Talk

How to Share the Gospel

Ben Stuart

March 3, 2024

Join us as Ben Stuart uncovers the power of the resurrection. If the resurrection never happened, then nothing that we are doing matters. But if it did, then it changes everything and becomes the basis of our being.

Key Takeaway

We want to be a people who live a supernatural life, but the only way to do that is to recognize that our whole life is based on supernatural events. The resurrection is what proves everything that Jesus came to do, to turn God's wrath from us and to take on our sin, was accomplished, and because of that, we have hope for the future and the Holy Spirit in us now.

If we want to know how to live a supernatural life, we need to know what makes life supernatural.

If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then our entire lives and future are in vain. According to 1 Corinthians 15:4-6, we should be pitied. However, the whole substance of an unshakable life is around the reality of our lives rests on the resurrection. And it's true. Jesus Christ died, was buried, and was raised.

There is power in what God has done to you through His resurrection. Without the resurrection, you can live a decent, principled, and disciplined life, but the prayer is that you live a supernatural life.

What is God?

He's love. John 4:8

Truth. John 17:17

Life, "Fons divinitatis", the "Divine fountainhead", Psalms 24:1, Colossians 1:15-16

Purpose. Romans 11:36

Who are we?

Made in the image of God. Genesis 1:27

Created to love God. Mark 12:30

What's wrong with us?

Romans 1:21, our foolish hearts went dark. Something broke in us when we broke faith in God. We are beautiful but broken.

Romans 3:23, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Sin means we're not hitting the mark.

We know there is good about us, but we're not what we are meant to be.

Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death.

A wage is a payment. When we broke intimacy with the Author of Life, the payment was that we do not get life.

Death is when we don't get to be in the realm of enjoyment of His personality.

What is the good news?

John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Into our chaos, God sent His Son

John 1:1-14, Hebrews 2:14-15, 4:15

Jesus wasn't just sent to us; He lived like us and as us. He never sinned even though He was tempted.

2 Corinthians 5:21, for our sake He made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 5:8, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus made a way for us to be in right relationship with God.

How do we know what God did was enough? How do we know that His payment was sufficient?

Jesus said He is the resurrection and the Life. John 11:25

None of it matters if Jesus didn't rise from the dead. But the stone was rolled away! It's the resurrection that proves to us that if death was not the end for Him, then death is not the end for me.

For it is by grace we were saved through faith, it is a gift of God, not of works so no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Grace- kindness you don't deserve.

Saved- He got us out of a mess we couldn't get out of ourselves.

Faith- the empty hand, I can't solve this, but I believe you can.

Gift- the opposite of a wage.

We're still a mess of sin, but we've been marked by the seal of the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing what is to come. Ephesians 1:13. He who began a good work in you will complete it. Philippians 1:6

What do you do with the Son?

1 John 5:11-13, if you have the Son, you have life. The reverse is true. So where are you in this process? What are you doing with Jesus? Anyone can claim to be anything, but when they back it up, you have to take them seriously. No one changed history more than Jesus.

God has made a way. Are you willing to go on the journey to cross it? There's no greater gift we could give you than to offer life in His name.

“

"None of it matters if Jesus didn't rise from the dead. But the stone was rolled away! It's the resurrection that proves to us that if death was not the end for Him, then death is not the end for me."

”

Ben Stuart

Discussion Questions

As we start this collection, what is your understanding of a supernatural life?
What does 1 Corinthians 15:4-6 say about us in our spiritual state?
What are some of the attributes of God that come to mind first when you think of Him?
Who are you? See Genesis 1:27 and Mark 12:30.
Sin is our problem and has separated us from God. What was the simple definition of sin that Ben gave?
What are the wages, or payment, for sin? See Romans 6:23.
What is the good news for us? See John 1:1-14, 3:16, Hebrews 2:14-15, 4:15.
How do we know that Jesus' payment for us was sufficient? Why is it all hinged on His resurrection?
According to Ephesians 2:8-9, how are we saved?
Who is Jesus to you in your life personally? What does He promise you? See 1 John 5:11-13.

Scripture References

13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

18I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength

20he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

9not by works, so that no one can boast.

8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2He was with God in the beginning.

3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.

8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

25Jesus said to her,

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

36For from him and through him and for him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.

14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—

15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Ben Stuart

Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.