Evidence for the Resurrection and why the resurrection is so important to Christianity - Easter 2020

yeah well I think babe let's try again shall we let me bring you on screen and yeah I'm gonna let you go again let's do it again weapons so the first time was a rehearsal we're alright we're okay okay hi everyone and welcome to our frontline city Easter service you're very welcome whether you're part of the family already or whether you're connecting with us for the first time whether you're watching live or on the recording so I hope you and your families are well after this third week in lockdown so today it's Easter Sunday it's the most significant day in the Christian calendar the day when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and in a bit my lovely hubby Matt we'll be talking about evidence for the resurrection and why the resurrection is important in the first place we'll also be hearing from different people as to what Easter means for them and if you've got any comments or questions or prayer requests do post them in the comment section and it's great to have that interaction so it first of all I just want you to share a couple of verses with you that have meant loads to me over the years especially when I've questioned if God cares these verses are a real powerful reminder that God has gone to extraordinary lengths to demonstrate his love and care so finally my Bible which I had open on there at rehearsal but not now okay they're from Romans 8 verses 31 to 32 and they say what then shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things fabulous verses and let's pray together as we begin so long as I pray for all of us connecting to this service today let's have a deep revelation of your love help us to hear your voice today speaking into all the areas that worry and trouble us fill us with your peace and your joy helped us to see beyond our current circumstances to your bigger plan and purpose help us to share your love in your message with others oh man okay so either last week or the week before we talked about the possibility of doing alpha online well I'm glad to say I can tell you now we're actually going to be starting that this Friday and here is a short video the explaining what alpha is over to you every day we are so many questions what should I wear what's the weather going to be like how am I going to fit everything in but then there are those bigger questions like why am I here suppose like this I had arrived at an answer to the most important issue that we humans ever deal is their knowledge and I had arrived there without ever really looking at the evidence I was supposed to be a scientist [Applause] at 28 I had gotten many of the things that I thought I wanted my girlfriend was on the cover of magazines I had a Beemer and I was so unhappy it was a realization maybe that I would never find happiness where I was looking for I think for so many years you know I always just strive to be strong in myself all I needed was me and my buddies and you know would be like invincible but the truth is none of us are some purposes how many I found hope God took something so broken and made it a beautiful art piece Alfa is a place where you can be yourself you can say what you think and challenge everything no question is too complex or too simple and what your point of view is is as important as anyone elses we are going on a journey together and adventure to explore the questions of life thanks you it's in my volume you can hear me what a great video that is a cheese feel super inspired watching it if you've not done alpha if you don't know what alpha is all about then I would encourage you to join on Friday nights we're gonna be doing it online at 7:30 I will post in the comments when the comments actually start working on my computer I will post in the comments how you can register for the Alpha but it is a great place to explore the Christian faith and to ask all of those questions about life and meaning and all of those kind of things really really excited about Alpha great to be hosting it if you want to come along and join in it will be great to see you there no doubt about it so thank you for everybody let me know that we're actually loving Facebook thank you for your comments I'm sorry I can't for some reason today put them up on screen and I use a piece of software which is normally super reliable and today it's broken down on many occasions so I'm just grateful that we're actually streaming so if the comments are possible to put on screen I will put them on there and I will be responding to them so but before I do that I've asked a few people from frontline city to just send me some videos saying you know what Easter means for them so I'm just going to play you some others because it's Easter let's let's join in and celebrate with each other and let's start off with a because Abbey was the first person to the video world and a big brownie points to you go Abbey now to me is the most important and the most amazing day of the year because it's the day that we remember the most important moment in history and it's also because of Easter that we can live in true life and true freedom today you know we don't have to wait until heaven until with Jesus to experience that life but because of Easter because of Jesus rising again we can live in that life and that freedom today be words they're from a boa Thank You Abby for that and here's here's what Dianna what does Easter mean to me well I think up to the ages of about fourteen it was all to do with having roast dinners and a little bit Jesus maybe and a lot of chocolates and but I think definitely in my mid-twenties I've realized that it's actually a lot more not only is about obviously having an intimate relationship with God and like everything that Jesus did for us when he came down to earth but I think especially in times like this it's I think it's really important to remember that no matter where we are no matter what situation we're in and who were isolating with that it's I think I found this year that it's a lot stupid unity and the fact that it's bringing people together and it's reminding us that you know we do all have one God and it's just a great time to to share experiences and the gospel with each other are they fantastic and it's great to be celebrating and sharing Easter with you happy Easter everybody I hope you're having a good Easter I'm just replying to some of the comments now hi Abby hey Matt how you doing sorry we were a bit late Matt really really sorry Happy Easter Langston family I'm gonna play your videos in just a second don't go anywhere you'll you'll live the Langston's videos