Resurrection Sunday: Three Victories Through the Cross - Holy Week

Hello everyone, I'm Dr.

Steve Holt.

I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast.

Each week we go into God's Word.

We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse.

And we are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world.

So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life.

Today, be encouraged by our guest speaker.

Good morning.

He is risen.

Pastor Stephen Liz had to leave town for a family situation, so I've been asked to bring a message today.

So turn your Bible to uh 1 Corinthians 15.

Gotta read these couple verses because we're celebrating the resurrection of Christ today.

Which is awesome.

It's what sets us apart from everything else.

You know, I was listening to a guy talk about missionary work, and he said, you know, witch doctors can do a whole lot, but they can't raise people from the dead.

You know, the enemy has a has a lot of uh power that we as human beings have given him, because it really isn't his, but he can't raise people from the dead.

Only God can do that.

And he tried as hard as he could to prevent it, and he couldn't prevent it.

And he still can't prevent it.

So my message today is victory in Christ, three victories through the cross.

It started out as seven, but then we weren't gonna have enough time, so I had to trim it back to three.

And there's probably like 250 conservatively.

I mean, all the victories in the cross, if I if we wanted to count them, we'd be here all week, and it would take quite a lot of time to get through them.

But there's so much.

Everything in the Christian walk is wrapped up in what Jesus did on Resurrection Sunday.

It's all wrapped up.

Everything that we have, all things pertaining to life and godliness, it's in the knowledge of Him and what He did.

It's all about what He's done, not what I've done, not what I'm doing.

It's about what He's done and what He's doing.

And I just grab a hold of that and it pulls me out of a lot of muck and mire.

So, 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 3, Paul's talking to the church in Corinth.

He says, I delivered to you first of all that which I also received.

That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.

And we could keep reading that whole chapter.

It's really, really good.

And uh it's hard for me not to, but I'm gonna stop there.

We're here today to celebrate the resurrection of Christ from the grave.

The grave is empty, if you didn't know, if nobody told you, the grave is empty, the stone's been rolled away, and there's nobody in the grave now.

And Christ is now seated at the right hand of God until his enemies are completely defeated.

And I'm here today full of joy and celebration in my heart, because our king is alive.

And I can tell you guys are full of joy too, and you're full of celebration in your hearts, and we're alive with him if we have indeed given our lives to him.

I mean, what a deal.

I barely even like my life.

Why would Jesus want it?

But he wants it.

You know, you might not like your life right now.

I know we're here to celebrate.

I know we're full of joy, we're thrilled at what Christ has accomplished.

But there's somebody here that is like, I don't really like my life.

I don't know why you guys are so happy.

And Jesus is saying, Well, if you don't like it that much, why don't you give it to me?

And I'll give you my life.

What an extraordinary trade that we've been given.

Romans 6, 4, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

That's pretty awesome.

While I believe most of us are here with celebration and joy in our hearts, there's also some of us here today that just simply feel defeated.

And maybe part of you is joyful, and maybe part of you feels defeated.

Maybe there's areas of your relationships or your health or your finances or other things that you feel like, I just don't feel that victorious today.

And I think too often our gospel presentations are so focused on the next life that we forget the benefits of salvation for this life.

Christ died so that you and I would have access to eternal life, but eternal life starts the moment you give your life to Christ, not the moment you breathe your last breath.

Christ wants you to reign in life.

And his victory is available for you today.

Romans 5, 17.

If by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life.

Through the one, Jesus Christ, therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.

Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.

So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So I know that some of us in this room are struggling.

We're struggling with depression, with anxiety, with sickness and pain in our bodies, with tragic loss, feeling defeated, feeling hopeless, feeling like you have nowhere to turn.

But I'm here to tell you today that there is no area in your life that God's grace isn't abounding toward today.

No area.

Do you know what abundance means?

It means more than enough.

When you have an abundance of something, that means you have all that you need and could want, and you have enough to give it away.

