082: Jona Lawson - Exhortation: 1 Corinthians 15

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Welcome to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. I'm Levi. And I'm Chris. Thank you so much for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help each one of us get the Bible in our daily news feed. And we post at the start of each week for you to listen with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you're about to hear.

2. 0:33

   And now let's hear more about this week's talk. This week, we're listening to an exhortation that was given at the Mount Werville Ecclesia this past year by Brother Joan Larson from the Blackburn Ecclesia. Brother Joan is exhorting on the topic of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This exhortation, which was a recommendation somebody emailed in a copy and actually told us that they listened to this exhortation live and found it so encouraging that they wanted to make sure to share it with everybody.

3. 1:06

   In his exhortation, Brother Joan is giving the example of just how excited and passionate you can get about the sacrifice of Christ. And because it's something that we remember every week, it can almost become a little bit of just something that we remember as just part of the service that we do. But Brother Joan does an amazing job of not just looking at it as a, yes, we're here to remember Christ and partake of the emblems and remember his death and his sacrifice, but really looking at what it means and the significance of what it means to us.

4. 1:37

   He dives really deeply into that and points out what we should be paying attention to and a reminder that because Christ's sacrifice happened, all things are possible. He's specifically looking at a 1 Corinthians 15 because that chapter in the first letter to the Corinthians from Paul is addressing the fact that members of the Corinth Ecclesia at that time were doubting whether or not the resurrection was even true or not.

5. 2:02

   Through Paul's answer and through this exhortation by Brother Joan, we're able to have this immense confidence in God because he did resurrect Christ and what that means for all of us. This is just one of those exhortations. It's super encouraging. It's one that kind of grabs you. By the end, our brother gets super amped up and passionate. You can just hear the excitement in his voice and I can almost picture him getting excited from the podium as he's giving this exhortation.

6. 2:26

   It's kind of infectious even just hearing it in audio form. So I wanted to share this with everyone because I feel we could all use a little encouragement and a little bit of that excitement, especially right now. And one of the points that Brother Joan makes at the end that also I thought was really applicable was talking about that excitement for the resurrection is not something that we should just be sharing individually, but we should be sharing and working with each other in our ecclesial bodies.

7. 2:50

   Now, at the time when Brother Joan was giving this exhortation, he was talking about physically when we were there, but just because we're separate right now and we're not able to meet together doesn't mean that we can't keep doing it. Whether it's through a text message, a phone call, sending somebody an email, posting a comment or sending somebody a message on social media, getting on a Zoom call with a couple of your friends just so you can all kind of be encouraging.

8. 3:09

   We can still be working and encouraging and kind of trying to keep that fire, that excitement lit in each and every one of us. As I said at the beginning, I found this exhortation to be super encouraging and I really wanted to share it. As I said before, it was a suggestion where somebody got the copy and emailed it into us, so thank you for sending that in.

9. 3:26

   If you know of any really particularly uplifting exhortations, either one that you've heard recently or one that you remember from a while back, please send it our way. We're going to continue to try to post an exhortation at the start of the weekend, just so that if there's anybody who's not able to join a live stream, they have an exhortation to listen to if they're going to do your own memorial service at home.

10. 3:45

    So please send those in as you've got them. And if you know of any classes or talks that you're listening to, since we all are having a little bit more time on our hands to listen to things, please send them our way as well. Email us, message us through social media. Anything that you can send our way helps. We live on those recommendations and it makes the talks and the exhortations that we share here with everyone that much better.

11. 4:05

    So until next time, God be with you all. And with that, we'll turn it over to our brother, Joan Larson, for his exhortation on 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The plan was very calculated, wasn't it? And it was made very sure. They had bargained very specifically with a betrayer who they'd been working on for quite some time.

12. 4:27

    And their plan was to seize him at the exact moment where he wouldn't suspect it. And he stuck to their deal and the cooperation that they'd made and they found him in the garden and they seized him. And they were taken aback first when they seized him that he didn't run, he didn't struggle, but he went with them like a lamb to the slaughter.

13. 4:53

    And they'd arranged his trial very specifically as well. They had arranged for witnesses, false witnesses to say some things that never happened that would assure everyone that this man would be convicted. They manipulated their Gentile overlord to gain the outcome they most deeply desired. And that was death, but not just death, crucifixion.

14. 5:23

    To have that man up on display to show to everyone that looked at him that he wasn't who he said he was, who was the son of God. And so they took him bound and they took him to a place of the skull. And for six hours, he hung upon that cross in humiliation as they mocked him and they spat upon him.