about what used to mean to them it's great to see them so what else have we got Matt's put here alpha changes lives yes it does so join alpha come along and join the alfred be great to see you lovely to see you all thanks for comments and keep your comments coming we love it when you comment will I love it when you come Excel of the interactiveness of it in a screen that would be great how is your Easter going I hope you've you've had a good day so far is your Easter going well give me a thumbs up if it has gone well and you know what you've enjoyed about Easter and why we're doing that why you just write in some of the things did you get any chocolate write down your favorite peach chocolate in the comments let's listen to what Josiah Langston likes about Easter love this video come on the holiday having planned Ganga so you pull it out and just relaxing Easter means to me last of lots of things like when lambs are born like when lambs are born and when we get like Jesus giving us a new knife and also means to me having holiday with a family and friends and having a good time when Jesus died for us and gave us a new life it also means happiness having a holiday meeting up with family and friends and fun Easter for me is about remembering that actually we've been given a whole new start and that Jesus when he died for us he made it so that we can have a relationship with God and for me that's the most exciting and interesting thing about Easter Easter to me means hope and it means remembering that that when even when things seem bleak and it seems like things have gone wrong to remember to choose hope because of the story of Easter where Jesus rose again on Easter Sunday our Easter is about hope and it's good to remember hope and be hopeful if there's one thing Easter does is it just gives you hope hope of new life hope of stuff changing thanks everybody for your videos I love them I love watching them I've seen them about three or four times now and they just get better as I watch them so thank you for doing that taking the time to send those in what does Easter mean to you if you've not done a video just write it in the comments what does Easter mean to you it's just such a fantastic time of the year isn't it and for Christians it is actually well the best day of the year and there's a number of reasons why we say that okay there's a number of reasons why we think Easter is the best time of the year and we are going to get into that in today's talk in today's topic which is great I'm just rearranging my desk here so with all the new bits of tech flying around so I can actually see the comments as you write them which is great Matt's does put his songs of praise was awesome brilliant I've not seen songs of praise in years actually I should definitely catch catch up with that you know what was great on the front line feed this morning was actually having worship and we are figuring out how we can do that on this feed over the next few weeks it will come let's keep our eyes open for that but in the meantime shall we get into it shall we get into today's conversation Easter conversation all about the resurrection and why is the resurrection so important to the Christian faith and what evidence if any is there of the Christian resurrection story what what have we got going on there and I want to get into that a little bit today because for me resurrection is so so cool and it's such a wonderful thing to talk about and so I really really want to get into that today so let's jump straight on in now and to answer these questions why is the resurrection so important is there any evidence to support it at all or is it basically a fairy tale cooked up by Christians there's lestat about two thousand years I want to join a conversation that takes place between Jesus and the Jewish leaders of the time right and we're going to pick up the story sort of partway through the conversation the Gospel of John now the Jewish leaders at the time just give me a bit of backdrop they were people who couldn't define Jesus they just couldn't they couldn't get him they couldn't understand him they couldn't they couldn't get the popularity they couldn't just they couldn't explain the miracles that he was doing and they definitely definitely didn't like him and they didn't like him because he didn't fit their worldview in fact he changed their worldview and they definitely definitely did not like that I mean none of us liked it when our own worldview was challenged and Jesus was doing that in bigstar let me tell you and so they were looking for reasons to explain Jesus to people to explain who he was why he was the way was to sort of explain away as much of it as they could do and so this is what they came up with if this works now let me put this slide there we go that's fantastic it worked so some of the Jewish leaders shouted is in John chapter 8 you're nothing but a demon-possessed Samaritan oh my goodness let me tell you this is not what you would call a compliment right there are some very choice words going on here if you understand at the time Samaritan was and was not a good name it was it was you know it was a big insult let's just put it that way but notice they also kind of thought that was an element of supernatural about Jesus and what Jesus was doing because they called him demon-possessed in the words we can't explain it therefore it's the devil doing it it's definitely not from God and so jesus answered with this he goes I am NOT possessed by demons and Jesus I speak to you this eternal truth whoever cherishes my words and keeps them will never experience death I was kind of a funky thing to say isn't it and so the conversation goes on like this why are you not let me just try and explain why the scripture is not coming up on the screen that's a good question I don't actually know I do hang on if in it's usually a full-stop or a comma that's what they'll tell you let's try that again so there we go so this prompted the jewish leaders to say now we know for sure that you are demon-possessed you just said that those who keep watch over your words will never experience death but Abraham and all the prophets have died do you think you are greater than Abraham and all of the prophets you are so delusional about yourself that you make yourself greater than you are I mean this is quite strong language isn't it really you are so delusional about yourself though you think you're greater than you are now before we carry on with the rest of this story I just want to take a little pause and a little detour and I want to talk about this idea of bias or worldview or presupposition is a posh word isn't it and because