See, the rivers of life flowing from your innermost being are for more than you.

They're more than enough for you, but they're also for more than you.

They're for your surroundings, for your family, for the person at the grocery store and the gas station.

That life is abundantly flowing even through your generational line to your children and their children.

There is abundant life that Christ came to distribute to us.

His life is abounding toward you today.

It is overflowing like a river from his throne to sweep you off of your feet today.

The life of God is chasing you down today.

The grace of God is chasing you down today.

The goodness of God is chasing you down today.

The love of God is chasing you down today, because God has a specific intention for your life.

And it's in Ephesians 3:16.

Ephesians 3:16

His intention is that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might, through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

God wants to secure you in his love today, so that the result and effects of sin and death in your life are completely eradicated from your body, soul, and spirit.

He wants to fill you with the fullness of God today.

He wants to come and dwell in your heart so that you can experience his inexhaustible life, his inexhaustible grace, his inexhaustible glory, and his inexhaustible love.

Today, God is pouring out his love on every person under the sound of my voice.

His love is so wide it extends to all people, all nations, all tribes, all shapes and sizes.

His love is so long it extends through all ages from everlasting to everlasting.

His love is so deep, it extends even to the deepest pits of sin and misery, deeper than even our understanding.

And his love is so high, such as no enemy can reach, securing us in heavenly places.

God's love wants to touch you today and do exceedingly abundantly above what you might ask.

So I encourage you to ask.

Take a moment right now and ask him.

James said that we have not because we ask not, so ask him.

God, will you touch my sorrow?

God, will you touch my pain and my grief?

God, will you touch the wounds in my heart that continually drive me to sin as a numbing agent?

God, will you touch my body today with the grasp of your love and heal me?

As Pastor Steve says, you cannot outsin the long arm of God.

There's a hand of grace that's reaching down to you today from God the Father.

There's a victory in that hand for you today.

And I don't have enough time to show you every victory that's yours in Christ, but I'm going to share three.

I had seven.

It was going to take too long, so we're down to three.

But they're my three favorites.

And as I introduce each victory, if you need that victory, you don't have to wait till the end of the message to receive it.

You don't have to wait till the end of the service.

You don't have to wait for the kingdom ministry team to pray for you.

You don't have to wait for worship.

You can just reach out in faith and grab a hold of what God is reaching down in grace to provide.

In that moment, it's yours for the taking right here, right now, no delay.

So I'm also going to share some testimonies today.

I love sharing testimonies.

And as I do, if that testimony applies to you, don't wait.

Just receive the free gift that God is giving you today.

I've seen a lot of people healed just from hearing a testimony, just from watching a video, before anybody prays for them, before they even pray for themselves.

They just realize they're healed.

I was in Brazil back in December helping with a healing conference with Global Awakening, and we saw 627 people get healed in a week before anyone even prayed for them.

We saw between 2,500 and 3,000 people healed in that week, but 627 of them were healed without prayer.

That is significant to me.

They just watched a testimony video, or they listened to somebody share a testimony on a microphone, or they listened to a speaker share a testimony from the past, and they stood up, and before they realized it, they were healed of that specific ailment.

So I want to encourage you to let faith do its work and scare off everything that hinders love in your life today.

And as I share testimonies today, if you've got a problem that's even remotely similar, I want to encourage you, just receive your healing, just receive your freedom, just receive your deliverance by faith.

It's not about what you do or what you've done, it's about what he has done.

And Romans 2.11 says he's not a respecter of persons, which means what he did for me, which means what he did in Brazil, he will do in Colorado.

He will do in this church, he will do in your life, he will do in your body, in your mind, in your soul, in your family.

Revelation 19.10 says that the testimony of Christ is the spirit of prophecy.

So every testimony you hear today is a prophetic word for you to receive by faith.

So reach out and grab it.

Okay?

Don't let it fly over your head.

Just that's mine.

