Good morning, today is Thursday, April 23, 2020. My name is Keith and I am the Worship Pastor at Green Acres Baptist Church in Athens, GA.

We have been reading 1 Corinthians 15 together this week, and we will finish today with 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

I hope this teaching from Paul and the events that surrounded Peter that we looked at last week bring you hope today just as these events were intended to bring hope. Jesus resurrected, we will be resurrected, and this hope gives us reason to live with Jesus as the center of our lives even now.

Paul finishes this incredible chapter declaring the resurrection of Jesus as the foundation and basis of our faith by giving us a final word of encouragement. He says to stand firm, give yourselves to the Lord’s work, and know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

We talked a few weeks ago now about the idea of our working and our living not being in vain because God is with us. And Paul is giving us another evidence to help us understand that our living to do God’s work is not in vain.