Word Made Flesh: Resurrection and Return

Pastor Kent Landhuis 

THEME - Jesus' flesh and blood resurrection and return give us hope.

TEXT - John 1:1,14; Acts 1:3-11

OUTLINE - How important is flesh and blood?

1. Celebrate flesh and blood Jesus. 

John 1:1,14 

Incarnation: the in-fleshing of Jesus.

Hebrews 2:17; 4:15

2. Touch flesh and blood Jesus. 

- Luke 24:36-42

- John 20:24-29

- 1 Corinthians 15:1-8

3. Embrace flesh and blood Jesus.

- Acts 1:3-11

- John 14:1-6

- 1 Corinthians 15:20-26

4. Eat Flesh and blood Jesus.

- John 6:53-56

- Matthew 26:26-29

- 1 Corinthians 11:23-34

NEXT STEPS: 

1. Ask Jesus to come near.

2. Put your hope in Jesus.

HOW IMPORTANT IS FLESH AND BLOOD?

Famous reflections on the incarnation:

"Man's maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die." - St. Augustine

"Without the incarnation, Christianity isn't even a very good story, and most sadly, it means nothing." - Michael Spencer

"I've become convinced that what makes the difference for Christianity is the incarnation. No other faith says God became flesh. Christmas and the incarnation mean that God went to infinite lengths to make himself one whom we can know personally." - Tim Keller

"The incarnation is a kind of vast joke whereby the Creator of the ends of the earth comes among us in diapers". - Frederick Buechner

"God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak, and the broken." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this." - C.S. Lewis