Dibs.

Okay.

Victory number one.

Through the cross, Christ accomplished victory over bondage and captivity.

John 1.29, John the Baptist sees him and he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

I think a lot of us misremember that verse and we say, Behold the Lamb of God who forgives the sins of the world.

He did more than forgive your sins, he took them away.

And he took the effects of your sin away.

And he's not holding them against you.

He cast them, as Micah 7 says, He cast them into a sea.

We call that sea forgetfulness.

He's not holding them against you any longer.

You know, some of you have sinned, and because of your sin, there's consequences in your physical body, there's consequences in your relationship.

But God has come to take away the sin and its consequences.

By his grace, by his mercy, because of his victory, because he ascended from the grave with keys and he distributed those keys to us as his church, his body.

Romans 8 38.

I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor death, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God doesn't want you separate from him in any area.

And he's opened a door for you to be connected to him today in his love.

In Luke 4.18, Jesus picks up the scroll of Isaiah in the temple and he says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

We're still in that year, the acceptable year of the Lord.

God the Father sent Jesus to the cross to set us free from the bondage and captivity of the devil that shows up through demons, drugs, and other addictions.

The blood of Jesus sets us free from the captivity of Satan.

And we take communion to remind us of the power in the yielded body of Christ on the cross.

His spilt blood washes away our sins, and his torn flesh brings healing and wholeness to us both physically and spiritually through deliverance and inner emotional healing.

That's what is available to us today.

So I want to share a testimony for my own life, but I want to make it very clear before I share this testimony that I was a sold-out follower of Christ when this took place.

I think some of us get confused by gospel presentations that once we're saved, now you know the battle's over, the war is won, and nothing's gonna come against us.

But we all have experienced that that is not the case.

Right?

And uh we've been taught, well, 1 John 5.18, if you're born of God, the evil one cannot touch you.

That's a sword for you to fight with.

It's not a reality that we always live in.

You know what I mean?

So the enemies touched me in my life.

The enemies tried to kill me in my life, and I got saved when I was five years old.

And I loved Jesus every day of my life.

Now, was I perfect?

No.

Did I walk in sin?

Did I backslide?

Absolutely.

But during the time of this testimony, I was sold out for Christ and I was pursuing him with my whole heart.

So that's an important, that's important for me to say before I tell you this testimony.

So I came to this church that you're sitting in for the first unveiled worship conference, and I was sitting right here in the second row, right where you're sitting.

And uh I brought my whole worship team.

I was a worship leader at a church in Pueblo and a school teacher down there as well.

And I brought them to be equipped and trained, receive impartation.

I came to the Saturday morning session, and the rest of my team decided to sleep in on Saturday morning, so it was just me, which ended up being God's kindness because they didn't see what happened to me, which would have been maybe embarrassing or confusing.

And uh a few months before this conference, I had an experience with the Lord in my car where, you know, I was just you ever have those conversations in your head that you don't even realize that you're having it having, and then God just rudely interrupts your thought process?

Well, that's what happened to me, and what what he said, you know, kind of caught me off guard.

It was encouraging, it was kind, and but then I started feeling this swirling in my stomach.

I had to pull my car over, and this rage took me over, and I cursed at God at the top of my lungs behind the wheel.

And as soon as I did that, I was very shocked and I was very confused, and I immediately started apologizing and repenting, and I'm so sorry, God.

And he just stopped me and he said, Don't apologize.

That was good.

Very strange to me, okay, very unusual.

I'm with you.

You probably feel like, well, that's unusual, you know.

Well, it was unusual to me, and and uh didn't really get any resolve from that, but it wasn't the first time that I had lost control of my anger like that.

It would happen to me often from an early age.

You know, anger would just rise up in me and take me over, even even when I was a school teacher.

There's things that I'm ashamed of as a school teacher where I just came completely unglued on kids.

Just let them have it.

