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The Bible Breakdown: Daily Bible Reading
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Welcome to "The Bible Breakdown," where we break down God’s Word so we can know God better. I'm your host, Brandon Cannon, and I'm here to guide you through the pages of the Bible, one day at a time.
Each day, we'll read through a section of the Bible and explore key themes, motifs, and teachings. Whether you're new to the Bible or a seasoned veteran, I guarantee you'll find something insightful or inspiring. My hope is to encourage you to dive deeper and deeper.
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Remember, as we journey through the pages of the Bible together, we're not just reading a book, we're unlocking the secrets to eternal life. The more we dig, the more we find! Let's get started!
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The Bible Breakdown: Daily Bible Reading
1 Corinthians 15: The Most Important Fact
Have you ever had a friend that was a lot of fun in small doses? You could only stand them for a little while before they became hard to deal with? This is what I think about when I think of Corinth. They were in a large international metropolis filled with people from various backgrounds. It was likely a fun place to be for a visit. However, living there was probably a different story. Paul is in Ephesus when he receives word that the church in Corinth is at it again. Divisions and quarreling are breaking out everywhere over wild things... trust me... wild things. They are a church in division. Paul has a frank discussion with them on the need for harmony among the various people groups, the need to rally around the essentials, how to conduct proper worship services without hurting each other, and so much more. The real-life soap-opera needs someone to make sense of it all.
Let’s read it together.
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, and if I didn't give this one a title, it would simply be just the most important fact ever, especially when it comes to Christianity. This is the most important fact ever. If this is true, then anything else is true. If this is not true, then we might as well just give up and go home. What am I talking about? Well, of course I'm talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus has raised from his, he has raised, raised, raised if he's back.
Speaker 2:If he didn't stay dead, but he came back to life, then anything is possible. If not, then everything we're doing is in vain, and we're going to get into that in just a moment, as Paul is starting to bring this entire conversation to an end. But before we do that, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel. We are on our way to a thousand subscribers. We're about halfway there and you can help us get there. So it doesn't cost you anything, but it really helps us out a lot. If you could go to right below this video on the right-hand side, hit subscribe Also, like this video, comment on this video. It really helps us out a lot. Also, if you're a podcast listener, you are my favorite. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review. Also, leave us a comment. And you Also leave us a comment, and I've been noticing more and more of you who are listening from Google. Thank you so much for doing that. It really does help us get that out there. Also, all of you Amazon listeners, thank you. Spotify, apple you guys are awesome. Also, the place where we all gather together is the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook, the Facebook groups. Man, it is awesome. You're doing a phenomenal job over there. Thank you to all of those devotional writers. You are absolutely wonderful. You are creating a community for us and that's what we're doing here.
Speaker 2:One chapter at a time. We read God's Word so we can get to know the Lord, and one of the things I love about reading the letters in the New Testament is we're able to get the full story, Like if you ever had an opportunity to where you had a chance to read a letter. If you don't know the person that they're writing to, then you only get half the story, which is why I love thinking about the people that Paul was writing to. And, as we've been talking about, paul was writing to the Las Vegas of the first century. Wrong, this is Port City. There's all these people, and on the outside they look like they were probably having a great time, all these different melting pot of different personalities and nationalities, but underneath it, man, they needed a family therapy session, and that's what Paul has been doing.
Speaker 2:He started off with the first few chapters just saying, hey, man, we're all in this together. Everything is great. So then stop being weird and he talks about how they are slowly supposed to find harmony in the middle of all of this diversity. And he's constantly doing this and he's always rallying them around what is most important, like, for instance we were talking about yesterday with the spiritual gifts, talking about how all of these spiritual gifts should be done in the context of the local church so that we can be used by the Holy Spirit to edify one another. And now, as he's getting ready to end this letter we've only got today and tomorrow and tomorrow is really him just saying can you not be mean to people? I'm going to send some guests, please don't be mean to them. So we'll get to that in. Just well, tomorrow. And in this one he really says let's remember the most important rallying point we have and that is that the resurrection is real and because of that, hope is possible. And then what I love about this is Paul then starts to talk about what that means for us, not just now, but eternity.
Speaker 2:You ever thought about this as you're getting your bibles out? If you want to go and do that with me and get your bibles out to first Corinthians 15 in the New Living Translation, we're going to read it together. Think about this for a moment. When you have been born again that's what Jesus called it in John 3, that all things have been made new, you've been born again into the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2:You're not waiting for eternity to begin when you die. Eternity is now Like when you die you continue to live spiritually with the Lord. So eternity doesn't begin when you die. It's happening right now. And so when you, you know as what was it Shakespeare says, shuffle off this mortal coil. When you die, you're stepping into the spiritual reality with God, stepping into the fullness of eternity. And so right now you're living in eternity, and eternity is like the eternal present moment. That's what I've had people say before. What will eternity be like a thousand years from now? The answer is it'll be like right now, because when you're constantly living in the present moment, you're not aware of time passing, just if you think about it. You're aware of what happened a second ago, you're aware of what will happen a second from now, but in the moment you're not really aware of time passing. That's what eternity feels like and that's what Paul is going to talk about, about what it is like once we die, what it's like in eternity. And all of that is because of the greatest and most important fact in all of Christianity, and that is that because Jesus rose again, we now have life forever.
