Well, what should we talk about today? Let's see.

And I'm sitting there thinking while we're professing the creed, we do three

different creeds, whether it's the Apostles' or the Nicene or the Athanasian.

I thought, Christianity sounds crazy. It sounds crazy.

Did you listen to the words?

And when we profess that, which we do every week here, do you listen to the words?

It sounds completely crazy.

Think about what we as Christians believe.

Born of a virgin. Explain that to me.

Son of God, God incarnate, true God, true man.

Walked on the water,

raised the dead,

healed the sick,

murdered.

The sins of mankind thrown on Jesus,

for even your sins, forgiven.

He walks out of a tomb,

then he ascends into heaven, and he's going to come back one day.

So we profess those words every Sunday.

Do you listen to them?

Are you grateful for them? We profess them every Sunday, then we stand

up and we walk out of here, we head out of church

like we didn't just confess the most outrageous thing imaginable.

Get in our cars, our trucks,

our motorcycles,

or your little go-karts with sheet metal strapped around, whatever you got,

and you drive out of here. Do you give it a second thought?

Why should anyone in 2026 believe this?

Should you believe it because your parents believed it, and you some kind of way

vicariously are going to get in through them? That's not good enough.

Should you believe it because you grew up Christian or maybe you grew up Lutheran?

Not good enough.

How about because your grandparents went to church,

and every Sunday they sat in the same pew for 57 years and gave

anybody the death stare if they dared sit in their pew?

Still, that's not good enough.

Why should anyone, seriously, why should anyone believe Jesus Christ is actually

the Son of God? Why should anyone believe in the resurrection?

Either Jesus Christ is who he says he is, or Christianity, what we're

doing here, is the biggest waste of time.

You can just pack your bags and get out of here.

Paul knows this, and that's why he says in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8,

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with Scriptures, that He was buried,

that He was raised on the third day in accordance with Scripture, and that He

appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still

alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me."

Now I want you to notice something about Paul.

Go back and read all of his letters.

Paul is not offering philosophy.

Never did.

As if to say, "Here are seven principles for a successful life."

He didn't do that.

Unfortunately, there are so many pastors in our society, some just several miles

from here,

that's all they want to preach.

Seven ways to get to Jesus. Seven ways to be successful in life.

Seven ways to love.

Paul's not doing that.

Paul's making a claim. Paul's saying something happened.

He said Jesus was dead,

and then he said

Jesus wasn't dead anymore. That's what he said. He was dead.

Jesus isn't dead anymore.

Everything depends on if that's true or if that's false.

You see, sometimes we defend Christianity for all the wrong reasons.

Just go with me on this.

Christianity teaches great values. It does.

But so do a lot of religions.

Christianity teaches us to love people. Well, wonderful.

But you don't need a resurrected Jesus to tell you how not to be a jerk.

You don't need a resurrected Jesus to tell you that.

Christianity gives people a community. Well, great.

You can also get a community at the local bar, and they give you better snacks.

Christianity doesn't stand or it doesn't fall on Christians being nice

people. Thank God for that, because we would fail miserably. Hellbound.

It doesn't rise or fall whether pastors get it right all the time.

We don't.

Christianity

stands or falls on this one question.

Did Jesus Christ rise from the dead? That's it. It comes down to that.

And if the tomb isn't empty, the church should not be full.

If the tomb isn't empty, we are

200 or so, 250 idiots.

Paul says if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our preaching is

useless and our faith is useless. Basically,

if Jesus is still dead,

shut the doors,

turn off the church lights, sell the building,

and just tell everybody, next Sunday you can stay in bed and sleep and have Folgers

and

recline on your La-Z-Boy.

And you can fire your pastor. And I'll go find a job at the hardware store in the

irrigation department.

We're not here because Jesus gave us good advice.

We're here because a dead man walked out of a grave. That's why we're here.

So why do we believe? That's the question. Why do we believe?

Well, first of all, we don't believe because there were a few archaeologists that

said, "Well, we can prove Christianity."

We don't believe that a few historians outside of biblical

authors,

that a few historians said, "Well, we got a lot of different facts together, and he

is probably who he said he was."

Why do we believe? Answer. Because God has spoken.

That's why we believe.

Christianity calls every single one of you to stake your

eternity on Him, and that's it.

We in this church believe that Holy Scripture is inspired and that it is

infallible. For those of you new to our Lutheran circle, let me explain that very

quickly. It is inspired. That means it has been God-breathed, and it

is given by the Holy Spirit. It is infallible, which basically

means it is inerrant, or it is without error.

From Genesis to Revelation, everything, 66 books.

By the way, if you're visiting with us for the first time- We don't mess with this.

We don't argue against this. If it says it, we do it, and we know we fail

miserably,

we know we're forgiven, but we don't mess with this.

This is God's inspired, inerrant word of God.

And we've got members here who come because they know they're going to hear that

this is the true word of God, salvation alone through Jesus Christ.