15. 5:51

    And he died there upon the cross. And a faithful man who loved him, Joseph of Arimathea. He was known of some of the higher authorities of the day and he went to Pilate. Pilate. Pilate. And he sought his body. Because he wanted to give that man the burial that he deserved. And he prepared a new tomb.

16. 6:22

    That no one had ever been in before. And he took the body of Jesus down. And he placed him in that tomb. And he rolled back the stone over the place. And there Jesus lay. He laid. Cold. And quiet. For three days. Now the conscience of the elders who had convicted him and ultimately killed him could not rest as they laid upon their beds.

17. 6:56

    And they were reminded in their minds of what he'd said to his disciples. That he would raise again in three days. And they could not have it. And they didn't want it to be true. And they thought even if the disciples may be crept by night to take his body. So they made it sure.

18. 7:14

    And they went to Pilate. And they said, we want to watch. We want to guard. So that that cannot happen. And so they got what they wanted. And security was sent to that tomb. And they watched it diligently. But after three days. And with the security all around that tomb.

19. 7:40

    A bright light struck, didn't it? And something inevitable out of the control of all man. Beyond his power happened. And the tomb was empty. And the women came early the next morning with the sun bright behind them. And they came and they sought Jesus' body to put embalmment and spices upon it. Because, oh, they loved him.

20. 8:10

    But he wasn't there. He was gone. And they were sent into confusion and panic. And Mary was running all through the garden. And she sought her Lord who she loved so much. But he wasn't there. And she saw a gardener. Or who she thought was a gardener. And she said to him, where have you laid my Lord's body?

21. 8:39

    Can you tell me where he is? And the gardener turned to her. And he said, Mary. And as soon as brothers and sisters he said those words, she knew, didn't she? And she instantly fell to her feet and she grabbed hold of him and said, Rabboni, my master. And from that moment on, brothers and sisters, the world has never been the same.

22. 9:12

    Because that was the moment that Jesus rose from the dead. And it changed everything. Because now there'd been a man that had risen from the dead. And not just to die again, but to never die again. He rose, brothers and sisters, to immortality and to power. And it's that event, brothers and sisters, above all others, that becomes the centre of the gospel message that we've come to believe.

23. 9:43

    That a man was able to rise from the dead. And that gospel message is the good news that goes out to all the world and it's come to us as well that you too can share in that. Now, the reading, brothers and sisters, that we've just read this morning from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, is all about that doctrine of the resurrection.

24. 10:05

    And this ecclesia had unbelievably got to the point where they started to doubt that the resurrection was actually true. And we wonder how that could happen. But brothers and sisters, when you look at the ecclesia in Corinthians, they were under a lot of pressure. And in a lot of ways, they remind me of our modern ecclesias.

25. 10:28

    Because they suffered from the pressure of the world around them that was leaning upon them daily. With all the philosophies of the Greeks in the cities that they lived. And they also faced problems in the ecclesia. They faced divisions and strife. And it was wearing upon that meeting. And some of them got to the point where they even started to doubt the resurrection.

26. 10:55

    I wonder, brothers and sisters, whether you have ever begun to doubt the resurrection. We probably wouldn't have said it or put up our hand and told someone about it. But perhaps, brothers and sisters, when we faced similar issues in our own life, we can doubt whether this actually is true. And the sharpness of our faith and the belief of our faith that this is real can become dull.

27. 11:26

    And that's what happened to the Corinthians. They started to doubt that all of the promises that God had made, which principally was about them being saved, maybe that was not true. And so what Paul does here in the second last chapter of the Corinthians is to try and reassure them that the most important thing, the resurrection, was indeed true.

28. 11:49

    And once believed and relied upon, could actually transform their lives and direct their lives in amazing ways. And so Paul wants to reassure them of that doctrine. And he wants to do the same for us this morning. And I've found it powerful to think about that in this chapter that we're going to consider.

29. 12:10

    Now, if we look at what Paul outlines in 1 Corinthians, the first thing he does is he outlines the surety that the resurrection actually happened. And he does that by saying in verse 3, So he outlines two things here, brothers and sisters, which are proof that the resurrection actually happened. The first one, he says, it was because it was according to the scriptures.

30. 12:52

    Jesus, Paul says, it was all predicted. And that's how we know that it was true. And Jesus said that to his disciples, didn't he? Even before it happened. In fact, he said it three times to them. He said to them, I'm going to die and then I'm going to be resurrected. And he outlined that the scriptures had foretold it.