And then I'd finish and I'd be so ashamed and confused at how did that just happen?

You know, I love Jesus, I love these kids.

How did this seventh grader just crank me over like that?

But it would happen, you know, every once in a while.

And it's interesting because even those kids that I know that I lost it on tell me you are my favorite teacher.

And I'm like, wow, everybody else must have been real bad.

So anyway, I'm at this conference in the second row, and Andrew Hopkins is leading worship, and I'm just weeping uncontrollably, and the session's over, and I'm still with my eyes closed in prayer, and uh someone taps me on my shoulder.

It's Andrew Hopkins, the worship leader, and he gives me this prophetic word, says, I saw this on your life, and the power of that word threw me to the ground, and I was weeping uncontrollably again on the floor, and once I kind of came to a little bit, I crawled up into my chair and my head was in there, and it's basically an empty auditorium, and somebody puts their hand on my back and begins to pray, and that same spirit of anger rose up inside of me, and it scared me, so I got up to run.

Got up to run out of here, and that guy was a big dude, so he just grabbed me and we went down.

And I suddenly was convinced that if I didn't kill him, he was gonna kill me.

I'm laying in between these first two rows right here, and I'm screaming my brains out and pounding this guy.

Thinking, I'm gonna kill this guy.

I know.

I'm a worship leader.

Trying to kill somebody in the second row.

I'm just as confused as you are.

And all these ladies swarm and they start trying to bind this demon, which I'm thinking, demon, you know.

It's a very confusing experience when you believe that Christians can't be touched by demons.

They can.

You know, it's a it's a slow roll where the enemy takes these little agreements, these little deals that we make, and he keeps hanging and building kingdoms off of those yeses in our hearts that half the time we don't even realize.

What we're doing.

You know, you make a decision out of fear.

You don't realize that what you just did was you surrendered part of your will to fear in your life.

For me, things happened to me when I was a child that made me angry.

So I became an angry person because I would use my rage to defend myself instead of submitting to God.

So then, Pastor Steve, after I'm pounding on this guy and these ladies are trying to cast this demon out of me, 30 seconds into that, Pastor Steve walks over and he says, Everybody let him go.

Demon, quit making noise and come out of him in the name of Jesus.

And I'm free.

Comes out of me and I'm very confused.

And I'm like, wow.

And I'm exhausted, crying on the floor.

But since that day I've never yelled at anyone in anger.

And that rage has never come back.

Colossians 2.15 says, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

And 2 Corinthians 2.14 says, Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place.

I've seen people delivered of demonic bondage and captivity more times than I can count.

He's not only set me free, but he's led me in triumph everywhere I go.

You know, that word triumph, it's a term for when two kingdoms are at war, the victorious king strips the other king naked, cuts off his thumbs, and cuts off his big toes.

Kind of gruesome.

And then he chains him behind his chariot and he drags him through the streets of his own city.

He doesn't have thumbs, so he can't hold a sword.

He doesn't have big toes, so he can't even walk.

So he can't stand in battle anymore.

That's what Christ did to Satan.

When he went down into hell, that's what he did down there.

He stripped him of all of his authority, all of his power, and he ascended with the keys and he distributed it to us.

And now we're just in the chariot with Jesus as we drag Satan through the seats of his own kingdom everywhere we go, diffusing the fragrance of Christ.

Because the only thing Satan has now is a yapper.

That's all.

Everything else we give to him, everything else he has on loan from us, from people.

See, God has two sheepdogs named Goodness and Mercy.

And I've watched them chase people down and chase the bondage out of their life through surrender.

My mom was like, well, what about Shirley?

The third sheepdog, you know.

Shirley, goodness and mercy, you know.

We'll follow you.

I was like, Mom, you're funny.

That's that's pretty funny.

There's not a third dog named Shirley.

That's just the okay.

Goodness and mercy.

There's people addicted to drugs, porn, self-abuse, other bondages that are walking out of darkness into marvelous light every day by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So if you need the victory of Christ to come and set you free, today's your day.

