Paul's words of encouragement
Walking through the Book of Acts • Sermon • Submitted
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Paul’s words of encouragement
Paul’s words of encouragement
Paul's words of encouragement
The Resurrection is not only the Good News; it is the best news imaginable.
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.
– Timothy Keller
In our passage this morning although this is the first recorded sermon Paul preaches in the Book of Acts it is hardly his first sermon. Paul preached in Damascus immediately after his conversion in , again during his three years in Arabia in , also now while serving as a pastor in Antioch 13:1. Paul could not help but preach,
, "For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"
For Paul was called and set aside for such a purpose as this, God had saved this man originally named Saul and gave him a new name Paul and gave him a new purpose in life, because he was now a new creation.
, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
In Paul's letter to the Romans, he shares the importance that he placed on preaching and its effects.
, For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." [What does this mean pastor? It means what it meant in , where Paul is quoting from, it means that Salvation is extended to everyone ask for it. In it is extended beyond the devastation caused by the locusts. In our time Salvation is extended beyond whatever trials and tribulations we are going through, and declares that we have the ability to call on the name of the Lord to recuse us.
This calling on the Lord implies an exclusive, covenantal worship of the only true and living God who is able to save.]
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
[With a series of rhetorical questions, Paul considers the chain of events necessary for a person to be saved. Verse 14 is linked to v. 13 with the word call. The logic of these verses is clear: (1) People will call on Jesus to save them only if they believe he can do so; (2) belief in Christ cannot exist without knowledge about him; (3) one hears about Christ only when someone proclaims the saving message; and (4) the message about Christ will not be proclaimed unless someone is sent by God to do so. That is why Paul was so urgent about spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth, for he believed that the only way to be saved was to hear and believe in the gospel. Hearing the gospel is necessary for salvation, but hearing is not enough: people must also respond with personal trust. Isaiah prophesies that not all will believe. Paul is thinking especially of the Jews who did not understand.]
In our passage, this morning Paul speaks to us about the gospel of Jesus Christ by giving us a holy history lesson and give us the good news of the gospel through the prophecies of the Old Testament.
Let us pray…
God of gods, Lord of lords, and Sovereign of sovereigns, You the ruler of all things! Grant to us today a deeper depth of understanding of our great history in this Christian faith. An account that shows us Your Son Jesus from the beginning and shows us the prophetic mission that You called Him to hidden in the Old Testament prophecies. We pray that as You do this, you will also shine your light on the gospel which is being revealed.
It is in the precious name of your Son and our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ that we ask it all and all God's children said amen.
Let's quickly look at verse 13 which could have been included in last week's sermon, but I struggle with its placement there because I felt this verse also naturally drove its opening narrative of this weeks message.
"Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia."
Now Barnabas and Paul first visited Cyprus, which was Barnabas home base, the place he was from and knew well.
But now that are entering Paul's old stomping grounds, Asia Minor. They had sailed over 200 miles across the Mediterranean Sea and landed at Attalia, with is the port of Perga. At this point the text tells us that John left them, but does not give a reason. Some find this odd, and other fleling around trying to explain his departure, which was really desertion. But I see it merely as John Mark was never supposed to be there in the first place. Look that , "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off."
So, show me in the text where God told them to take John Mark with them to do the work in which they had been called to do.
In verse 13:5 we see where they met John, "When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them." Still no word about him going on this first missionary trip.
I think this is the problem of making an assumption without asking God or authorized by God. We see the same problem with Abraham and Lot,
, "Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran."
Again, where did it say to take Lot with him? In fact, it said to ""Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you." Lot was his nephew.
God told Abram he was going to make him great, not Lot, and in chapter 13 Lot starts to cause problems. They both prospered to the point that the land could not support all that they had. So to keep down the strife between them, Abram said to Lot, if you take the left hand I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand I will go to the left. Lot look the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, so Lot choose for himself the Jordan Valley and Abram settled in the land of Canaan. Even in this disruption, we see the sovereign hand of the Lord, who was still directing Abram if he had chosen the Jordan Valley he would not have met Melchezideck. Was God's sovereign hand also moving in the issue of the desertion of John, we will not find that out until later on in Acts.