it's important to get our heads around that at this this particular point now when you think about say a court of law and you appoint the jury to listen to the evidence that is presented to the court the jury then has to make a decision right guilty not guilty in favor not in favor whatever the decision is right but they have to listen to the evidence and the thing about every single person is we have a bias we have a world view we have beliefs that we hold dear that's gonna it's gonna sort of interpret help where it's going to cause us to interpret evidence in a certain way right so one of the questions you've got to ask yourself is it if you're ever put on jury duty and one of the questions the court should ask you if you have applied your duty is can you set aside your bias and just be fair in the assessment of the evidence of the case right can you can you put the bias aside so for example there is something called philosophical naturalism it's push push phrases and let me bring it up here philosophical naturalism is the presupposition of belief that only natural laws and forces operate in the world and that nothing exists beyond the natural realm in other words if I was as translate this to you basically I don't believe that anything supernatural can happen or occur and so therefore any evidence that I interpret or any evidence that I see is going to be interpreted in this view that actually nothing supernatural can avert okay now we're today talking about the resurrection right and evidence for it and why is it so important and the thing about the resurrection is by definition it is a supernatural event so if you are inclined to think that there is no supernatural and the supernatural can't happen you're going to really struggle with this conversation around the resurrection and so just like we asked the jurors can you set aside your bias and be fair in the assessment of the evidence as we talk about it as we go through it and just don't be you know don't shut yourself down from it because it's just not going to help you right so we saw this with the Jews here that basically you know they were well let me bring the slide back up here and we'll see it number five so the Jewish leaders said now we know for sure that your demon-possessed in other words you have disproven to me my theory is correct in other words when we looked at the evidence I had an idea and I'm now looking for stuff to support that my idea is true in other words I am leading the evidence rather than going where the evidence leads and it causes a lot of problems right and this is what's going on here and so they say now we know for sure that you are demon-possessed you just said that those who keep in watch over your wards will never experience death but Abraham and all the prophets of it I've died do you think you are greater you are delusional right it goes on to say that and so Jesus's response here is well it's extraordinary let's crack on shall we jesus answered them Abraham your ancestor was overjoyed when he received the revelation of my coming to earth yes he foresaw me coming and was filled with delight hmm things of Mexico this is an interesting answer and so the Jewish leaders then respond what are you talking about you are not even 50 years old and yet you talk like you have seen Abraham now they're starting to just like think he's not only delusional but slightly nuts right and so Jesus responds with this jesus said to them I give you this eternal truth I have existed long before Abraham was born or I am when they heard this they picked up rocks to stone him but Jesus concealed himself as he passed through the crowd and went away from there and it's this phrase I am where this conversation now has turned quite dramatically on its head and it's now gonna get very very sticky and I'll explain to you why it is because when you when you talk about when Jesus uses this phrase I am it's that it's the name that God used to describe himself when he was talking with Moses and it's the word that we get Jehovah from or Yahweh and it was considered such a holy name that people would wouldn't even fully write it out because it was too holy they would only write out a few letters at a time and so when Jesus says I am it's not a grammatical error in this scriptures there he's actually saying I am God I am using I am Jehovah I am Yahweh I am God and this is why the Jewish leaders pick up the stones and they're just kind of like right that's it you're toast mate we are going to end your life right now and because they couldn't cope with this right but this statement changes absolutely everything and for us as Christians it changes everything and I want to get into why it does but before I do because the comments aren't coming up on my screen I'm just going to stop and see how we're getting on with the comments here songs of praises awesome Easter usually means family and hot cross buns that's very true you're a legend Matt you are a legend Matt Josh is watching as well hi Josh great thanks for all your comments about what used to means for you and hot cross buns but I I can't eat them because I can't eat carbs at the moment but that's another story anyway so this changes everything right we want to know why it changes everything so let me pull up four things that I think could be going on here right number one Jesus is telling the truth number two he's a lunatic number three he's a liar Oh number four he's a good man right and this is often how people interpret this idea of Jesus and who Jesus is and so number one the number you know one of abilities here is actually Jesus is telling the truth that actually he is God which would be the Christian worldview right and we're going to get into that in a little bit more but what happens like when I wasn't a Christian and I was you know I was on the journey myself looking to understand whether this was actually true or not and you would come across phrases like I am God well what are the alternative X beliefs here we could say well he was a lunatic in other words he was you know deranged and he had mental health issues and something was not quite right you know now the trouble with that theory is of course it well when you look at the rest of his life I just don't see I don't see that in action if that makes sense but you could argue he was a lunatic you could say that Jesus was a liar so when he said I am God he was actually lying through his teeth right he was just our an outlying he knew it wasn't true but he was making the claim anyway now the issue here is of course Jesus has been the standard for truth and justice and social equality for the last 2,000 years this becomes a