There's Power in the Blood: Easter - Holy Week

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

I think what God's looking for is kingdom people who are wholehearted disciples who make a difference seven days a week.

So that people look at your life, they look at your marriage, they look, it doesn't mean you don't have problems because you're gonna have plenty of them.

You'll actually have more of them.

You'll have more of them because Satan hates your guts when you start to follow him.

Now, some of them Satan really likes you.

I mean, he's really with you, he's your guiding force.

You didn't know that, but he is, because you're not following Christ, which means you're sons of and daughters of disobedience.

So you're actually living under the rubric of demonic power, and you think that's that's great.

And I'm gonna tell you that's that is great if that's what you want.

Because I'm not here to dissuade you.

I'm here to persuade you to the fact that when you start following Christ, everything changes.

If you follow him wholeheartedly.

At The Road, our mission is to empower people to change the world.

For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

Today is Resurrection Day.

And uh I came early and went out to the parking lot.

And if you guys haven't noticed this, you should do this sometime, any day of the week.

Come out there to the parking lot if you're near the church here and look at Pike's Peak, especially with snow capped right now, with the sun hitting it, say like, I don't know, like 5:30 till 7:30, somewhere in there, maybe even up to eight.

It's just absolutely gorgeous.

And I took a, I always like to take a picture, I do different ones, but I took one of the steeple, you know, the cross, and then the mountain behind it.

Oh, it's just beautiful.

And so we, I was just remembering, uh Charity and I were talking on the way here how first, I believe four or five years we did a sunrise service here.

And so we did it out east two times.

One time we did it at La Peray in Black Forest, and then two times we've gone on the roof.

So we've gone on with a little group, we've done it on the roof.

It's been really, really exciting.

So glad you're here.

Don't turn in your Bibles yet.

I want you to look at the screen.

I want to give you a passage to look at.

This is not the one I'm gonna camp on this morning, but I wanted to go over this one more time from 1 Peter as it relates to Good Friday, because this is a passage I used at Good Friday on Friday, and now Resurrection Day, or what we classically call Easter.

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout your time of stay here in fear.

Now it's interesting, Peter's saying that we should actually live in fear.

We should walk in fear.

And many people have walked in fear this year, but he's talking about obviously a different kind of fear.

He's saying, don't fear the pandemic, don't fear forebodings about the future, don't fear about your health, fear God.

And then he explains how to fear God, knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers.

Now that's religion.

That's what religion does.

Religion is aimless.

Religion is the aimless pursuit of somehow like gold or silver or traditions and rituals that are gonna somehow get you saved.

Are gonna somehow, somehow get you into a right relationship with God.

Never works, never has worked.

The process of reformation was actually built on the fact that that doesn't work because of what was being taught at that time.

So it doesn't work.

So Peter says it 2,000 years ago, that that's aimless.

Now, for some of us in this room, we've known, how many of you know the aimlessness of religion may be a big part of your life?

Raise your hand.

Okay, first 18 years of my life, that's what that was my life.

I discovered the aimlessness of religion.

I knew it all, but it didn't have a personal, vital, dynamic, wholehearted, growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now he says this.

This is Good Friday, verse 19.

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

So the the blameless, forgiving, powerful blood of Jesus was shed on what we now call Good Friday.

But there's more to Good Friday because there's a great Sunday.

Okay?

There's Good Friday and then there's Great Sunday.

He continues.

Verse 20.

He indeed was forordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

These are the last times for you.

These are the last times for me.

We don't know if these are the last times, capital L, capital T, last time, but they're the last times for us because we only have one life to live.

And you can either live it for yourself and live aimlessly, or you can live it for Christ and have purpose and power and anointing in your life.

That's what we call power in the blood.

So at Good Friday, Christ was crucified.

His blood was shed for you and for me.

But then Peter's now telling us there's more to the story than that, and you know that, and that's the reason you're here right now.

Verse 21.

Who through him who believe in God, who raised him from the dead?

He was really dead.

He wasn't almost dead, he was really dead.

He was totally dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God.

So you have to have both, church.

We have to have both, church.