So here is our text we see that John left them and returned to Jerusalem. The reasons are not clear, many believed he as afraid to the travel to the dangerous mountains of Pamphylia which were infested with robbers, many thought he was concerned about the persecution that awaits them. Others believed it was because Paul was taking the leading over his cousin Barnabas. But whatever the reason, it was tragic for the moment, but the sovereign hand of God made it all work out in the end. Yet there is an excellent argument to be made that he should have never been there in the first place, this level of ministry would prove not to be his strong suit, but God has something special for him to do. And they all are reconciled later in ministry.
After John left, Paul and Barnabas did not preach in Perga, although that did on their return journey. Paul was ill, we see that in , possibly with malaria, and had to leave the coastal lowlands, New Orleans is 18 feet below sea level and New Orleans is incredibly hot and uncomfortable at times.
They when up to Antioch in Pisidia, it was 3,600 feet above sea level. But, these Taurus Mountains were notorious for the robber hands who were there and were un-subdued. Paul once wrote,
, "On frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?"
After Paul's illness, they arrived on the Sabbath and went to the synagogue and sat down. In the synagogues Paul found a ready audience of people interested in religious truth. It was customary to grant visiting rabbis, such as Paul, the right to address the synagogue. Both he and the synagogue audience shared the common ground of the Old Testament. Paul could and did start there and made great use of their common pool of knowledge. He used the Old Testament as a departure point in presenting the gospel. The Greek word kerygma means "proclamation." In the New Testament, the term is often associated with preaching the Christian message, especially the fundamentals of the gospel. In the New Testament, John the Baptist was the one who prepared the way for Jesus the Messiah, "preaching in the wilderness of Judea" ().
When Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth, He announced His mission to preach good news: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor." He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" ().
Jesus had a kerygma to deliver on God's behalf.
Second Corinthian 4:5 is a great summary of the preaching of the gospel in the New Testament. Paul writes, "For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake." This Christ-centered message may seem foolish to unbelievers, but Christ is the content of our kerygma: "We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (). In verse 15a of our text, it says, "After the reading from the Law and the Prophets…"
It was common to the first-century synagogues to open their services with the recitation of the Shema, " Hear, O Israel: " The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart" ().
Then came the reading of the Law and the Prophets, followed by the teaching usually based on that week's Scripture reading. Since that had a prominent visitors there, they called on Paul to teach them that day they inquired in verse 15 b. "…the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying, "Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it."
It was the Holy Spirit that sovereignly arranged these circumstances, opening wide the door for Paul to proclaim the gospel. So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, got the attention of the audience and launched into his message. As he said these words, 16.b, "… Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen…"
The men of Israel were the Jews who were present and this phrase, "and you who fear God" refers to the Gentile proselytes.
Paul commanded all to listen because Paul was about to give them a Holy History lesson.
People have always wrestled with the question does history have a purpose or goal or is history just series of endless cycles?
I genuinely believe that history has a purpose, goal, and should have a prominent place in our lives. Having a good grasp on your history gives you the advantage of being able to clearly understand what the present is showing you and what the future could hold. History is always leading us somewhere. Paul knew that every Jew and many of the Gentile proselytes knew that their history led to the coming of the kingdom of God. History led to the restoration of mankind's fellowship and relationship with the true and living God. Where the Messiah would come and delivered us from the bondage of sin. History would ultimately resolve itself in the redeemed being back in full fellowship with God and giving Him glory. Jesus' incarnation and sacrificial death, His second coming to set up His earthly millennial reign, and His eternal rule over the new heavens and new earth are the climax of history. Paul began his recital of the history in the beginning with God's providential care for Israel.
The history of that care began when the God of this people Israel chose their fathers. Our God is in total control of history; He sovereignly chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph of the nation of Israel and made His covenant with them. God, them made His people great during their stay in the land of Egypt. There they increase in number and influence even while being oppressed.
In , a change happens,
, "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land." Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves."
But God did not forget His people however, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from Egypt. This phrase with an uplifted arm, denoting God's power, , "You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm."
, "You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand." , "so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him."
So there is power to scatter our enemies in the uplifted arm of Christ, there is strength in the uplifted arm of God and there is an ability to be firmly established in the uplifted arm of God. It is God strong uplifted arm that can deliver us!