So we believe in Holy Scripture. Listen closely to this.

So when Paul tells us that Christ died for our sins,

when Paul says he was buried,

when Paul says that he rose on the third day, and that then he appeared to many,

many eyewitnesses. Hey, listen,

we aren't simply reading Paul's opinion.

Paul wrote it, but it's not his opinion. We are hearing the word of God.

God has spoken. Paul writes as a very intelligent man.

He wrote in his style,

but the Spirit inspired him. Every word, every single word written,

that God has spoken.

You see, faith is not something that we manufacture by collecting enough evidence

until we finally believe. That's not faith.

A lot of people think faith is that, but that's not faith.

Faith is God's gift. That is, the Holy Spirit works through the

word and creates faith that is sustained in your heart.

You then have been given what's called freedom of the will to say yes or no to

it. And by the way, God will let you make a wrong decision.

That's freedom of the will. We're not puppets.

We say yes to this. Do we have to understand it all? No.

Are there times where we look at scripture, we say, "Well, I don't really know how

that works." Fine. But do we believe in faith? Yes.

There's nobody here who can define and tell me exactly how Jesus forgave all the

sins of mankind who have confessed him and repented, how he did that, but he did

it.

God has spoken, the word is true, and the word says Christ is risen.

Now, does that mean that history and archaeology don't matter? Of course not.

They matter.

They remind us that scripture is talking about real people, real places, real

events. Ancient historians outside of the basic Christian circle, biblical,

the biblical Christian circle. Historians wrote about Jesus.

They wrote about his execution under Pilate.

The early Christians saw the early Christian movement, but does that prove the

resurrection? No. Archaeology and history can uncover an awful

lot.

Archaeology can uncover bones and nails, but archaeology

cannot excavate a resurrection.

For that, God gives us His word. We have faith.

Now, scripture does tell us something happened that was very cool to the disciples.

When Jesus was arrested, Peter denied him how many times? Three.

And nobody was standing outside of the tomb on Easter morning with some kind of a

big countdown clock that said, "Three, two, one.

Confetti, here he is." That didn't happen. He's back.

They thought he was dead. Every disciple thought he was dead.

Why did they think Jesus was dead? You know the answer to that?

Because he was dead.

Rome was very good at killing people.

Nobody came down from a Roman cross, scratched his head and said, "Wow, that was a

close one."

Yet something changed those frightened disciples. Something changed them.

Peter went from, "I don't know him," to in Acts 2 at the Pentecost, Peter said,

"God raised him. We are witnesses." What changed?

Peter did not attend some kind of a confidence-building seminar.

He didn't listen to some weird biblical New Testament

podcast. What happened?

He saw Jesus.

And then 10 of the apostles. Now, we know that Judas committed suicide.

We know that John died of old age. He wrote Revelation on the island of Patmos.

But 10 of the disciples

became martyrs

for something that they knew happened. Who does that?

And they saw him. Jesus was alive. And then what happened?

God preserved that eyewitness testimony for us in the inspired

words that they wrote down.

But now comes the question, why did Jesus do it?

And the answer to that question is exactly why you're here this morning.

Why the cross? Why the nails? Why the tomb? Why the blood?

1 Corinthians 15:3, "Christ died for our sins in accordance with scriptures."

You see, our society is very fine with us Christians saying, "Well, Jesus gave

advice." They're very fine with that.

But the cross says something much more offensive.

The cross says we need to be rescued, we need a savior.

Because the deepest problem in our life, I've got news for you, is not politics.

It's not your boss. It's not your spouse. It's not the economy.

The deepest problem in your life is not how long the line is to pick up your kids

in the afternoon.

It is not the Aggies' inability to win a national championship. It's not that.

Although

some suffering remains very mysterious, okay?

Although they did win one back in 1906.

The deepest problem is much closer.

The deepest problem is us, the sinner,

looking at ourselves in the mirror. That's the deepest problem. So why the cross?

Why the cross? You know the answer. Because we can't save ourselves.

Jesus didn't come to make bad people nicer.

He came to make dead sinners alive. That's why he came.

Why Jesus?

Because God refused to leave you condemned.

Jesus doesn't stand at a distance and shout to all of us, "Hey, do better."

Jesus carries our sin to a cross, and he dies for us.

The resurrection declares that sin has been answered and death has been defeated.

Christianity then isn't fundamental advice.

Christianity is not advice. Christianity is called the good news of Jesus

Christ, death and resurrection for our salvation.

That is the definition of the gospel.

You see, advice tells you what you need to do.

News tells you what has already happened.

So the gospel isn't try harder. The gospel is Christ has done it.

Christianity is not all these steps to get yourself to God.

Christianity is God coming down to you.

So the resurrection doesn't mean Christians never hurt.

It means that even when your life falls apart, you know that this is not the end of

the story.

Christianity doesn't stand at a grave pretending that this is the

end.