31. 13:13

    All of the scriptures of the Old Testament foretold that this would actually happen. He did that three times to his disciples, but they didn't know what he was talking about. And it was only after, brothers and sisters, that the event had happened, that they were able to look back in hindsight at everything that happened with the Lord.

32. 13:31

    And they were able to go back and match it with all of the Old Testament scriptures, all of the things that Jesus had told him. And it was confirmed to be true. And we can do that today. Can't we, brothers and sisters? We can go through the Old Testament and you can see all of the scriptures that talk about exactly what would happen to Jesus in every moment that would confirm that would be true.

33. 13:54

    And the second thing that Paul says was the proof that it actually happened was that there were people who saw it. And he says that in verse five, he says, and what was seen of Peter? Sorry, and that he was seen of Peter and then of the 12. So he saw Peter first and then he saw the 12 disciples.

34. 14:16

    Then it said he went and saw 500 other people and they saw him, the resurrected Lord. And one of those disciples, Thomas, even though he saw him, he doubted. And so Jesus offered up his hands. And he showed him the scars in his hands. And he put his fingers in the hands of the Lord.

35. 14:46

    And he proved to him that it was him that rose from the dead. We can convict someone, brothers and sisters, in a court of law if there's one or two or three witnesses. There were over 500 witnesses that saw the Lord resurrected. And then, brothers and sisters, what did it do to their lives?

36. 15:09

    Well, it changed their lives completely, didn't it? You consider the 12 apostles and the disciples before the resurrection. They were sort of a ragtag group of people that were sort of unorganised, faithless. And when it came to the moment when Jesus needed them most, they fled because they were so scared. And then all of a sudden, 40 days later, just 40 days, we have men like Peter and John standing up in front of a huge, enormous crowd with the authorities threatening their lives.

37. 15:42

    And they didn't care. They didn't care. Why, brothers and sisters? Because they'd seen the Lord. And it was so real to them. And it drove them, didn't it, for the rest of their lives. And they took that message to all parts of the world. And they didn't care if people were after their lives.

38. 15:58

    They didn't care if people tried to stone them or whip them or kill them. They were driven, brothers and sisters, by belief that that was true. And it was real. Because they'd seen him with their own eyes. And Paul calls that, in the letter to the Philippians, he says, that's the power of the resurrection.

39. 16:16

    He said, when I understood that a man could live again, nothing else mattered. And I didn't care about my life anymore. I didn't care about my possessions. And I threw it all away. Why? Because that's the pearl of great price that I'd seen. And so Paul grabbed it with both arms. Because he knew that the resurrection was real.

40. 16:41

    He knew that a man could rise from the dead. And he grabbed it with both arms. And Paul says to the Corinthians here, I gave that same message to you. I passed on that same proof to you. And then that got passed down the line. And that got passed down through the ages and through time.

41. 17:03

    And then that message got passed to you. And that message got passed to me. And that message got passed to me. And it's the message that I believe. That I can live again. And that's what Paul was exhorting these brothers and sisters to. And he says to them in verse 12, some of you are saying that there's no resurrection from the dead.

42. 17:27

    Maybe we're not going to rise. Maybe Jesus rose from the dead. But it's not me. It can't be me that's going to rise from the dead. But Paul says those two things are absolutely linked together as one. And you cannot separate them. Look what he says in verse 16. He says, For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.

43. 17:48

    And the opposite is true, isn't it? If Jesus didn't rise, then I'm not going to rise. But if Jesus did rise, then I will rise. And Paul is reminding him of that fact. And he says that in verse 20. Look what he says. Beautiful words. He says, but now is Christ risen from the dead.

44. 18:15

    He is. We've proved it. I've showed you. I've seen him. And he's become the first fruits of them that slept. Jesus was the first fruits. And when you look at the first fruits back in the Old Testament, brothers and sisters in Leviticus, the feast of the first fruits, what it was all about.

45. 18:32

    It was about one harvest. And they would take the first little. They'd have this huge harvest that they'd gather and they'd gather it all in. It was one harvest. And they'd take the first part of that. And they'd offer that to God as the first fruits of all of that harvest. And then 50 days later, all the rest of that harvest would be brought in.

46. 18:56

    And Paul says, that's Paul and us. I mean, sorry, that's Jesus and us. Jesus was raised. And the fact that he was raised, brothers and sisters, then we believe in him is the assurance that we will be raised also. Just look over at Acts chapter 17. Paul says this again.