fundamental problem for society as a whole if it's all based on basically a conman right I mean geez number four often what people say here is he is a good man and this is perhaps the one I struggle with the most and struggled with the most actually when I was searching and I'll tell you the reason why I think it's you can look at claims that Jesus made like I am God and go what he's a nutter or he's just lying he's just you know bonkers or out of it I don't think you can look at claims like that and go oh he's a good man he's a holy man he you know he went around doing good and being nice to people and had these no no he's either a liar a lunatic or he's actually telling the truth Jeremy and I really struggled with this middle ground I don't think scripture gives us any place for this middle ground and so I don't I don't think that can be a possible one and so what's this got to do was this claim that I'm God got to do with anything and why is it so important and when we're talking about Resurrection and Easter Sunday and all of this sort of stuff so if I said to you for example I want to I can just oh here we go no so I if I said to you I am God in human form now apart from the hilarity and banter and absolute Mik take that would pursue from my children's lips and which would probably be fair enough you would quite rightly be able to say to me why you think you're God awesome go ahead prove it how are you going to prove that right so if Jesus is walking around saying well I am God well people at the time are going to say well prove it and they did and said you said well look at the miracles that I do they're awesome but one of the things that Jesus did do a lot in the Gospels was he predicted his death he predicted his burial and he predicted his resurrection and he talks about this a lot of times right and he and it's like this is the ultimate evidence that he claims who he who he is because he has been the power over death and he God has a pair of a deaf because it's like the ultimate supernatural thing that we know about and so it's like it proves who he was now the Apostle Paul who was one of the early church leaders at the time he said this about the resurrection well if I bring it onto the screen if there's no resurrection there's no living Christ and face it if there's no resurrection for Christ everything we've told you is smoke and mirrors and everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors not only that but we would be guilty of telling a string of bare-faced lies about God all these after David's we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ sheer fabrications if if there is no resurrection so if there's no resurrection me as a Christian and my whole my whole Christian faith is based on smokes and smoke and mirrors and the word is based on nothing really and is just there's nothing to it is there so if there's no Christian resurrection there's no there's no proof that Jesus said who he was and there therefore he's not the Living Christ and therefore he's not actually God and therefore the whole Christian faith becomes null and void and you know my whole faith is based on the idea that Jesus is a loon tick or a lion and so this is why the resurrections really important to the Christian face right because it proves if it happens it proves who Jesus was and it proves what Jesus said about himself is actually true and that changes everything and that was my conclusion if it's true it changes absolutely everything so let's start with what is called the known facts of the case when we're talking about the evidence for the resurrection okay what are the known facts now obviously I have a bias a presupposition or a worldview in this area so what we did was we looked at the facts that actually most people atheist and everybody alike would say are true about the resurrection about the resurrection about the Christian faith about Jesus right so four key facts that everyone agrees on that Jesus actually lived and died on a cross there is so much historical data and proof that this actually happened everyone accepts it as a fact and it's like one guy said it's not really a question of whether Jesus actually lived and died it's more a question of whether Jesus actually died and then lived I thought that was a clever workaround there the second key fact is the tomb was actually empty we can we can we can have that that's true the third key fact was witnesses claimed they saw the risen Christ in fact over five there's over 500 eyewitness accounts of the risen Christ that we know about the fourth thing that we know is actually the witnesses take the disciples for example there was a certain transformation in their lives right I mean suddenly within like a matter of days their everything had totally changed for them and they've gone from being afraid of their for their lives and hiding and timid and in fear to being out on the streets bold healing people in the name of Christ and thousands and thousands of people were given their lives to Christ every day I mean it was just nuts what was going on right and so there was this sudden transformation of the disciples but so what I mean they're you know they're four great facts but it doesn't mean there was a resurrection and they can be explained in a number of different ways right so let's look at some of the most popular explanations for these key things right let's bring those on four key possibilities number one the disciples stole the body we're going to get into that number two the jewish or roman authorities stole the body number three Jesus didn't really die on the cross number four I think is good to actually hold as a possibility that actually Jesus did actually rise from the dead as he said he would and has two billion people on the planet thing actually happened right so let's hold that is a possibility there are obviously more but I'm aware of time and it's limited and so we're going to get into these for now when we talk about these possibilities and I think it's it's important to ask ourselves what one key question not is this possible because when I was searching and looking at the evidence for Christ I read a book called evidence demands a verdict by Josh McDowell which was very very helpful for me and I'm gonna give you a few books at the end that you can read if you want to know more about this topic but I read that Birkenau because I was thinking we know the resurrection could be explained in a number of different ways and I did think well maybe the disciples store the body that could be one of the possibilities say what Siri can disclose off me and and so it was a possibility right but it's got to be more than just