What the Resurrection Means to Us

Welcome to this week's message from the Church of Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

I want you to turn with me this morning to 2 Timothy chapter 2.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

2 Timothy chapter 2.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

And if you do not have a bulletin, really we call them a worship guide around here.

Same thing, but uh we'll try to be 21st century, right, Rick?

So uh anyway, uh if you do not, please raise your hand because the outline's on the back.

And I love for you to follow me, fill it in, take it home, and after the service go back and seek out and search out the truths that you've heard from God's word.

We have a little saying around here about the word of God.

One, that we love it, two, that we learn it, and three, that we live it.

So let's say that together.

Number one, we love it, we all right.

One more time.

We live it.

And that is so true.

2 Timothy chapter 2.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

And the title of the message today is What the Resurrection Means to Us.

What does the resurrection mean to us?

And basically, we're gonna look at verses 1 through 10 today, or actually 1 through 13.

And the heart of the paragraph there is the heart of the verse that I want us to turn our attention to, and that is Paul is writing to his young son Timothy.

In fact, there's no doubt in my mind that God had used Paul in Timothy's life unbelievably, and on one of his missionary journeys, he picked up young Timothy.

Uh his great, Timothy's great-grandmother and mother were godly women, and no doubt had led Timothy to the Lord.

He had been brought up in the faith, and now he was ready to eagerly work for the Lord.

And I think uh Paul saw that zeal and that enthusiasm in young Timothy and took him as his disciple Lee.

And he began to disciple Timothy.

And so this is right at the end of Paul's career.

Paul is, in fact, it's his last letter before he's about to be beheaded.

He's headed to martyr and he's writing to his young Timothy that he's really about to pass the preton to.

And one of the greatest things he tells Timothy, Timothy, you've been with me through the thick and thin.

Timothy, you've been with me through persecution.

You've been with me, you've seen me almost killed three times at least or more.

Timothy, you've seen it all.

And the key to this whole thing, and uh David was just sharing his heart about the trials that he's gone through.

Jessica, her trial.

And I'm looking at Rick Vignelle and his family's gone through uh several major trials, a couple of deaths in the last year, his dad and his brother's son, and all these tragedies that I can remember early in my ministry.

My wife died in my arms.

And I can remember Susan and I had a little baby boy born dead at six months.

I mean, I can take you through tragedy and trial and trial.

And what David said is so true this morning.

Hey, we believe that Jesus is alive, but let me tell you, when you walk through the fire with Jesus in it, you know he's alive.

Amen.

And so Paul's about to deliver Timothy, the whole Patan.

He's about to say, Hey, I'm going to be beheaded.

I'm fixing to go to be with the Lord.

And you go on over in 2 Timothy 4, and he says, Hey, hey, you love the last exhortation, probably the last thing he pinned.

I fought a good fight.

I finished the course.

I kept the faith.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown to righteousness, but not just for me, but for all those who also endure and press for the prize of the high calling of God in and through Christ Jesus.

Be faithful to the end.

And so he's really giving Timothy his exhortation.

He's giving him his last, should I say, encouragement before he's going to be martyred.

And the key, the foundation in all these four chapters, I saw it, and man, I had a Pentecostal spell when I saw it in this one verse.

In 2 Timothy 2.8.

One verse.

The truth that you're going to hear this morning is verse 8.

And look at what he said.

Timothy, whatever you do, whatever you go through, it doesn't matter.

But remember this, Timothy.

Hey, take it to the bank.

Hey, nail it down.

Put it in your Bible.

Put it, hey, hey, put it on a t-shirt.

Put it on the walls.

Put it right in front of you.

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to the gospel.

That Jesus Christ, regardless of what you're going through, is alive and he's with you.

What an exhortation for Easter.

Jesus is risen.

Jesus is alive.

And today I want you to see this is the whole cardinal doctrine of all of Christianity.

And Paul is telling, telling Timothy, don't you remember, Timothy?

Don't you remember?

Hey, the resurrection.

Jesus is alive.

He's well.

Listen, everything about redemption is based on, hey, the truth that Jesus Christ on that third day came up out of that grave.

If there's no, listen, if there's no resurrection, there's no gospel.

If there's no resurrection, there's no salvation.

If there's no resurrection, there's no abundant life.

In fact, Paul said, if Christ be not raised, our preaching is vain and our faith is vain.

1 Corinthians 15, 13 and 14.

Amen.

It's vain, it's useless.

So Paul is getting excited.

And Paul, even knowing he's about to die, he says, Remember the cardinal doctrine of the resurrection.

In the Gospels, we have the redemptive event of the resurrection.

At the end of all four Gospels, we see the writers and the evangelists talk about and write and validate the resurrection.

And then when we get over to the book of Acts, we see in Acts we have the redemptive experience of the resurrection.