Speaker 2:So let's read this together, starting with 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 1. We're going to stop along the way as your friendly Bible tour guide. Here we go, verse one. Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the good news I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this good news that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you, unless, of course, you believe something that was never true.
Speaker 2:In the first place, I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me Christ died for our sins, just as the scripture said. He was buried and then he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the scripture said. He was then seen by Peter and then by the twelve. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James, and later by all the apostles. Last of all as though I had been born at the wrong time. I also saw him, for I am the least of the apostles. In fact, I'm not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God's church. Now pause. What Paul is actually saying is this is what happened to Jesus. Now we all know that the Bible says that Jesus rose again, but did you know? The Bible said that he was seen by Peter and the 12? We know that. But then, after that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers. When was that? Well, you can see that in Acts, chapter 1. The Bible said that he was ascending up into heaven. There were all of these followers around him. And do you know that?
Speaker 2:For atheists, that is one of the hardest scriptures for them to talk about. Like, if the Bible says that's true, and here's the thing the Bible was written. 1 Corinthians was written by someone who was living during the time of eyewitnesses. So if this wasn't true, if they couldn't dispute this, if someone was saying, no, there wasn't 500 of us, or no, there wasn't anybody there, it was just us 12, if someone was saying, no, there wasn't 500 of us, or no, there wasn't anybody there, it was just us 12, then there would be reports of this. So they can't deny the fact that there is no surviving records to dispute. Any of this is true. So what they have tried to do is they've tried to say, well, this might have been a mass hallucination. Well, you know how impossible that is to prove. And so there have actually been times when entire debates have stopped when this scripture has been brought up, because there's no way to adequately and with any degree of certainty refute this particular claim.
Speaker 2:But then, after that it says that he then also because he says most of these people are still alive. In other words, go ask them. You imagine the amount of confidence you have to have to say 500 broskis were there and they saw Jesus. And I wonder if he's even kind of insinuating. I talked to some of them jokers. If you don't believe me, go ask them. That's quite a confident claim. And then he says last of all, he appeared to me as well. Now, when did he do that? On the road to Damascus, when Paul was going to arrest Christians. Jesus appeared to Paul and it changed his life forever. So I just I love that idea of him saying most of those 500 are still alive, so go ask him. If you don't believe me, verse 10,.
Speaker 2:But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me, and not without results, for I have worked harder than any of the other apostles. Results, for I have worked harder than any of the other apostles. Yet it was not I but God who worked through me by his grace. So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach. We all preach the same message that you have believed in. This is the message.
Speaker 2:But tell me this since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there is no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, for if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all of our preaching is useless and even your faith is useless, and we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can't be true. If there is no resurrection from the dead and if there's no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you're all still guilty in your sins, and in that case, all of you have died believing in Christ. All those who have died believing in Christ are lost, and if our hope in Christ is only for this life, then we are to be pitied more than anyone in the world. Do you know? That's why that there are some people who have spent their entire life researching the resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker 2:There's a gentleman by the name of Gary Habermas, and he is the world's foremost theologian on the resurrection of Jesus, and he has written several books on the resurrection, and, honestly, one of the things that he actually even says is he says that the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ is the most indisputable fact in all of history, because he's done the research and it has changed world history, and he has all these different ways of helping you understand that it is the most attested fact in all of ancient antiquity, and so I would encourage you if you really struggle with the idea of Christ being raised from the dead, look up his name Gary Habermas, h-a-b-e-r-m-a-s. Look him up on YouTube and you can hear him talk about it. He's in the process of writing what he calls his magnum opus, which is going to be a vast, like 3,000 page just masterpiece, on all the different things that he has learned about the resurrection of Jesus. And he even goes to the point where when people try to debate scripture with him well, I don't know if this is inspired or that's inspired and he'll say I believe it is, but let's just say it's not. It doesn't change the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. And I kind of have this idea Anybody that raises themselves from the dead, they win. They immediately get to be in charge. If you want to be in charge, you go, rise yourself from the dead. We'll wait, but since Jesus is the only one that's ever done that and it is the most attested to fact in all of history, he wins. And that's what Paul says in verse 20.
Speaker 2:But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of the great harvest of all who have died. Pause again, some people would say. Well, now wait a minute. When Jesus was alive, he raised a young girl from the dead. There was a time when Jesus was walking by a funeral and he stopped the funeral. He raised Lazarus from the dead.
Speaker 2:All of that is true. There's two differences. Number one all of those people eventually died again. Number two all of those people had to have Jesus to raise them from the dead. Jesus came back to life himself. That's why he is the first fruits of the dead. In other words, he's the one who did it all by himself Verse 21.