a possibility it's got to be reasonable so I'm looking at evidence we're asking myself as a question what is reasonable to assume here right now when the kids were younger if I walked into the kitchen and there was chocolate spread all over the kitchen cupboards and you know Josh or Zeke had chocolate spread all over their hands and all over their face just because I wasn't in the room when it happened doesn't mean I can't walk into that room and go hmm there's a reasonable assumption here that I can make that my kids have been putting their hands in the Nutella jar right or not Ella sorry about the wrong pronunciation boys if you're watching and but it's that whole thing right just because I don't actually see it I need to look at the evidence in front of me and go well what's reasonable here okay so is it reasonable is the big question that's the question we need to ask ourselves so when we look at the first one the disciples stole the body now at first glance this actually seems pretty reasonable at least it did to me when I was thinking about it and somehow the disciples you know I've decided that they're gonna steal the body because they don't want to look foolish in front of everybody like they followed a lunatic or a liar and to the grave and he's gone and dead and now they're gonna look foolish and beast got you know mocked and their life is now over maybe they even made a pact with Jesus you know while he was alive to sort of smuggle his body out and keep the story and message going because they believed in the message and maybe you know that would be something that they could do now in fact this was such a popular thing when when the reports of Jesus's empty tomb came through to the Jewish leaders they actually bribed the Roman gods at the time who were guarding his tomb and said to tell everybody the disciples stole the body and this was the rumor that they wanted to perpetuate right because it was the most obvious easy one for people to get their heads around until you dive a little bit deeper and the first problem I have with this theory is the Roman gods now Roman gods were worse sort of set around the tomb of Christ to God the tomb right and maybe there was a few of them maybe that we don't know the exact number but it was likely there were sixteen Roman gods heavenly heavily armed trained soldiers right I don't care how good a fisherman you are which is what the disciples were or tax collectors you probably don't know enough to sneak past sixteen heavily trained heavily armed trained soldiers you just I just struggle with that theory but I suppose you could do it if all the gods were sleeping and you did it in the middle of the night you could maybe sneak past them then but of course that leads us to another problem and at the time Rome if you were Roman gods Roman soldier the highest value was placed on staying alert whilst you were guarding something staying awake and in fact if you fell asleep that was it dead so I've got to believe somehow that 6d all 16 soldiers decided they were going to have a nap in the middle of the night and not one of them decided to stay awake or you know kill the other ones for falling asleep on duty which is what they should have done it's a bit of a strange one isn't it but even if the disciples managed to sneak past sixteen you know Rambo type people and or they were asleep or somehow they've still got to move a 2-ton stoned from the entrance of the tomb right so they've got to move this stone quietly and without waking or notifying the sixteen guys do you see now this when we ask the question is it possible sure it's possible is it reasonable well I'm starting to doubt the reasonableness of this now it is not very probable right and then I I sort of go down the story a little bit further the Bible talks about how when Jesus rose from the dead and he appeared to people the first people he appeared to were women now if you were the disciples and you were perpetuating this hoax you would not use women as the first people that Jesus would appear to in the story and that's simply because at the time the testimony of women was not valid at all wasn't valid in court wasn't valid anywhere people just didn't take it and so if you were going to perpetuate the story you would've heard Jesus appear to men not to women as an aside it just I just love the fact that Jesus appeared to women first because it destroys everything on its head at the time and all the social understanding and it's just I love it I think it's great world in Jesus that was awesome good move anyway home say wouldn't appear to women it doesn't explain the transformation of the disciples because they know it's the like why how would they suddenly change in two days and they would still be in fear thinking oh my goodness you know what if someone finds out and the final thing here for me when I think about is this reasonable as an idea is all the disciples were martyred for their faith I think he Levin out of the twelve were they tried to kill John but I think John just died on the Isle of Patmos but eleven out of twelve were martyred for their faith and when you read the stories of how they were martyred it was not pleasant let me tell you and if you're a conman perpetuating a lie you would you would have given it up at that point and tried to save your own skin in life there's no way you'd have gone through what they went through they all basically said you know what Jesus has risen I've seen him kill me if you have to but that's actually what happened and you can't like well Wow okay so is it reasonable I don't think it is so what about the second one the Jewish or Roman authorities stole the body maybe they've got much more acts about accessibility to the tomb it would certainly if the the Roman authorities stole it would explain how you get past sixteen guards because you're you're the commander in chief you just tell the sixteen guards - it's the body out of the - just it is what it is right and so it it solves that particular issue but again I have questions in my head right is it reasonable well first I need to try and understand the motive why would the Roman authorities steal the body especially when they were so concerned that other people would steal it and that they put the Roman gods out there in the first place they were afraid of people stealing and they didn't want to steal it they wanted it stay where it was hence all the gods right and some I'm struggling to understand motive and the other thing in this story which I find fascinating is a few days later Christianity just takes off at a million miles an hour I mean it was doing good when Jesus was around on earth but then