Wednesday, December 10, 2008, Part 2

TEXT: Hebrews 11

IDEA: Faith seldom comes easily because many people regard it as nonsense.

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that faith in Jesus Christ was difficult for the disciples and can be difficult for us.

Have you found it easy to be a believer and a follower of Jesus?

Have you ever been tempted not to believe in Christ? Is unbelief a product of our "scientific" or "post-scientific" culture?

Do you think the disciples of Jesus who lived in a pre-scientific age found it easier to believe in Jesus?

I. His death on a Roman cross presented an almost insurmountable obstacle to their faith. Jesus didn't look much like God when He died a vicious, violent death on a Roman instrument of torture at 33 years of age.

The disciples fled when He was crucified. They weren't that convinced that Jesus was really God.

Do you think we may know the story of Jesus' death so well that we take it for granted? It was not easy for people in the first century to believe that His gruesome death at the hands of the Roman authorities meant anything more than another tragic death of a good man.

Martyrs we understand, but a dead Savior seems preposterous.

II. What do you think persuaded the disciples and Jesus' brothers to believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be?

It was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

First Corinthians 15:3-8 is the central message of the Christian gospel. It is made up of two couplets:

"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried." What does that mean?

He was raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures and was seen by a variety of witnesses. So what?

The evidence was so powerful that ten of the twelve disciples died vicious and violent deaths because of it.

His brothers who didn't believe on Him (John 7:5) until after the resurrection, came to believe fully in Him (Acts 1:14).

What significance does the resurrection of Jesus Christ have for Christians today?