Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Christianity 101 - Jesus part 2

Here are some of the points that help us understand who Jesus is.


1) Jesus rose from the grave, bodily, and was seen by many people - John 20:24 – 29 (Thomas); Luke 24:36 – 43 (Many others)

What is the proof for a bodily resurrection?

1 Corinthians 15:3-8
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
He also ate bread and fish Luke 24:42,43
He physically broke the bread to feed men - Luke 24:30
All of these witness and then Saul a persecutor of the faith, became a convert seeing the risen Christ alive.

Why is it so important?

- Jehovah’s witnesses, Muslims and other deny that Jesus either/or died or did not bodily raise from the dead.
- If Jesus did not raise from the dead then nothing He said can be trusted. He said He would raise from the dead.


2) Jesus only mediator between God and man 1 Tim 2:5,6

5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.


Why did Jesus come?

3) Jesus is the physical representation of the invisible God
Col 1:15 – 20; Hebrews 1:1-13

He showed us that everything about God’s character can be expressed in human terms that we could see God and man in Jesus and know his real tangible love for us.

This way because of God’s completion in Jesus and complete revelation of who He is through Him we see that we need nothing but him to be made complete Col 2:10

This way we can trust him for our eternity, because we see him and know him

4) Jesus came to give us a pattern of life to live.

He had a relatively normal life growing up Luke 2:52
He was tempted in everyway Hebrews 4:15 but he did not sin
He showed us how to live life to the fullest but also that we can have the power to follow in His example John10:10

5) Jesus came pay the penalty for our sin
- Isaiah tells us 59:2 that our sins have cut us off from God
- 1 Tim 2:5,6 we are told that Jesus has bridged the gap between our sin and God’s presence
- He had to come in the flesh because sin requires death as a penalty and
Jesus willingly paid the price. 1 Peter 3:18
- Because He willingly paid the price we are given eternal life as a gift Romans 6:23
- Because he came we have the Holy Spirit available to empower all of us to become who God has called us to be. John 16: 7,8

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