As you surrender to His Lordship, where the Spirit is Lord, there is freedom, and you receive His grace in your time of need.

Today is the day of salvation for you.

Romans 16 20 says, the God of peace will crush.

Everybody say, crush.

Satan under your feet shortly.

That's fun.

In Pueblo, you know, whenever you wore shoes like this, we call them devil stompers.

Oh, you got your devil stompers on.

So, anyway, that's what they're there for.

These boots are made for walking.

That's just what they'll do.

Okay.

Come on, Josh.

Uh, victory number two.

Hey, if you need freedom today, just take it right now.

Just take it right now.

Don't wait.

Victory number two, victory over sickness and disease.

I really like this one.

You guys know me.

Matthew 14, 35.

When the men of that place recognized him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to him all who were sick, and begged him that they might only touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

It's interesting to me, and it's my personal belief that the reason they begged to touch the hem of his garment is because they heard a testimony about a woman with an issue of blood who got down on her hands and knees and crawled out just to touch the hem of his garment and was healed.

And I think she was so excited about that, and Jesus brought attention to it that her testimony spread like wildfire to other areas, and that's why when they recognized who Jesus was, everybody just wanted to touch the hem of his garment.

Doesn't that make sense?

It's crazy to me what a testimony can do.

It says, as many as touched the hem of his garment were made perfectly well.

God's got a garment that's full of gifts, full of healing, full of freedom.

It falls out everywhere he goes.

Every time you pull on it, you get more than you asked for.

Exceedingly abundantly more than you ask for.

The Bible is filled with examples of Christ the healer.

All the aspects of the cross are available to us today, but if we do not discern what he has accomplished, we'll have faith for forgiveness and eternal life, but not for the healing of our bodies and minds.

There's this story in Exodus 15 where God introduces himself as Jehovah Rapha, which means I am the Lord who heals you.

And in this story, the Israelites just went through the Red Sea and they haven't had water in three days, and they come upon this water called Mara, which means bitter, and it's too bitter to drink.

And so God instructs Moses to cast a piece of wood into the water, and it makes the water sweet and drinkable.

And in the same way, God today is casting the cross of Christ into the bitterness of your life to make it sweet, so that you too can experience the healing of Jehovah Rapha.

These are the same Israelites who participated in the first Passover meal, which is a type and shadow of what we're celebrating today with Resurrection Sunday.

Of Jesus, the death of Jesus, our Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God.

They were instructed to apply the blood to the sides and top of the doorframe, and later to eat the meat.

Roasted over fire without breaking any of its bones, without leaving any of the meat left over.

I think a lot of us as Christians leave a lot of meat left over.

I think we leave a lot of meat on the table, but God wants us to eat it all.

Psalm 105 says that these same two million Israelites came out of Egypt having plundered it of silver and gold, and that not one of them were feeble in body or stumbled.

Two million people.

None of them were feeble?

None of them stumbled.

If God can heal two million Israelites from one meal, how much more can he heal us through the blood and body of his perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ?

Speaking of the future Messiah, Isaiah writes in Isaiah 53, surely he has borne our griefs, our sicknesses, and carried our sorrows, our pains and diseases.

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten, struck down by God and afflicted, but he was wounded, pierced through for our transgressions.

He was bruised, crushed for our iniquities.

The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes, the blows that cut in, we are healed.

Telling you those stripes are plenty deep enough today for you to cast your sickness into.

Matthew 8 quotes Isaiah 53, when evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he cast out all the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.

First Peter 2 24, Jesus who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.

And Psalm 107 says that he sent his word to heal us.

So today I deliver the word of the Lord to you and invite you to receive the healing found in his torn flesh through which we enter into the Holy of Holies.

I'm not going to share some testimonies and you know there's still areas of my life that I need healing in.

