Thanks to the innovations of the Information Age, we now have more faith-fueling resources at
our fingertips than ever before. This is great news for Jesus followers. Now we can enjoy
consuming a constant flow of “spiritual milk” through online Bible studies, podcasts, audio
books and more. But we must remember that hearing the word of God in our lives is not
enough for spiritual growth.

Have you ever found yourself going back to some old sins that you thought you had put behind
you? Sometimes when we least expect it, they seem to come out of nowhere. (Pride, anger,
greed, lust, envy.) And sometimes we just try to just live with them, hoping they will eventually
go away. But God revealed in the beginning that sin is more than a mistake; rather it’s like a
crouching predator waiting to take its prey. We must master it. So how do we guard against it?
How do we experience lasting change?

In this series we focused on why the resurrection of Jesus is worth believing. We looked at the
testimonies of Peter and the other Apostles, of 500 other witnesses, of Stephen, of James the
brother of Jesus, and of Paul. Friends, estranged family, and even former enemies all later
claimed that Jesus had died and come back to life. But there’s more.

In the final message, we considered how – despite strong opposition – the Jesus movement
changed the course of history and is still growing globally 2,000 years later. Without the
resurrection of Jesus, the movement’s history is a mystery.

This week we were taken through two stories displaying God’s transformative power working through the resurrection of Jesus. We were then called to consider how God wants to continue his transformative resurrection work in and through the church today. Just as God formed a humble young woman into a legendary liberator through whom he saved lives and helped bring down the wicked system of slavery, and just as God formed an adversary of his followers into one of their most influential leaders so God also desires to transform us through the power of the resurrection of Christ.

This week we considered the unlikely turnaround story of James, the brother of Jesus. Can you imagine growing up with Jesus as a brother? Maybe that idea sounds better than what your childhood experience with your siblings was like. Jesus was perfect after all. But James and his brothers weren’t impressed. In fact, their relationship with Jesus got pretty ugly. Yet after the crucifixion, something big happened to James.

This week we considered one of the possible alternatives to the resurrection of Jesus: The idea
that maybe the Apostles weren’t telling the truth, but that perhaps they had stolen his body,
hid it, and then made up a story about his resurrection. Because our faith is largely dependent
on the Apostles’ testimony, this is a question everyone should wrestle with. Were they telling
the truth or was the whole thing a fraud?

Thankfully, their claims were investigated. And the report is pretty revealing. The answer to the
question lies in how they responded when they were interrogated, how they responded when
they gained influence with people, and how they responded when they underwent intense
persecution.

This is our second week in the series addressing why anyone and everyone should seriously
consider following Jesus. For many Jesus’ resurrection is very difficult to believe. People
throughout time have struggled to believe in resurrection. So, in the second part of our series
we looked at what caused people to believe the unbelievable.

This week we started a new series to address why anyone and everyone should seriously
consider following Jesus. For some, the notion can be confusing and hard to understand. For
others, it can be hard to articulate. So in the first part of series, we focused on why following
Jesus makes sense.