Jesus Is Alive: Back to the Gospel

Amen. Well, you should be very happy to know

that I have one point sermon today. Hey, who

cheered for that? Come on, Ray. He's ready for

lunch. I have one point, one point message. And

it's good, you know, because we kind of have

a smaller crowd today. But this is going to be

a special day. Every day is a special day in

the house of God. But I believe this is going

to be a special day. I have one point. I'm just

going to pour my heart out today. Pour my heart

out for one point. You may be saying, what is

that point? Well, I'm not going to tell you unless

you ask me. What's the point? The point is Jesus

is alive. Amen? Jesus is alive. Hallelujah. He

lives. Isn't it great that we don't have a dead

God? We have a living Christ. Have you ever recently,

or have you recently, just taken a moment and

just considered him? Hebrews chapter 12. He says,

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

consider him. Meaning, you should take moments

just to consider him. Who is he? What has he

done? Do I believe in my heart that he is who

he says he is, that he's done what he says he's

done? Have you done it lately? Let's do it today.

Let's consider him. Let's let our faith shoot

out of this place like a rocket and just go for

Jesus in a big way. Come on. Are you with me?

I mean, I see a people. I know you guys are hungry.

Can we just talk like this? I said, I'm just

going to pour my heart. I'm just going to talk

to you like my friends today. There's a time

to teach and everything, and that's wonderful.

But there's time to preach where we just declare

Jesus, declare. That's the heralding of Jesus,

the preaching. It is because he is. That's what

we're going to do today. And I see a people that's

hungry. That's hungry. And so I want you just

to get with Jesus today. Let's get together in

unity of the faith and just magnify Jesus. This

has actually been my prayer this week, if you

want to know the truth. That we would hear today

the simplicity of Christ. And it would be like

it was the first time. Like we'd never heard

before. Like I heard the... Does anyone remember

the first time they heard the gospel? No? You

all were saved from the womb, right? Set apart.

Maybe you don't remember the first time you heard

the gospel. And maybe we just grew up in America

and it's just like we hear it, whatever. And

maybe that's good. Maybe that's what we're doing

today. You've never even maybe taken a moment

to think about what you've bought into here with

Jesus. Or you've just kind of come in to the

church and thought, this is just what we do.

I'm going to keep kicking that. And maybe you've

never had a moment where you considered him and

thought, am I fully convinced that he's alive?

And my prayer is that today would be like the

first time you ever heard the gospel and that

you would leave this place fully convinced. Not

just about a message, but about a man and a reality

that is because he is. Amen? So are you with

me? Can we go? Can we lift off? I mean, but here's

the thing. When we hear, and this is the thought,

okay? This is our year of kingdom expansion,

right? We're wanting to expand the kingdom. It's

our mandate. It's what we want to do. We want

to win the loss and everything. But there's times

when we have to recalibrate ourselves on what

we're doing, why we're doing it, right? I was

with Dr. Chuck and Trey and a few other guys.

Who else was with us? Was it just us? Okay. Anyway,

we were shooting. I bought a gun, a rifle. and

Dr. Chuggs, like my big brother, he was trying

to help me get it sighted in. So I've got this

powerful weapon, and I'm trying to hit the target

to get it sighted in, and he said, hey, guess

what? Your scope is not even screwed to the gun.

Like, we can sight it, but it just keeps moving

because it's not tight on the frame. So think

of it. You've got all this power, firepower,

but because it's not calibrated, you're not hitting

anything. And Paul warns us, he says, you can

get into a place where you're punching and beating

the air, like lots of activity, but you're not

focused, you're not calibrated. So my prayers

today would be like a recalibration where we

side ourselves back into the gospel of Jesus

Christ. That's where we say, amen, I'm with you.

I hope you are. If I can get at least one person,

I'll just talk to you. Maybe two. I know you're

with me. I think my wife is with me. But it's

true that Jesus lives. He's alive. He really

died and he really rose again. The Bible even

says that after Jesus rose from the grave, he

was seen by more than 500 people. John says we

handled him. We touched him after he rose from

the grave. Peter said, we didn't follow cunningly

devised fables when we made known to you the

gospel of Jesus Christ. He said, we were eyewitnesses

to his majesty. Think of it. A man, more than

one, was there on the mountain when the father

spoke and said, this is my beloved son. And those

men wrote their testimonies for us to read. It's

not a religion that we're following. Jesus didn't

come to establish the religion of Christianity.

