He Is ______, Week 3

Tim Rivers | March 31, 2024

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Stay standing on your feet. Somebody give Jesus big praise in this place. Oh, come on, somebody give him praise like he got up, like his resurrection Sunday. Come on, take 30 seconds and give God your best.

Good Lord, because we're in a convention center, I thought maybe I'll behave myself. Nope, I'm about to lose my mind. If this place wasn't so big, I'd run to aisles, but I'm looking across here and I'm going, God, this started with a word and we obeyed your word and started with a prayer, and then it was a word and now this is happening. You're standing right in the middle of an answered prayer of a miracle. Miracle signs and wonders is how God speaks. So if you need a miracle, a sign or a wonder, you're in the right place. Good Lord, thank you for being here. People are still coming in. If you got room beside you, make room for somebody else. Here's the thing about today, whether this is your first time or you're a regular member of Embassy City, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every Sunday. So if this is your first time here, we invite you to come back next week to 6,300 North BeltLine where you're going to have the same atmosphere because the same God that's in this place is over there as well. So make sure that you come over. Also, if you haven't been baptized next week is baptism Sunday.

Come on, embassy City. Y'all know how we do it

Like, well, what if there's a ton of people that show up? Sweet. The water ain't going to dry up. We'll baptize all day. So I'm so glad that you're here. I'm glad what God's doing, but I'm ready to get in this word. Is that all right? Okay, we're going to one Corinthians chapter 15, the book of one Corinthians chapter 15, one Corinthians chapter 15, verse number 12, would you actually stand to your feet? Some of y'all were like, I don't like sitting this resurrection Sunday. I hear you. Go ahead and stand on your feet. Let's do something a little different. One Corinthians chapter 15, verse number 12.

Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and our faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ whom he did not raise. If it is true that the dead are not raised for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins, then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people most to be pitied, but somebody say, but

In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for as by a man came death by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all dies. So also in Christ shall all be made alive and somebody say, amen. My title for today is He is risen. That ought to make you shout right there. The whole reason you got dressed, combed your hair, took a shower, brushed your teeth, please brush your teeth, put the ordering on and came here is because in your heart of hearts that he has risen and because he has risen, I get to rise as well. So turn your neighbor and say, neighbor, today is the day of resurrection. Resurrection. Look at your other neighbor and say, neighbor, neighbor, today is the day of resurrection, and if you believe that, give God some praise. Come on somebody. Give God your best praise. You may be seated. I hadn't had to say that in a while after reading scripture, I want you for a second to imagine with me that at the conclusion of this service, you're on your way to your car, fighting all the people to get there, and while you're on way there, some random person stops you and says, Hey, I've got something for you, and they hand you a check for $500,000.

I'm surprised no one jumped up and said, it's me, Lord. They give you a $500,000 check and they say, Hey, this check, you can take it right to the bank and cash it. It's yours. You don't have to work for it. You don't have to do anything, you's yours. Then they also give you a set of keys and they tell you that these keys open the door to a brand new house that you didn't pay for and located in a gated community.

Oh, Lord, let it be so. God, five bedroom brick,

Three bath, three car garage. Some of y'all ought to be getting specific about what you need from God. He gives you the keys and he says, Hey, there's a house for you. You didn't have to pay for it. I paid for it. It's in a gated community and here's the only thing that you got to do is you got to get to the gated community. I'll be there to meet you. I'll let you in and you can claim your house. Now, if you're anything like me first I'm going to take 10 seconds and give God praise. Then I'm going to make some phone calls and tell all my friends about what just happened. What I went to church on Easter. I wasn't even going to go, but God knew, and then I'm going to make my way to the bank. I'm going to cash that check. I'm going to get that cash, put it in suitcases and duffle bags. I want cash. Don't play with me. Then I'm going to get in that car and I'm going to make my way to the gated community based on what this individual promised me would happen. Now you are on your way to go claim what belongs to you, but as you're on your way, you stop at the gas station and somebody heading in the opposite direction stops you and asks you what you're doing and you tell them, I'm on my way to claim what really belongs to me. And because they don't have a set of keys,

They look at you and say, you are crazy. You've lost your mind. Nobody would ever buy a house for a stranger. Nobody would ever do such a thing. So now you are in a pickle because you want to go forward and claim your house, but now you're dealing with doubts about whether or not this individual was telling you the truth. So now you're in a juxtaposition. Do I move forward? But if he's not telling the truth, I'm wasting my time, but if I move backwards, then it's possible that I'll miss an opportunity to get this brand new house. So now you're in between. Do I believe that this is true or not? This is exactly where we find the church of Corinth in one Corinthians chapter 15. Now, I want to work the text a little bit because I want to give you some context because the church at Corinth may be considered to be one of Paul's greatest ministry endeavors. Paul decided to plant a church in Corinth because he believed that it was the epicenter of cultural diversity, of paganism, of philosophical thought of economic growth. It was a place of affluence. It was a place where it was the center of Greco-Roman society, and so Paul said, there's no greater place to plant a church than right in the center of where there's the most demonic activity.

