The Other 6 Days
As the church, we spend most of our thought, time and effort working towards our weekend gatherings; with the majority of our lives being lived outside of Sundays. The Other 6 Days Podcast is designed to help us be more intentional about the ways we can "show up" for the gospel the other 6 days of the week.
The Other 6 Days
Life, Death & Resurrection | The Other 6 Days | Episode 48
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Description:
Life, Death & Resurrection | The Other 6 Days | Episode 48
In this episode, we dive right into a conversation about the life, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ. Are these historical claims the greatest hoax or the greatest hope ever presented to humanity? We discuss why we celebrate Easter & why we believe we can have confidence in these claims and how these events should help shape the way we live each & every day.
SHOW NOTES & RESOURCES:
- Max Lucado | He Chose The Nails: What God did to Win Your Heart (https://a.co/d/9v5tQGC)
- Max Lucado | Six Hours One Friday: Living in the Power of the Cross (https://a.co/d/bWoTIXK)
- Timothy Keller - Hope in Times of Fear: The resurrection and the Meaning of Easter (https://a.co/d/aFqKLvt)
- N.T. Wright - The Resurrection of The Son of God (https://a.co/d/9Dw5HsU)
- Titus Kennedy | Excavating the Evidence for Jesus: The Archaeology and History of Christ and the Gospels (https://a.co/d/bUrsivw)
- Providing a historic basis for Christianity & evidence based perspective for the reliability of the Bible
- Dallas Willard - The Scandal of the Kingdom: How the Parables of Jesus Revolutionize Life with God (https://a.co/d/fOz5Lrm
For more information or to join the conversation, head over to https://southwestchurch.com/theother6days or email us at theother6days@southwestchurch.com
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Welcome and Greatest Sports Victories
Speaker 1Hey everyone , welcome back to another episode of the Other Six Days podcast , where we chat about life outside of Sundays and what it means to live from our gatherings , and not just for them . I'm your host , CJ McFadden , here again with Pastor Ricky Jenkins as we get ready to dive into some conversation about the life , death and resurrection of Jesus Christ . We'll be talking about why we celebrate Easter , why we can have confidence in the claims and how these events should shape the way we live each and every day . But first , Ricky , what's the greatest sports victory that you've ever experienced , either personally , a team or individually an individual you're rooting for ?
Speaker 2of the playoffs for the Pearl Pirates , my high school football team . It was 1994 fall and second round of the playoffs , mississippi State Championships . We were . It was Pearl against the Tupelo Golden Wave . They were top ranked , top 10 team . We were scragglers . They shouldn't have been in it but we were in it . They had a quarterback named Jarius Jackson who went to play for Notre Dame . He was so fast . The only time I touched him was to shake hands after the game . They had gone up a touchdown . We were way back fourth and whatever you know . They had to go for it with or a screen , fullback screen to the left for me . I catch it behind the line of scrimmage . Guy tackles at me Something . The Holy Spirit made me to turn as quick as I could to the left and scampered like 55 yards all the way in , didn't score the touchdown . They caught me after a while . But then we go for the go-ahead punch to win the second round of the playoffs . It was a big deal , my best sports moment in my life . That's awesome by far .
Speaker 1That felt good . Huh , yeah , I only had one , yeah .
Speaker 2So I didn't have any other sports moments Very memorable . What about ?
Speaker 1yours , yeah , actually mine is . So I have two Mine I was actually , you know this one with golf and playing .
Speaker 2I got a hole in one you've had in your life . I've had six .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , there's that . So there's that , yeah . So that was pretty exciting . But a par four yeah , it was a 260 , hit a three wood up , didn't see it go in . We're looking around and everyone's like it's in the hole . You know that I had made the hole-in-one with , so I wasn't so excited about making the hole-in-one . I took the ball , teed it up and then just hit it in the water and everyone was like you didn't just hit the hole-in-one ball in the water , did you ?
Speaker 2And I was like yeah , I think I did Well after hole-in-one .
Speaker 1it doesn't even matter what you do with the rest of your life , you got a hole-in , including our podcast listeners indeed um and then , uh , I also I think you would agree with me on this one pretty , pretty awesome moment 2019 .
Speaker 2Masters tiger was nothing better I I got chills , chills , chills , tears . Yeah , just it was everything .