47. 19:23

    The fact that Jesus rode guarantees brothers and sisters, if we trust in him, that we will rise as well. In Acts chapter 17, verse 31, Luke says in Acts, Because he hath anointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he has risen him from the dead.

48. 19:56

    That's our assurance. If we doubt that we can be raised, look at Jesus. What God did to him, he says, I'll do for you if you believe in me and have faith. So the assurance of Christ's resurrection is the assurance to us. And then Paul goes on, if we go back to 1 Corinthians 15, to tell us that that's what it was all about.

49. 20:21

    That's what Jesus came for. He came to bring life. Look what he says in verse 22. He says, for as in Adam all die. We had a problem, didn't we? We still have a problem. We all die. Even so, he says, in Christ shall all be made alive. Jesus came to bring life because we have the problem, brothers and sisters, of death now.

50. 20:47

    And it's everyone's problem, isn't it? It's your problem. And it's my problem. And it's everyone's problem in this world. And the world tries to ignore it. Or it tries to paint it as something that it's not. Or pretend that it's not there. But the fact is, brothers and sisters, we're all dying. And unless we do something about it, we're all ending in one place.

51. 21:12

    But Paul says, Christ came to fix that. That was his whole purpose. To bring life. And to eradicate death. And the ultimate is, that's what he's going to achieve. Look what he says in verse 26. And we're familiar with these words. He says, the last enemy. When it's all done. When God has, Christ has brought the kingdom.

52. 21:32

    And he's completed the whole plan and purpose with the Father. Verse 26 says that the last enemy shall be destroyed. And what's the last enemy? It's the ultimate enemy, isn't it? It's death. It's death. And Jesus will destroy it. And Jesus will eradicate it. And it will be no longer. That's what the resurrection, brothers and sisters, is all about.

53. 21:56

    It's the ultimate purpose of Christ's work in us. And without it, Paul goes on to say, life is futile. He says to them, I'm out working. I'm preaching. I'm risking my life every day. If there's no resurrection, what's the point of life? And then he quotes, brothers and sisters, at the end of verse 32, he quotes from the book of Ecclesiastes.

54. 22:21

    He says, I'll read the whole of verse 32. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts. So I've been putting through myself trials every day at Ephesus. What advantage is it to me if the dead rise not? If I'm going through every day this process of trial and to try and preach the word, what advantage if the dead rise not?

55. 22:46

    And then he says, let us eat, drink, for tomorrow we die. That might as well be our motto. But it's not our motto, is it, brothers and sisters? Because the resurrection answers everything. It's the conclusion to everything. Just come quickly to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Where Paul quotes from here. And of course Solomon here in Ecclesiastes is going through and pursuing all the activities of life.

56. 23:37

    He's pursuing pleasure and building and money and riches and fame. And seeing whether of themselves there is anything in here of lasting value. And his conclusion in verse 24 and right throughout the whole of Ecclesiastes is this. There is nothing better for man than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy the good in his labor.

57. 24:03

    This also I saw that it was come from the hand of God. So he said there's no ultimate purpose to life without God. And all we should do on that basis is eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Ultimately, he says at the end of verse 26, it's all vanity and vexation of spirit.

58. 24:23

    But brothers and sisters, when you place into life the resurrection, then all life makes sense. And all of the pursuits of life make sense. And the work that we engage in. And the raising of our families. And the trials that we might endure. And the trouble that might come upon us. And the sickness.

59. 24:46

    It all makes sense. When we see the resurrection at the end of it. But without it. It's nothing. Now, Paul also, I think, was quoting from Isaiah. And this has just come to Isaiah 22. Because this is another, I think, important exhortation that Paul was making to the Corinthians and us. He was quoting from Isaiah chapter 22.

60. 25:19

    And very briefly, Isaiah 22 is set in Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is basically surrounded by armies. And the people inside Jerusalem have no ultimate hope. But instead of seeking God in that situation. What did the people do? Well, look at verse 13 says. And behold, joy and gladness. Slaying oxen and killing sheep. Eating flesh and drinking wine.

61. 25:49

    They said, let us eat, drink. For tomorrow we shall die. So with impending death coming around them. Instead of the people in Jerusalem seeking unto God. For his help in that situation. They threw their hands up in the air. And they said, we might as well just eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow we die.

62. 26:13

    Now, the whole world and us are in that situation right now. We're in Jerusalem. And there's an impending enemy, which is death. Which is coming deep upon every one of us. And there's a choice that we can make. One of two choices that we can make. We can either seek our God. And his offer of salvation.

