Feeding the Lambs - The Good News
The Resurrection of Christ
"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.
For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed."
-the Apostle Paul writing to the first believers in Corinth, 1st century
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
[10th message of the New Believer Series]
Yes this is the 10th episode of this series, and we are assuming that if you are reading this then you should have already read all of the preceding messages.
The Good News Was First Given to the Jews
Like Jesus, most of the early believers were Jewish. There were a few who weren't, and they were those who lived among the Jews in and around the Galilean countryside. They also heard Jesus preach, heal and perform miracles. And also there were those who went there from both near and far because they have heard about Jesus.
Limited Time to Teach
Jesus had a short period of time which He used to teach those who care to listen about the Good News, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. And when He left, He sent to them who believed, the Holy Spirit in His place so they can carry on the mandate of spreading the gospel.
So after Jesus left those who were with Him during His earthly ministry, they (the original apostles) continued on to share the good news.
Spread Out
Eventually, they spread this gospel outside of their homeland. And Paul who was not among these original believers, only having come to believe in Jesus after He was resurrected, was responsible for this growth outside of their borders.
And Paul was not your typical early believer, but he is more like most believers outside of Galilee, and those of us who believed after Jesus' earthly ministry.
[Although Paul was in and about Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. And though not directly recorded, he would have known and would even totally consent to Jesus being crucified. He even could have been among those who secretly stalked Jesus to find fault in Him. And he could have been there when Jesus was nailed and left hanging on a tree (cross) to die. If he was in Jerusalem at that time, he wouldn't have missed the opportunity to witness that. Paul was called Saul before his conversion. We can read of his conversion from a persecutor of Christ to a believer in Acts 9:1-19, and his testimony is recorded in Acts 22:6-21 and Acts 26:12-18.]
This We Believe
[So many non-believers think that Christians believe so many things that are unbelievable as well as Christians are nothing more than a bunch of brain-washed or blinded sheep. The short answer is that the Apostle Paul itemized what he believe and all he is saying is that he believe Jesus of Nazareth, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. And he believe in what was fulfilled through the death and resurrection of Jesus, as prophesied hundreds of years before their time, according to Scriptures. He personally saw Christ, resurrected from the dead, along with other appearances of the risen Christ, multiple times and to hundreds of other people and that in his time, people who were skeptical could still confirm these things as there are still a lot of those people still alive at that time.]
And this gospel is the good news that:
1. Christ died for our sins (according to Scriptures).
2. He was buried.
3. He was raised on the third day (according to Scriptures).
4. He appeared to Cephas (Simon or Peter) and then to the Twelve (apostles).
5. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once.
6. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
7. And he appeared to Paul.
Paul was the least of the apostles, and according to him, he was not worthy to be called an apostle.
But by God's grace of God, he was, in the same way all of us believers who came after him.
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