We have to have Good Friday and we also have to have a resurrection day.

Because there's probably been a lot of what people thought were gonna be good Fridays with maybe a follower or some ethic or some moral code or even some church that you follow.

But that church did not rise again on the third day.

That ethic did not rise again on the third day.

That moral code did not rise again on the third day.

I didn't rise again for you.

I love you, I bless you, I praise you, but I haven't died for you.

Christ did.

You got your houses all together right there, and you get up on Sunday morning and you get in your car and you drive to church.

And that means that you're a Christian because you go to church and you argue all the way, because that's a tradition of Christians in America, right?

So yeah, I'm blessed because I'm a pastor, so Liz and I come at different times, so we haven't had an argument in years on Christmas morning.

It's been fantastic.

Um, I remember when I signed up and said, yeah, I think it's supposed to be a pastor.

One of the first things I thought of, I won't argue with Liz anymore on Sunday morning.

It's gonna be great.

But you leave.

Now, if that's all that sets you apart, is that you come and go on Sunday morning, what a drag.

What a drag.

I think what God's looking for is kingdom people who are wholehearted disciples who make a difference seven days a week.

So that people look at your life, they look at your marriage, they look, it doesn't mean you don't have problems because you're gonna have plenty of them.

You'll actually have more of them.

You'll have more of them because Satan hates your guts when you start to follow him.

Now, some of them, Satan really likes you.

I mean, he's really with you, he's your guiding force.

You didn't know that, but he is, because you're not following Christ, which means you're sons of and daughters of disobedience.

So you're actually living under the rubric of demonic power, and you think that's that's great.

And I'm gonna tell you that's that is great if that's what you want, because I'm not here to dissuade you.

I'm here to persuade you to the fact that when you start following Christ, everything changes.

If you follow him wholeheartedly.

So it's not the raising of the hands or writing your name down on something that changes anything.

It's the attitude of our heart.

And the attitude of our heart comes through the power of the blood.

So look now at your Bible, if you have one, and if you don't, use your phone.

If you don't have a phone, there's Bibles in the chairs in front of you.

So you can look around if you don't have one.

Revelation chapter 12.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

Now, most people know two books of the Bible.

Um, they know Genesis and they know Revelation, so you probably already know where this is at.

It's at the very, very end.

So go to the back of your of your book.

Revelation chapter 12, and I'm gonna look at verse 7.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

I want to talk about power in the blood this morning, really quickly, because we have um we have this other service coming up.

So we uh I have to move quickly, and um, but I'm gonna give you the best of the best.

It's the best, it's the best.

Okay, verse 7.

And the war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

Now, there's three you live in you and I live in a three-dimensional world.

We can see, we can feel, we can touch, but there's actually another dimension, a fourth dimension.

Actually, the scriptures talk about three levels of heaven.

The first level of heaven would be that canopy when you're sitting in that hot tub at night, or you're sitting by a fire at night, or out on your porch at night, and you see the stars, that's the first heaven.

Then there's a second heaven, and that second heaven is where demons and angels are.

And they're they're at work up in there.

There's stuff that they're doing, and you're gonna find out in a second, it's related to what you do with your life.

And then there's a third heaven, and that's where the throne of God is.

And Satan somehow, we know from Job, we know from Revelation, we know from Ephesians, that Satan has access to the throne of God.

And he has a he has a job, he has an MO that he does before God to take you out.

And he's very, very successful.

All we have to do is look at the crime rate in America.

All we have to do is look at uh how many uh people are are struggling with their marriages and their families.

Everybody in this room would raise their hands and say, Do you have problems in your life?

Because we all do.

And some of that's your own doings, but a lot of it is also demonic powers that are out there.

Well, so there's this war going on.

So in Daniel chapter 10, don't turn there, but in Daniel chapter 10, you look at it later, Daniel begins to pray, and he begins to pray, and he prays and he prays for 21 days.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention Daniel 10 · chapter mention

He actually fasts and prays.

And when he's fasting and praying, this angel or this pre-incarnate Christ comes to him.

I mean, this is not Monica and touched by an angel, okay?

This is actually like a real angel, okay?

No Irish accent or anything like that.

But he comes, I don't actually know what his accent is.

Probably Georgian.

I mean, there's a lot, you know, no, I'm only kidding.

Only kidding, only kidding.

But he comes and he says to him, look, for 21 days, for 21 days, I've been trying to get to you until the archangel Michael came and fought against the prince of Persia.

Michael moved, basically saying, Michael, move the prince of Persia out of the way.

I've now come to answer your prayer.

And then when he finishes with Daniel, he says, I've got to leave to take on the Prince of Greece.

Now here's what it's saying, saying a couple things.

One thing is that there's there's princes, there's demonic darkness over principalities and powers over parts of the world.

There's a principality or power over America.

There is a demonic power in the heavenlies over America.

Okay?

There's demonic powers probably over Colorado Springs, over Colorado.

There's demonic powers over your life that are assigned to take you out, to ruin your life.

But when you begin to pray, it releases angels.

I don't get it all, this is a mystery to me, but there's a battle that happens.

So, you guys listen, there's a battle over your life right now.

Okay?

And if you're tolerating the demonic powers in your life, they are winning.

But if you're letting Christ have control and you're becoming a whole-hearted disciple, here's what's great about our story in Daniel is two things.

One, there's a battle going on, but two, it says from the moment he began to pray, Michael went into action to do battle against demonic powers.

It took 21 days, but he got there.

He won.

So you don't know, listen, you don't know how much power you have.

You don't know.

You're created in the image of God.

He created them male and female.

No matter what our education system says, no matter what the governor says, no matter what the president says, you were created male and female.

Just look down and you can figure it out.

All right.

Now listen.

Now listen.

You don't know how much power you have.

You start following Christ, you got power in the blood, and you can push back Satan.

Any person in this room who believes and has hope in Christ, you can push back Satan.

Now you're being told in all that you're hearing today, tolerance, right?

Tolerance.

This is one place, no tolerance.

Don't tolerate demons in your life.

Don't tolerate Satan in your life.

He comes, Jesus says he came to steal, kill, and destroy.

I came that you might have life and might have it abundantly.

I'm not, I'm from Georgia, I'm not real smart.

I figured out abundant life's way better than getting things stolen, killed, and destroyed.

But if you're dabbling in a bunch of stuff that is demonic, you're gonna get ripped off.

You ready to quit doing that?

You ready to stop it?

You can.

That's what he's saying here.

Look at verse 8.

But they did not prevail, speaking of Satan and his demonic powers.

Nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of all, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with them.

So that's the M.O.

of the enemy.

He is the deceiver.

He comes to deceive you and me.

He'll deceive you into thinking if you do this, that'll really make you happy.

If you do that, that'll really give you peace.

If you do that, that'll really.

And I like to say it's kind of like that.

It's kind of like candy-coated garlic.

You know, you all looks really good.

You bite into it, and then whoa, garlic, man.

That's what sin is.

Sin is candy-coated garlic.

And the reality is, is that that's what he does.

He doesn't know anything else but that.

He's been cast down to the earth.

He moves and he works across the whole world.

So, in one sense, men and women, we should not be surprised by all the evil in our world.

We should not be surprised about the evil that's happened in our country.

But here's where we can get excited.

This is where we can get excited is that very first part of verse 8, they do not prevail.

If we start to take seriously the power of the blood, they will not prevail anymore in your life.

This stuff works.

It's not a theory to me, it works.

It'll work over your finances, it'll work over your marriage, it'll work over your family.

Here's how.

Verse 10.

Then I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven, now salvation, strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come.

For the accuser of our brethren, who accuses them before our God day and night has been cast down.

So this is what he does.

The enemy accuses you.

And then what happens is you hear that voice in your head and you find yourself accusing yourself all the time.

I'm a loser.

I always do that.

I always fall into that sin.

I've always had that addiction.

I'm never gonna get free.

Guess who's saying that?

That's the enemy saying it to you, to the point where you now believe it so much he's already gone to haunt somebody else.

Because he doesn't, he didn't even need to haunt you anymore because you believe it so much.

And so you're believing that lie.

Let's quit helping out the devil.

You can be redeemed.

You can be.

You can be recreated in Christ.

Even for some of us that know Christ, you haven't learned how to fight with Christ, and so because of that, even though you've given your heart to Christ, the power of the blood is not working in you.

And let's stop that.

This Easter, 2021, coming out of COVID.

Let's say that is gone.

That is the old man.

That is the old Christianity.

That is the old traditions, that is the old church stuff that I heard.

And I'm gonna start going after Christ, and I'm gonna start seeing victory in my life, and I'm gonna kick the devil's flipping butt.

Because you can.

Because you can.

Alright, here's how you do it.

Look at verse 11.

This is how we do it.

They overcame him, first of all, by the blood of the lamb.

So that's the first thing to look at.

You overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb.

Now, there's a passage.

I want you just to write this down in the margins of your Bible if you're writing stuff down, or just put it in your notes on your phone, whatever.

Put in 2 Corinthians 5.21.

Put in 2 Corinthians 5.21.

Here's what it says.

For he, he, the Father, made him the Son, who knew no sin, so Christ was sinless, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Let me read it again.

For he, the Father, made him the Son, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Now, I want you to write this down.

Okay, I'm telling you to write down a few things.

Okay, this is for the writers in the room.

Okay, you're the writer.

Okay.

Christ became sin for us.

Write that down.

Christ became sin for us.

Christ became sin for us that we might become, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Christ became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

What it's saying is that Christ took on all of your sin that believe and put your hope in him, and then in some mystical way, he gave us his righteousness.

His righteousness was put into you.

In other words, you're never gonna be good enough.

I don't care how well you, you know, if you come out of a Roman Catholic background, Lutheran, Methodist background, Pentecostal background, whatever your background, each church kind of has its little things that you're supposed to do, but if you if it's you doing it, it means nothing.

If it's you doing it, it means nothing.

But on Good Friday, the reason Good Friday's so important is because Christ took on all of your unrighteousness, and listen, he took on all your righteousness, all your good works, put it on him, so that when you put your faith in him, you get his righteousness into you.

So you say, well, I can't love him.

He's such a jerk, he's betrayed me so many times.

No, you can't.

But Christ in you can.

Because what you do is you trade off, you make a trade.

The trade is through the blood of the Lamb, is that I can't do it, but he can.

All things are possible in Christ.

Okay, so when you do that, that's the power of the blood.

But it doesn't end there.

Too many times in our Christian life, we end right there.

Because some of you have heard that before, okay?

All right, but here's the second part.

By the word of their testimony.

Okay, so he's not saying you overcome just with the blood of the Lamb, you overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and there's an and, circle and, highlight and by the word of their testimony.

Look up here.

This is one time where it's okay to stick out your tongue.

Look at me.

That's a tongue.

The Bible says there's power in the tongue.

Genesis chapter 1, we have this little phrase that says, God said.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

God said, God said, God said, ten times God said.

Alright?

Why'd he say it?

Because when you speak out, you speak out the creative power of words.

And so when God said, Let there be light, there was light.

When he said, Let there be man, there was man.

And he created them male and female.

He spoke it into existence, and men and women, he is given the power of the tongue in our lives, so that you can create in your life the blood of the Lamb over the enemy.

Listen, everybody, you've got to declare it.

You've got to declare it.

And when you declare it, the enemy moves back.

And some of us are frightened to declare it.

It feels like we're getting weird.

It feels like we're getting crazy because we're starting to declare it.

We scream at our house.

We tell the devil to take a hike on a fairly regular basis.

We declare the blood of the Lamb and the righteousness of Christ over all of our kids every day.

We declare the righteousness of Christ and the blood of Christ over our finances, over our job, over this church.

And the reason we've been so healthy at this church is because we declare it all the time.

We've probably had 10,000 people come through these doors since May when we opened against the governor.

We don't social distance.

One person's been hospitalized for two days.

Now that's the power of the blood and the power of our faith.

So put it into action, gang.

Power in the blood.

You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

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Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.