I think it's I didn't put this in my notes, but I think it's important for me to acknowledge that many of us in this room have been disappointed.

Where we prayed and didn't see what we were praying for.

And there's a lot of demonic garbage out there that tells you, oh, well, you don't have enough faith, or you have too much sin, or the person you prayed for doesn't have enough faith, or they have too much garbage.

Throw it all out.

I believe that God wants to heal.

Period.

And and there's a lot of things in my body that I'm still pursuing healing for.

And this is just my opinion.

This is just how I see it.

Maybe there's an error to how I see it.

This is just me speaking.

But, you know, in the same way that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, and that's when God gave them the promised land, God, I'm not waiting on God to heal me.

I'm putting my faith in him and believing that his stripes were enough, believing his cross was enough.

And I know that when the Israelites went into the promised land, every single one of their promises had an enemy smack dab in the middle of it.

But as they submitted to God and resisted the devil, he fled from them.

And I think where you're facing enemies in your life, you just found a promise, and it's time to fight.

So that's just my opinion.

So I refuse to give up.

I refuse to back down away from my body being completely healed, away from my mind being completely free, and away from my heart being fully redeemed.

I refuse to back down.

That's just me.

But I've seen a lot of people get healed from that mentality.

You know, we were in Brazil in December, and I personally saw 21 people get healed just from me praying for them, which was a lot and a week.

One of them, his name was Biggie Bob.

He could have been Leo's twin brother.

You know, same size, a little bit, a little bit uh Leo's looking pretty good.

Biggie Bob, he had a frozen neck, three of his vertebrae were damaged, and he had constant sciatic pain.

We started praying, and my interpreter said, he keeps saying, I'm so hot, I'm so hot, I'm so hot.

And it took us about 30 to 45 minutes, but he's moving, he couldn't, when he came up, he couldn't move his neck more than this.

That was as much as he could do.

Fifteen, twenty minutes in, he's rolling his head around like this.

And he's laughing and crying at the same time.

And he starts moving his hips, and he starts bending over and touching his toes and standing back up, and he looks at me and he says in English, no pain.

That same trip, uh, my friend Miguel he he prayed for a guy with a metal plate holding his collarbone together and eight screws.

They prayed 45 minutes, didn't see anything happen.

He told him, he told him uh Mark 16, 18, they'll lay their hands on the sick and they will recover.

He says, Sometimes the healing comes the next day.

Or as you're leaving, don't give up, keep fighting for it.

The guy comes back the next day with an x-ray to share his testimony.

The x-ray was from when he had the surgery, so it showed the metal plate.

The reason he bought it is be brought it is because the he woke up the next day and he couldn't find the metal plate or the eight screws.

And we're sitting there watching him drag his finger on the scar on his collarbone, laughing, because there's nothing there but a collarbone.

And the day before, we were looking at this big square block with screws sticking out of it.

God is a healer.

Maybe you got metal in your body today and God wants to get rid of it.

Don't wait, take it right now.

I've shared my testimony last year during Holy Week.

The Lord told me, You have faith that I can forgive your sins, but you don't have faith in the power of my body to heal yours.

And he showed me a picture of me cutting a communion cup in half and throwing the bread in the trash and drinking the blood.

So I repented of my unbelief and I thanked God for his stripes that healed me at the cross.

And on Good Friday, I ate pizza for the first time since I was in college without any problems.

And since then, I've been able to eat all kinds of food without any digestive issues.

Praise God.

So if you need healing in your body, his stripes are deep enough.

Just cast your sickness in there.

The third victory, I've got a blitz because I talked too long.

Revelation 118, it's the victory over death.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, Do not be afraid.

I am the first and the last.

I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.

Amen.

And I have the keys of Hades and of death.

Because if we believe in him, we will never die.

John 11 25, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.

And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

There's two people in the Old Testament that were raised from the dead, seven in the New Testament, three by Jesus, three by his followers, and one, the Lamb of God Himself, up from the grave that we're celebrating today.