it just gets nuts and the Holy Spirit comes according to the Bible and just transforms everything and so the Romans at the time are trying to quash this they're trying to you know stop this whole movement well the easiest way to do that would be to go you know what we've got the body of Jesus because we stole it here it is hold it up see he's just a man and it would it would have stopped the whole revolution thing right there but they couldn't produce the body because they didn't have the body because the Romans didn't steal it and the same with the Jewish people the Jewish leaders you know again they same thing as a Romans they would have just produced a body and got like here's your Jesus this is just a man what are you talking about there was no resurrection is not God saw yourselves out and so because that didn't happen I just I struggle with that so what about number three Jesus didn't really die on the cross this is quite a populous theory there's a name for this is called the swoon theory I don't know if you know this but it's called swoon theory the idea that actually Jesus swooned on the cross sounds very polite doesn't it he swooned he swooned on the cross and so um I find this idea absolutely fascinating right because again on first glance it's plausible maybe Jesus didn't die on the cross and they threw him in the grave and two days later he was just like you know I'm okay but let let's think about that a little bit more shall we and because when you look at the evidence that you run into a whole bunch of problems okay the first one that the story talks about a Roman soldier who came and pierced the side of Jesus with it with a spear and blood and water pours out right and which is what happens postmortem separation of the blood into clot and serum I am told by people way cleverer than me but basically when you die your blood splits right in the spirit so when this blood and water pours out the the record the people writing the Gospels didn't know what that meant they didn't have you know Quincy MD to help them and for anyone who's old enough to remember Quincy her but you know they recorded the fact that blood and water spilled out and so we read that now and go well there's medical evidence that he's pretty much dead because you know that's that's not a good sign right there um but beyond that or maybe should I say before that because before he's on the cross think about the the torture that he actually went through now I know there's kids watching so I'm not going to get all descriptive but let me tell you it was not good under any circumstances whatsoever he was not in a good place everything that he went through the flog ins the beatings they were enough to kill him right the thorns been you know basically impaled on his head I mean it's just the list goes on of what actually happened to him so somehow the swing theorist would have me believe that after all of that torture and the fact that he he hung there on the cross basically suffocating to death in excruciating pain as some guy came and stabbed him in the side and blood and water came out and they didn't bother to break his legs because they knew he was already dead they'd take him down from the cross nobody bothers to check Seif is still breathing they put him in the tomb they dressed the body for burial with spices and all that kind of stuff nobody realizes he's still breathing at this point and then two days later after being in a cold damp cave he he suddenly sort of springs up Dada has enough energy to move a to turn stone without the Roman guards noticing and walk out of it now for me that's that's more improbable than the resurrection the resurrection was easier to believe than this theory for me right um and finally the other problem I have here is when Jesus appeared to the disciples he showed them his scars he didn't show them his wounds and there's a very big difference between wound and scars right so when I did my hand you will notice that part of my can I show you on the camp there we go part of my fingers are missing when I stupidly put them through a table saw the wounds took weeks to heal but I've still got the scars today you don't show scars straightaway scars come a long time after and so when Jesus appeared to his disciples after a few days and showed them his scars they that to me tells me that the wounds were healed so if he if this swoon theory was right he wouldn't have shown him scars he would have shown them wounds does that make sense and so if I used what the American homicide police detectives called abductive reasoning in other words if I look at the evidence and I remove the things which don't make sense based on the evidence that I see in front of me I'm left with certain events right so for example if I remove the disciples saw the body that doesn't make sense to me the Roman authorities doesn't make sense to me Jesus didn't deal it really down across well that doesn't make sense to me I'm left with Jesus rose from the dead now of course there are other possibilities but are they also reasonable and you can look at those and research those yourself and I invite you to do so and Sherlock Holmes once stated it can't bring Sherlock on screen here we go Thank You Sherlock wouldn't you eliminate the impossible whatever remains no matter how improbable must be the truth and this is a very true statement and for me and for Christians all over the world we have come to the conclusion that the only thing that makes sense to me is that Jesus was who he said he was and that in fact he did die but three days later he rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and we call that resurrection and that's why we celebrate Easter and the disciples must have seen and experienced some things so supernatural to go from being shy and timid and fearful and hiding and to seeing thousands convert to Christianity a few days later and I believe their faith grew because of what they saw and that they had seen the risen Christ and it's because Jesus lives and this is a question well why what impact does this has um have on me today's because he lives I live because like Sarah said earlier the story of Easter is a story of Hope that actually change can happen that that as he raised from the dead I get newness of life and when all of this fades away and the whole planet stops turning and I stop breathing take my last breath I know where I'm heading that's my eternal hope you see what I mean there's a resurrection coming for me as spiritually speaking when I leave this life and go to the next one so it's one of those things where we where the resurrection is the key it proves who Jesus was it proves that he