I meant we actually see how Paul radically is saved and changed, and how God radically used the apostles and the disciples to build his church.

And then when we get to the epistles, where Paul wrote most of them, probably all of them, if you believe he wrote Hebrews.

But especially the prison epistles that we're looking at here.

Paul then, and I love it, his whole foundation and ground of salvation and the goal for our sanctification and our service is all based on the authenticity and the hey, the proof of the resurrection.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you today, this resurrected Sunday, that the resurrection literally happened.

And so I want us to look at what Paul tells young Timothy.

He's knowing that Timothy's fixing to take on, he's about to take on all the pressure and the persecution and all the really the whole, should I say, pressure of the ministry that he has established himself.

All the churches that have been planted and established.

Timothy's now going to be, hey, the little apostle Paul now.

His mentor E is fixing to step up to the plate.

It's his time to carry the ball.

And he says, Timothy, you can't falter.

You can't fail.

You can't falter and fail in your preaching.

You can't falter and fail.

Hey, in the persecution, you got to stick with the stuff.

And here's what he says to him.

He gives him three unbelievable exhortations.

And by the way, it's the same exhortation for us.

For us to know that Jesus is alive is all that really matters.

And here's why.

For in our risen Lord, we find the courage to live and the comfort to die.

Hello, let me repeat that.

Hey, in the resurrection, we have the courage to live and to be, hey, a soldier for the cross, to be an athlete that wins, and be a farmer that plants and harvests.

We've got that courage.

But we also have the comfort to die.

Amen.

Rick was telling me about his episode.

He almost died a year ago, too, right after his dad, all after everything happened.

He was out in Utah.

They were doing, he and his twin brother are evangelists, and they're going to schools, have an awesome ministry, been doing it.

What I love about them, they've been doing it ever since we graduated.

David's been doing it ever since we graduated.

I've been doing it ever since, hey, hey, ever since I've graduated.

And I'm telling you, we're in our fourth quarter, and it's getting sweeter and sweeter and sweeter.

Amen.

Man, somebody said you're going to retire.

No, I said I'm on refire.

Amen.

Hey, my my my hey, my my turbo's just starting to kick in.

Amen.

I'm in better shape than I've ever been.

Look out.

Bless God.

We're going to take this community.

Hey, for Jesus Christ.

We're going to take it because God's given us the vision.

And we see right here, this is what Paul's trying to tell Timothy.

But he was about to die.

They had given him steroids.

He's a diabetic.

And uh so he's laying there and he's saying, Hey, making jokes.

He's a comedian too.

And and and and he's dying and he's making jokes with the doctor.

And the doctor said, You don't understand.

We're trying to save your life.

About that time, Rick said, he went, Oh.

And then he said, Well, I'm ready.

I'm ready.

I'll get peace.

I'll go see dad.

I see uh see my nephew.

I hey, hey, I'm ready.

And they said, and then they they being Mormons, one of the things about a Mormon religion, they're scared to die.

One reason they don't understand the truth.

So they said, Oh, he's delusional.

And by that time, Rick said, I'm not delusional, I know where I'm going.

Ladies and gentlemen, the excitement about the resurrection is the fact that we know that because he lives, we will live also.

There's no death.

Amen.

There's no death for the Christian.

Amen.

By the way, there's no death for the hey, the non-Christian either.

It just, hey, you know what?

You know the difference?

It's where you spend an eternity.

My address is in heaven.

Where's yours?

Amen?

The other address you don't want to know about, but it's called hell.

Amen?

And there is a literal hell.

So we see this final exhortation.

And notice what he says.

Number one.

So as we look at our text, let's look at this threefold exhortation that's given to Timothy as Paul's about to be what?

Martyred.

And the same exhortation is to us.

Number one, we are to remember the fact of the resurrection.

Look at verse 8.

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.

Now here Paul is stating a fact which has the support of three things.

It has prophetic evidences, it has historical evidence, and it also has, and I love this, dynamic evidence.

And so we see, number one, there's the fact that the prophetic evidence, listen what he said.

Remember that Jesus Christ, look at the first phrase, is the seed of David.

That means that the seed of David shifts our focus back to the Old Testament, where God had promised David in 2 Samuel, and what a beautiful passage, chapter 7, verses uh 12 through 13, and I think we have those for you.

If not, they're in there.

2 Samuel, and he tells us this, and I love this.

Here's what he says David, I have promised you, hey, that your kingdom and that your, hey, your lineage will be forever.

And that Jesus Christ, who will be born, you know, the Messiah, will come through your lineage, and it will be forever.

In other words, God's word predicted hundreds of years prior to the crucifixion and the resurrection, that it would happen, and he predicted it exactly how it should happen in Psalms 22 and in Psalms 89.

And in fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4, Paul says, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again.

