I’m currently teaching the Ministry Training Institute class from Samford University. The class is on Monday evenings, and they are actually taking place in the conference room here at the church. The class is in the book of Acts.

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Here is the thing about the early church, the Day of Pentecost, and the church as you view it going through the book of Acts; it is still the same church we are supposed to be today! Nothing about the mandate and mission of the church from that very first day till now has changed! We are still in the church age! Our message should be the same, our methods should be the same, and we should be working toward the same goal!

But somehow when we view our churches today in light of those early expressions of the church, we see a church today that is vastly different! We ask ourselves, what has  changed? When we go back to the book of Acts we see it. It has been there all the time staring us right in the face. It is their fixation with the resurrection of Jesus.

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Jesus told the disciples just before he left, that they would be his “witnesses.” Witnesses of what? They were witnesses of his resurrection! The message of the early church was all about a risen Savior, Jesus! The message of the early church was that Jesus died, but God had raised him from the dead!

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You might be thinking, yeah, but there were other people who had been raised from the dead before Christ, and even after Christ! The difference between the resurrection of Jesus and anyone else who was raised from the dead is that Jesus was raised to eternal life! Everyone else who was raised from the dead, (there were as many as three in the Old Testament and 7 in the New Testament) they all died again, but Jesus lives forevermore!

The resurrection of Jesus was the central theme of Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost! Peter attested the power of Pentecost to the Spirit of the resurrected Jesus! The resurrection is still the central theme of our preaching today!

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Paul talked about the importance of the resurrection! He said,

 

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast [a]the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

 

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” 1 Corinthians 15.1-7

 

Then Paul goes on to say this about the resurrection of Jesus! He says,

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“Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?… 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” 1 Corinthians 15.12, 17-18

 

Make no mistake, it is the resurrection of Jesus that not only gives purpose and meaning to the message of the church today, it is the power of the resurrected Jesus! He is alive!

 

I think sometimes churches are trying to sell people things that even the church is not excited about! Jesus himself is not excited about their ministry because Jesus can’t support what they are trying to promote! Jesus said if he was lifted up he would draw all men to himself! 

Today, the church is lifting up and promoting everything but Jesus! They lack purpose and meaning, and most of all power!

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jlk