This week we come to one of my favorite things to talk about, the bodily Resurrection of Jesus and the future bodily resurrection of all believers.  What an awesome doctrine!  I think this doctrine also lends itself, perhaps more than any other, to very practical orthopraxy (right living, doing, practice).  We’ll spend some time building the doctrine of the Resurrection from the Scriptures, but I plan on spending most of our time on how the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead has extremely practical applications for every single moment of a believer’s life.

In preparation, it would be a great idea to re-read the gospel account/s of Jesus’ resurrection.  The other primary passage we’ll look to in building this doctrine is I Cor. 15.  We probably won’t read the whole chapter in class on Sunday, but it’s amazing and it would be worth your time to read it.  The main passage we’ll look at with regards to the orthopraxy that flows from this orthodoxy is from Romans 6.  Again, we’ll probably focus on vs. 1-14, but this is also a completely amazing chapter and would be well worth the read.  The Bible is extremely clear that just as Jesus died to sin and was raised to live a life to God, we are to do the same thing.  The Resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us the power and the motivation to stop sinning.  Fight sin with the Word of God.  When temptations come, set your mind on Jesus and on specific verses.  Bethlehem Baptist church has a list of their weekly “fighter verses” for 5 years.  What a great way to fight sin and live in the reality of the Resurrection!

As you read and think about this, I’d urge you to consider the following questions:

• Do you have any problems swallowing the idea that Jesus actually rose bodily from the dead?
• Why do people have a hang-up with this doctrine?
• How does this event that happened over 2000 years ago actually have impact on every moment of every day?

My notes are available here.