Momentum Church
Shadows of Doubt
Shadows of Doubt, Part 3: Pastor Ross Wiseman
Locations & Times
Momentum Church
659 Arnold Mill Rd, Woodstock, GA 30188, USA
Sunday 9:00 AM
Sunday 10:45 AM
We live in a time where a growing influence is at work to turn doubts into abandonment.
Abandonment: an act or instance of leaving a person or thing permanently and completely
Abandonment: an act or instance of leaving a person or thing permanently and completely
Apologia/Apologetics: The act of attempting to prove something to be reasonable, necessary, or right. (Defense)
The Claims of Christ:
1. Deity
He claimed that He and the Father were one and that He was the Son of God.
"I and the Father are one."
John 10:30 (ESV)
He claimed that to know Him was to know God, to see Him was to see God, to receive Him was to receive God, to believe Him was to believe in God and to honor Him was to honor God, while to hate Him was to hate God
1. Deity
He claimed that He and the Father were one and that He was the Son of God.
"I and the Father are one."
John 10:30 (ESV)
He claimed that to know Him was to know God, to see Him was to see God, to receive Him was to receive God, to believe Him was to believe in God and to honor Him was to honor God, while to hate Him was to hate God
2. Salvation
He claimed that He is the only way to salvation.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 (ESV)
3. Resurrection
He claimed that He would resurrect from the dead.
"They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
Mark 9:30–31 (ESV)
He claimed that He is the only way to salvation.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 (ESV)
3. Resurrection
He claimed that He would resurrect from the dead.
"They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
Mark 9:30–31 (ESV)
C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity wrote:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
In light of the claims Jesus made of Himself it has been said that he is either a lunatic, a liar or He is Lord.
Socrates: The Unexamined Life is not worth living.
Ross: An unexamined faith is not worth believing.
Socrates: The Unexamined Life is not worth living.
Ross: An unexamined faith is not worth believing.
A Defense of the Resurrection of Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:1-7 (ESV)
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Christ died.
He was buried.
He was raised.
He appeared.
1 Corinthians 15:12-14 (ESV)
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that thereis no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain
and your faith is in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:1-7 (ESV)
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Christ died.
He was buried.
He was raised.
He appeared.
1 Corinthians 15:12-14 (ESV)
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that thereis no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain
and your faith is in vain.
We have good historical reasons to believe the following claims:
-Jesus was crucified and died on a cross.
-Jesus was buried in a tomb which was found empty.
-Jesus’ disciples encountered a person they believed to be the risen Jesus.
-Those who followed this resurrected savior their lives were never the same
-Jesus was crucified and died on a cross.
-Jesus was buried in a tomb which was found empty.
-Jesus’ disciples encountered a person they believed to be the risen Jesus.
-Those who followed this resurrected savior their lives were never the same
In examining a defense of the Resurrection of Jesus it places us square in the middle of having to trust what the writers of the Gospels have recorded.
Jesus in the Gospels: a Lunatic, a Liar or He is Lord........Legend?
Many link the Gospels to mere legend and not eye witness reports. There is good evidence we can trust the Gospels as eye witness reports.
Jesus in the Gospels: a Lunatic, a Liar or He is Lord........Legend?
Many link the Gospels to mere legend and not eye witness reports. There is good evidence we can trust the Gospels as eye witness reports.
Clues to look for regarding eye witness reports:
1. High degree of details and specificity
2. Unintentional Accuracy in regards to Hebrew names in Judea
The proof of the resurrection is the evidence you need to lean into, but the power of the Holy Spirit at work in your life is the experience that can’t be denied.
You are an eyewitness!!!
1. High degree of details and specificity
2. Unintentional Accuracy in regards to Hebrew names in Judea
The proof of the resurrection is the evidence you need to lean into, but the power of the Holy Spirit at work in your life is the experience that can’t be denied.
You are an eyewitness!!!