subject: Apostle Paul's Words To Corinthians [print this page] It"s a quick hallucinationIt"s a quick hallucination. People just hallucinated. They just wanted so badly to see Jesus. That"s surely what happened. These people were just delusional. The disciples were delusional."
Well let"s go to Scripture""1 Corinthians 15: 5-6, "He," being Jesus""this was what Paul was saying, the Apostle Paul"""appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living." Paul is like, "Wait a minute. You don"t have to believe me. Just talk to the 500 who saw him after the crucifixion, after the burial. Just talk to them, talk to them, talk to them."
How many attorneys do we here? Please, lawyers, lift you hand. I love lawyers. Lift your hand, lawyer. There"s one. Oh you"re a lawyer. What"s your name ma"am? Susannah. I love lawyers. Lawyers are great, man. Think about this, Susannah. Five hundred fifteen people saw the resurrected Lord. They touched him. They watched him eat. They saw him.
How about the life change of just the disciples? I just told you about it earlier. Here are these rag-tag, perch-jerking fishermen. They"re all scared and stuff. And now Jesus comes back to life and they"re, like, bold. And the Bible said immediately they were sawn in two, used as candelabras, tortured and abused.
Think about it. If we could turn Fellowship Church into a courtroom right now, 515 witnesses, and you could interrogate them. We"d be here tonight, tomorrow night, the next night. It would be unreal. It"s evidence, right, that demands a verdict. People say, "Well maybe when those 500 people saw him they had, like, this hallucination." Well 500 people having the same hallucination is a greater miracle than the bodily resurrection of Jesus. I mean that didn"t even happen at Woodstock.
You"ve got to look at the prevailing church, the New Testament Church, 2,000 years of history of life change. People from every tribe, every culture, every background all tell the same story: "I was looking for meaning and purpose in life. I didn"t have direction.
Local skeptics have to deal with whats occurred at Fellowship Church Grapevine . Sixteen years ago we started out in a little office complex with 150 people. This weekend well have between 34-40 thousand people in attendance. We dont give away frappaccinos here or $50 bills. I mean, whats up with this? We simply communicate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
