“…My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you… May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me…”               

-Jesus

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What is ONE?

One is a movement of God.  It is a call to unity that already hundreds of believers have answered and that many more are coming to hear and respond.  Every semester a leadership team of students from different local churches and campus ministries come together to put on a night of unity, worship, and prayer called ONE.

Next ONE: 

When:Sunday April 17th at 7pm

Where:Lory Student Center Theater at CSU

The problem of James and Paul.  Why would they convert?

There are two examples of individuals who openly opposed Jesus and his followers who became leaders in the early church after the encounter Jesus risen from the dead.  Both died martyrs deaths. 

James was the half brother of Jesus.  He opposed Jesus during his life but became Jesus' follower after he saw Jesus resurrected from the dead.  James  became the local leader of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem.  He later died a martyr’s death at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders.

Paul was a Jewish religious leader who intensely persecuted followers of Jesus and viewed the Christian movement as a threat to the true God of the Jews.  He claimed that Jesus appeared to him on the way to the city of Damascus and asked him why he was persecuting Christians.  After this experience Paul changed from one of the most avid persecutors of the early church to its most avid promoters. 

Can you think of any motivation for early followers of Jesus to act the way they did?

There is no historical motive for Jesus disciples and followers to claim His resurrection if it were not true.  On earth in this life they lived with a constant threat of imprisonment and execution.  If they purposely deceived others to believe in Jesus' resurrection, they would have known that God would punish them in the afterlife.

In the book Twelve Ordinary Men John MacArthur recounts the deaths of Jesus’ disciples.  Peter was crucified upside down.  Andrew was crucified.  James was beheaded.  John was exiled and imprisoned until his death.  Phillip was stoned to death.  Nathaniel was crucified.  Matthew was burned alive.  Thomas was speared to death.

How could Christianity spread so powerfully in the face of inense persecution?

There is a Roman record, given by Tacitus, that the Roman emperor Nero began persecuting and killing thousands of Christians in Rome in 64 AD.  No one knows how many Christians Nero killed during his five-year reign, but there are estimates anywhere between ten thousand to over a hundred thousand. Within about 35 years after Jesus’ death, there were thousands of Christians to kill in Rome, which is more than 1,200 miles away from Jerusalem where Jesus was executed.  Even after these thousands were killed, there were thousands more who continued to spread Christianity despite the harsh penalty for being a follower of Jesus.  If there were tens of thousands of Christians murdered for their beliefs in Rome 35 to 40 years after Jesus was executed, how many were there throughout the world by this time?  How is this possible without the motivation of Jesus resurrection?

Why would the earliest stories about the resurrection include women as the primary witnesses unless this is historically how it happened?

During this time in history a woman's testimony was not considered valid in court.  If you were going to make up a story about Jesus rising from the dead, the last thing you would do is create the story with women as your primary witnesses.

How is it possible that Jesus fullfilled so many Old Testament prophesies about the messiah?

Isaiah 53:6 He was pierced through for our iniquities

Micah 5:2 The messiah will be born in Bethlehem

Zechariah 9:9  The messiah will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey

Psalm 22 The messiah’s hands and feet would be pierced

Zechariah 11:12 The messiah will be sold for 30 pieces of silver

There are 48 of these prophesies that Jesus fullfilled.  It is mathematically impossible that anyone could have fulfilled these prophesies. 

What is the historical evidence that Jesus rose from the dead?