Happy Easter from Chiang Rai

1 Corinthians 15:  Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 15   New King James Version (NKJV)

The Risen Christ, Faith’s Reality

15 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, ² by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

³ For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. ⁶ After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. ⁷ After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. ⁸ Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. ¹¹ Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Risen Christ, Our Hope

¹² Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. ¹⁴ And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. ¹⁵ Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. ¹⁶ For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. ¹⁷ And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! ¹⁸ Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

It's incredible to think that Jesus, after rising again, came and ate with the disciples.

Had a special Easter (Resurrection Sunday) today... AFter church we came across this gentleman on the street. To make a long story short, he was mentally deranged and tormented by spirits who had given him fits of rage and suicidal tendenc...y. He was a gently spoken man, but God brought my attention to his notebook and his newspaper where he was writing in english the words EVIL, and FU&( this and F(*K that. He asked me if I am working, which was an odd question. I sat down and told him we are missionaries and we're in the business of helping people know Jesus Christ who will set you free from bondage. He didn't know what that was. So we told him, and he started tearing up and making confessions and expressed his desire to be forgiven and for hope in Christ. We prayed right there on the street. He wanted to know the Bible, so we sat with him for a couple hours going over Multiplication Ministries materials and praying for him. You can see the change physically in him. He ripped up the notebook he had, which he didn't know I saw what was in it. He has an appointment with our friend Lee, who can pray more for him tomorrow. This guy is looking for work and a new place to stay. I told him the scripture about how Jesus said look at the birds...God knows all the birds needs and meets them. I asked him to find a bird. We looked up and a bird streaked across the sky right above our heads! Jesus said how much more precious are you than the bird....God is going to meet this guy's needs