Russellville Christian Center

The Empty Tomb 4/20/25 Susan Allen FAITH that CHANGES THINGS, STARTS RIGHT HERE…in THE EMPTY TOMB   Rom 10:9 kjv That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.   1 Cor 15:14-NKJV  And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Verse 18 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!   WHY is the resurrection so crucial? BECAUSE the EMPTY TOMB is where the POWER OF CHANGE is   Rom 8:33  KJV Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. THIS SHOULD CHANGE ME Gal 2:20-ESV  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.   2 Cor 5:14-NIV  For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. CHP 6 As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2 For he says,  "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you."  I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.   COMMUNION: In drinking the juice symbolizing the blood of Christ and taking the broken bread symbolizing HIS body broken for you YOU are REMEMBERING, so you do not forget HIS BENEFITS (PS 103) IN taking it, we are CHOOSING to LIVE FREE from our past FREE from the curse of GEN BORN AGAIN…we live differently     1 Cor 11:23- NIV For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."  25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."  26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.