James Duff April 12th 2015

If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 1 Corinthians 15:14The faith of Christians stands and falls on the bodily resurrection of Jesus.Malcolm reminded us from his Sunday sermon about this truth. A man named Paul wrote the above quote. He was once a leader of men who would kill and persecute Christian families but was then completely changed, reborn when he met the resurrected Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus was so powerful for Paul that he entered a life of poverty, labor and suffering. He was whipped, beaten, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked three times, in constant danger, deprivation, and anxiety. Finally he made the ultimate sacrifice and was martyred for his faith in Rome. And it was all because he met “Jesus our Lord” (1 Cor. 9:1).Tim Keller sums it up well.“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said?The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”Our Easter services that celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus are finished for another year and I loved every minute of them. Thanks to everyone who put in and participated in our Passover meal and communion on Thursday night, our Good Friday service on the Cottesloe foreshore and our two Sunday Easter services. Although we can mark off on the calendar that Easter has finished Christians believe that it actually keeps going every day. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the very reason we continue to be in relationship with God and so it is the very reason we live.Today we celebrate a baptism of baby Milla at our 9:30 service. Her parents, godparents and the St Philips community will be making promises on her behalf that will encourage her to know God and live a life trusting in the works of Jesus death and resurrection. These promises are more than a hope that she grows up to be a nice person, I’m sure that is a given, but that she will know the true love that God has for her through Jesus’ death and resurrection.There is more literature written about Jesus and the resurrection than any other subject ever. Why is a Jewish peasant carpenter the most famous person ever and today over 2 billion people worship him as God? It all stands and falls on the claim that Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-4).If you have questions about this or just want to know more, please see one of the leaders at St Philips or somebody you trust who is a Christian, I’m sure they would be delighted to listen and help you.May God bless you alwaysJames