So he went in and he preached the good news of the gospel, the death bur and resurrection of Christ, and he planted a church and the church was doing good, but the church of Corinth was all of its accolades and all of its prestige and all of its abundance and all of its applause. The church had some problems. They wanted to be righteous and ratchet. They wanted to be pure and promiscuous. They wanted to turn up at church and the clubs, they wanted Jesus, but they wanted their own thing as well. They wanted to walk by faith, but if you cross me, I may have to walk by sight.

The church of Corinth had some problems and somebody in the church, I think this is probably old church mother, decided enough is enough, and she decided, or whoever decided to write Paul a letter and say, Paul, there's some problems in the church. There are some divisions in the church. When Paul gets news, he realizes that there are many divisions in the church of Corinth, for instance, they were divided on issues of who they preferred was the best preacher. Paul says, some of you say that you're of Paul, others say that you're of APAs. Some say that you're of Peters. Others say that you're of Christ. They were divided on the issue of who was the best preacher, but they were also divided on sexual morality because Corinth was the epicenter of immorality. It crept into the church. So now you had people not only being promiscuous outside of the church, but they were being promiscuous inside of the church.

They were divided on issues of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. They were divided on issues of litigation. Apparently, there were people in the church that were suing one another. They were divided on issues of the Lord's supper. In fact, Paul says that there are some people in the church that are wealthy. You're showing up early to church. You're getting full on the communion bread and you're getting drunk on the communion wine. What kind of church is this in parcels? Y'all are eating all the food and drinking all the drinks so that when the poor saints come in, they don't even have communion left. They were divided on issues of spiritual grs in particular, speaking in other tongues. The church was going crazy. This actually sounds like a church today, but the greatest divide that they had and the most pressing issue in debate was that there were some in the church of Corinth that started to deny that there was a bodily resurrection of Christ.

In fact, they started to believe that the resurrection of Christ wasn't possible and the future resurrection of the saints wasn't possible. Now, this is a big deal because the doctrine of the resurrection is the paramount doctrine that defines all other Christian doctrines. In fact, if you take away the doctrine of the resurrection, there is no Christianity. There is no Christology, and Paul says This is problematic because the church is starting to be influenced by the Grecian philosophies that surround the church, particularly the philosophies that stem from Platonism and gnosticism because those philosophies taught that the resurrection is not good because if you resurrect it, re-incarcerated the spirit back into the body, they believe that death actually was a liberation of the soul into immortality. So to be bodily resurrected means that you're going to be re-incarcerated into a body that you don't want. Paul, however, reminds the church, listen, we wouldn't even have a church if the resurrection didn't happen.

Paul tells him, Hey, the resurrection of Jesus, it isn't a myth, it isn't a fairytale, it isn't a play act. It's not theatrics. It wasn't a show. It's not smoke and mirrors. In fact, Paul says, lemme give you some facts as to how I know that the resurrection is real. He said, first of all, the scripture said it was going to happen, and first Corinthians 15, four, he says that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Now, what scriptures was Paul referring to? Maybe Paul was referring to Psalm chapter 16, verse 10, where David began to write and he started to prophesy and he says, for you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. Or maybe he was making reference to the story of Jonah, which Jesus made a reference to when he said, just as Jonah was in the belly of the well for three days and three nights, so shall the son of man be.

Or maybe Paul was referencing Hosea chapter six, verse two, when the prophet began to write and he said, after two days, he will revive us On the third day, he will raise us up that we may live before him. Paul wanted the church to know that the resurrection of Jesus Christ proved that the scriptures were real, but he also said There are some of the church that are not going to believe the scriptures. So let me tell you about some eyewitnesses who actually saw Jesus after he got up. He said, when Jesus was buried, they placed Romans in front of the tomb because in that day there were burial, grave robbers who would go and they would take the gold and the jewels that individuals were buried with, and they were afraid that the disciples of Jesus might hire some grave robbers to go in and take out the body of Christ and proclaim that he was resurrected, and Jesus said, I ain't even going to let that happen because when Jesus got up, Paul says that there was several people that saw him.

