Jesus Gives us Hope

Sunday Sermon
April 4th 20X
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Pericope: ESV 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Sermonic Theme: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Fact)

Sermonic Subject: Living Hope (Optimism, Sanguinity, Confidence, Expectancy)

Sermonic Tension: Fiery Trials (Diaspora, Suffering, Persecution, Agony, Anguish, Affliction)

Sermonic Sentence: There’s a resurrection coming for you. (Literally & metaphorically)

Sermonic Help: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important doctrine of the Christian faith. Christians since the NT have argued for the centrality of the doctrine, convinced that it proved Jesus’ deity and the efficacy of His death for our sins. Paul, for example, considered the resurrection to be the cornerstone of the Christian faith: If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the whole structure of Christianity collapses. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15.14-17: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.” The Christian faith and its claim to be Truth exist only if Jesus rose from the dead, because the heart of Christianity is a living Christ. Phil 3.20-21; II Cor. 5.1-5; 1 Thess. 4.16-17. The fact that Jesus rose bodily (in a real physical body) from the grave has been fundamental to Christian teaching from the beginning. In the NT Jesus’ appearance is depicted as spiritual in the sense of being independent of the ordinary laws of nature but also as material or physical. He invited them to touch His hands and feet” for a spirit does not have flesh and bones” (Luke 24.39-40; Matthew 27.61-66; 28.1-20; Mark 16.1-20; Luke 24.1-53; John 20.10-31).

Resurrection of the Dead: From the Latin resurrection, from resurgere, “to rise again,” from re, “again,” and surgere, “to rise.” Both the OT and NT teach that the dead will come back to life. For the Christian the resurrection will be a complete redemption, with a new body that will be immortal and incorruptible. Isaiah 25.6-8; 26.19; Daniel 12.1-4; 1 Cor. 15; I Thess. 4.14-17.

Sermonic Title: “JESUS GIVES US HOPE”

Sermonic Structure:

I. Jesus gives us a Living Hope

II. Jesus gives us a Liberating Hope

III. Jesus gives us a Legitimate Hope

IV. Jesus gives us a Lasting Hope