And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men. – 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 BSB

Warrior;

The Message paraphrase puts it this way, “if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.” If the Tomb was NOT empty, then the Bible, this time on this planet, this life has no real purpose. Earlier in the same chapter, it is written; “If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection”. Put bluntly, if there is NO RESURRECTION- IT doesn’t matter!  ‘It’ being your purpose for living, your reason for being, your innate program!  If there is no resurrection, then Christmas doesn’t matter, nor does the Bible!

Leader, something happened to those around Jesus after he died on the cross.  The fact that some people close to Jesus had some experience that made them give their lives to claim the deity of Jesus as the Messiah, the Chosen One. Nobody knows us better than our family.  They see us at our worst and at our best, and they’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly.  Consider 2 of Jesus’ half-brothers, James and Judas. Neither claimed familial relationship with Jesus when they penned their letters. Pride would have nudged them to include that fact, but reverence and an understanding of Jesus’ divine identity motivated them to consider themselves as only His servants. Throughout the New Testament a reader can get the idea that James thought Jesus was peculiar, maybe even crazy. However, something changed!  After witnessing his brother’s resurrection, James’s belief system changed. James went on to be the first leader of the church at Jerusalem and died a martyr.  He would not deny the deity of Jesus and he was thrown to his death.  When that failed, He was clubbed to death, instead of denying the DEITY OF JESUS.  He was willing to die…for a lie?  I don’t think so! Judas, who we know as JUDE, Jesus’ other half-brother who also wrote a book in the Bible, did not feel worthy to even consider kinship with Jesus.  Jude was also a leader in the early church and died a martyr’s death instead of denying the deity of Jesus!  Would you die for a lie?  If the tomb is NOT EMPTY, and there is NO resurrection, then nothing in life matters! But if JESUS does live, then we need to LIVE LIKE JESUS MATTERS!

Leader, Chuck Colson, who got his Christian fame by starting Prison Fellowship and supporting prisoners through Angel Tree every Christmas, was famous decades earlier because of his connection to Richard Nixon and his role in the Watergate scandal. This is posted on Wikipedia:  Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970.  In 1974, Colson served seven months in the federal Maxwell Prison in Alabama, as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges. Colson became an evangelical Christian in 1973. His mid-life religious conversion sparked a radical life change that led to the founding of his non-profit ministry Prison Fellowship and, three years later, Prison Fellowship International, to a focus on Christian worldview teaching and training around the world. Colson was also a public speaker and the author of more than 30 books.  Here is Chuck’s take on the Resurrection. “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.” Now that Easter is over, what are you going to do with the EMPTY TOMB?  Maybe you are not interested in dying because of an empty tomb- but are you willing to LIVE because of one? HE LIVES!  Because CHRIST LIVES, we live.  It is written: “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (1 Corinthians 15:20–23) As the firstborn from the dead, Jesus is the One who guarantees resurrection life for everyone who belongs to Him! HE IS ALIVE, Now go out and LIVE LIKE the tomb is empty and like JESUS MATTERS- beyond the parties and celebrations of Easter and Christmas!