Jesus was born, died, and alive forever
32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“ ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “
‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, “
‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, 37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
It’s wild how the proof the that Jesus was the Son of God, throughout Paul’s messages, is not the way He was born. That would become critical later in church history, but for the book of Acts, it’s all about the resurrection from the dead.
He quotes a psalm to establish that God would establish a sort of Father-Son relationship, as far as we could grasp it, with the Messiah, but otherwise emphasizes the resurrection.
Jesus really did die and that was the number one work of power to show that He was who He said He was.
But He had to be really really alive in order to be really really dead. That’s where the celebration of Christmas comes in. Jesus didn’t just appear in time to be a sacrifice. He was born in family dysfunction and political difficulty. He was raised in religious controversy and division. He worked and sweated and had hunger and discomfort and betrayal from His closest friends and died an unjust and corrupt death.
But God rose Him from the dead and gave Him all authority over the whole world.
With that authority, He chooses to take part in your daily life and to let you take part in His. That was the message of Paul that was available to Gentiles in Pisidian Antioch and is available in Chandler, Indiana.