Speaker 1Yeah , I've never felt like that at a sporting event , just watching it on tv even .
Speaker 2Yeah , like even watching football in the sports I actually watched consistently . I've never felt anything like that before in my life .
Speaker 1It was just such a . It was such a cool moment .
Speaker 2It was everybody's Cause . Remember , masters , that year was the weekend before Easter . Oh yeah , so that was everybody's illustration that following , I know it was my clothes so good , when he hugs his son after and this .
Speaker 1You know all the things that had . I had all the moments , so
Why Is Resurrection Such a Big Deal?
Speaker 1it was beautiful . Well , every year around Easter , we remember , reflect , consider and celebrate Jesus' life , death and resurrection . So how do each of these things define the totality of Jesus' ministry ? Let's just kind of jump right in .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah . So I think one of the questions we want is why is the resurrection such a big deal , right , and so Easter kind of presents to some . To some extent , for Christians today , the culmination and core of our faith and the reason for our belief is that event . If it's not for that event , what ?
Speaker 2are we doing , then , yeah , we can kind of put everything else to the side . But it's because of this truth that we say Paul said , man , if the resurrection hadn't happened , you Paul said , man , if the resurrection hadn't happened , you know , we are hopeless , let's go home . And so it just represents the totality of Jesus' ministry when we reflect upon the fact that in his life he was born of the Virgin Mary .
Speaker 2He is the son of God , jesus , performed miracles that validated that kingdom message . He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies okay , in his life , and still there's some that are being proven today . Okay , in his life , and still still there's some that are being proven today and he lived an absolute perfect , righteous life on our behalf that when we put our faith in him , the idea is that there's now what we call substitutionary atonement , meaning this that the death I deserved to die .
Speaker 2he has died on my behalf and I heard , I heard Paul say we are of all people Anyways but yeah , this is it right . This is the bargain . This is our Super Bowl that we celebrate because Jesus got up . It doesn't matter what in this life gets me down . I know how this game ends and it ends in victory , so yeah , yep , absolutely , and we talk about his .
Speaker 1You know his death also in this that you know he died as the ultimate sacrifice , like you said , to atone for human sin . His death also in this that you know , he died as the ultimate sacrifice , like you said , to atone for human sin . That's right . And uh , his sacrifice for us was the ultimate sign of the loving god you know what I mean that came uh , his , his eminence , to come here and to be with us and to uh sacrifice himself for us is just , you know , it's phenomenal .
Speaker 2Well , you know , so many uh caricatures surround god , especially from atheist , agnostics , false religions , that he's , this curmudgeon he is vindictive , he is mean . No , the story is actually that we he had every right to send us to hell , but he didn't . He sent his son to purchase redemption . For us , that's love and that's what we celebrate at Easter Absolutely .
Speaker 1And side note , as I was doing a study on this , I recently learned that there's not a definitive reason for why we refer to Resurrection Sunday as Easter . I was kind of doing some digging on that , you know , looking at some historical kind of facts and stuff . And it was just super interesting . I'd never really dug into that . I was like wait , why is it called Easter ?
Speaker 2Well , it's interesting , too right , I think . Everything before Christ , the deep , dark secrets , died in Alexander the Great's library .
Speaker 1So the Library of Alexandria .
Speaker 2Right , and I think the secrets that we have now are somewhere in the Vatican .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , that's true , which I don't think we'll get to look at until Jesus comes back , I know . But either way , in digging through the history of it we talk about , when we talk about all of its connections with you know , potentially you know some uh worship of , you know pagan God and all that stuff , regardless of the language or etymology , it doesn't detract from the fact that Christ
Faith Based on Who We Know
Speaker 1has risen and God's promise of eternal life has been made available to us , right , yeah ?
Speaker 2I mean , you know , we , we can . Sometimes , that's the beauty of the Christian faith , cj , is that so many other religions , really all of other religions , are religious , and what I mean by that is it's this rule , it's this piece of history you have to know . It is this tradition , it is this way , not that way . It is this school of thought , not that school of thought . It seems to become just this complexity surrounding all of what has been codified in history by this thinker , by this teacher , by this prophet and all that good stuff .