After God brought them out of the Exodus, God continued to care for the nation, for about forty years. God placed them in the wilderness; this phrase "put up with them" takes into consideration that despite their rebellion, their enduring sin, and their disobedience God still put up with them.
, "For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribahas on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
Even when we are not faithful, God is faithful, for He cannot deny His own.
After their forty years of wilderness wandering which, God allowed so that those who were disobedient could die out and a new generation would take their place. God brought this new generation of Israel into the Promised Land. And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance--- and of which took about four hundred and fifty years. , "When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today."
Following their destruction, God distributed their land as an inheritance to His people. From the captivity in Egypt to the distribution of the land, Paul says, it took about four hundred and fifty years, let's break it down, that's four hundred years of captivity in Egypt, forty years of wandering in the wilderness and ten years in crossing the Jordan in the Promised Land. Throughout that entire period God showed His power, purpose, care and faithfulness toward Israel.
Now after they took possession of the land, the people of Israel continued to be unfaithful, unfaithfulness is a habit that is hard to break. If you are unfaithful in a little you will also be unfaithful in much. Faithfulness affects every relationship we have. The Bible says it is a gift from God. When we receive Christ as Lord, the Holy Spirit indwells us and brings the blessings of love, joy, peace and faithfulness (). The fullness of these blessings depends on walking with God and yielding to His Spirit. We should be faithful to read and abide by God's Word and to seek the Lord in prayer (; ).
The Old Testament taught that "the just will live by faith" (), and that truth is quoted, amplified and illuminated three times in the New Testament. We obtain that faith, and our faithfulness, by the grace of God. He is faithful to His children, and by His grace, we will one day hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" ().
Yet, God continued to be faithful to them. When their enemies oppressed them, God gave them judges (deliverers) until Samuel the prophet. Samuel links the period of the judges and that of the kings. He was the last judge, and he anointed the first , Saul. Samuel was both a judge and a prophet. Falling prey to their lack of trust in God and desire to be like the other nations, Israel then asked for a king. Look at , "and said to him, "Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them."
Them God gave them Saul the son of Kish a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. Paul's Jewish name was Saul and was undoubtedly given him in honor of Israel's first king. Paul was also a man from the tribe of Benjamin. However, this is where the similarity ended. For Paul was an obedient servant of God, Saul was proud, self-willed, and disobedient. His defiance of God's explicit instructions led to his removal as king. Though God graciously allowed him to reign for forty years in the end he was not faithful. After God removed Saul from the kingship, He raised up David to be their king. In sharp contrast to Saul, David was obedient so much so that concerning him God testified and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will. Many questioned how David could be a man after God's own heart. Because David was a man guilty of cowardice in , guilty of adultery, , and guilty of murder in .
David was by any description not a perfect man. He was a man who saw his sin for what it was and sought to repent of it all. David in (, . 51) repents.
God's divine chastening had a perfecting work in David's soul. David was termed a man after God's heart because unlike Saul his greatest desire came to be the doing of God's will.
Paul introduces the gospel through the Old Testament prophecies.
Paul understands that one can come to faith only through hearing the gospel, and the specific message that must be heard is the word of Christ, that is, the good news about Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Savior.
Sadly, many in today's church do not share Paul's commitment to preaching the Word. These days, many persons think of careers rather than callings. They are looking for affirmation and accolades men and women and really have no genuine affection and adoration for the things of God and the privilege of serving Him.
And because of this, there is a shortage of biblically sound preaching which, creates a "famine in the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine for the Word of God and that thirst that only the Word can satisfy. In our pulpits today we hear, psychology, relational responses to spiritual issues, and the shallow of homilies instead of the holiness of sound preaching. The preacher in the pulpit must offer his members a true theology that is solid versus semimetal therapy sessions.
He must give to his people the holy elements that are eternal and not just easy entertainment, which gives them ease in Zion.
Preaching has its style but more than that preaching has its substance and its source. Not only does the Old Testament history point the Jesus Christ, but also to the prophecy found in the Old Testament. Jesus was the seed of the woman who bruised the serpent's head (), Jesus was the virgin-born Son whose name was "God with us" (), Jesus was the wonderful counselor, the mighty God of () Jesus was the descendant of Abraham () and of Jesse in () and of David, (; ) and Jesus was the priest after he order of Melchizedek in ().