He's not a religious martyr. He's the Lord from

heaven. He's real. He's the reality. He said,

I am the truth. He's the truth. And men and women,

did you know the first person that preach the

gospel. This is just a side note. I'm going to

try not to go too far on side notes today. But

this is a side note. The first person that preached

the gospel was a woman. Did you know that? What

was her name? Huh? Rhea probably knows. Mary.

The first one that was entrusted with the gospel

message was a woman. And then Peter and John,

no way. And then John had to brag and say, I

outran Peter. I got there before him. But it's

truth. It's not just words on a page. It's reality.

Jesus is alive. Jesus lives. He really died on

a cross. He really went to the grave. He really

rose again. And he did it for you. He did it

for me. He did it for us. And so that inspires

worship, right? It inspires praise when you think

about what must have been on his mind, on his

heart, when he was on the cross, experiencing

the pain, my pain, your pain. Experiencing the

ridicule, my ridicule, dying, my death, your

death. Powerful, beautiful, wonderful. Let's

look at a scripture. Hebrews chapter 2. Oh, I

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

think we're going to get so free today. Chapter

2, verse 14 and 15. Wait for the screen. Inasmuch

then as the children have partaken of flesh and

blood, he himself, Jesus, likewise shared in

the same. In the same what? Flesh and blood.

That through death, he might destroy him who

had the power of death, that is the devil, and

release. Everybody say release. I've been released.

Somebody said it. What does that mean? Delivered.

Freed. I have been released. You've been released.

Those who through fear of death were all their

lifetime subject to bondage. Jesus released us.

The door is open. Through death, destroyed death,

and released us. Anybody afraid to die? See,

he released us from fear. He released us from

the fear of death. Why? How? Because through

death he destroyed death and him who had the

power of death. Therefore, those who are in Christ

Jesus no longer die. We cannot die. We do not

die. What does it mean? It means that the death

of the body is not the moment when we experience

victory. Hello? This has been our mentality,

that someday when my body goes into the grave,

I'll have victory over sin, victory over the

devil, victory over death, and I'll get into

heaven, and one day everything will be all right.

When he died on the cross, oh, we're going to

get into this. He released those. He delivered

us from death through death. We're going to have

to change the lyric of the song. The final breath

upon the cross is now alive in me. We have to

change that lyric. Because this is what happened.

He breathed life into Adam. Stay with me, okay?

Stay with me. The breath that he breathed into

Adam. Does everybody remember that? I'm getting

excited here. What happened? Adam went from being

dust to man. The breath of life came. Man was

alive. His name was Adam. And then the Bible

says Adam fell. He sinned. He committed high

treason against God. And from that moment until

Christ, death reigned. That's what the Bible

says. Death was reigning as a king over mankind

all our lifetime. So everyone born into this

world was subject to the fear of death. And the

devil had rightfully taken the keys. Man could

not be free because they were born into Adam.

But Jesus came, was bruised, beaten, pierced,

mocked, and scourged upon the cross. And as he

hung there on the cross, he said, it is finished.

And the Bible declares he, what? Breathed his

last. So God came to Adam and then Christ on

the cross. The breath that came to Adam, inhaled

into his lungs, was exhaled out of the Christ

on the cross. What does it mean? All those born

into the order of Adam, his death. When Christ

Jesus said, it is finished, and breathed out,

he breathed death out of his lungs and gave up

his spirit. And it was the end. The end. Because

have you ever wondered? How could Jesus say it

is finished when we know he had a few more things

to do? He had a couple days ahead of him, right?

He had a grave. He had to go to hell. He had

to rise again. But how did he say it's finished?

What did he mean? What was he saying? It's finished.

What's finished? I got you right where I want

you now. I'm going to pretend he said party.

I'm going to join him. I love it. It is finished.

What is finished, Jesus? What Jesus was saying

was death is finished. Sacrificial system finished.

Sin finished. Adam finished. You see it? The

man of sin who had fallen, who had fallen and

become slave to Satan, slave to death, slave

to sin and the effects of sin, Jesus said, it's

finished. The breath that Adam corrupted, Jesus

exhaled forever and then went to hell with no

blood in his body and no breath in his lungs.

