Rocky And The Resurrection

^]]51-57But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

The scripture above is quoted from I Corinthians 15: 51-57.  It was the scripture I used for my sermon this past Resurrection Sunday.  The message was about Christ’s victory of death because of his resurrection from the dead.  In the message I compared the spiritual battle at Calvary to the movie Rocky.  Below is a clip from the movie that I used in my sermon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25NmudB2fqg

In the scene you have just seen, Rocky is being pummeled by the Champion Apollo Creed.  He takes a brutal pounding and gets knocked down several times.  The beating is so severe that even his trainer Mickey tells Rocky to stay on the mat and not get up.  Mickey says: “Stay down. stay down”.  To Apollo’s surprise and disbelief , Rocky does not stay down, but gets up to continue the fight.

When Christ was scourged, it was like the devil was telling Jesus to stay down.  Not out of mercy,  but out of arrogance because of what seemed to be an apparent victory for evil.  When the crown of thorns was put on his head, the devil told him to stay down.  When he fell not once, but three times, the enemy told him to stay down.  As he was being nailed to the cross, again stay down.  I am sure the devil thought when Jesus was declared dead and  laid in the tomb that he was now down for good.  Like Apollo Creed, I’m sure the devil shook with disbelief as Jesus did not stay down, but arose from the dead to fight again. To fight again and to destroy the power of death, hell, and the grave.

O death where is thy victory, O death where is thy sting, O death where is thy power?  It has been destroyed by the true champion and king. our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  When people tell you to stay down, remember that our Savior did not stay down but got up to continue the fight.  That same resurrection power is available to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is my prayer that if you have not done so, please accept the sacrifice of Calvary that was made for you by Jesus.  Accept him into your heart as Lord and Savior.  As the song says: “It’s because he lives, I can face tomorrow, because he lives al fear is gone. And I know he holds, the future. And life is worth the living, just because he lives.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wFi7z4CYN4

until next time, remember,

his victory is your victory.

pastor greg t.