Hey, the third day according to the scriptures.

I meant the Bible says in Isaiah 53, 5, the prophetic utterance that he would be wounded for our transgressions.

He would be bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace will be upon him.

And hallelujah, church, with his stripes we are healed.

Amen.

And he says in 1 Peter 2 24, who his own self bear our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree.

Galatians 3 13.

Wow.

We've got the authority of the word of the living God.

Hundreds of years before the crucifixion and resurrection, it would happen.

And it happened exactly like the Old Testament said it would.

Amen, church?

So we have this prophetic evidence.

But notice secondly.

Not only do we have the prophetic evidence, but number two, we have the historic evidence.

Notice what he said again in verse 8.

Remember that Jesus Christ, the seed of David, now watch, was raised from the dead.

In other words, he was raised from the dead.

Look at what he says in Acts 4.33.

And with the apostles are speaking here, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

See, folks, when you go to the tomb where Jesus was buried, I've got news.

I've been there four times.

I've got news for you.

It's empty.

You go to Buddha's tomb, there's a body.

You go to any other of the false gods, hey, tombs, there's bodies.

But with Jesus, there's no body.

Why?

You remember when the young ladies were there at the resurrection morning?

They were there.

They had really just slept right outside there close to the uh place called Galgotha, so they could come back the next morning, because again, they had not finished the what we would call the embalming process, so they wanted to finish it.

They loved Jesus.

They were there.

In fact, hey, those ladies were there when all the men left.

Thank you, ladies.

God bless you.

Amen.

Amen.

But anyway, when they got to the tomb, it was the stone had been rolled away and it was empty, and they looked in and they were frightened.

They said, Oh, somebody stole the body.

And all of a sudden the angel appears and said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Hey, you are here seeking Jesus Christ who was crucified.

But remember what he told you?

He's not here, for he has risen as he said.

Come see the place where the Lord lay.

Hallelujah.

Give him a clap offering.

That's worth clapping for.

He's not here, he's alive.

In fact, when we go to 1 Corinthians 15, listen to what Paul said.

Paul is writing about the resurrection.

And after verse 4, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day.

Then look at verse 5.

Woo! This gets real exciting.

And that he was seen of Cephas, Peter.

Peter saw him, literally, after he had been, hey, risen from the dead.

And then look at what it says.

But not only Peter after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.

Now let me ask something.

You know it's one thing to have one eyewitness, it's another thing to have two eyewitnesses, but what if you have 500?

Hello, five hundred people.

Hello.

Not all of them were smoking something.

Amen.

Hello.

Hello.

Five hundred at one time.

And then notice what he says.

And then verse 7, and after that he was seen of James.

Then of all the apostles.

And then Paul said in verse 8, and last of all, he was seen of me.

In other words, we've seen him, we've touched him.

We know.

We know that he's alive.

They we have historical evidence that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is alive.

Well, there was a third evidence.

Not only was it the evidence of the prophetic prophecy or the historical evidence, but notice this, there was the dynamic evidence.

Ooh, I like this one.

Remember, look at verse 8 again.

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seated David, that's the prophetic evidence, was raised from the dead.

That's the historical factual evidence that his tomb's empty.

We've got eyewitnesses.

We have geological evidence.

We got every kind of evidence possible to prove that.

And then he said, and I love this, raised from the dead.

Watch the last phrase according to my gospel.

Now, the text could also be rendered that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

And because he is risen from the dead, Paul says, I have personally experienced a radical transformation.

Not only did I see him on the road to Damascus, but he literally transformed my life.

I meant completely.

In fact, I want you to see this.

I want you to see this.

Acts 26.

In Acts 26, oh, buddy, you're talking about good stuff.

Wait till you see this.

And he's talking about the evidence.

He's talking about the evidence.

And we see right here that I've, Paul said, hey, verse 9 in Acts 26.

Verily, he says, I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus and Nazareth.

You know what he said?

He said, hey, you don't understand who I was.

First of all, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

I was the Sadducees of the Sadducees.

I was the master teacher.

I was everything that, quote, a religious person was supposed to be, but I did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

In fact, my job was to what?

Wipe out every person that believed, every person that believed in Jesus, tried to stand up for Jesus.

My job was to either kill him or lock him up.

And he's on his way to Damascus through the authority of the high priest to go and lock up all the Christians or have them executed.

When all of a sudden he has a run-in with Jesus, he has a head-on confrontation with Jesus.

Now let me tell you something, church.

Listen, when you get saved, you had a head-on collision with Jesus.

I can remember when I got saved.

I had a confrontation.

Somebody says, Well, I don't like that confrontation evangelism.

Well, I got news for you.

How in the world are you gonna get saved if you don't have a confrontation with Jesus?

Amen.

