus returns and establishes His eternal kingdom.
24:04 "In Christ," Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:22,
24:08 "all shall be made alive."
24:11 We're all too familiar with the pain caused by death.
24:14 The resurrection we read about in 1 Corinthians 15
24:17 is the hope of the believer in Jesus.
24:21 When we farewell a loved one,
24:23 receive the tragic news that death has taken away
24:25 another friend, another family member, another child,
24:29 another parent, another grandparent,
24:32 no promise shines so brightly as the New Testament assurance
24:35 that "the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
24:37 incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
24:42 As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:57,
24:45 "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory
24:49 through our Lord Jesus Christ."
24:52 Friend, let me ask you: Do you have that hope?
24:56 Jesus offers the hope of eternal life,
24:58 the hope of the resurrection to everyone who will receive.
25:03 That hope can be yours today--
25:05 the hope of a tomorrow, the hope of a future,
25:09 the hope of a life beyond this life,
25:12 the hope of being in a place where there's no more sin
25:16 and no death, not ever again.
25:19 And that hope becomes yours
25:22 when you accept it by faith in Jesus.
25:26 Can you accept that hope now?
25:28 Jesus offers it to you now.
25:31 And it's yours the moment you open your heart and say,
25:34 "Thank you, Jesus, I believe it's mine."
25:38 >>Announcer 1: Death is a coldhearted mystery
25:41 that can invade our lives without warning
25:42 and leave us with questions as big as the loss that we feel.
25:46 Today's free offer, "The Mystery of Death,"
25:48 provides biblical answers for the questions that haunt
25:50 the topic of death.
25:52 What happens when we die?
25:53 Where does our soul go? Is there an afterlife?
25:56 To discover answers to these questions and many more,
25:59 call 800-253-3000.
26:02 Write to the address on your screen
26:03 or visit iiwoffer.com.
26:09 ♪[Upbeat music]♪
26:11 >>Announcer 2: Planning for your financial future
26:13 is a vital aspect of Christian stewardship.
26:17 For this reason, It Is Written is pleased to offer
26:19 free planned giving
26:21 and estate services.
26:22 For information on how we can help you,
26:25 please call 800-992-2219.
26:30 Call today,
26:30 or visit our website, hislegacy.com.
26:34 Call 800-992-2219.
26:39 >>John Bradshaw: Let's pray together now.
26:41 Our Father in heaven, we thank You today
26:43 for the hope of the resurrection.
26:45 A hope that is real, not imaginary,
26:47 not a myth, but real.
26:51 One day a real Jesus will come back to this real earth,
26:54 and the dead in Christ shall rise.
26:57 And the dead and the living at the time
27:00 will all be caught up together in the clouds
27:02 to meet Jesus in the air.
27:03 We'll always be with You.
27:05 We'll never age, we'll never get sick,
27:09 and we'll never die because death will have been destroyed,
27:12 thanks to Jesus.
27:14 We thank You today for the gospel.
27:16 Friend, do you have that hope?
27:18 If you don't, would you invite Jesus to give you that hope now?
27:21 Would you believe it is yours? Will you claim it as yours?
27:24 Would you say in your heart,
27:26 "Jesus, I accept You as my Lord and Savior.
27:29 Heavenly Father, I believe in, and I,
27:31 I gladly accept the hope of the resurrection"?
27:34 Lord, we look forward to it, and we pray with John,
27:37 who wrote Revelation, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
27:41 In Jesus' name we pray.
27:43 Amen.
27:45 Thanks so much for joining me.
27:46 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time.
27:48 Until then, remember:
27:50 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone,
27:55 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
28:00 ♪[Theme music]♪


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Revised 2022-04-25