Speaker 2:So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ has been given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection. Christ was raised as the first of the harvest. Then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. After that, the end will come when he returned his kingdom over to God, the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Speaker 2:For the scriptures will say God has put all things under his authority. Of course, when it says all things are under his authority, that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority. Then, when all things are under his authority, the son will put himself under God's authority, so that God, who gave his son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere. Now, once again, that is talking about the complex triune, co-eternal, co-equal relationship between God, the Father, son and Holy Spirit Same in essence, different in person, equal, but different in office. So you have God the Father, the creator of all things, god the Son, by whom all things were created, and the Spirit, in whom all things exist and move. And so there is this triune Godhead that all exists together. And so when he says that Jesus returns things to the Father, it is not in difference in power, but it is difference in office, in the creation. And if that doesn't hurt your brain, you're not thinking about it deeply enough.
Speaker 2:That is how God is one yet three One in unity, one God, but different In person verse 29. And if the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it, unless the dead will sometimes rise again? In other words, paul is saying there's so much more to this life. That's why we live for more than the moment, verse 30. And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ, our Lord, has done in you. And what value was there in fighting wild beasts, those people of Ephesus, if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, let's feast and drink, for tomorrow we we're living for is so much bigger than this moment, so much bigger than what we can see and taste and touch and feel in the moment. We're living for an eternal kingdom. That's why we don't give our lives over to momentary pleasures. It's because the moment lasts for a moment, the kingdom of God lasts forever. You're so much more important than you realize. You're living for so much more than this moment. That's what Paul is saying. So don't live as though eternity doesn't matter, because it does and you matter as well.
Speaker 2:Verse 35. But some may ask how will the dead be raised, and what kind of bodies will we? Have you ever wondered that? What will we be like when we get to heaven? What a foolish question. Sorry, that's what Paul's saying. When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't. Sorry, that's different kinds of flesh, one kind for humans, another kind for animals, another for birds and another for fish. Paul's going somewhere with this.
Speaker 2:There also are bodies in heaven and bodies on earth. The glory of the heavenly body is different from the glory of the earthly body. The sun is one kind of glory. The moon and the stars each have another kind. Even the stars differ from each other in their glory. In the same way, with the resurrection of the dead, our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies, for just as they are natural bodies, there are also going to be spiritual bodies. The scripture tells us the first man, adam, became a living person, but the last Adam, that is, christ, is a life-giving spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam the first man was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man, just as we now like the earthly man, just as we are now like the earthly man. One day we will be like the heavenly man.
Speaker 2:What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret we will not all die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who are dead will be rised to live forever, and those who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die. Our mortal bodies must be transformed into immoral bodies. And when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die. The scripture will be fulfilled Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death.
Speaker 2:Where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power, but, thank God, he gives each victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. So what Paul is saying is it's just like you plant a seed in the ground it's not the seed shell that you see that comes up. That seed shell is discarded and something beautiful grows out of it. He's saying that's what it's like as a metaphor for our bodies spiritually, when we die physically, this shell is left in the ground, but something beautiful grows out of it. Your spiritual body is not your physical body, and so our physical bodies were made for this earth. Our spiritual bodies are made to be with the Lord, and so there will be things about us that will help us to recognize one another, but yet there'll be something spiritual about us which will be beautiful and amazing.
Speaker 2:Cs Lewis said one time that if you ever truly realized that everybody you're looking at is an eternal being, it would change the way you talk to people, everyone is deserving of dignity, worth and value. Because everybody you come in contact is an eternal being. And he said if you could ever truly realize that everybody you're talking to will one day be so beautiful that you will be tempted to fall down and worship them, you would be a little bit nicer to them. Or if everyone you came in contact with was so one day would be so grotesque and horrible and disfigured and misformed that you would be tempted to run out in fear. You would treat them with grace, hoping to save them from that fate. Everyone we come in contact with is an eternal being headed in one of those directions. And what if you get to nudge them in the right direction just a little bit? Give you a little bit more to deal with. When you see that person who cuts you off in traffic, do you want to nudge them a little bit more toward heaven or let them go a little bit further in the wrong direction? That's why he says take heart to realize that nothing you do is useless.
Speaker 2:Whenever you offer a kind word, whenever you give someone your time and attention, whenever you speak life over someone, you're not doing anything silly. It's because of the resurrection is true, that you now live an eternal life and these other people are going to spend their life eternally somewhere. And so, because of the greatest fact ever that Jesus rose again we can now offer the greatest hope ever to everyone around us. That means you have eternal value and significance. I don't care what you've done, I don't care where you're from, I don't care what anyone said about you. You have eternal value and significance, and so does everybody around you.
Speaker 2:So today, think about that when you talk to someone, when you go get your coffee at the restaurant, when you pass someone, think about the idea that they're going to live in eternity somewhere.
Speaker 2:And so always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. Because the resurrection is true. Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that in this life there are times when we can feel Worthless, useless, not seen, not heard. I pray that we will never let that lie of the enemy stay in our minds for long. But to realize that, lord, because the resurrection is true and because we have received that resurrection for ourself, that we now have an opportunity to step into that eternal reality. Because of that, we can work enthusiastically for you and make a difference in your good world that you have made. Thank you for loving us. In jesus name we pray, amen and amen, don't forget. God's word says in first corinthians 10, 31. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do, all for the glory of god. Family session, family therapy session, is over and I will see you tomorrow for the conclusion of first cor Corinthians. 1st Corinthians no-transcript.