You gotta have a time when you know Jesus stops you in your tracks.

He tells you you're a sinner, you know.

In fact, listen to what Paul said.

In fact, Jesus looked at him and he said, Paul, what are you doing?

What are you doing?

I don't understand what you're doing.

What are you doing?

And the King James says calling you kicking against the prick.

In other words, he said, Your conscience.

What's wrong with your conscience?

Why are you rebelling against me?

He says, You're supposed to be a religious authority and you don't even know, hey, who I am.

I'm Jesus.

I'm God.

Paul, I've got a mission for you.

Paul, I've got a job for you.

Paul, that zeal, that passion, that education, all that you are, is mine.

I created you, and now.

Your mind.

He put him on the ground.

Just like that.

And all the people was with him.

Talking about being slain in the spirit.

Boy, they were slain.

They hit the ground.

Just like that.

Oh, now I don't know.

Well, watch.

Verse 10.

Which things I also did in Jerusalem.

In other words, see, I had believers, I had jail believers.

I had voted for the death of believers.

He was the one holding the coat of Stephen when Stephen was stoned to death in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

And then notice, and then notice.

Oh, this is awesome.

Verse 11, and I punished them in the synagogue.

I was against all the preachers.

I mean, hey, he was a bad dude.

But then watch what happened.

Verse 13.

But at midday, O King, now he's witnessing to King Agrippa.

He says, Oh King, but let me tell you what happened to me.

I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me, and them which journeyed with me.

And when we were all fallen to the earth, bam, they hit the dirt right there.

He said, When we all were fallen to the earth, I love it.

I meant God got their attention.

Then he said, Here it is.

And he said, By the way, all those that were journeying with me, they hit the dirt.

And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying, in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

It is hard for you to go against your conscience.

And I said, Oh, are that Lord?

Here's where the conversion takes place.

And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecuted.

But rise and stand upon thy feet.

And I have appeared unto thee for this purpose.

Ladies and gentlemen, the reason you have a confrontation with Jesus Christ is he loves you.

He died for you.

And he's got a purpose for you.

He's got a ministry for you.

And the only way you can fulfill that purpose in that ministry is to give your heart and life to Jesus Christ and say, Not my will, but thy will be done.

And notice what he said.

He said, To make thee a minister, a servant, and a witness.

Both of these things which thou have seen and those things which I will appear unto thee.

And then he said, Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, where I'm going to send you back to the Gentiles, and here's your mission: to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light.

Woo! From darkness.

Hey, when you get saved, you go from darkness to light.

Can I get an amen?

And then notice what else he said.

And then from the power of Satan unto God, you go from death to life.

Satan's come to kill, steal, and destroy.

But Jesus says, I've come to give you life and give it more abundantly.

John 10 10.

You go from death to life, from darkness to light.

I am the light of the world, he says.

He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 8 12.

And then thirdly, look at what he says.

Man, that's good.

And then that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance, hey, an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

They go from guilt to gladness.

Woo! I can remember.

Hey, you know, there's not a greater peace in your life is when you give your life to Christ and all that condemnation, all that guilt, all that uh that garbage that Satan keeps confronting you with every day.

You're not good.

You're not worthy.

Hey, you can't be a good Christian.

What do you?

And you know what?

You just turn around and say, You're right, you're right, you're right, I can't.

But through him I can.

He died for me.

He died for my sins.

He took my sins.

And today I stand, hey, I stand redeemed by the blood of the Lamb because of Jesus Christ and what he did.

Man, that's good.

That's what he's telling, that's what he's telling Timothy.

You don't have to worry.

Just stand firm.

He's alive.

And he is with you.

So we see that.

Now we see we have the prophetic evidence, we have the historic evidence, and we have the dynamic evidence.

Can I tell you something?

If you're here this morning and you can you go back, you know, Friday night at the Lord's Supper, one of the things we do at Lord's Summer, remembering the time you got saved.

That was such a sweet time.

Can you remember when you got saved?

Go back to the time you got saved, folks.

Listen to me.

Listen to me.

I remember it as of yesterday in the balcony of First Baptist Church, and I told the group Sunday, I mean Friday night, and in the Southern Baptists, there's two types of churches, and Rick and David and I have been in all of them.

There's the chosen frozen, and there's a happy clappy.

And I happen to be a member of the happy clappy.

Amen.

Clap your hands, all you people.

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph.

I'm a happy clappy.

I'm a actually, I got Baptist theology, I got a Pentecostal heart and I got Jehovah's Witness feet.

I'm a Babdecostal witness, that's what I am.

I know, I'm weird.

Okay, okay.

But now listen, here it is, here it is, here it is.

Ladies and gentlemen, when God saved me, that preacher said we never sang another, you know, we never sang an exorcist stanza in the church, but today God just told me to.

