Resurrection Series Week 1： New Life

In one paragraph

This conversation from Brian opened a new series on resurrection, using John 3, 1 John 5:12, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and the story of Lazarus in John 11 as its foundation. The central idea is that resurrection is not only something that happens after physical death but a present reality that begins the moment a person makes an exchange with Jesus. That exchange requires death, specifically the death...

Read together

1. John 3:3-6 read aloud to ground the conversation in what Jesus told Nicodemus about being born of water and the Spirit
2. 1 John 5:12 read from the screen to make the point that whoever has the Son has life
3. 2 Corinthians 5:17 read from the screen to show that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new creation, the old life gone
4. Galatians 2:20 read by Brian to illustrate that the old self has been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live
5. John 11:24-26 read aloud from the story of Lazarus to present Jesus declaring himself the resurrection and the life
6. John 3:16 recited from memory as the one verse every believer can bring to a conversation about resurrection and eternal life
7. 1 John 3:9 cited by a congregation member to show that whoever is born of God does not sin, with the spirit set aside for God
8. Romans 12:1-2 read aloud at Brian's request to show that transformation comes through renewing the mind, not conforming to the world
9. Psalm 131 referenced by Brian in connection with calming and quieting oneself before God like a weaned child, tying to the idea of resurrection life in the present

What was said

• Think of one thing you have been exhausting yourself trying to keep alive, and ask God honestly whether it needs to die so something new can come from it.
• Write out your testimony in three sentences: what your life looked like before you met Jesus, how you met him, and how he has changed you since.
• The next time you catch yourself slipping into an old pattern of thinking or behavior, stop and redirect your thoughts to Jesus rather than brushing it off or beating yourself up.
• If you wronged someone this week, go back and make it right, even if it is uncomfortable, the way Brian described doing with the rental car.
• Find a friend and practice explaining resurrection in your own words over coffee or a meal, using your own story as the starting point rather than waiting until you feel like an expert.

Talk about it

1. Brian described resurrection as requiring an exchange, where something has to die before new life can come. What has that exchange looked like in your own life, and was there anything that was hard to let go of?
2. Several people in the room described not feeling spiritually dead before they met Jesus, with one person saying she was at the highest point of pride when she was most dead. How does that idea sit with you, and does it change how you think about talking to friends who seem to have life figured out?
3. Brian read from John 11 where Jesus says anyone who believes in him will live even after dying, but also will never die, and then asked the room to sit with the tension in that. How would you explain that to someone who pushes back on it?
4. The conversation kept coming back to the difference between a quality of life starting now versus a transition that happens when you die physically. How does thinking of eternal life as something you are already living, rather than something waiting for you, actually change the way you get through a regular week?
5. Brian closed by asking whether there is something you have been trying to keep alive through sheer effort that might need to be let die before it can be resurrected in a healthier form. Without having to name it out loud if you are not ready, what would it feel like to stop pumping CPR into that thing and hand it over?