On the third day, Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead. Not as a vision. Not as a memory in the disciples’ hearts. Not as a metaphor for renewed hope. He rose — physically, historically, in a body that could be touched, that ate fish, that bore the marks of the nails. At Grace Fellowship Church in Sarasota, the resurrection of Jesus is not the seasonal finale of Easter. It is the foundation under every word we preach.
“He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” — Matthew 28:6
The resurrection of Jesus is not a private religious feeling. It is a public, datable, witnessed event. Paul lays it out as a matter of historical record: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and… He was buried, and… He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and… He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present” (1 Corinthians 15:3–6).
Paul is essentially saying: go ask them. The witnesses are still alive. This is not a legend that grew up over centuries. It is a claim that came out of an empty tomb, in a known city, within weeks of the crucifixion, and changed the world.
The risen Jesus was not a ghost. He invited Thomas to put his finger in the nail-prints (John 20:27). He ate broiled fish in front of His disciples (Luke 24:42–43). He spent forty days with them after the resurrection, “presenting Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3). The same Jesus who died is the Jesus who rose. Same body, glorified.
Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power… by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). The cross looked like a verdict against Him. The empty tomb is the Father’s verdict for Him. God Himself signed off on the work of His Son by raising Him.
“Who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:25). If Jesus had stayed in the grave, the cross would be one more tragic death. The resurrection is the receipt that the payment was accepted. Sin paid for. Death undone.
“Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). His resurrection is not an exception. It is a preview. Every believer joined to Him will share in the same bodily resurrection at His return (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
“He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). The resurrection is the guarantee of the judgment to come — and the offer of refuge from it.
Paul is willing, in 1 Corinthians 15, to put the entire Christian faith on the table over this one claim. “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty… you are still in your sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17). No spin. No fallback position. No “well, the moral teaching is still valuable.” If the tomb was not empty, Christianity is a cruel hoax and the apostles were either liars or lunatics.
But — “now Christ is risen from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20). And so the entire weight of the New Testament rests on a fact you can investigate, ask questions about, examine the evidence for. The earliest Christians did not preach a feeling. They preached a fact. Most of them died for refusing to deny it.
At Grace Fellowship Church in Sarasota, we treat the resurrection the same way. As fact. As foundation. As the reason a sinner can come into a Sunday service hopeless and walk out alive.
“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” — Revelation 1:18
The resurrection of Jesus is not a once-a-year topic for us. It changes every ordinary Tuesday. The Christian gets up in the morning serving a Lord who is alive. The believer prays to a Savior who is at the right hand of the Father, interceding (Romans 8:34). The grieving Christian buries loved ones in hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). The fearful Christian remembers that the worst that can happen — death — has already been beaten.
Because Jesus rose, we can repent without despair. Because Jesus rose, the cross is not a defeat. Because Jesus rose, the gospel still has power to save (Romans 1:16). Because Jesus rose, every Sunday gathering at 4350 17th Street in Sarasota is not a memorial. It is a meeting with a living Lord.
If you have never met the risen Christ, come. The same Jesus who walked out of the tomb is the one we will preach this Sunday — and He still saves to the uttermost.
And the same resurrection power that brought Jesus out of the tomb is at work in every Christian now — raising us out of the old life, putting the flesh to death, forming us a little more each year into His likeness (Romans 8:11; Philippians 3:10). The risen Christ does not only save us from sin. He matures us out of it.
— Sundays at 10:00 AM · 4350 17th Street, Sarasota, FL.