Man, next thing I know, I'm up and I'm down at the front of the altar in the church saying, I need to, and the pastor looked at me and said, Danny, what are you coming from for?

I said, Preacher, I need to get saved.

And it changed my life, folks.

I listen, I'm different.

I'm not the same old man I used to be.

You say, Well, what happened?

My want-to changed.

Amen.

Amen.

And we have people that say they're saved, but there's no change.

I have a problem with that.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation, old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

That's it.

That's it.

That's it.

Now look at the second thing.

Not only do we have the dynamic evidence, you know what?

I get so full sometimes.

Y'all think I when I y'all think I'm joking that I could run around this building.

I really could.

And sometimes you ain't seen me.

I have.

I just can't run.

Why?

It's so good.

And you know what gets me a little bit?

Uh-oh, well, I shouldn't go here, but I'm going.

Okay.

I've been with a lot of you when we had ball games.

I watch how you act.

Christy Wilson turns into another woman.

That little mild meat, sweet Christy.

She's a whole different lady.

I know I sat right in front of her.

Get me high.

You threatened I'm gonna split on my water?

Well, that's all right.

Baptize some people.

All right, watch this.

Alright, listen, listen.

I've been with the Alabama fans.

Okay?

Okay?

I've been there.

And I watch how enthusiastic and how passionate you are about those teams and that game.

My question is, why in the world on Sunday morning can't you be as excited about Jesus Christ as you are at that ball game?

Because that ball game's temporal, and this, what we're doing this morning, is eternal.

Amen.

I don't get it.

I don't get it.

And by the way, I like to be passionate with you, but bless God, I'm gonna shout with you on Saturday, and you're gonna shout with me on Sunday.

Amen.

Hello.

Amen.

I'm serious, church.

We need to get back to the pathos, the passion, which hey, really comes from the ethos in God, which comes from the Logos, the Word of God.

Amen.

That's the truth.

What we're preaching right here is the evidence that Jesus is alive.

Number two.

Not only are we to remember the fact of the resurrection, but number two, Paul tells young Timothy, hey, you gotta consider.

And watch this, you gotta consider the force of the resurrection.

The power of God raised Jesus from the dead.

Do you believe that this morning, church?

Say amen.

He's alive, he's not dead, he's not here, he is risen.

Now, watch this.

This is gonna surprise a lot of us.

Hey, that same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you and me if we are Christians by the power, the dunamis of the Holy Spirit of the living God.

Now, the Him that's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask, hey, according to the power that worketh in us, Dunimus, Dunamus, Dunamus, Dynamite.

You know what we need?

I'm tired of firecracker Christians.

You know what a firecracker Christian is?

They just they'll pop off and then that's it.

It's over.

And sometimes they fizz out.

They'll just you ever lit something and they don't pop, they just go.

They come in on Sunday and pop off, and then by Monday they fizzed out.

Hello, hello, you okay out there?

You know what we need?

When I was growing up, we used cherry bombs.

M80s.

I meant some when those suckers went off, they shook the whole neighborhood.

That's the kind of Christianity we need to bring back to Westover.

Amen.

And Chelsea, we need to bring back, hey, the dynamite of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hey, there's something going on over there on that 90 acres over there.

Why?

And by the way, it's not Serpro cleaning carpet.

It's, hey, it's Jesus Christ cleaning souls.

Amen.

We got 12 people to baptize this morning.

Woo! Hallelujah.

Amen.

That's what it's all about.

We claim.

Hey, not only does Serpro, their motto is they clean it as it's never even happened.

Well, I got news when Jesus saved you, it's as if it never even happened.

Amen.

He changes you.

He changes you.

And you say, well, man, he's excited.

Well, Jesus made me that way.

I can't help it.

I got the can't help it.

Amen.

I can't help but speak the things that I've seen and heard.

Acts 4.20.

So, remember the force.

Now, watch what he said.

Verse 1.

Be strong in the grace that's in Christ Jesus.

Now let me show you what he means.

He says, Because of the grace of God and the power of God, you have the power to stand, you have the power to strive, and you have the power to serve.

And you're gonna, I'm gonna show you these three things.

Look, look, number one, look at verse three and four.

Second Timothy.

As Christians, we have the power to stand for Christ.

Watch this.

Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

No man, look at verse three and then verse four.

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier.

See, as Christians, we're engaged in a battle.

Hello, come on.

Say this with me, church.

We are in a battle.

Steve, you look good, son.

Look at that.

Look at that.

I'm in that vest and that, man.

You just look good.

I'm telling you, son.

I know it, man.

I just I looked.

I tell you what, we usually all of us, you know, we're not, we don't dress up a lot around here.

But when we do, man, I get I'm impressed.

Some of us clean up quite well.

Amen.

