The resurrection isn't a message that only the educated can accept.
I want us to live resurrection lives, announce the good news of the resurrection, and be able to explain why we believe in the resurrection. Don't worry, this is an intensive course and community experience that will prepare you for these challenges.
But first, I want to get something settled. The author and pastor Jeff Vanderstelt writes,
"If the kind of church we are starting today couldn't be led by Jesus' first followers (uneducated fishermen, tax collectors, broken men and women, transformed prostitutes, irreligious people and prisoners), then maybe we've adopted the wrong mode or model of church."
**The resurrection is for everyone.**
Now, as someone who studied philosophy in college, and has a curious, even a skeptical outlook, I confess this was very difficult for me to understand. For many years, I felt that if I didn't have a good historical case for the resurrection, then it wasn't very reasonable to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
But then I had two insights that changed my perspective.
Let me start with a simple question: how do you know my name? You know my name is Carson because I told you that's my name. And for more confirmation, many other people who know me say it's my name. But you haven't looked at any documents or done an independent investigation.
So should we just refuse to use other people's names? No. Sometimes we learn the truth because we trust what someone else knows.
**That was one breakthrough for me: Trust is essential to knowing truth.**
Now, if God is real, and God knows that Jesus is alive - because Jesus is God - then maybe God could directly tell us that the resurrection happened?
And if you have had an actual experience of God's love, then you might believe Jesus is alive. Or if you prayed to Jesus, and he answered that prayer... Or if a friend became a Christian, and their life changed in a dramatic way... Or if you got involved in a local church and experienced an unusually good and holy community... Or if you started to read the Bible and saw that there's something to these ancient documents that surprises you... then you might believe Jesus is alive.
Why? Because God is love. God loves us and wants us to know the good news that Jesus is alive.
**That was my second breakthrough: God is love.**
Given that the resurrection is true, would God require everyone to first get a graduate degree in history, and then become a follower of Jesus? No way!
**The resurrection isn't - and couldn't - be a message that only the educated can accept.**
Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' Saul said. 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,' he replied. 'But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'
How did Saul become a disciple of Jesus?
What's the difference between believing the resurrection happened and meeting the Risen Jesus?
If the gospel is for everyone, how does this increase your confidence to tell others about Jesus?
Write down how you came to believe in the resurrection. Was it through evidence, experience, community, or a combination?
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