Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Gospel, that is, the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News alone that has the power to save you (Rom. 1:16)! Yes, it is our faith in the truth of the Gospel message that saves us. And having believed the Good News, our lives have been changed from within; we are new beings; we see things from a whole new perspective (2 Cor. 3:18; 5:17; etc.)! God has become our Father and He has taken it upon Himself to transform us into the very beings He created us to be (Rom. 8:15; Phil. 1:6; 1 Jn. 3:2; etc.)! If you truly believe this message of the grace of God, you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are saved; John wrote: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life..." (1 Jn. 5:13)! I have called salvation "the grace of God," because it is a gift, not something to be earned by your efforts to live a holy life (Rom. 5:15-18; 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9; etc.)!
I want to pass on to you, that which is the most important, the most powerful, life-changing event in recorded history: Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said He would (Ps. 22; Isa. 53; Lk. 24:25-27; etc.). He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said He would! He was seen by Peter, and then by "the Twelve." After that, He appeared to more than five hundred people who believe in Him, most of whom were still alive when the Apostle Paul wrote these facts (1 Cor. 15:6). After that, He was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though he had been born at the wrong time, Paul also saw Him. Paul, humbled by his encounter with Jesus as he traveled to Damascus to catch believers in Christ (Acts 9:1-8), described himself as "the least of all the apostles" (1 Cor. 15:9). He continued by saying, "In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church" (v. 9 - NLT).
The two paragraphs above are my interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:1-9. A little over forty-four years ago, I, as a foolish atheist, also came to faith in Jesus Christ. God had moved a young man in California to mail me a pocket New Testament; He had moved a middle-aged man to witness to me in Florida; and He made sure my children left the TV on a station with a church service on from Mobile (Alabama). He moved the preacher to state that his sermon was from Matthew twenty-five, the one and only chapter of the Bible I had ever read, and "coincidentally," I had read it the night before!
That definitely got my attention! After listening to two more sermons by preachers, the last being Rex Humbard from the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio, I knelt in my living room and placed my faith in Jesus Christ. I immediately was aware of three things: my sins were forgiven, the Bible was the Word of God, and that I would spent the rest of my life sharing Him with others. I actually was able to attend Bible College and Seminary, and was called to be a pastor for a while. Praise God for both the calling, and the release from it!
I am now retired due to health issues, but Lord willing, I will continue to share my faith through this miracle of the internet! Please feel free to copy, to share, and to pray for my faithfulness in service to the King of kings and the Lord of lords! God bless you and use you for His glory! Amen!
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