We got to do something with our shine, though, amen.

Need to put some makeup on our shine.

But anyway, watch this.

What's this?

We're in a battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Amen.

We're in a battle, folks.

If you have not realized that, you need to go to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Hi.

Why?

Because we are in a battle.

And he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to watch.

There's that word.

That you may be able to watch?

Stand against what?

What's that word wild?

That means the hey, the traps, the trials, the temptations, the tricks, the craftiness that Satan has.

Hey, the traps that he has waiting for you and me to fall into.

You think he's just, hey, let me tell you something right now.

He can't stand what's going on at CCW.

But I got news for him.

Hey, greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

And if God be for us, who can be against us?

God's on our side.

Remember, he's alive.

Say that with me.

He's alive.

Again, he's alive.

And because he's alive, we can stand.

Because we do not war.

Listen to what he says.

We do not war, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities.

That's powers.

Hey, hey, uh, well, principality, excuse me.

That's organized satanic, hey, oppression, demons, whatever you want to call it.

By the way, I'm not afraid to say demons.

The word of God says that, by the way.

Amen.

They fill with demons.

Yeah, how many times Jesus cast out demons of people?

Amen.

Yeah, you say, well, I know someone.

No, okay.

And principalities and against powers and against the rulers, watch, of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, what?

In high places.

Listen, church, there is an organized group, hey, of satanic powers trying to take you and me out.

And he's doing a pretty good job of it.

We hear great preachers, great uh men and women of God taken out every every week.

6,000 Southern Baptist preachers quit the ministry every year.

God help us.

Why?

You say, well, maybe no, there's here's the here's here's why.

Satan is alive and well.

But I got news.

Jesus Christ is alive and well.

And Jesus Christ is more powerful than any satanic powers.

But they're real.

We're against satanic powers.

And we've got to stand.

Notice the second thing, though.

Not only, hey, and by the way, the armor and the weapons that if I went on to, and well, let me give you verse 13.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able, watch.

What does it say?

To withstand in the evil day and having done all what?

Stand.

Amen.

You with me?

Only through the power of God.

But let me just say, if we had time, and that's another message, that's another series on the armor of God.

But let me just put this, and I wrote this so I wouldn't forget telling you.

The armor and the weapons which God supplies to you and me make no provision.

Are you ready for retreat or defeat?

Did you hear that?

They make no provisions for retreat or defeat.

In other words, he did not make any armor for the backside.

There's only one thing for the Christian: charge.

Charge.

Amen?

Bless God if I'm going down, I'm taking as many with me as I can.

You said, what does that mean?

I said, I'm going to try to take as many people to Jesus, hey, to heaven and come into Jesus with me as I can.

Amen.

And when I die, you're going to have in my casket, if I can talk my wife and let me do a video, I'm going to preach my own funeral.

But she said she's not going to do that.

But one thing, hey, but let me just tell you this much.

I am working on it.

If I ain't, if I get Doc to help me, we might be able to make this happen.

But anyway, let me just put it this way.

Can you see that?

Hey, the thing is after after Dave plays and everybody sings and Susan sings that I'll fly away.

Then all of a sudden that movie projector's gonna come on, and I'm gonna say, Woo! Hello, church! Jesus is alive and well, and I'm with him.

I'm with him.

Come on up.

Come on up.

Wish you were here.

I can only imagine.

I'll start singing imagine from heaven.

Amen.

Amen.

Folks, what we're preaching is real.

We don't just come to church.

We hey, we serve a risen living Savior.

We are, he's alive.

Man, he's real.

He's real.

But we also have the notice the second thing, we have the, as Christians, we have the power to strive.

Now that's a great word.

The word strive means to take part in.

He uses an athlete here in verse 5.

Look at what he says.

Powerful, powerful, powerful.

And if a man also strive for masteries, in other words, are you are do you have a purpose?

Are you striving to win the crown?

Are you, hey, are you striving to win the race?

Yet is he not crowned?

Except he's striving to watch lawfully.

Here's the key.

If you're gonna win the race, you gotta, hey, play by the right rules.

I used to run track, and you know, I had a lane to run in.

If I got out of that lane, I was disqualified.

Okay?

I meant I lost the race.

It's over.

I had to stay in my lane.

I had to play by the rules.

Ladies and gentlemen, hey, hey, listen, if you're a Christian this morning, you gotta play by the rules.

And let me tell you what the rule book is.

Here's the rules right here.

The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me.

Can I get an Amen?

This is the rule book.

We got to play by what God tells us to do, not by what we want to do.

There's a big difference.

There's a major difference.

So my question this morning: if you're here and you're saved, there's more to just being saved.

Hey, but you're striving.

You are pressing.

You are working.

Hey, you are fulfilling what God has called you to do.

Remember what we saw a while ago with Paul?