So what does it mean for you, for me? The prison

doors are open. Sin is defeated. Death is defeated.

Death, see, and this is what we got to do. And

this is what we preach. Why we go all around

the world preaching the gospel? Why are we excited

about the gospel? Why does it inspire us? What

is finished? Death is finished. Sin is finished.

Sickness is finished. Satan is finished. It's

not. It's real. It's reality. I believe in my

heart that Jesus died on the cross. I believe

that he finished the work on the cross. The essence

of Christian life, and listen, because I'm just

telling you the beginning, you know, there's

much more. We're going to get into following

Christ. But the essence of Christianity is not

what we can do for God. We sometimes live like

God needs to respond to us. You don't have to

raise your hand, but have you had that mentality

maybe in your prayer? Like, you need to do this

for me, God. Look at my sacrifice. Look what

I'm doing. Look at me. You need to respond to

me. But the truth is, the reality is, the way

that he set it up is that all of our life is

a response to what he's done. You see the little

subtle nuance. God is not needing to respond

to you. We need to respond to him. In other words,

I'm so grateful that you have died on the cross,

that sin is finished, that death is finished,

that Satan is finished. Now my life is lived

in response to what you have done. I live in

response to his sacrifice. My sacrifice, if there

be any sacrifice, is just a response to his sacrifice.

In other words, when I lay my life down on the

altar, like we talked about a few weeks ago,

it's just because of what he's done. It's all

predicated and inspired by what he's done. You

agree? That's how we live. So he released those

who through fear of death were all their lifetime

subject to bondage. So let's think about this.

I really want to get this because when we, really

get this picture of what Jesus did on the cross.

It gives us such a liberty. Because really, without

the gospel, it's very easy, like I said, to get

out of balance with our approach to God, our

relationship with God, and then we can very easily

get into works. We can very easily get our eyes

off of what Jesus has done for us. And it can

really mess us up. So I really want to just,

I really am praying that we just collectively

see this together. God became a man and died

as sin. Let's look at a few things here. Romans

Romans 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. Let's look at, I want to read just

several verses here in Romans 6. This will be

very vital for us. Let's start in verse 1. Gospel.

6 Romans. What shall we say then? Shall we continue

in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not.

How shall we who died to sin live any longer

in it? Do you not know that as many of us as

were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized

into his death? Therefore we were buried with

him through baptism into the death that just

as Christ... Okay, we're going to get into that.

But this is what I want to see. Look at verse

6. Knowing this. Just so I know you're still

with me. Say, knowing this. Knowing what, Paul?

Knowing this. You ought to know. We ought to

know this. That our old man was crucified. Crucified.

Wait a second. So that means that Jesus on the

cross, when he said it is finished, whenever

he died and breathed out his last, wait, are

you saying that I was there? Is that what he

says? Knowing this, that our old man was crucified

with him, that the body of sin may be done away

with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Right? Similar language to what he said in Hebrews

2. Release those who fear of death. No longer

slaves of sin. Is this anybody's experience?

Or are we slaves of sin? Are we slaves and in

bondage to the fear of death? So when Jesus was

on the cross, you were on the cross. What does

it mean to follow Jesus? If you're going to follow

Jesus, your first stop is going to be the cross.

We were at this conference I was telling you

about, and you guys should look up this guy.

His name is Brother Yun. Chinese. Has anyone

ever heard of Brother Yun? The heavenly man?

You have to hear the whole story about why he's

the heavenly man. Well, we got, I mean, we were

so blessed by this Brother Yoon, but he would

get up, and every time he would come to speak,

and he just spoke a little bit of English, and

he would sing in his broken English, I have decided

to follow Jesus. And it was so sweet and so beautiful.

Well, let me just tell you a little bit of his

story, because as we get into talking about the

gospel, this man was in prison five times for

the gospel. Tortured for the gospel. He had his

legs broken and sat in a Chinese prison with

his legs, femur bones broken because of the gospel,

because he was preaching the gospel as a young

man. And they say, you're going to die in this

prison. Listen to this. This will challenge you.