Speaker 2Now , sure , the Christian faith employs all of those things . We got prophets , we got texts , we got traditions , all that good stuff . But at the end of the day , our faith is not based on what we know . Our faith is based on who we know , yeah , and what he has done on our behalf . And so Christianity , when we come around this central event that is the resurrection , it's our audacious testimony that none of what we do and none of who we are and none of how God accepts us has anything to do with a date or a tradition or a codification of text or thoughts . All that's good and helps us , but the reason why we get to go to heaven is because we put our faith in this Jesus , who died for our sins and rose again on the third day . That's it we sit on the resurrection .
Speaker 1That's why we exist , amen . Well , we know that some of the events around Jesus' resurrection actually most of them are probably one of ancient history's most carefully scrutinized events , but also well-attested
Examining Historical Evidence for Resurrection
Speaker 1. Is it the biggest hoax ever or the hope of all ?
Speaker 2humanity . Yeah , I love that question , right , because it's got to be one or the other , one or the other , right , there's no middle ground . There are some that will say , well , jesus was a good person and a prophet , and all that kind of stuff Jesus was a good person and a prophet , and all that kind of stuff . And Christian Christians we say no , no , no , no , no . Cs Lewis said this way he is either liar , lunatic or Lord it is . You have to make a choice . He presents those , that evidence before you . So there's critics , right , that say that , okay , crucifixion , scientific , no one can raise from the dead . Um , there's a text called the gospel of barnabas , right , that says it was judas iscariot who died on the cross in place of jesus because of his betrayal , right ? Yeah ? Um , there's people who say that the disciple stole his body to make it up and that he was never really dead , he just kind of passed out on the cross and then lived out his years and married mary magdalene right .
Speaker 2So there's all this stuff out there . And here's the problem with all that stuff None of that stuff has ever been proven , none of it has any significant evidence that even atheistic scholars don't espouse to Right .
Speaker 2So at the end of the day , the evidence I would say CJ screams at us that Jesus was alive and lived , that he literally did die and was crucified by Pontius Pilate , but that apparently , dozens and dozens and dozens , to the tune of hundreds of people , say he resurrected from the dead . And if it is a hoax , I'm not sure I would make up that hoax if I'm Peter James and John , right , because if that's your hoax , then I'm saying I'm going to put the whole stakes of the rest of my life on a lie that's going to get me murdered and dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of martyrs live the rest of their days saying Jesus Christ is Lord , he got up from the dead and they didn't mind being murdered for it . So I think they believed that this was real . And here's the thing If it's not real , why get murdered for it ? Exactly , it just doesn't make any sense , right , yeah ? And so again in the scripture speaks to how he was . You know , appear to 500 witnesses , 10 separate appearances in the post resurrection of Jesus , 40 days . He appeared to 500 people . And then there's the textual evidence , when we think about original manuscripts .
Speaker 2So there'll be people who will argue against the fact that prove that Jesus exists . Well , you know what ? I can't prove that Jesus existed . I can't prove that he died . I can't prove that he rose on the cross . I can't prove it . I cannot give you empirical , undeniable , logical , visual proof that this happened . But I can't give you evidence and people say , well , see , there you go . You can't give me proof , you can't prove George Washington lived . Go prove George Washington , prove it . There's books . Jesus got books . Yeah , but there's people that saw Jesus . There's people that saw Jesus , yeah , but we have a whole city named Washington DC . You know how many people named Jesus ?
Speaker 2So it's like the argument falls apart because we don't look at things we put our trust in and faith in and reliance on on the count of proof . We do it on the count of evidence , right , and so people , you know you got to watch your logic because people will say , well , it's not scientific , it's not scientific . It's just like , okay , well , are you going to go out and get in your car and expect to get to the other place ? Yeah , but I do that all the time . Well , but you don't have any assurance . You've just trusted , historically , that when you drive it's going to get you to where you're supposed to be . So it's all history , it's all evidence , it's not proof . So , anyways , I'm not passionate about this stuff , but , at the end of the day , evidence screams at it , and one of them is textual evidence , right .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Can I read some of these stats that we've worked up here ? Cj . That's really cool , absolutely so when you hear text , think original manuscripts that bear witness . In other words , someone in history wrote this down and we've preserved it to this day . It is one of the crucial ultimate determiners of historical fact for scholars over the course of millennia .
Speaker 1OK , it's not just a .
