Wednesday Recap

"It’s very difficult for anybody who thinks of themselves as an intelligent person, who’s secular, to even entertain the possibility that someone died and come back to life.” These are the words of one of the most listened to content creators with over 10million followers and listeners.

These are not words that begin or stay with him. There are many skeptics throughout the generations who cannot wrap their heads around the fact that Jesus was real. That He really lived a perfect life, died a sinner's death in our place, rose on the third day, ascended into Heaven, and will come back one day.

Lies about the resurrection started moments following the guards seeing that Jesus was no longer in the tomb. In Matthew 28 we have a record that the Roman guards were bribed by the chief priests to say that the disciples stole the body while they were sleeping. The wanted to start spreading rumors to discount the stories that were going to be coming their way.

So, how do we know that Jesus rose from the tomb? Does it really matter?

Paul, the author of many of the New Testament books of the Bible had this to say about the resurrection and why it mattered. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Paul writes (about twenty years after the resurrection) “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”

Paul reminds us that Jesus conquering dead is the pivot point for an understanding of our salvation. Without His physical resurrection, we would not have salvation from our sins (1Corinthians 15:17). 

This was not all said in hopes and dreams. Paul had received a creed from the early church that is dated within months of Jesus' journey one earth. In that creed, it talks about Jesus being seen by many people. He names Cephas, the twelve, more than five hundred brothers at one time (most of whom were still alive when Paul was writing to the church in Corinth, so they could go fact check him), James, all the apostles, and even to Paul himself. 

The resurrection of Jesus was seen by real people who touched Jesus, ate with Jesus, and walked with Jesus for forty days leading up to His ascension.

Lee Strobel writes in "The Case for Easter" that there are four proofs of the resurrection. I'm not going to list all the evidence here, but he states that 1) Jesus really died, and he gives proof texts, 2) The early accounts of the resurrection verify a bodily resurrection, 3) The tomb was empty. Even the skeptics can agree on that, and 4) The eyewitnesses.

Middle School Project

Our Middle School students went to assist Continental Baptist Missions with a work project during Thrive. The team at CBM were very pleased with the hard work our team showed and could not express enough their gratitude for our team. I want to say thank you to all the parents who went out of their way to get their students to Thrive early, and a resounding thank you to our team that worked hard. The leaders and teens represented Thrive, Calvary Baptist, and most importantly, the Lord. Great job team!

Upcoming Dates

April 8 - SPRING BREAK - NO THRIVE

April 15 - Alpha Family Services will be at Thrive to share about their ministry. They will share how they help families during unexpected times. Topics of pregnancy, abortion and counseling will be topics of conversation

April 22 - Early Release at MidTown 11am-12pm

April 22 - Senior High students will be going to Alpha to help them clean their building. Students should dress to get dirty. Vans will leave MidTown at 6pm and return around 8pm. Middle School students will have a "normal" night.

April 29 - Thrive at MidTown

May 6 - Early Release at MidTown 11am-12pm

May 6 - Hot Topics - Thrive at MidTown

May 13 - End of the Thrive year party. More information to come.

August 10-15 - Mission Trip to Hastings, MI