He went and showed up to Peter while he was fishing. Then he showed up to the other 12. Then he showed up to 500 and more, and then he showed up to James and Paul says, just in case you're wondering, I saw him myself while I was on the road to Damascus. I didn't see a light. I saw Jesus himself in bodily form. Paul says, I can tell you about the scriptures. I can tell you about the eyewitnesses, but for those of you that are philosophers in the building and theologians, let's just use logic. He said, if Christ has not risen, then we're in trouble as a church. If Christ did not raise from the dead, then there would be no hope, and if there is no hope, why are we even doing this? He said, in fact, let me be a little more potent about it.

If you are in this place and you don't believe in the resurrection of Christ, then you ought to be pitied because you are wasting your time here. Have the resurrection not occurred? Jesus would simply be listed among all the other religious leaders and philosophers of the world. Jesus would be no different than Confucius. He would be no different than Buddha. He would be no different than Muhammad. He'd be no different than the pantheon of Gods and goddesses of Hinduism. If Jesus didn't get up, then he would be no different than every person that died before him.

Paul said, if Christ hasn't raised, he would just be a good man, a great prophet, someone that had something good to say, just like everybody that was before him and after him. Paul says, there are seven implications that happen if you're saying that Christ should not raised from the dead. He says, number one, Christ should still be in the grave. Number two, preaching the gospel is pointless. Number three, faith in the gospel is vain. Number four, the apostles are frauds. Number five, there is no remission of sin. Number six, death is certain and final, and seven, we have no hope beyond this life. Paul says, if the resurrection did not happen, we are wasting our time. Then Paul says, I'm giving you all the facts. I've given you the arguments. I've made my case. Now I want to make a declaration to you. In verse number 20 of chapter 15 of one Corinthians. He says, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, and Paul says, ask me how I know. He said, Christ, resurrection and his conquering death hell in the grave is the paramount event that sealed time. Every atheist today that denies the resurrection of Christ, every time they open their calendar and look at a day, they got to admit that they're living in ad the year of our Lord. Every living person that existed before Christ lived and died, even the ones who were resurrected, died again.

Even the ones that were resurrected ended up dying. We can talk about the son of the SFA widow. He died. He was resurrected, but he died again, the mite woman's son. He died. He was resurrected, but he died again. The man who fell on the bones of Elijah, he died. He was resurrected, but he died again, the widow of named son, he died. He was resurrected, but he died again, Jairus's daughter. She died. She was resurrected, but she died again. Lazarus was dead for four days. He died. He was resurrected, but he died again. Tabitha, she died. She was resurrected, but she died again. Judic fell out of a window. He died. He was resurrected, but he died again. But then Jesus steps on the scene and they thought that he was dead because they crucified him. On Friday. Friday morning, they hung him on the cross on Golgotha's Hill, 12 o'clock the sky turned black, 3:00 PM He breathed his last breath and said, it is finished. They took his limp body from the cross and put it into a borrowed tomb. They put Roman soldiers in front of the borrowed tomb just to make sure that his body wasn't robbed. Friday night was bleak. Saturday was quiet, but Sunday morning,

Early on Sunday morning, Jesus got up out of the grave and he came out of the grave, but he didn't just come by himself. He was dangling a set of keys that belonged to death. Hell in the grave, and Jesus said, because I'm up. I have all power, all authority, all victory over anything that holds you down. Paul says, I can give you all the faction figures, but the greatest proof that he has risen, it is not geologically. It cannot be proof. Historically, it's not logical. It's not philosophical. It's not by human argument. The greatest proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as you and I are in this building today and was once was dead in your life, had to come a life when you came in contact with a risen savior. Nothing can stay dead because Christ is risen. If you believe it, give God 10 seconds of your best praise. I told y'all I was going to try to behave myself, but it's resurrection Sunday. I know I got a nice suit on, but if you would've seen me before I met Jesus, you'd understand why I get so excited about the resurrection of Jesus. I'm not playing here today. I'm here because I'm giving God glory that once I was lost,

You better be seated. I got a little more work to do because Jesus prophesied what would happen. Jesus said in John chapter 12, verse 24, he says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, you better be careful because it bears much fruit. Jesus said, as long as I'm here on earth living my presence, my vibe, my aura is just contained in my body, but the moment that they place me in the ground, it's like seed that goes in the ground. Seed never comes up just by itself.

