At this time of year traditional Christianity celebrates the birth of Christ. <\/p>\n
Churches will be fuller than usual in the next couple of days. It is a good time for us to be reminded of a focal point of our message.<\/p>\n
Even though many Christians will be celebrating Christ’s birth this weekend, some of them do not believe in Jesus’ resurrection. Take Germany for example. A representative survey conducted by the German news magazine FOCUS last Easter showed that 60 percent of the Germans surveyed do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Statistically some 65 percent of the German people are members of a Christian denomination.<\/p>\n
Those two percentages overlap and call to mind what the apostle Paul wrote about people in the end time: ". . . having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). Whoever denies the resurrection of Christ also denies the power of God!<\/p>\n
In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 14 Paul emphasized the importance of Jesus’ resurrection: "If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty." In this chapter Paul concentrates on a key aspect of his message, "that He [Jesus] rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (verse 4).<\/p>\n
How do we follow Paul’s example and preach the resurrected Christ today?<\/p>\n
Those who deny Jesus’ resurrection also do not believe in His promised return to the earth and the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth – God’s world government.<\/p>\n
We preach the return of Jesus Christ as part of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Like Paul some 2000 years ago, we, too, preach the resurrected Christ, because only a resurrected Christ is capable of returning to this earth!<\/p>\n
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14).<\/p>\n
With these thoughts I wish us all a rewarding Sabbath!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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