tells us the truth so we know that our faith is sure and because we know that our faith is sure we can trust him we can put our hope in him knowing that he has a plan for us that will bless us and that will prosper us and that will take us forward and that resurrection for us is coming as it came for Jesus and we can trust that and we can believe that and life just changes because the scripture talks about getting that peace which transcends all understanding God in our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and it's a beautiful place to be and it's a wonderful thing to be so for me that was enough evidence now if you would like to know some more information about this I wonder if I can pull it Amazon I'm not actually saying that you should buy from Amazon because I'm not I'm just pulling this up to show you the resources I would recommend okay so let me share my screen so if you would like to know more this was the book that I really liked evidence that demands a verdict by by Josh McDowell great story great book he was an atheist set off to prove that the Christian message in ethos and the resurrection all that sort of stuff was in fact wrong and false and when he started to gather the evidence to prove that it was wrong he actually found that there was more to prove that it was right and became a Christian and wrote a book about it which was great another book to check out is uh what's it called Lee Strobel Lee Strobel was a book hero the case for Christ and so Lee Strobel he's an interesting chap he was um he was an investigative journalist at the Chicago Tribune again an atheist set out to disprove the Christian faith when his wife became a Christian and again ended up becoming a Christian himself another one which I've just started reading which I really like is called cult Craig cold case Christianity doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo so this one here by Jamie Warner Wallace he is a fascinating chap because this guy he's he is a detective that investigates cold case homicides you know the unsolved cases heat solves the unsolvable cases and again same story really fastening a theist who goes you know what I'm going to sort of examine the claims of Christianity and and so when off on one examined him and became a Christian because he just looked at the evidence using the same detective techniques he uses to solve cases and I just find it really really fascinating and of course the other resource that we have a the alfa corse coming up and I will put I wonder if I can get it straight away I will put a link in the comments below to where you can register for the Alpha course online so I just need to find that link which is just not coming up for the moment where are we it's on Eventbrite and I'll definitely find the link why is it not giving me my event you know what you don't want to see me do that I'll put it in afterwards so what do you think guys umm what do you think what if you're a Christian let me put it to you this way in the comments some of the things you can start writing in the comments cuz I think that'd be cool and if you're a Christian what was it that kind of tipped the balance for you what was the at what point what made you kind of go yeah right I love that and what sort of things took the balance and why so I've sort of gone through a you know my illogical thinking what was your some of their just write them in some of the comments and let's see what comes up whilst you're doing that I'm gonna play the Alpha video again because I really really want to encourage people to come along to alpha which would be great if you do that so I'm gonna play that again and whilst that's happening I'm gonna go and grab the Eventbrite link that's another reason why I'm gonna play and I'm gonna read your comments and well although I can't pull up on screen will hopefully get them involved because there's a little bit of a lag as well so and by the time this is playing your comments will hopefully have come up on my on my Facebook feed so hopefully I'll be able to put them on so let's go grab that video let me turn the volume up and we'll bring that on gonna be like how am I gonna fit Graham I said politeness with is there a God and I had arrived there without ever really looking at heavens I was supposed to be a scientist was in the cover of magazines and a our purpose is how many need our sound hope the hard took something so broken and made it a beautiful art piece hi my name is Matt and sir don't know what happened there no the video decided to start playing I was getting caught up in that alpha video so I've put the link on to Facebook so if you want to register for alpha and that is super cool so let's go through some of your comments I genuinely am gutted I couldn't put these up on screen because I loved interacting with your with your comments so let's see what we've got on here Matt says you're a legend Matt I've seen me talking about me oh you're such a sweetheart thanks for persevering this afternoon pester tech gremlins and then you put mmm eat cause I won't tell Sharon I love you too man appreciate that ma'am hey ma'am how's it going did you see your video member the way and if you joined us you definitely were featured along with everybody else get well soon Wayne Johnson Wayne you not well if you're not well definitely get so get well soon the little Langston's thinks of four key facts are all true the little Langston's are true in their thinking Jesus rose from the dead is an amazing truth absolutely thank you Jesus I thought Siri woman's that was almonds voice Mike I have to be honest with you met my kids programmed Siri for some reason to be Australian and I've just never turned it back and so I have an Australian man's voice for Siri go figure thank you Matt crew god bless you mate so Wayne yeah bless you man I hope pray for your healing hope you well a be so good Matt god bless you thank you my ears on fire again isn't he well praise the Lord other sites might be okay I hope you're reading down these comments they're quite fun Wayne put here Jesus as a plan for all of us and we are blessed with his love and strength and hope we get from him that is an amazing thing to say Wayne's that didn't the angel move the rock well the angel did as long as you go with the story of the Bible but if you don't think in super if you if you if you closed your mind off to the supernatural possibilities then people move the stone and if people try and move that stone with all the other stuff that's go I think that was more the point I was trying to get out but yes you are right an angel move that rock which would have been amazing see it's almost like