You're going to die in this prison because you've

been preaching the gospel. He was so sold out

for the gospel. And they were at a gathering,

and the Chinese police came, and he tried to

run because one of the tenets of his faith is

run from the police. I'm not kidding. That was

one of the tenets. That's what they train in

seminary. You must be ready to die for the gospel,

you must be ready to suffer for the gospel, and

you must be ready to run from the police. That's

literally one of their pillars. So he's... tries

to run from the police. They catch him, and they

break his legs so that he won't be able to run

anymore. And they take him and say, you're going

to die in prison. Well, he's in there with another

pastor. This other pastor is praying one day,

and the Lord speaks to him and says, go to the

gate of the prison, touch it, and I'm going to

open the door. So he touches this door, this

other Chinese minister, and the door opens. And

then he says, go over and open this for Brother

Yoon who's there with his legs broken in the

cell. So he goes over and touches his door and

the door opens. And then he said, this is his

testimony. We heard his testimony. Both of theirs.

He said, then I got scared and then I went back

into my cell and started praying again. And he

said, the Lord spoke to him and said, tell Brother

Yoon. that he needs to leave. So he was like,

well, Lord, you know, he's got two broken legs,

so we need something to happen. So he said, Brother

Yoon had already heard the voice of God say,

you need to leave. And then his cellmate or his

fellow prisoner came around and said, the Lord

says you need to leave. So he stands up. With

two broken legs, stands up, and as he begins

to walk, he is perfectly healed and walks. Now,

this is like a max security prison. So the miracle

just continues, and he walks right out of the

doors, and as if that weren't enough, a taxi

cab is waiting. Have you heard this? So he...

You know, gets out of the prison, and his fellow

guy, whose name is Pastor Peter, is praying,

hey, I'm glad, Lord, that you opened the doors.

I'm glad you healed his legs. But once he gets,

like, out in the front, they're just going to

shoot him. So, you know, hide the guard's eyes.

Anyways, he makes it past all this, gets in a

car and this taxi, and he said, I didn't want

them to know I was a prisoner or think I was

weird, so I just started singing. I have decided.

He didn't know what to do. obviously that was

like the worst thing you could do but you know

he's probably amped up a little bit so he just

said go forward just keep driving so this taxi

takes him to a house that with one of his parishioners

one of his people who he led to the lord and

he knocked on the door and they opened the door

and said we were praying and the lord told us

to cook some dumplings and get some clothes ready

because brother yoon was going to come So he

got the dumplings, ate, got some fresh, you know,

out of his prison clothes, and then went on to

continue to preach the gospel. That was just

one of five times that he was in a Chinese prison.

The other man that was his, actually his pastor

and spiritual father who was the one that touched

the gates of these, the doors of these prisons,

was in there for 25 years in a Chinese prison.

25 years. suffering, torture, and shame for the

name of Christ. Amazing. But what inspires that

in someone? That's the question you walk away

with. Why would you do that? We have this comfort

level here in the West, and they have this persecution

that's happening. How can you endure that? And

I walked away with one answer, and that is a

deep conviction of the reality of the gospel.

Like what we're talking about, just seared in

the depths of his spirit and the mentality of

victory. How could someone be sustained in that?

How could John the Apostle be sustained in the

Isle of Patmos being banished? How could Peter

endure being crucified upside down? A deep conviction

for Christ crucified and Jesus alive. Amen? Let's

get it. Let's get it. Let's appreciate what Jesus

has done. So, knowing that our old name was crucified.

So, we were crucified with Christ. When he died,

we died. When he was buried, we were buried.

Now, catch this. When he rose from the grave,

we rose from the grave. Christianity begins at

the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's our

starting place. That's our rallying point. Death

happens on the cross, but Christianity starts

when Jesus rose from the grave. Put 2 Corinthians

5 .17. Let's just get on a power verse and let's

just go for it here. Let's just let it rip. 2

Corinthians 5 .17. I feel like we're just going

to plow the devil over today. Therefore, if anyone

is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things

have passed away. Behold, all things have become

new. Is anyone in Christ in this room? If anyone

is in Christ, old things have passed. What has

passed? What passed on the cross? Sin, death,

sickness. Sin and its dirty effects. Old things

have passed away. Breaking news. You cannot be

a sinner and a new creation at the same time.