Verse 23 ties together Paul's first two points. Historically, Jesus was the offspring of David. Prophetically, He was the One whom, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah in His God's promise in the Old Testament was realized. The first prophecy Paul mentioned was that of the forerunner to Messiah.
, "A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
In ,"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts."
These prophecies were fulfilled in John the Baptist, who proclaimed before His coming to a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. John's baptism was not, of course, Christian baptism, which had not been instituted. It was a Jewish ceremonial cleansing symbolizing true, heartfelt repentance. John called upon all the people of Israel to repent and prepare their hearts for the coming of Messiah. Repentance has always been a necessary element of salvation. John was not the Messiah, for while he was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me that sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie." What a statement of remarkable humility, although he was the greatest man who had lived up to his time, he kept himself away from such pretensions. When confronted by the Jewish authorities. John clearly distinguished himself from the yet to be revealed Messiah. John did not even consider himself worthy to untie the sandals of the Messiah's feet, a task for the lowliest slave. Paul now as reached an important point in his sermon, so he paused to emphasize it. Then he says, , "Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation." Paul is saying that it is John is proclaiming and making this word of salvation available to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Paul anticipates two questions that would arise in the minds of those who are listening to him. The first question was one Jewish people have wrestled with from the apostolic time until now: If Jesus is the Messiah, why did the Jewish leaders fail to recognize Him as such? Paul gave the same answer Stephen did: because of their hardened, sin-darkened hearts. He explained that those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. The so-called experts in the Old Testament failed to completely to understand its teaching. It they had, they would have recognized Jesus. , "But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God."
Those who are ignorant of the written Word will inevitably be ignorant of the living Word. Ironically, they then fulfilled the very prophecies of the Scriptures they didn't understand by condemning Jesus. Paul then answered the second question: if the Messiah was rejected, does that nullify God's plan? No! Far from it, replied Paul. foresaw that the Messiah would be "despised and forsaken. , "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
They hated Jesus without cause, so that even though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. They unwittingly fulfilled, , "More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?"
Even the heinous crime of the crucifixion fulfilled prophecy. Paul declares in verse 29, "and when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb." Among the prophecies fulfilled on the cross were the (1) Messiah would be a reproach, one at the people wagged their heads (). (2) He was the one whom His executioners would divide His clothing among themselves (). (3)He was the one who would be given vinegar and gall for His thirst ( ). And 94) He is the One who would cry out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me ().
Beside those prophecies, the very fact that the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be crucified is amazing. Crucifixion was not a Jewish form of execution if indeed it was even known to then in the Old Testament times, yet and both show a clear picture of such a death.
Christ's burial also fulfilled prophecy. Victims of crucifixions were commonly thrown into mass graves since such execution was customarily reserved for the lowest classes of criminals. Yet after Jesus' death, they laid Him in a tomb. That seemingly insignificant detail was a fulfillment of , "And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth."
, comes to the climactic truth of Paul's sermon when he sounds a celebratory note of all good apostolic preaching by proclaiming the God has raised Jesus from the dead!
, "But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people."
As evidence of the resurrection, Paul cited the fact that for many days, Christ appeared to those who came up the Him. Look at
, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me."
Paul concludes this section on the resurrection by showing that by it the good news of the promise God made to the fathers had been fulfilled. And in the last verses 33-37 Paul gives us a list of those three promises.
God raised up Jesus as it is also written in the , will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you."
, God raised Jesus up from the dead, no more to return to decay. This verse adds the promise that God as given, " the holy and sure blessing of David." A dead Messiah could not possibly be the channel for the holy an sure blessing of David that had been given to us.
The last and most significant promise of this passage comes from yet another Psalm. , "For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption."
Since we know that David's body remained in the grave after his death, this passage is naturally speaking of Christ Jesus. For the text tells us that "David, after he has served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay.
All those promises and countless other required the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. For Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all prophecy. A dead Messiah can fulfill nothing. But the Savior of history and the Savior shown through the Old Testament prophecies can do all things because He is God's Son.
The resurrection completes the inauguration of God's kingdom. . . . It is the decisive event demonstrating that God's kingdom indeed has been launched on earth as it is in heaven. The message of is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it."