The Evidence For The Resurrection

The Evidence For The Resurrection

 

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:14 If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

 

Paul is talking 15 years after the fact, and he is saying to Agrippa in Acts 25 & 26, “Produce the body -- go ahead and try.”  You have to remember that all the Roman officials and religious leaders of Judea desperately would have liked to stop the spread of Christianity.  Nobody had more motivation than the leaders of the religion and the government of Judea to stop this thing, and they couldn’t stop it!   You have the female disciples who claimed to see Jesus raised from the dead on Easter morning.  Then you have the disciples who claimed to have seen Jesus a number of times over the next 40 days.  You also have the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Paul also talks in I Corinthians 15 about 500 people who saw Jesus Christ risen speaking to them all at once.  This is the way he preached the Gospel saying, “Most of the people who saw Him are still alive.  Go talk to them and check them out!” 

 

Back then the evidence for the resurrection was much stronger.  It was easier for the individual to go check out the evidence.  You could talk to eyewitnesses.  You could look at the tomb.  The message was spreading all over the world, and there was nothing the people could do about it.  Paul had that kind of confidence!  What does Agrippa say?  He doesn’t say anything.  He can’t say anything. 

 

The first eyewitnesses of the resurrection were women!  Women were of such low estate in society and culture in those days that their testimony was not admissible in court?  Therefore, if you’re going to make up a story to try to show that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, you would never have had women as the first eyewitnesses.  So why do all the documents say that women were the first people whom Jesus appeared to?  Because it’s true!    There is nothing about the gospels that looks like fabrication.  Not only that, but it’s also hard to believe that if there were ringleaders for this hoax that they all would have died for the hoax.  The evidence is mighty overwhelming! 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Easter

EASTER

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.   After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time,

 

Christianity is completely and totally based on a historical fact—a miracle, the Resurrection.  No other religion does that.  If the resurrection is not true, everything about Christianity makes no sense.

 

The whole Christian message can be summed up in one phrase.  The son of God came to earth, and He died on the Cross to pay for our sins so that we could come to know our Father.  The resurrection proves that He wasn’t just a human being, but that He was the son of God. 

 

Other religions say that their founders were prophets and that the way to get to God is to try to live a good life.  Christianity says, “Nobody is good enough!”  Christianity says our founder isn’t just pointing the way to God but that He is God.  Christianity says, “Our religion doesn’t tell you how to find God by your efforts, but how Jesus came and did it all for you.”  Jesus died for your sins.  He was your substitute.  He brings you to God. 

 

Paul is talking in 1 Corinthians 15 years after the fact about 500 people who saw Jesus Christ risen, speaking to them all at once.  How are you going to explain an hallucination that happens to 500 people at once?

 

Some of you don’t believe in the resurrection.  Watch out.  Doubt your doubts.  Be skeptical about you skepticism.  Spend the time.  You have gambled everything on it not being true.  You better be sure.  Look at the evidence.  Do the exploration. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Wisdom Leads to Humility

Wisdom Leads to Humility

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley and the scripture is in the excerpts.

 

The idea is that in marriage two people submit and serve one another as they submit to the authority of their heavenly Father.   They are ultimately accountable to God.  When I got married I understood that Sandra was always going to be more committed to her heavenly Father than to me.  She was hoping that I would always be more committed to my heavenly Father than I was to her.  This is what a Christian marriage looks like under God’s authority.  This is the ideal and the model marriage.

 

If you are dating someone, and he’s a Christian, that is not enough.  What you want is a Christian that understands that he or she operates their lives under the authority of God.  This isn’t about leveraging something for yourself, but it is about serving someone under the authority of God. 

 

For this to work it requires massive doses of humility, and this does not come naturally.  Self preservation, defending myself, guarding my wounds and insecurities comes naturally, but not humility.  When we see a humble person we find that person attractive.  When we see an arrogant person we find that person repulsive.  Yet there is something in me and in most of you and definitely in most of us men that wants to guard our place, defend our opinions, never be wrong, always be right, always win the argument and always push back.  We do this either overtly, or we become passive aggressive.  There is something in us that is very difficult to defer or to submit ourselves to other people because that requires humility.  To have an incredible relationship requires massive doses of humility. 

 

Wisdom leads to humility which leads to great wisdom (a paraphrase of James 3:13).   The only way to gain wisdom is to be open to new things and to be open to the fact that you might be wrong.  You have to hold your assumptions about all things in an open hand.  Here is what I believe and have always thought, but I’m always open to learning something new.  Humility leads to wisdom, but wisdom requires humility. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Submitting

Submitting

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is in the excerpt.

 

Mutual submission is the most powerful relational dynamic that there is.  It means, “I’m here for you, and you’re here for me.  I want to defer to you your happiness and to what you need, and you want to defer to me and my happiness and to what I need.  I want to submit my authority, power, resources and time to the happiness for my partner, and she wants to do the same for me.”  Both people are submitting to each other. 

 

Jesus modeled this, and his disciples wrote about this after he left.  Ephesians 5: 21 says Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  This is actually his set up for his talk on how Christian marriage works.  Then he gets into specifics which get people into trouble when taken out of context.  He gives wives a specific, and he gives husbands a specific. 

 

Ephesians 5:22 says Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  Husbands love this verse.  The problem is that it was written to wives.  So whenever a man brings this verse up, I tell him that it was not written to him.  He goes on and speaks to husbands.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.  That’s a really high standard because Jesus died for the church.  Wives love this verse, but it’s not written to them. 

