Resurrection and the Cure for Boredom

What if your boredom is actually a symptom of something deeper? This Sunday, Pastor Josh tackled one of the most foundational topics in the Christian faith — resurrection — and connected it to the restlessness, emptiness, and deadness that so many of us quietly live with. Spoiler: the answer isn't another dopamine hit from your phone.

Boredom: The Unlikely Gateway to the Gospel

Pastor Josh opened with a word that might surprise you: boredom. Not exactly the stuff of Sunday sermons. But he made a compelling case that boredom — that deadly stillness, that emptiness — is at the root of more destruction than we realize.

He pointed out how boredom drives people to crime, addiction, broken marriages, and self-destruction. Good Christian leaders have done insane things not because of some grand evil scheme, but because they were simply bored and dissatisfied. And our modern solution? An algorithm that never lets you sit with the silence for even one second.

"We don't control our algorithm anymore. Our algorithm controls us now."

His point wasn't to shame anyone struggling with addiction or emptiness. It was to say: if you're searching for something to fill that void, 1 Corinthians 15 has the real answer — not the short dopamine-fixing YouTube answer, but the biblical one.

The First Importance — Again

Picking up from where he left off in the 1 Corinthians series, Pastor Josh brought us back to the bedrock: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day."

He reminded us that all the theological debates — egalitarian vs. complementarian, Calvinist vs. Arminian — are secondary. The first importance is the gospel. That's what saves people. That's what everything else flows from.

And then he went deep on why resurrection specifically matters.

Why Paul Believed in the Resurrection

Pastor Josh walked through Paul's argument for the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, breaking it into clear reasons:

Eyewitnesses. Jesus appeared to Peter, then the twelve, then to more than 500 people at once — most of whom were still alive when Paul wrote this. This wasn't a conspiracy hatched by a few disciples in a back room. Paul himself, a former persecutor of the church, only became the champion of the gospel because he personally met the risen Jesus.

"Christianity is based upon eyewitnesses. It's not someone's brilliant mind and creation. It's a book of eyewitnesses."

He drew a sharp contrast with other religious texts written by a single author. The Bible has multiple authors witnessing the same events from different angles, holding each other accountable. And the critical difference? We have an empty tomb.

Without resurrection, faith is futile. Paul's logic is airtight: if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, our faith is in vain, and we are still in our sins. Everything crumbles without the resurrection. And if we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Pastor Josh connected this directly to the prosperity gospel, which he firmly rejects. If Christianity is just about getting a better life now, then Paul's suffering makes no sense. But Paul fought beasts, endured persecution, and sacrificed everything — because he met Someone worth sacrificing for.

Not Extension of Life — Elimination of Death

This was one of the most striking sections of the sermon. Pastor Josh took on the modern obsession with conquering death through technology — Elon Musk's brain chips, theories about living a thousand years, the promise of a human utopia.

His response was direct: God isn't interested in extending this broken life. He's eliminating death altogether.

"You can extend your life with science a thousand years, two thousand years. But there is no glory in this form. There is no glory in this life."

He explained the "two Adams" from 1 Corinthians 15: the first Adam was from the earth, a man of dust. The last Adam — Jesus — is from heaven, a life-giving spirit. When you put your faith in Christ, something supernatural happens. You're no longer just dust returning to dust. You belong to a new humanity.

He broke down salvation into three stages: first, your spirit is saved when you trust Christ. Second, your soul is being saved — that's sanctification, growing more like Jesus over a lifetime. Third, your body will be saved at the resurrection, when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality.

A Pastor's Personal Struggle

Pastor Josh got deeply personal. He shared how, as a pastor who wrestles with chronic illness daily, resurrection isn't just theology — it's survival. There were many times he felt inadequate to lead because he was too sick.

Then came the gut punch: two years ago, he discovered his original surgery was based on a misdiagnosis. The medication that now helps him manage his condition existed twenty years ago. He lost those years of health unnecessarily.

"What about my last twenty years? The suffering, the struggle — I lost all that. Can you imagine? If I were healthier, I probably would have planted more campuses."

But rather than staying in bitterness, he pointed forward. Compared to what's coming in the resurrection, everything we think we've lost is nothing. The loneliness, the suffering, the mistakes, the sin — all of it will be recovered and restored in Christ.

Challenge: Walk Out of the Tomb Every Day

Pastor Josh landed the sermon with three powerful applications from the resurrection:

Your future will be greater than your past. Wake up every morning believing that yesterday is gone and tomorrow is better — not because life magically improves, but because you're progressing toward God's final destination.

In Christ, all will be restored. Stop driving through life staring at the rearview mirror, counting what you've lost. God is actively working on way more than what you lost.

There is a reason to be faithful today. Your hard work is not in vain. Paul said it, and it applies to every struggle, every season, every mundane Tuesday morning.

His final challenge was practical and blunt. He said one of the greatest signs of spiritual deadness is being still — not in a peaceful, meditative way, but in a paralyzed, I-can't-get-out-of-bed way. His advice? Don't wait for the emotion to come. Move. Get out. Meet people. Pray. Come to the prayer meeting. Put yourself in a place where resurrection power can be experienced.

"Don't stay in the tomb. Don't make your life be filled with numbness. Come out. Make your life be walking towards the resurrection — and reflect more resurrection than tomb. That's how you should live for Christ."