Jesus said, when I come up out of the ground, I'm not just coming by myself, but I'm coming up in Tim Rivers. I'm coming up in Janice Rivers. I'm coming up in Stevie Rivers. I'm coming up in Zara. I'm coming up in Tim Ross. I'm coming up in Stephanie. I'm coming up in Johnny. I'm coming up in Mark. Jesus said, when I go down in the ground, when I come up, I come up in you and you are living, breathing proof of the power of the resurrection. Paul said, I can give you all the facts. I can give you all the figures, but the reality is the why behind the resurrection. I can talk to you about the what, but I got to talk to you about the why. The reason why the resurrection is important is because when he got up, he ripped the veil that separated us from God. He ripped down the wall that separated us, but having access to the king of kings, Jesus said, when I tear down this wall, when I rip down this veil, everybody that believes in the resurrection of Jesus will experience a resurrection in their own life. I wonder, is there two or 300 people that will two testify and save? I'm here today as a living, breathing proof of the resurrection

Of Jesus Christ. Paul said, listen, this is why the resurrection is important because death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death. Where is your victory? Oh, death. Where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Can I tell you that the reason why he has risen is because he wants to give you victory in your,

I may just be preaching to myself, but I'm here to preach and tell somebody. The reason why it is important that he has risen is because God is getting ready to give somebody victory in your life. Some of you came in here bound out by situation, intimidated by scenarios in your life. You came here for three points and a poem, and I'm here to preach and tell you that the reason why he has risen is because he's about to give somebody victory in your life, victory in your marriage, victory over your kids, victory in your family, victory in your job, victory in your finances, victory in your home, victory all over your house. The reason why we're here today is because God is telling us that it is time for victory, and if you believe that, won't you give God a victorious praise in this place? Oh, come on, somebody give God a victorious place in victorious praise in this place. Somebody ought to shout to God with a voice of triumph. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. I am sorry I'm not supposed to be this excited on resurrection Sunday, but if you would've seen my life before I met Jesus,

You'd understand why I'm turning up right now. If you would've known what my life would be like if Jesus hasn't resurrected, you'd understand why I'm up here sweating in a linen suit. If you would've seen me before I met Christ, you'd understand why we had to rent out this convention center and preach to somebody. The good news that our Savior is not dead. He's not buried. We don't have a shrine. His bones are not in some kind of monument, but he has risen with all power, all authority in his hand. He's sitting on the throne right now because somebody in this place needs victory in your life, and let me tell you, if you'll just stop and give God praise, I promise you he will recognize it. He said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Somebody give God praise. Stand to your feet all across this place and give him some worship. Some of y'all, this may be your first time and you're like, what have I walked into? Why is this man yelling? Because the point of the resurrection is not for a good story in a historic book,

The point of the resurrection, it's that you don't have to live your life dead because he has risen. I get to get up because he has risen. I don't have to be bound because here's risen. Change, can't hold me down because here's risen. I can walk in freedom because here's risen. My life will never be the same. I would be remissed if I told you a great story and didn't offer you the opportunity to experience resurrection for yourself.

Why are we here? Because somebody walked in here, but you are still in a grave. You came in here because that's the right thing for a Christian to do on Easter Sunday, but you still feel dead inside. You still feel like you got chains on you, and Romans chapter 10 verse number nine says, because if you confess with your mouth that is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Why did he get up? Because he wanted to save us. The greatest purpose of today is for somebody to experience resurrection. So if you're in this place and you don't know what I'm talking about because you feel like your life has been imprisoned, then let me offer you some hope. You can be free. You can be resurrected. Your life can change. Today, we can talk about all the what, the how, but the greatest purpose of the resurrection is that we have access to eternal life. I wish somebody that has experienced resurrection in your own life would've testify right now with a praise. I stand here as a recipient of the resurrection of Christ. I'm going to do something that we do at 6,300 North BeltLine. I want to give somebody an opportunity to experience resurrection. So if you're in this place and you're ready to feel what it feels like to live a resurrected life and you've never entered into a relationship with Jesus before, I want you to throw your hand up right now. If you're ready to make that decision, just lift your hand and keep it up right now. That's awesome.

Yeah,

Keep that hand up, but I want you to pray this. Pray with me. Say, dear Jesus, I recognize my need for you. I believe that you came, you died. You rose again, and you did it all for me. Wash me of my sins. Come into my heart. Be the Lord of my life. Take over. I'm yours in Jesus' name, amen. Somebody give Jesus some praise in this place. Oh, come on, somebody. Give Jesus some praise in this place. Come on, somebody in Jesus, your best praise.

Romans chapter eight, verse number 11 says this, if the spirit of him who has raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead, will also give you life in your mortal bodies through his spirit that dwells in you. Can I tell you the reason why we're here today? Can I tell you the reason why approximately 2 billion people are gathered in sanctuaries and worship centers and school cafeterias and convention centers is because our life has been changed by the power of the resurrection? One more time with somebody. Take 10 seconds and give God your biggest praise, just for saving your life, just for rising up from the grave. Give it worship in this place.