 

When husbands and wives go to back to the previous verse where they are to submit to each other, when they understand that the goal isn’t to power up, this is the most powerful relationship dynamic.  Mutual submission is to take my time, resources, and talent and to submit to my partner, and she to me.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Success is Intoxicating

Success is Intoxicating

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

You always have something working against you when making personal decisions: you. Personal decisions are emotional, and emotionally charged environments aren’t ideal for decision-making. Your emotions make the obvious less obvious. This is why you’re probably better at managing someone else’s money than your own. It’s why you know exactly what your neighbor needs to do about his marriage, but have no clue how to improve your own. It’s why your kids baffle you, while a complete stranger’s kids just need a good spanking.  When it comes to making decisions, we have a real problem. It’s next to impossible to hear the voice of wisdom when emotions are raging.

Success is intoxicating.   If you are super successful, after a while people in the world will think that you are smart about everything.  Have you ever been in a room where there is a super rich person?  If you are a man, you are like the prettiest girl in the room.  Everybody knows that you are there, and they think that you are way more handsome than you actually are because money makes you better looking.   Have you ever stood in a group or a little posse around a super wealthy or well known person?  Have you noticed that everything they say is true?  Everything that is kind of funny is real funny.  Every piece of advice everybody is eagerly listening to.  What happens is that people come around super successful people, and they intoxicate them even more.  It’s very difficult to survive success.  After a while if you will begin to think you know a lot about everything.  So why in the world would you seek advice about anything?  If you are super or even marginally successful or if you’re recognized in your field or industry as being successful, you’re inclination will begin to think that since I know a lot about this, I ‘m kind of an expert on all matters.  You will naturally resist outside input, and you will resist feedback and council.  You will really resist going to a counselor.

You were born into community, and you need community.  You have two ears and one mouth for a reason, and the only way for you to emerge from your inadequacy is to invite someone into your area of weakness with you and to learn to listen.  Wise people seek counsel. That’s why they are wise. Wise people know they don’t know all they need to know. So, they find people who know. Wisdom isn’t knowing everything. It’s knowing what you don’t know and going to those in the know for the input you need.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Just Follow

Just Follow

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is Matthew 9:12-13 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

No matter what you believe or how you behave, Jesus invites you to follow him . . . and if we look closely, we make some very interesting discoveries:

 

First, being a sinner doesn’t disqualify you from following Jesus; it’s actually a prerequisite. The only people Jesus invited to follow him were sinners. In fact, they were often the worst of the worst. The better a person was, the less he was able to even understand Jesus because he kept inviting the most unlikely characters to follow.

Second, being a nonbeliever doesn’t disqualify you from following Jesus. Do you realize that nobody who followed Jesus in the first century initially thought he was the Son of God? They were all unbelievers in that regard. Some people thought he was just a nice guy who had some interesting things to say, while others thought he was a good teacher and were intrigued by the miracles he performed. Nobody really understood who Jesus was, but all were invited to follow.

Third, Jesus’ invitation to follow is not a religious invitation. The message of religion has always been, Change your behavior and you can join us. But Jesus’ message was, Join us and you will change. There’s a huge difference.  Jesus invited people to get close to him, to watch him, to listen to him . . . to simply follow him. Because of their proximity to Jesus and their relationship with him, people began to change.

 

During his time on earth, Jesus continually reached out to sinners, doubters, and nonreligious people. The same is true today. No matter what you believe, no matter how you behave, Jesus invites you to follow him.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

More Dating Advice From Andy Stanley

More Dating Advice From Andy Stanley

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the scripture is Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

 

When you’re dating, postpone the physical of your relationship as long as possible.  I’ve never heard anyone say to me, “I think our relationship would have been better and healthier if we had gotten physical faster.”  I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard people say that they got physical too quick.  By physical, I’m not even talking about sex.

 

Avoid living together.  Look at the research.  There is no evidence at all that living together prepares anyone for marriage.  The opposite is true.  Couples who live together have a far higher chance of divorce.  The individual that has lived with two or three people, it is almost a 0 percent possibility for them that their first marriage will last.  I understand this about statistics.  It’s only important if it supports that which you are currently doing.  No one ever makes relationship decisions based on statistics because you think that you are going to be the exception.  However, living together is not a path to happily ever after. 

 

Non Christians, don’t date a Christian unless you plan to become one.  When a Christian dates a non Christian they do not accept you the way that you are.  They want you to become a Christian.  As a non Christian you would be better off finding an honest pagan because they will accept you just the way that you are.  If you marry them, they are going to want to find a church, and then when you have a kid they want your kids raised in church.  If they are sleeping with you, it’s even worse because now you are dating a Christian who is a hypocrite.  You don’t like hypocrites, and you are in love with one.  It’s just a mess!

 

Get involved with your local church.  I meet couples all of the time that started volunteering at their local church, and then they meet somebody whose flow is in the same direction.  In serving you are more likely to find the people whose lives and lifestyles are in synch with the ones that you are trying to establish.  If you go to the right places, the chances are likely that you will meet the right people. 

 

No matter what you’ve done wrong or how you may have messed up in the past, going forward, you get to get it right.  You get to make decisions now that will enable you to stand at the altar and say “I do” and be able to keep that promise.”  Do the difficult work of becoming a whole person in order to become someone worth pursuing, winning and loving. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining