Resurrection Assurance

Let's lift our bibles and wave them around and make Jesus glad, the devil mad.

Let's say this together say heavenly father, my life is built on the rock, the rock, christ Jesus.

He's not dead, he lives.

He was risen from the dead for my benefit and the benefit of a lost world.

I'm making a difference in this life because of the Word of God and the Holy Ghost.

In Jesus' name, amen, praise God, you can be seated, glad to have you today, glad to have our live stream audience as well.

Let's go to Acts, the first chapter, and then right next to it is John 21.

And we're gonna get into the Word just a little bit here and give you a cornerstone.

I've got a message for you and I believe it'll help you.

Acts, chapter one, verse one.

And this is the physician Luke is writing the book of Acts, where she was one of our physicians in our government.

It would be a lot better, I think.

All right, former treatise, have I made Otheophilus All that Jesus began both to do and to teach?

You know, jesus was just getting started the book of Acts.

I mean, he's not giving up net yet.

He's fixing to wind this thing up Until the day in which he was taken up.

After that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments under the apostles whom he had chosen.

Notice they weren't suggestions.

The commandments To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

And then the next couple pages over John 21.

I'm gonna read a few verses here, starting with verse one.

This is referred to.

Really Luke is referring to one of these times that he showed himself alive after the resurrection.

John 21,.

One after these things, jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius, and on this wise showed he himself.

There were together Simon Peter and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathaniel of Canaan and Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee who's that?

Anybody know who?

The sons of Zebedee, james and John, sons of thunder, and they were there and two other of his disciples.

I wonder why they weren't mentioned, I don't know.

Anyway, simon Peter said unto them I go efficient.

They say unto him we go also with him.

So they went forth and entered into a ship immediately and that night they caught nothing Certainly can rely.

I can relate to that, which is most of the times I've been fishing in my life is nothing Okay.

But when the morning was now come, jesus stood on the shore.

But the disciples knew not that it was Jesus All through when he was revealing himself to them, they were always a little bit unsure if it was really him.

I mean, the glory was working on him, the glory.

I mean if we could see him right now he wouldn't look anything like those little pictures we see.

I mean, his face is shining greater than the sun.

He's got white hair.

He doesn't have brown hair.

You know, page boy, amen, he's a Jewish rabbi.

You know, come on.

And so, as said, and so he said they had caught nothing.

When the morning was now come, jesus stood on the shore to samples.

Knew it not that it was Jesus?

But Jesus said of them children, that's not a, that's not.

It wasn't she.

He didn't say children.

I know it says that the King Jane.

You know he said dudes, okay, guys, at least guys.

It was informal children, kind of.

They're not children.

You know they're a rough and tough guy.

You know Peter's a fisherman.

You know he's hands are.

So he said lads, have you any meat?

He knew no, and he said it then cast the net on the right side.

That's why I stay on the right side.

Brace God, the left side is a losing side.

Cast on the right side of the ship and you shall find.

And they cast.

Therefore, now, they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes everybody say multitude.

Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus love, who's writing this gospel, john, see, so he'd he's.

He's always writing in the third person, like he's not the one writing.

And see, don't you like John?

I mean, I kind of like John, the disciple whom Jesus love.

He didn't love the rest of them, just me said under Peter, it's the Lord.

Now, when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he gird his fishers coat under him, for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea and other disciples came, kind of like forest gun, remember, you know he can't.

He just went off the back of the shrimp boat, you know, when he saw they're dead, you know, and went, he started swimming to chief for God, he was on the boat, he just went right off the boat and and he did cast himself and see the other samples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land but, as the word, 200 cubits, dragging the net with the fishes.

And as soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid there on and bread.

And Jesus said under them bring of the fish which you have now caught.

Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes 153, and for all there were so many that yet there was not the net broken.

And Jesus said under them come and dine.

And none of the disciples dared to ask him who are you, knowing that it was the Lord Jesus?

Then come and come at, then, take it bread and give it them, and fish likewise.

This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was risen from the dead, and so he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs.

The the amplifiers is convincing evidences, and unquestionable evidence is convincing proof, or you could say, assurances.

So today I wanted to to share a message entitled, entitled resurrection assurances.

I mean, if they needed assurance after he was risen from the dead, and they were eyewitnesses of his majesty, they were eyewitnesses of his three and a half years of ministry, and they saw him raise Lazarus from the dead.

They saw him cleanse the liver lepers, they saw him open blind eyes and deaf ears, and yet they needed assurance.

In fact, the Bible says this is the third time and that's the last chapter in the book of John.

So there's a whole lot of other assurances he gave them that are not written.

But my question to you don't you need assurance from time to time?

I mean especially right now, when it seems like the entire world has gone off the deep end and are still after a whole year of dealing with this thing and knowing, yes, you can find people that have passed away, you can find, but but really the numbers don't support the panic.

We're not hearing about the other folks that have died of other things.

I mean, one guy died of a motorcycle wreck and it was COVID that killed him, according to the county records.

Yeah, I wonder how many more have been just classified.

Just because, just because the point is, we need assurance from something, somebody different than the government.

We need assurance from the word.

We need assurance because, you know, two thousand years removed from the resurrection, I mean, nobody's an eyewitness of his resurrection, but we are partakers of the Word of God and we can receive assurance today, and so I believe in this account of his third assurance toward them, that we can draw the assurance we need today to make a difference in this world.

I mean, people need to see something different in the church and what they're seeing.

I said people need to see something different from the church and what they're seeing.

20% of churches have already closed their doors and never will open again.

I, I didn't prophesy, I just said it.

A year ago, I told on a interview, michael Barry, the Michael Barry show.

I said there's, there's, there's heat, there's a significant number of churches in Houston that will never open again.

I don't know what the numbers are, but I know there's a lot of churches that never will open.

They closed up, they're gone and the sheep are scattered and they're offended and they haven't even found another place to go.

In fact, they're not even sure they want to find another place to go, because they were involved in that church, they had sunk their belief in that church and now their church wasn't there for them.

Oh, I tell you, the church has got to rise up and manifest something.

But if we're going to give assurances, we need to have some assurance coming back to us.

Amen.

So I have three things today, just simple.

It's a simple message.

Say what did Jesus teach them about his resurrection?

See, because he was teaching them right there.

He taught them by precept and by example.

What was he teaching them?

I mean, it was significant that he showed up on that day.

He was not invited to the fishing trip.

You know, peter didn't tell Jesus I'm going fishing.

And so the first one you know really obvious is that Jesus is with you.

Jesus was with him.

He was on the shore, I mean all night long.

You know, while he was fit, while they were fishing, he was, you know, he was on the shore.

And when they got to the shore, evidently he was busy because he had a fire going and he had fish on the fire, I don't, you know.

Pretty amazing.

So he was with them.

That's the point.

I mean they heard him call hey, hey dudes, hey, guys catching anything.

You know, while they were, they were going back and forth between becoming fishers of men and just plain old fishermen.

Peter said I go with fishing.

I mean, you know, I know Jesus has appeared to us a number of times here, but you know he's not here right now and the bills are stacking up.

I mean, I've got.

I've got bills to pay.

I've got groceries to buy, I've got a family to feed and there's no money coming in from the ministry.

It looks like the ministry's over.

Nobody's giving us any help.

We're going to have to go out here and do some fishing.

Anybody in?

Well, he had seven out of the 11th.

Remember there's one that committed suicide.

Judas is not there, so that left 11.

So seven out of the 11 said yeah, we'll go fishing with you all night long.

And so they're wavering, you see.

But Jesus didn't give up on them.

Jesus hadn't given up on the church.

Even though the church hasn't done a very good job of being a witness of his, of his life in this earth right now, they haven't done a very good job of speaking out against evil.

Let's face it.

It's not time for the church to pat itself on the back.

It's time for the church to rise up, amen.

But Jesus didn't give up on them and he hadn't given up on us.

He's with us.

Praise God, he's with us.

You know, sometimes we feel like we're in it all alone.

But you know what?

We don't go by how it feels, we don't go by how it seems.

The just shall live by their faith, and faith knows he's with us.

You know, in Matthew 28, just as he was lifting off, going back to heaven, he ascended into heaven.

The last thing he told them on his way up he said low, I'm with you always, even under the end of the age, and he's with us.

Everybody say Jesus is with me and the next thing I see out of this, this account, is that Jesus is for you, he's for you, he's on your side, he wants you to have success.

He said hey, hey, hey guys, you got any catching anything?

No, all night long you might have been fishing.

All night long you might have been fishing, all year long you might have been fishing.

There's been time when I fished all decade long and I didn't have much to show for it.

I don't know how many houses I thought about, conceived, planned and built and when the, when all the smoke was cleared, I had no profit.

I mean it was, and I, you know I was not in a non glorious way.

Church is a nonprofit corporation case.

You didn't know.

But I had a for profit corporation.

I was not in profit.

It is no fun.

I said it's no fun.

No, I didn't have any idea that Jesus was for me.

I was religious.

I went to the Catholic church.

I had all the sacraments.

I, you know, I was president of the Knights of the altar.

But they didn't teach me that Jesus was interested in my success.

Jesus is interested in your success.

He rose from the dead to make you successful.

I wish I'd heard that.

Well, I finally did hear it.

Praise God, it's called the gospel to the poor.

Amen.

No, I tell you, they fished all night long and were totally.

They didn't even catch as much as a mullet, nothing, a goldfish, nothing.

Hey, just cast your net on the right side, you'll find.

And what did they find?

153 great fish, great fish.

This wasn't breakfast.

They caught a catch that they intended.

I mean, that's why they were out there.

Let's face it, they weren't out there fishing for breakfast.

They were out there fishing for enough of a catch to make a difference in their financial picture, which was sinking fast.

Just like the song said, he makes a way where there is no way, everybody knows.

You don't catch very many fish in the daylight on the Sea of Galilee.

You've got to fish at night.

That's the only way.

I mean that water is clear.

You're not gonna catch a fish in the daytime.

But they did.

They did and it was so huge I mean they had to pull that thing up on shore.

Oh, glory to God.

You may have run out of options, but Jesus has got a way for you or you can be successful.

Everybody say Jesus is for me, jesus is for you.

Some of you just need to remind yourself, because you know we're living in a very adversarial situation, in a very adversarial society.

I mean, these major corporations are coming against us.

Do you realize that Coca-Cola coming against you, saying that just because you want to make sure that elections are on the up and up and you want to make sure that there are light, that people show an ID to prove who they are, that somehow that's racist?

Now, how dumb is that?

That somehow building a highway where traffic can flow through Houston is racist and that Biden is going to clean up the highways across the country.

He's got billions of dollars he's going to spend to get rid of racist highways.

These people are stark raving nuts.

And the big major corporate?

We got to move the MLB out of Atlanta.

Oh yeah, we got these laws that mean that we don't want on the up and up, we want dead people to vote like they did last time.

We want illegal, in fact illegal.

When you use the word illegal, that's racist Folks, it's antichrist.

They're target these major I'm talking about major corporations.

Now they're coming against us.

They're taking our rights away from us.

Maybe it's time to quit watching baseball.

Maybe it's time to quit drinking Coke.

Maybe it's time that we start voting with our finances.

I believe if the church would get together and start doing some of that kind of thing, they'd change their tune.

They're going to find out the rest of the world.

When you add it all up, put together, they can't support them like we can.

Oh, this is still the greatest country on the face of the earth.

I mean, god has not left America.

He hasn't left the church.

He's for us.

I said he's for us.

Praise God.

Come on, let's lift our hands, thank God.

Now, this last one is probably the most important of the three that we need to keep in mind.

He said under them.

He said bring of the fish which you have now caught verse 10.

He wanted them to have skin in the game.

He probably could have had enough fish.

He's.

Jesus got a lot of faith, but he wanted them to have skin in the game.

He said bring of the fish, 153rd grade fish.

Bring of the fish and bring it and mix it with the ones I've got prepared and come and die.

In the Jewish tradition, the greatest form of fellowship and intimacy is having a meal together.

The last supper he got together with the disciples and he had intimate time and he shared with them.

Back in John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, at the last supper, right before he was crucified, talk to him about the Holy Spirit.

He said I'm going away, but I'm going to send another.

The King James says Comforter.

It's not as good a translation because it indicates like a Comforter is going to pat you on the head and say oh, baby, it's going to be okay.

Well, yeah, the Holy Ghost can do that, but it's bigger than that.

He's a strengthener.

Really, the best translation is helper.

He will help you.

Can you imagine God, the third person of God, helping you?

How many of you ever needed help?

Well, help is available.

And so he said come and dine.

Jesus is in you.

Jesus is in you, or he or I can put it this way Jesus wants to be in you.

He's not in everybody.

I said he's not in everybody, even people who call themselves Christians.

Now I call myself a Christian, but he wasn't in me.

I went to church majority part of my life but he wasn't in me, not until I was 33, not until I did something that was necessary for me to do.

Let's look at Revelation, chapter three.

Praise God, jesus is in you, or else he wants to be so powerful.

You know he can be for you, he can be with you, but he wants to be in you.

In Revelation, chapter two and three, jesus told the Apostle John to write letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor.

Claire's been teaching that on her noon encouragements the last few weeks.

And the seventh church was the church of Laodicea, chapter three.

And he just starts off, you know, greeting them In verse 15, he said I know your works, that you're neither cold nor hot.

I would that you were cold or hot.

So then, because you're lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth, I will vomit you.

In other words, laya to see in church church, not a synagogue, not a Hindu temple, not a mosque, a Christian church pastored by a pastor.

And Jesus said the way things stand right now is I'm revolted.

You make me nauseous.

Not only do I not want to eat with you.

I haven't eaten with you.

You're not eating with me, you're not part of me.

Why?

Because they were cold.

No, cold means they needed to be informed of what the truth was.

A cold person is someone who has been exposed to the gospel.

A cold person is someone who didn't have a chance.

But once you've been exposed, then he expects you to be zealous.

He wants you to be on fire for him.

But what would you do if you were about to have a wedding and the bride was nonchalant yeah, that's what they tell me Gonna walk up the aisle next week.

I mean you know your attendance would be.

They would be encouraged you to get a little bit more excited.

I mean, are you gonna really marry this guy?

And you're not very you're not very desirous of him.

I mean that's not exactly fair to go up the aisle about somebody that you're ambivalent about.

Luke warm means ambivalent.

Luke warm means not on fire.

Luke warm means you had the chance.

You heard the message that would light your fire and you said no, I wanna be cool, I wanna be accepted by my friends.

I don't wanna be separated from them.

Are you with me now?

This is Jesus talking.

I didn't say it, he said it.

I said I'm gonna do a church and that church is on the earth right now.

There may be somebody in here that's Luke warm, in this church today, right now.

So he's talking to you.

Here's your chance to remedy that situation, because he does wanna be in you.

And so he goes on and he says he said you say I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, but you don't know that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

That's kind of the way that people are who are Luke warm, they think they've got it together.

They might look cool on Facebook, they might look cool on the job or in the neighborhood, but this is how God sees them.

They see themselves differently.

He said I counsel thee, I advise you to buy gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich and white raiment, that you may be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear and anoint your eyes with eye-sad, that you may see as many as I love.

I rebuke and chase it.

See, he's not giving up on you.

He's giving them another chance.

This church has got so much wrong with it that it's not giving you a chance.

That's wrong with it.

He's nauseous, he's ready to spew them out.

Before he does, he gives them a chance.

That's love.

Love is not this mess that we see, this woke.

That's not love.

Everybody say woke is not love, it's a lie.

Come on, it's a lie.

And so behold.

Now this is the part right here.

Hold, I stand at the door and knock.

Jesus, the Son of God, jesus, the second person of the Godhead, so humble, is standing on the porch, knocking on the door of your heart.

If any man, any person, open the door, notice he won't do it.

He will not force himself in and he won't get that shotgun out.

Blow the lock off, you know.

Get the battering ram and knock the door.

Lock off.

No knock warrant.

He's knocking.

If any person open the door, I will come in unto him and I will sup with him and he with me.

Fellowship, intimate fellowship, that's what God desires for every human being on the face of the earth.

He wants to be in you, he wants to be inside your spirit.

Praise God, oh, he desires so.

He showed the disciples by precepting example.

What it's all about, what the gospel is all about, is getting people to open their hearts door.

Finally, when I was 33, I finally got the message.

I finally understood what he had been trying to show me most of my life and I finally opened that door, and not before.

I mean he would not go through that door until I opened it.

Oh praise God.

I mean, he's gonna eat with you and you're gonna eat with him.

You're gonna give him all you are, he's gonna give you all.

He is Boy.

What an exchange that is.

He rose up from the dead to be in you.