Jesus not only has the power of death, he gave that power and authority to raise the dead as well.

So I'm one of those weird guys that, you know, I lay in my bed late at night watching testimonies of people raising people from the dead.

There's something wrong with me, I know.

But uh I just can't get enough.

I get so excited.

And uh I'm not gonna teach you how to raise the dead because I've never done it, but I will say that the two things I hear over and over and over in these testimonies is about authority.

They use their authority to command the person by name, their spirit, to return to their body.

That happens a lot.

People come back to life.

The other thing is endurance.

I think it's something we lack in the American Church is the endurance of prayer.

You know, we're we're supposed to pray through.

We're not supposed to pray and then say it's in God's hands.

So there's so many testimonies I've heard.

If they started praying, and after 30, 45 minutes, an hour, the person's body starts getting warm and the blue starts vacating, so they keep praying, where most of us would quit at that point and say, oh, well, God's gonna raise them from the dead.

They keep praying until they come back.

So take those two things, you know.

If you need to raise somebody from the dead later, try it.

But we saw somebody get raised from the dead last year, the day before Easter, and uh our friend Chase and Kenny were and a couple others were going to Bishop's Castle.

They came back, they saw this guy dead when they stopped for gas by a gas pump.

He'd OD'd, he was blue, he'd been dead five or ten minutes or so.

They called the paramedics before they got there, and his friend did.

Kenny just grabbed him by the shirt and he started commanding the spirit of death to leave and commanding the guy's spirit by name to return to his body.

And as the paramedics rolled up, he came back to life.

Pretty awesome.

And uh his his name's Josh Callaway.

He's still a believer, his life's not perfect, but he he got baptized the next day on Resurrection Sunday.

Can you believe that?

You die on Saturday, get raised from the dead, get baptized on resurrection Sunday.

Come on, somebody.

So, if you're here today, you're probably not dead.

Um, but everyone in this room is gonna die eventually.

And there's no guarantee that Kenny's gonna be there to raise you and introduce you to Christ.

So I'd recommend you put your trust in Jesus today so that even when you die, you'll live with Jesus forever.

So we're gonna get into worship here.

Want to encourage you.

You know, God might be knocking on your heart.

There's three lies.

I gave you three victories.

There's three lies that the enemy wants you to believe.

Number one is I'm good enough for heaven already, and I don't need Jesus.

Well, the truth is, Jesus prayed before he went to the cross that if there was any other way, it'd be taken from him, and he still went to the cross.

So there was no other way.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

That includes you.

The second lie is you're too bad to be forgiven.

The things you've done are too dastardly, they're too terrible, and God can't forgive you.

You feel like you sinned so much there's no way the cross is enough.

But the truth is, God's grace is available to all who believe in the name of Jesus, and God's will is that all would come to repentance in 2 Peter 3.

You might feel like a free gift of eternal life isn't justice, but it wasn't free, it's just free to you.

Christ paid a high cost to set you free on that cross.

And the third lie is well, I don't need to be safe today, I can always do it later.

Ooh, that's dangerous, folks.

Don't delay.

Don't delay.

The Bible says no one can come to the Father except through Jesus, and that unless the Spirit of God draws you, you can't come.

When God knocks on the door of your heart, that is a special moment.

He's opening his grace to you to receive the gift of salvation.

But every time you say no to God, it dulls your heart to his goodness and mercy, and it dulls your ears to his voice.

It's like a layer gets laid on you every time you say no.

And eventually you'll get to the point where you won't hear Jesus knocking anymore.

Some of you are feeling the pounding heart in your chest, and that is Jesus knocking on your door.

And I'm begging you to open that door.

It's worth it.

Don't delay.

You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.

But even more important than that, you don't know what God has planned for you tomorrow.

Thank you for listening to the Road Church Podcast.

We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.

For more information about The Road Church and to find more content like this, go to theroad.org.

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