63. 26:35

    Or we can eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow we die. And that's what Jerusalem did. They sought to eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow they die. And Paul warns the Corinthians against that. Just come back to Corinthians chapter 15 again. Paul says in verse 33, be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners.

64. 27:03

    Some of you are falling into this trap of having your senses dulled about the reality of the resurrection in your life. And what is happening is you're starting to believe the philosophies of the world around us. And that's a great danger, brothers and sisters, for all of us living in this world. The world preaches, doesn't it?

65. 27:23

    Live for the moment. Now is the place to enjoy life. And Paul says, don't be deceived. If you hang out with those people and that becomes the mantra of your life, it will affect your faith. As it did some of the people in the Corinthian ecclesia. And that's happened, brothers and sisters, hasn't it?

66. 27:46

    To people we know and you know and I know. Surely you could never stop believing in the resurrection. But if we don't, brothers and sisters, continue to be in touch with God, then that's exactly what would happen. Well, their final, brothers and sisters, argument for Paul in verse 35 was they said, but some men also say, how are the dead raised?

67. 28:10

    How is it even possible that the dead are raised? We see, brothers and sisters, at a funeral, don't we? The body go down into the grave. And then that body decays and is no more. And within not many years, there's nothing of that body left. And the Corinthians were like, how can God make that dust back into a person?

68. 28:34

    How is that possible? Well, Paul says, God has created that in nature everywhere. He says, it's like a little seed. All right. A seed which is dead, which a farmer throws into the ground. And when that seed goes down into the ground, that dead seed, God is able to, out of that dead seed, bring life again.

69. 28:56

    We saw it even today, but probably better yesterday, as spring has sprung. And we've seen all the trees and the plants around which have laid dormant and dead. God has put in his very creation, his purpose. And you can see again those shoots coming forth, which tell us and preach to us about the resurrection.

70. 29:18

    But it is, brothers and sisters, and it was to Paul, and it is to everyone in this world, a mystery how God's going to do that. But Paul summarizes it at the conclusion of his letter in verse 51. He says, behold, I show you a mystery. So it is a mystery. It's a secret, verse 51 says, of 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

71. 29:44

    Something the world is not able to discover as much as it puts its time and energy into it. And man does put his time and energy into trying to discover and solve the problem of his own mortality. And so we have these huge fundraisers to all these different diseases, which are, of course, a great thing to do.

72. 30:02

    But man thinks in that, that he's got the solution to mortality, but he doesn't. I was watching a documentary just recently about this billionaire, Russian billionaire, who is worth something like $30 billion. And he's only a young guy. He's in his 20s. And he said, I've given up all my business pursuits. I've got this enormous amount of money.

73. 30:23

    And I'm dedicating my life and my money to try and live forever. And that's what he did. And that's what he's doing. And the documentary sort of tracks through his first couple of years of that. And his idea was that he was going to build this robot that he could put his consciousness into the robot.

74. 30:41

    And at the end of the documentary, it was laughable what he'd come up with. Because it's a mystery for man. And God's kept it that secret that he can't solve. But brothers and sisters, God can solve it. And he shows us how in verse 51. He says, we shall not all sleep. But we will be changed.

75. 31:06

    We'll be made different. And that word changed is the same word used to describe Joseph when he was down in that dungeon in that pit. And he'd been in there for years, dirty and wretched. And then he changed himself. And came out and became the king of the world. And that's what resurrection, brothers and sisters, will be like for every one of us.

76. 31:33

    It means that we'll be made different. And how will God do it? Verse 52. It says, he will do it in a moment. That word moment means atom. The tiniest, immeasurable amount of time that you can think of. And God says, that's the time that I need to work this miracle. And God will reconstruct our bodies, brothers and sisters, in the twinkling of an eye.

77. 32:01

    And verse 53, he says, for this corruptible must put on incorruption. And this mortal must put on immortality. No longer are we going to be corruptible. The word means decaying. But we will be a glorious spiritual body. And brothers and sisters, that was very personal to Paul. Because Paul suffered from ill health his whole life.

78. 32:33

    And we don't know exactly what that was, but he said it was a thorn in his flesh. Some think it was epilepsy. Or some other disease, perhaps, of the eyes. But it racked his body his whole life. And he sought God three times. He said, please take it away from me. But God left it with him.

79. 32:56

    And so Paul, when he thinks about the resurrection here, it was very personal to him. Because he was going to be changed. That was his hope. He was going to get his body back. He was going to be changed, brothers and sisters. And it may be personal to you as well. Because some of us, brothers and sisters, suffer from sickness.