Speaker 2Christian thing . It's everywhere . Alexander the Great , ok , has only two original biographical accounts of his life . Meaning , this guy we talk about all the time , who Hellenized the world . There's only two sheets of paper that said he existed . Okay , about a thousand times more manuscripts preserve the deeds , the teachings , the witness of Jesus Christ in the New Testament . There's 25,000 total . Okay , there's more . There's a thousand times more about Jesus than there are preserved for any other classical , ancient works of historic figures who lived at approximately the same time . Okay , so at the end of the day , the closest one is Homer , whose Iliad is backed by 1800 manuscripts . I looked this up to Socrates , the great philosopher , cj . How many original manuscripts of Socrates do we have , who is virtually untested , unquestioned as to whether or not he existed ? How many manuscripts do you think we have ? We have zero . His pupil , aristotle had 49 . Yep Plato had 250 . Jesus had 25,000 .
Speaker 1Wow . So like , anyways , get out of my face with that . Yeah , I love what you said because I'd say that's sufficient evidence right there , potentially , Especially because you don't have empirical proof or definitive proof that when you go driving somewhere , like you said , that you're going to get to where you're going . But you have sufficient evidence based off of previous experiences that's right which we have eyewitness accounts in over 25,000 . That's right , you know it's just it's , it's right there for you .
Speaker 2That's right , that's right Well you and then you kind of dissect . I don't want to run down too many rabbit trails , but um , you think about the fact that in most Jewish traditions , right , they are not taught psalm 122 that speaks of , or psalm 119 yeah , that speaks of jesus . It's not included in their catechisms , isaiah 53 , where isaiah speaks of the suffering servant yeah as the messiah .
Speaker 2It's not included in their catechisms . Right Like Jewish , people grow up having the most obvious witnesses as to the coming of the Messiah and Jesus Christ and what he would be like they're not even taught it .
Speaker 2You know why ? Because they know that if you hear that and look at Jesus's life , there's a match there , right ? Micah ? For example , 800 years before Jesus , micah predicts that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem , which at the time was a piss poor town . I don't think I'm supposed to say that podcast . And 800 years later , was still that Right ? How can a guy , eight centuries before it happens , predict the hometown ? So think about that . It's 2025 . Yeah , and imagine someone , someone in the year 1225 . Yeah , saying there will be a guy named CJ . Yeah , he will be an online pastor . He will be born in the Coachella Valley .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2By the way , that doesn't exist yet . Right yeah , people would have said give that guy a billion dollars and let him run the world . Mike , that's just one promise surrounding Jesus' life . The Bible is filled with dozens of those . It has to be a God , or else this is too good for someone to make up , and that's why we put our faith
How Resurrection Shapes Our Daily Lives
Speaker 2in him .
Speaker 1Wow , yeah , that's so powerful , oh man . Well , with all of that evidence and what we've seen there and what we've talked about , how should these events then shape the way that we live out our lives each and every day ?
Speaker 2Man . First Corinthians 15 is the gospel chapter , and Paul says and if Christ has not been raised , your faith is futile and you are still in your sins , then those also have fallen asleep in Christ , have perished . If in Christ we have hope in this life only , we are of all people most to be pitied . So if this thing didn't happen , if Jesus wasn't real , or if he was real and was just a man and did not die and get up again , then , all of us are liars .
Speaker 2Paul is saying and we have no reason to have hope . Paul says put up the go go , fit gone fishing sign and do whatever you want to do . But verse 20 screams at us but in fact , christ has . Glory to Jesus . In fact , christ has been raised from the dead , the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep . Which means this , cj . It means that this life is not the end . It means that no matter what happens in this life , there's a glory on the other side of it If I've put my trust and faith in Jesus . It means that my death is not the end for me , it is the beginning . It means , when the doctor was concerned , I had liver cancer two months ago that had that been god's will for me to suffer with liver cancer and died , I still would have woke up in heaven . It means everything .
Speaker 2It means especially in this moment we live in , where it's such a divided world and the geopolitical landscape is changing before our very eyes and there's talk of world war three and all of that stuff is real , but it still means , even if that happens , that's not the end for us . Glory to god . He has accomplished all things and consummated the kingdom through the death , burial and resurrection of his sons . Of his son we have Amen , that's what that means .
