1. if...
Easter 2012

3. What is Easter About? "For some people, Easter is about colors.
For kids, it's all about the hunt.
It's the promise of the spring harvest.
It means making potato recipes."

4. What is Easter About?
JESUS > DEATH

5. Marcus Borg, Jesus Seminar
“As a child, I took it for granted that Easter meant that Jesus literally rose from the dead. I now see Easter very differently. For me, it is irrelevant whether or not the tomb was empty. Whether Easter involved something remarkable happening to the physical body of Jesus is irrelevant.”

6. 1 Corinthians 15:14
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
John Updike’s "Seven Stanzas at Easter"
“Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall….”

7. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
John 11:25
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies”
John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
John 10:30
“I and the Father are one.”

8. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
The resurrection proves that He is LORD and GOD
Romans 1:4
who was declared the Son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord

9. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
The resurrection proves that He is LORD and GOD
Acts 17:31
...[God] has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

10. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
Our sins are unforgiven
1 Corinthians 15:17
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

11. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
Our sins are unforgiven
The resurrection guarantees our forgiveness
Romans 4:25
[Jesus] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

12. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
Our sins are unforgiven
We are powerless to obey God
Ephesians 2:1
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

13. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
Our sins are unforgiven
We are powerless to obey God
The resurrection empowers us to obey
Romans 6:4
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

14. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
Our sins are unforgiven
We are powerless to obey God
The resurrection empowers us to obey
1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

15. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
Our sins are unforgiven
We are powerless to obey God
We are just fertilizer for daffodils
1 Corinthians 15:17–19
if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have [died] in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

16. Without the Resurrection...
Jesus is just a dead liar or lunatic
Our sins are unforgiven
We are powerless to obey God
We are just fertilizer for daffodils
1 Corinthians 15:32
...If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

17. The resurrection defeated death
Acts 2:24
But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
Romans 6:9
Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
Revelation 1:18
...I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

18. The resurrection guarantees our resurrection
John 11:25
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies”
Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

19. With the Resurrection... Jesus is Lord and God Our sins are forgiven
We are empowered to obey God
Death is defeated and we will rise

20. Evidence for the Resurrection
Gary Habermas, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus
William Lane Craig, The Son Rises
Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ or The Case for Easter
“Evidence for the resurrection
of Jesus”
grace-bible.org  Downloads  Leader Resources

21. Evidence for the Resurrection
The Jewish leaders didn’t exhume the body
The Romans stole the body
The disciples stole the body
There was no body!

22. Evidence for the Resurrection
The Jewish leaders didn’t exhume the body
The disciples willingly suffered and died for this claim

23. Application
Consider the evidence
Thank your Lord
Celebrate your hope