80. 33:16

    But we all, brothers and sisters, ultimately suffer from sickness, don't we? We're all mortal. We're all dying. And every day that ticks past, that becomes a greater reality, doesn't it? I look in the mirror every day and I'm not seeing any black hair. And I'm not seeing any more blacker hair any sooner.

81. 33:42

    Because every day we decay further, don't we? And all of us are in that situation. And as day comes by, day goes by, it becomes more and more an intense reality that that is true. But God says we can be changed. And you will be changed. And that's your hope. That's all of our hope.

82. 34:05

    Our physical bodies, brothers and sisters, will be made into glorious spiritual bodies. But it's not going to be, brothers and sisters, just about our physical bodies as well, is it? It's going to be a mental change. No longer, brothers and sisters, will we be wracked with sin. No longer will we set our hearts to serve God, only to fail again.

83. 34:32

    And God knows that. But we'll be made righteous. We'll be made glorious. We'll be made perfect. David said it like this, and I love these words from Psalm 17. He says, as for me, I will behold your face in righteousness. And I shall be satisfied when I awake with your likeness. That's God's promise to you and me.

84. 35:00

    Not only, brothers and sisters, are we going to have bodies that live forever, but we're going to have minds, brothers and sisters, that are in tune with our Father. And we can finally live a righteous life. And we can serve him. And we can love him with every fibre of our being, without being hampered by our sinful nature.

85. 35:26

    And how, brothers and sisters, is this all possible? Well, Paul says, death is swallowed up in victory. This, brothers and sisters, is what has provided us with victory. It was a man who lived his life for you and me. And not himself. A man who gave himself completely to the will of his Father.

86. 35:50

    And ultimately, brothers and sisters, that ended in his death. But out of it, he got victory. He got a precious victory that he's shared with every single one of us this morning. And finally, brothers and sisters, I leave us with this, the exhortation of verse 58. What does that do for you and me?

87. 36:13

    And what did Paul want that to do to the Corinthian, brothers and sisters? He says, therefore, in other words, as a result of everything that God has given you and me, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as we know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

88. 36:40

    If we believe this, brothers and sisters, with every fibre of our being, and keep pursuing God in the belief of that, it will give us stability. And it gave that to the disciples, didn't it? You think about Paul and Barnabas and Peter and the trials that those men suffered, but they were immovable.

89. 37:00

    Why? Because they believed in the resurrection of Christ. And even if their body was gone, God would raise them again from the dead. That's what the resurrection can do for us, brothers and sisters. It can make us immovable. And finally, he says, it will make us abounding in the work of the Lord.

90. 37:19

    And that's what it did for Paul and those other disciples as well, didn't it? It made the rest of life matter less. And often, brothers and sisters, if you calculated your time this week, and I calculated my time this week, and I worked out how much time and worry and stress I gave to the meat that perishes, for the stuff in this life that means nothing, it would be most of it.

91. 37:47

    And we're probably all similar to that. But Jesus said, don't put all your energy into the meat that perishes. Put your energy into the meat that endures to everlasting life, because that's not wasted. That's a labor, brothers and sisters, that is for eternity. And there's so much, brothers and sisters, labor for us to do, is there not, in this city, in our ecclesias, with our young people.

92. 38:20

    We need to be energized, brothers and sisters, by the hope that we have to work for our God and to pursue his ways in our lives and in the lives of our families. That when, brothers and sisters, we hope will be soon, our Lord does come. We will be ready, with all of our family and all of our ecclesias, to greet him and be changed.

93. 38:45

    Let's remember our Lord and our Master in this beautiful bread and wine this morning. Thank you for listening to the Good Christodophian Talks podcast. Please subscribe for new episodes and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or whichever service you are listening from to help people find the show when they search for it.

94. 39:12

    If you enjoyed this talk, share it on social media so other people can find it too. For show notes and links to the talk that you just listened to, visit our show page at anchor.fm slash gct. We want to encourage everyone to share their thoughts from the talk this week on Facebook or Instagram, where we are at Good Christodophian Talks, or on Twitter, where we are at gct underscore podcast.

95. 39:35

    If you know of a great talk, we want to know about it too. Send a suggestion to goodchristodophiantalks at gmail.com or message us on any of our social media platforms. Thank you for listening. God bless and talk to you next week. God bless and talk to you next week. God bless and talk to you next week.

96. 39:55

    God bless and talk to you next week.