temp in bowling I guess I don't know wonder what happened Sarah Abigail says reasons which make her believe in God Jesus has miracles and because miracles still happen very very true Abigail very true indeed I love that I live that because you know it's one thing to say you're God to prove that your God is very different and the way you do that I think is with miracles is with a supernatural because it's above reason you can't explain that you just have to go yeah or no don't you really and so so miracles are amazing to see and experience them so Abbie's put here experiencing the love and power of the Holy Spirit was undeniable proof for me love love love that and that's one of the things about the Christian faith which we talk about a lot we say that actually Christianity is not just some it's not just an intellectual argument I mean you know I love all this kind of stuff and I love the fact that intellectually we can we can think about all these things but actually more than that Christianity is real and if God is real and God is love then you will experience him and because that's just the way God is right you will experience God and you will experience that love and that undeniably becomes undeniable proof I know God exists not just intellectually but through experience and one of the things that the Apostle Paul prayed which I loved in the book of Ephesians he says I pray that you will know through your own experience a love of God I will pray that it becomes so real to you and that there is nothing else that can change your thinking your mind and that I think is what happened to the disciples that's why they were willing to go to the cross and all the crazy ways they got killed and martyred for their faith and why people still do it literally in their thousands all around the world today because they have experienced the risen Christ and it's that experience which is great Sera's put her Josiah the Bible is truth and Jesus's resurrection is in the Bible so it's true I just I just love that logic Josiah that's awesome I wish I thought as clearly as you when I was you're When I was your age but that is just brilliant I can see a little bit of your dad in you if I'm honest with you the Bible is true Jesus in the Bible therefore it's true what's wrong with you crack on move on oh I love it love it love it it's great Matt but here for him it was the fear of dying and not being with the people I loved forever and being apart from Jesus led me to confirm my status as a Christian well that's really interesting is it and actually for a lot of people that's a good starting point and you know it's amazing how many people atheists until someone close to them dies or until they themselves experience that kind of closeness to death and you start to question stuff and so I that you know the the fear of dying and not going and being with God or being with heaven or being with loved ones is a big deal so thanks for that Matt Serra's written here when we pray God answers prayers this proves God is real that is very true is it again it just stops it being an intellectual exercises near starts it proves it's real because actually what's going on here is God is in the prayer answering business and so so many things have happened to us and for us and that blesses us that we just cope with this there's just no other there's no other reasonable explanation right and there isn't when we think about answered prayer and finally my beautiful wife here has put it decided to give me life to I decided to give my life to God after experiencing his presence it's only since then I've looked at the evidence for God and the Christian message I find it all fascinating baby you see he did it the other way around to me I look to the evidence first and then I experience God's presence whereas you it's to the way around to experience God's presence and she then found the evidence awesome you know it swings and roundabouts is it there's no one way or no specific way you need to get to God all it takes is a person with a hope or not to go you know which is if you're real show yourself to me and go to get out go look for the evidence go find out what's going on and see you know see what Jesus is doing in other people's lives see what he can do in your life you'll be amazed at the unbelievable stuff that can be done through our Lord and Savior Jesus he is a cool bloke top bloke is how we translate that in the modern world so I'm aware of the time we've been on for almost 60 minutes now barring the technical challenge of the start I do apologize again for the technical challenges but we overcame the majority of them because you don't that's what we do listen wherever you are watching this I really appreciate you joining in thank you for your comments is great interact with you I pray for you that you have a fantastic Easter and if you're watching this video after the live broadcast and you would like to know more about this Jesus that we're talking about then please do get in touch with us get on and join the Alpha you don't have to be in England you just have to be awake at 7:30 English time on a Friday night you'll be fine but please come along and join us it's been so encouraging to see how many people have been watching these videos after we've recorded them and so if you are watching this not live you can join us live on Sundays 4 p.m. in the UK so just go to full time calm or whatever it isn't they'll give you your time zone if you're outside of the UK but at 4 p.m. we do these come in join in the comments ask your questions you'd be more than welcome the Alpha course that we're gonna be doing on Fridays just so you know will not be on Facebook it will actually be on zoom and so zoom is not a broadcast out to Facebook it's it's much more private so so you can be much more anonymous nothing is going public all the conversations will be kept private anonymity is as they say assured so it's really easy to become and be part of so if you're exploring the Christian faith if you're new to the Christian faith and want to you know cement your foundations come and get involved it's going to be fun Friday night it's gonna be great we've got a whole bunch of people liked up already from this morning who want to join so come along and join in I will see you next Sunday at 4 p.m. if I don't see you before because on Wednesday nights we've got community so if you're in community I'll see you on Wednesday Friday night if you're with us on our 4 I'll see you there otherwise I'll see you on Sunday god bless you have a great stir because he is in fact risen and that is good news for you and me god bless you I will see you soon thanks for watching