We stand at a grave knowing that death does not win.

So why should anyone believe Christianity anymore?

Answer, because God has spoken.

And that comes up

all the time for so many of us to give that to people.

That leads me to the last question

Why would we keep this to ourselves?

Now, I want to present this in a little bit different way.

There's going to be a little bit of pastoral admonition in here.

Don't run out of the door, it's okay.

We're all guilty, right? Sinners saved by what? Grace. What is it?

Sinners saved by grace. Here we go.

If Christ really died for sinners, and if He really walked out of the grave, and

if death has really been defeated,

why are some of us so quiet about it?

All right. Am I talking to somebody in here?

Sometimes, for many, the gospel barely comes out of our lips when we walk

past those two doors, out those doors, and into our vehicle.

That should really bother us this morning.

Have we forgotten how incredible the gospel is?

Have you forgotten how incredible the creed is that we just professed a few moments

ago?

A conception by the Holy Spirit, a virgin birth,

a man preaching in parables and healing in miracles, walking on the

water, healing the infirm.

Crucified, risen, ascended, coming back.

That's the incredible gospel. Does that mean anything to you anymore?

You see, the world, and I wish I could tell a lot of churches this,

the world does not need-- Listen very closely, especially you young people, okay?

Don't get caught up in all the junk going on in the world.

The world does not need a cooler church. The world needs Christ.

This is not entertainment.

This is Christ. This is the gospel.

And what about those people who simply stop showing up?

We've got members who have simply just stopped showing up. Every church does.

Sometimes I hear,

"Pastor, have you called them?"

And sometimes my answer is yes, and sometimes my answer is no.

It's accountability time.

But here's my question:

have you called them?

How about you?

Why is the person who sat next to you

for all those years, why is that person suddenly only the pastor's

responsibility when they disappear?

You noticed they were gone.

You know their name, and you probably know them better than I do.

Pick up the phone.

I wouldn't even text them. Okay? Honestly, texting at times is

weak and scared. Pick up the phone.

Tell them they're missed.

You say, "Well, what do I say?"

Well, you know what I would do? I'd call them on the phone, or I'd go to their

door, or I'd go to where they work, and I would basically say this.

You start off with some simple little chitchat, "Hey, how's the wife?

How are the kids? How's the husband? How's the kid? How's your dog?

Hey, I heard you were

in Tahiti the other day. Wow. How was it?" Great.

Here's what I would do. I would not ask the question, "Why aren't you in church?" I

wouldn't go that direction.

My grandparents in Brenham had a door in the front and a door

in the back.

I loved to sneak out of that house.

The door in the front squeaked.

The door in the back was quiet. What door do you think I went out of?

You have to be creative, folks, when you're talking to people.

This is what you say.

Ask them this question:

"Do you realize what has happened?

Do you realize what has happened?" Now, they're going to think right away, "Wow, I

guess something happened at church that I didn't hear about." Do you realize what

has happened? And then execute what I call the power of the pause.

Awkward silence. "Have you heard what has happened?"

They're going to say, "What?" Say these words:

"Christ was dead, now He's alive. Sin is forgiven. Death is defeated.

The grave is lost."

And then say, "Does that excite you anymore?

Maybe you have forgotten how incredible the gospel is.

I'm just concerned for you."

Can you do that?

And that question isn't just for people that stay at the house.

That's for all us, for us, you and me.

So I'm going to ask you, do you realize what happened?

You confessed it a few moments ago. Do you realize what happened?

Does that, does the creed, the Apostle's Creed that we just professed, does that

still excite you?

We can preach the gospel, we can sing the gospel, we can teach the gospel, we can

confess the gospel that we do every week here, and still never tell anybody from

our mouths, a great tool that God has given us, what this is all

about. Because if we really believe, listen, if we really believe that the

tomb is empty, silence is a strange response to the

gospel.

All right.

You see, the average church

worships probably 35% to 38% of their congregation.

Kinder, what are we? We're about 40-something, right?

You say, "Wow, we're above normal.

Pat me on the back."

Listen, if we did our jobs-- I'm going to throw this at you because I know somebody

in here needs to hear this. If we did our jobs and call people that we know, maybe

even talking to people who are in our family, maybe it's a husband or a wife, if we

did our jobs,

first of all, we'd be doing what we're supposed to do, and then we would give

people another opportunity to come in and hear the forgiveness of sins on a Sunday

morning.

Do your job. I'm going to do my job, you do your job. Amen?

That wasn't a loud amen, but okay, we'll take it.

Amen.

Live like it, speak like it, tell somebody about it. All right, that's about it.

Well, the title of the sermon today was, why should anyone believe Christianity

anymore? Answer?

Because Christ went to a cross, died for your forgiveness.

Christ then, three days later, walked out of a tomb, so forgiven sinners like you

and me would one day get up out of our graves

and be raptured into heaven with Him.

That's why.

To God be the glory. Amen.