When the Lord said, Hey, not only have I saved you, but I've saved you to give you a ministry.

I've saved you to be a witness.

Every one of us are saved because God has a purpose and a ministry for each and every one of us.

And part of that ministry is being a witness to exalt Christ.

And he says, if I be exalted, I'll draw all men unto myself.

John 12, 32.

Amen.

You with me?

I'm not going to fall off this.

Trust me.

If I do, I act like I meant to.

Are you with me, church?

Oh, this is so good.

Hey, you gotta compete.

You gotta do it God's way, hey, and not man's way.

Listen what he says in Isaiah 1, 19 and 20.

If you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.

It's your choice.

It's your choice.

Hey, you play by his rules.

Now, I know what you're thinking, just like I do.

I play, I don't you ever tell the Lord, well, Lord, I pray, I play by your rules most of the time.

Can we say, oh me?

But there's just a few things over here, Lord, I don't need you to meddle with.

I can handle it.

Well, guess what?

He said, uh-uh.

You're not gonna win any race that way.

If I don't control every room, I have no room.

He wants every room in your house.

He wants to control it.

He wants that dark closet.

And only you and hey, you think just only you know.

Well, I tell you, two other people know.

The devil and the Lord.

The eyes of the Lord in every place behold the evil and the good.

Proverbs 15:3.

Proverbs 15:3

Can't get away from it.

Can't get away from it.

So we see.

We have the power to strive.

We gotta run it, do it his way.

Now look at the third thing.

And as Christians, we have the power to serve.

Look at the word in verse 6.

Now we turn to the farmer.

The husbandman that laboreth must be first partakers of the fruit.

As Christians, we have a job to do, and that's called to be faithful.

Faithfulness.

Now, here Paul uses the imagery of the orchard.

I don't have time, but I I know it in my heart.

If I was to take you to John 15, we see God, hey.

God, Jesus and man.

God, hey, is the husband.

Jesus, hey, Jesus is that tree, that life, and we're the branches.

And if you remember what he says in John 15, there's three exhortations.

He says, if you and I are grafted into the tree, if we're engrafted into Jesus, if Jesus is in us and we are in Jesus, then we have the sap.

Woohoo! You ought to do a word study, a word study on the word sap.

Sap is that nutritional part that builds the tree and the brings life so that it has the apples or the peaches or the.

Oh my apple pie right now with ice cream would be good.

Oh, I don't know where that came from, Granny.

But it did.

But anyway, you got the apples and you got the peaches.

Peach copper would be pretty good too, Rick.

And I've been on diet too long, it's time to.

But but hey, but it's that nourishment that comes in.

Okay?

Now he goes on and he says, if you're not connected and engrafted into the vine, which is Jesus, listen, he says, it's gonna fall off.

Or the husbandman, the farmer, when he comes back, he's gonna prune you off.

He's gonna cut you off.

Actually, he's gonna prune all the branches.

He's gonna prune them all.

But the dead ones, he's not gonna prune, he's gonna cut off.

And you know what he says?

He's gonna throw them in the fire.

Hello! He's gonna throw them in the fire?

That's what he says.

Why?

They're no good.

Only good thing the forest is fire.

And I don't like the terminology fire because it carries the connotation of another place.

Just the thought.

But then what does he say?

But for you that are engrafted and pruned, you're gonna bring forth fruit, more fruit, and much fruit.

So, see, as a Christian, listen to me.

You don't have a choice.

You gotta have some fruit.

You gotta have some fruit, or maybe you're not the hey, you're just on the tree, but you're not engrafted in.

You gotta have some fruit.

It may be just a little, but you gotta have some, but the goal is to have more fruit than much fruit.

And you know what he says?

The word of God is the pruning agent.

He says in verse 3 in John 15, now you are cleansed and clean through the words that I've spoken unto you.

So as we allow that word, the sap to come in us and clean us and purify us and what?

To set down the rule book and show us what we need to do because he's Lord of our life.

We've presented our bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service, and we won't be conformed to this world.

We won't be entangled in the world as a good soldier.

But we'll follow him.

And one day we're gonna receive the crown.

Every knee's gonna bow, every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And we'll hear him say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.

Because Jesus said in Matthew 7, 13, a good branch cannot bear for evil fruit.

Hey, a bad branch cannot what?

Bear good fruit.

And then he says, You shall know them by the fruit that they bear.

And then the last thing, and I'm through, number three.

Not only do we remember the fact of the resurrection, not only do we consider the force, the power of the resurrection.

But lastly, we are to deliver the faith of the resurrection.

Woo! Listen what Paul said.

Remember that Jesus Christ, the seed of David, that's the fact.

Was raised from the dead, that's the force.

According to my gospel.

Oh, here it is.

This is the faith.

It happened to me.

