“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
~ 1 Corinthians 15:58
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you know that something is true? Do you always believe what your ma and/or dad tells you? How do you know what the Bible says is right or correct or true? When you believe and accept what your ma and/or dad tells you, you have faith in what they say. When you believe and accept what the Bible tells you, you have faith in what the Bible says. The Bible reports on different miraculous and supernatural happenings. The Bible witnesses the lives of different guys and gals. The Bible is one large book made up of 66 smaller books. The first 39 books of the Bible were written before Jesus was born. These 39 smaller books make up the Old Testament. The last 27 books of the Bible were written after Jesus was born. These 27 smaller books make up the New Testament. The first part of the Bible was specifically written for the Israelite people group – God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. The second part of the Bible was specifically written for God’s specially elected guys, gals and kids – like you. Do you know the meaning of hope? The Israelite guys and gals hoped in the law which God gave to them. You are to hope in God’s Son – Jesus, Who God gave to you. If you hope in something, you believe that what it is is absolutely true. God had the Israelite guys and gals believe or hope in the law which He had given to them. You hope and believe in God’s Son – Jesus, Who God had die on crude cross for you. No guy, gal or kid likes talking about dying or death. Your dad and your Aunt Lynn lived for about two and a half years in a funeral home with your grandmaa and grandpaa. Do you know what a funeral home is? A funeral home is a place where guys, gals and kids can go to to view a guy, gal or kid who has just died and to pass on personal condolences to his or her family. Your dad and your Aunt Lynn helped your grandmaa and grandpaa keep the funeral home clean. Your grandmaa, grandpaa, dad and your Aunt Lynn saw a lot of guys and gals who had died. Some of the guys and gals who died had peaceful, happy looks on their faces while other guys and gals who died did not look peacefully happy. The guys and gals who believed and hoped in Jesus were the guys and gals who had warm, serene looks on their faces while the guys and gals who your grandmaa and grandpaa think never believed or hoped in Jesus had cold, hard looks on their faces.
Do you know who Jesus is? Jesus is God. Jesus is also God’s Son. Can God die? No. Could Jesus die? Yes. Jesus did die. Could Jesus stay dead? No. After guys and gals saw that Jesus had died after having been nailed to a crude cross, Jesus was entombed. Guys and gals three days later began to see Jesus again. Jesus had risen from the dead. How did Jesus do this? God – who is Jesus’ Father, raised His Son up from the dead. How do you know that God raised His Son – Jesus, up from the dead? You know that God raised His Son – Jesus, up from the dead by the number of witnesses who saw Jesus after He had died nailed to a crude cross. You can believe, have hope and have faith that Jesus was raised from the dead by the number of guys and gals seeing Jesus walking on planet Earth again after Jesus had obviously died while nailed to two crossed beams. Some guys and gals have had trouble believing that someone who had died could become alive again. Your grandpaa believes that no one but Jesus could die, be entombed and then become alive again to walk on planet Earth. God has promised to give you a new life in heaven when you die. Some of the guys and gals in the Corinth Christ-follower community struggled with what life would be like after they died. Some of the guys and gals in the Corinth Church began to question some of things which Paul had told them. Paul tells the guys and gals in the Corinth Church – in 1 Corinthians 15, about the guys and gals who had seen Jesus after Jesus arose from being dead. Paul tells the guys and gals in the Corinth Church what it will be like when they die. Paul knew that if the guys and gals in the Corinth Church believed in everything else – except that Jesus had risen from the dead, the guys and gals had missed the core message and really could not be living in hope. When Jesus arose from the dead, Jesus defeated death. Because Jesus defeated death, you no longer need to be scared of dying. If you believe and have faith that Jesus died on a crude wooden cross for your sins, you believe and have faith that God will have you with Him one day in heaven. What do you think that it is going to be like for you in heaven? What do you think that you will look like in heaven? Paul uses a seed as an example. A seed has life. A seed is like your body right now. Your body has life. When a seed begins to grow, the seed will produce something which does not look like itself. Your grandpaa does not think that when you are heaven that you will look like what you look like at this time. Even though you will look different in heaven, your grandpaa thinks that you will be able to recognize guys, gals and kids who have also believed, who have faith in Jesus and who have gone to heaven.
What do you think that Paul told the guys and gals in the Corinth Church to do? Paul tells them in verse 58 “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Your grandmaa and grandpaa tell guys, gals and kids to stand firm in their faith in Jesus. Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that everything which God leads you or has you to do has a reason for being done, that God is continually unfolding His perfect plan which includes every guy, gal and kid who has ever lived, is living and will live on planet Earth, and that there are guys, gals and kids who will not be able to know or understand what God is doing because God has them refusing to accept what He did through His Son’s crucifixion. If you believe that Jesus died and became alive again, you are living in faith in Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15 (82)