Speaker 1Wow , I love that . Yeah , his life should give us , give our lives confidence , right Amen . And his death shows us love and his resurrection gives us hope beyond this life . Amen and so ultimately , we can see victory in all things , because Christ had victory over everything . That's it , that's it .
Speaker 2Such a beautiful thing . His victory makes this broken , chaotic , insane world . Things make more sense . It's so broken that only a savior's blood shed for us on Calvary could redeem it and restore it . And here's the good news about the resurrection . That ain't even the end of the ballgame .
Speaker 2You know , one of these days , this same Jesus Remember when he ascended Yep , and the scripture says that the disciples were looking up in the sky after him this same Jesus , remember when he ascended Yep and the scripture says that the disciples were looking up in the sky after him , and there were two angels there who said you , men of Galilee , why do you stand here gazing ? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you is coming back in like manner . And we , as brothers and sisters in Christ , anticipate the day Just before , I think , when I interpret eschat , the day just before , I think , when I interpret eschatology , just before we blow the place up . He shall come again and the scriptures say when he comes , it's not going to be suffering servant , it's going to be a ruling , conquering king .
Speaker 2John said I see him on a white horse and he's got a tattoo on his thigh and he's got a dagger on his thigh and he's got a dagger in his mouth . My point is this while there's time , accept this Jesus . While you can bow out of your own volition , do it now , before you bow out of his commandment . So I just I want to urge us to accept him as our Lord and savior .
Speaker 1I don't know where that was going , but I kind of you know , wanted to say that , yeah , it was good In the meantime to get busy for us who put our trust and faith in God .
Speaker 2That's right .
Speaker 1You know we've been called if he's coming back and ultimate victory , we've got . We've got things to do . We've been called to some things , so that's right , amen .
Recommended Resources and Closing Thoughts
Speaker 2Amen . There's about 20,000 college students who have gotten saved in the last four to five months in college campuses around America .
Speaker 2Oh wow , there's a last days revival perhaps happening in America . There's one happening in Africa , there's one there's . There's things happening on every continent . We're seeing our church grow upwards of 20 percent this year . Yeah , in a short amount of time , people are hungry . Bible sales are up in this country Twenty two percent Because I think everybody , in a short amount of time , people are hungry . Bible sales are up in this country , 22% , because I think everybody has woken up to the fact that the world don't work and I need something better , and I bear witness that that better , that something better , is a someone .
Speaker 2His name is Jesus and accept him as your Lord , amen .
Speaker 1wow . Well , as always , guys , we hope that our conversations are engaging , but we want to provide people , too , with helpful resources . So , ricky , what are some things that we'd like to point people to that they might find helpful ?
Speaker 2I love some of these books that you have included . They'll be in the show notes , folks . Max Licato the great one wrote he Chose the Nails what God Did to Win your Heart . There's a coupled book of Max Licato's , max Lakatos , called six hours one Friday . That is just a wonderful devotion about the good news of what Jesus had done for us . Timothy Keller , reverend Tim Keller , hope in times of fear . The resurrection and the meaning of Easter . Nt Wright , the resurrection of the son of God very exhaustive work . Titus Kennedy , uh , excavating the evidence for Jesus . And Dallas Willard the great one , the scandal of the kingdom . There's a Episcopalian priest who's evangelical in her soteriology and bibliology and I can't think of her name , but she wrote a wonderful book .
Speaker 1What is her name .
Speaker 2Anyway , she has a wonderful book on the resurrection and we'll find that and put that in the notes too . I strongly encourage that . Some good stuff . Yeah , we'll include all book on the resurrection and we'll find that and put that in the notes . So I strongly encourage that Some good stuff .
Speaker 1Yeah , we'll include all that in the show notes for you guys , so be sure to check those out . And then , as always , guys , we want your questions , comments and feedback here at the other six days . So leave a comment on YouTube or , if you're just listening , you can email us at the other six days at Southwest Church dot com . That's the number six .
Speaker 1We love getting your questions and just hearing what you guys have to say and , you know , just encouraging us , even in topics and things like that . So , ricky , any last comments or thoughts before we wrap this thing up . He is risen . He is risen indeed , amen . There you have it , guys . Well , thanks for joining us again on another episode of the Other Six Days . Be sure to hit that subscribe , follow , share and like , spread the word and , as always , take what you've heard .