Paul said, it happened to me.

It changed me.

And because of that, I'm a living reality to Christ and all that He is.

And my goal is to preach the gospel for two things.

Whatever the cost or whatever the call, I am to preach the gospel.

Number one, we are to preach the gospel, whatever the cost.

Verse 9, wherefore I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto the bonds, but the word of God is not bound.

He says, Hey, my job, here it is.

My job is to wherever I go, is to preach the gospel.

Everywhere we go.

Why do you think we wear Jesus awesome bands?

We're preaching the gospel everywhere we go.

Why do you think I take my little life and death tracks?

And I say, for the wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

That's what God's called me to do, regardless of the cost.

You say, but people are gonna make fun of you.

Yeah, they will.

But people are gonna persecute you.

If you really are.

In fact, that you know, the church in America hasn't seen a whole lot of persecution, but it's coming.

I'm telling you, it's coming.

I'm pre-warnedness, it's coming.

I mean, it's gonna be to the point where if your pastor gets up here and preaches against homosexuality and abortion, they're gonna say it's hate speech and they're gonna lock me up.

Well, bless God, lock me up.

Because I'm gonna keep preaching the truth.

That's what I'm called to do.

Amen.

I can't help that.

And I'm gonna preach it lovingly, not antagonistically.

Hey, we love the sinners.

We love them.

We love them.

We we just don't like their sin.

Can I get an amen?

We love them, but we hate the sin.

Jesus loved them, but he hated their sin.

It's what the scripture says.

So we see right here, whatever the cost.

In fact, you know what he said right here?

Paul says, look, look, he said, hey, they call me, you know what?

They call me an evildoer.

It was the same word used for malefactors that was used on the crucifixion day in Luke 23 about the two thieves.

In other words, they call Paul a thief, false prophet.

Called him everything.

He said, but that's okay.

In fact, Jesus said in Luke 6.26, warn you if all people speak well of you.

I've never had that problem.

They that love me or hate me.

So, and then we must preach the gospel wherever the call.

Look at verse 10.

Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, where hey, Jesus with eternal glory.

See, we don't know who the elect are.

We don't know that.

I was taught very early in my ministry at Liberty Baptist College at that time where we were going, Liberty University, by Dr.

Jerry Falwell, okay?

By Jerry Falwell and by B.

R.

Lacen, one of the greatest preachers I've ever seen.

He said, I'm gonna help y'all about this Calvinism versus Arminianism problem.

And here it is.

He says, Look, people get saved, okay?

And when people get saved, they call them the elect.

As he said, so here's what I want to teach you, preacher boys.

You don't worry about who the elect are, you just worry about sharing the gospel.

And what I've learned, the more people I share the gospel with and to, the more get elected.

Hello! I like it, I like it, I like it.

And that's exactly what Paul said here.

He said, you just go share the gospel because God knows who the elect are, he knows who's gonna be saved, who's not gonna be saved.

That's we don't.

Our job is just to preach the gospel.

Let him do the separate.

That's it, and he will.

He will.

So that's our mission.

As I close today.

That's our mission.

That's it.

We're to be ministers, we're to be witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Isn't that exciting?

Why?

And then I love what he said right here in this message.

In concluding, here's what he said.

The message of Easter is Jesus is alive.

And this is the fact that we must see.

It's the force that we must seek, and it's the faith that we must share.

Amen.

Do you know him this morning?

Do you know him?

He's a lie.

He's a lie.

He's a lie.

David?

Come on up here to this again.

The invitation this morning is real simple.

Very simple.

I mean, it can't get any simpler than what I'm gonna share for the invitation.

Two thousand years ago.

On a place called Calvary.

What a beautiful set scene here.

An old ruggy cross.

Two thousand years ago.

He spread his arms out and put his feet and willfully died for you and me.

That's a fact.

He died for you.

He died for me.

And I've got good news.

If it only had been you by yourself, he still would have died.

He still would have died for you.

That's how much he loves you.

I'm serious, folks.

Easter, what a day to give thanks for what was accomplished on a place called Calvary.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah for the cross.

Praise God for the cross.

He died for you.

Do you know him?

Do you know it?

If you're to die right now, are you sure you would go to heaven?

The Bible says you can know so.

You can have a no-so salvation.

Not a hope-so, not a think-so, but a no-so.

Because God said so.

1 John 5 13, these things have a written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

I know.

Listen, one thing I can tell you, I know right now, if something happens to me, I'm going to heaven.

No doubt in my mind.

I'm assured of that.

Because of the fact.

But I'll tell you another reason.

I'm assured of the historical evidence that his tomb is empty.

And because of that, I want to, the force of my faith, I want to share it everywhere I go.

What about you this morning?

Do you know him every year?

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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Send us an email at office at the church at CW.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.