You are not a sinner if you are in Christ. You

are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

I know that we have a practice of confessing

our sins. When's the last time you confessed

your sins? Maybe this morning. But when's the

last time you confessed your righteousness? Old

things pass. All things have become new. Jesus

is alive, and we're alive with him. I'm just

going to let the word speak for itself today.

Look at Galatians chapter 2. Verse 20. Galatians

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

2 .20. This is Paul, but you can put yourself

here in this verse. I have been crucified with

Christ. So you can quote this. I have been crucified

with Christ. Have you been crucified with Christ?

You were crucified with Christ. I have been crucified

with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but

Christ. So what happens when you're crucified

with Christ? It's no longer us that live, but

Christ lives in me. And the life which I now

live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the

Son of God who loved me and gave himself for

me. I was crucified. I was buried. And I was

risen with Christ. Amen? Is that real to your

spirit? Yeah? Were you crucified with Christ?

Or are you in bondage to sin? Are you in bondage

to fear? Are you in bondage to death? Or did

Jesus kick death, defeat death, defeat sin, defeat

the devil? Yes? He defeated sin. He defeated

the devil. He overcame death. He triumphed. See,

Jesus blasted sin on the cross. Therefore, our

preaching should be blasting sin. And if you

came in today with sin or sins in your life,

then the preaching isn't you should do this or

that. The preaching is, hey, everyone, it's good

news. Jesus paid the price for your sins. That's

how you blast it. If you're struggling with fear

in your life, It's, hey, everyone, Jesus released

us from the bondage of fear. He hasn't given

us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and

sound mind. So our life, our preaching, our prayers,

we should, just like Jesus blasted these things

on the cross, we should blast them with our prayer,

blast them with our preaching, blast them with

our Bible reading. I mean, I... Oh, Lord. It's

time that we awaken to these things. It's time

that we awaken to the simplicity of the gospel.

Yeah? Anybody just, I mean... I want the lion

to awaken inside of me. Think of this. Christianity

is a strong man's thing. We've too often, I don't

want to be critical of anyone, okay? I love everyone.

I love you. I love the body of Christ. But we've

too often glorified the weakness. Of the human

condition. The gospel is not the glorification

of the human weakness condition. Listen. The

gospel is not glorifying human weakness. The

gospel is the destruction of human weakness to

glorify the risen Christ. Oh my. Because our

God doesn't just. Come with us in the trials

of life Are there trials in life are there challenges

are the yes praise God for those But the message

is that In Christ, we are led in victory. We

are led in triumph. We are more than conquerors.

He who is in us is greater than he who is in

the world. I have been crucified to sin, to weakness,

to death, to destruction, to fear. I was crucified

on the cross. And when he rose up, I rose up

to walk in new, victorious, glorious life. Therefore,

let sin not reign over you anymore. Let death

not reign anymore. Let sickness not reign anymore.

Let fear not reign anymore. Are we awakening

some sleeping lions in this place? Are you fed

up with the devil? That's what it takes. taking

the pill of religion and defeat. I want the risen

Christ to be manifest in my life. I want what

the word says. I want it. I want it. It's true.

It's reality. I don't care about eloquence. I

don't care about saying the right words. I know

that Jesus died and rose again and destroyed

death and destroyed sin and destroyed sickness

and destroyed fear. That's what I know. And I

want to eat of the fruit of what he has done.

That's what I'm interested in. And then I want

to help people get in this victory. And I see

a church who can jump into the victory of the

resurrected Christ. And if a fear or a devil

tries to do anything in any of our lives, then

we know, hey, he's done it. He's overcome. He's

won the victory. And we bind together and we

strengthen ourselves together in the reality

of the gospel. And we kick that thing out of

each other's lives. And we become a city set

on a hill. We become the light of the world.

What do they have? How do we explain these people?

Walking. In victory. Walking in the light of

truth. Walking in resurrection light. How do

we explain it? I don't know, but we better just

go join them. That was the book of Acts model.

The people would come and say, okay, what must

I do to be saved? you remember that it was and

of course they went and evangelized they did

all these things but people would come hey what

you have is real how do i get it let me tell

you it's not complex God became a man, died on

a cross, went to the grave, rose again after

three days, sent his Holy Spirit to live inside

of me. Now I'm a witness to that resurrection,

and I walk in that divine life and power. I don't

let my mind deviate from the simplicity of that

gospel. I mean, I believe, guys, it's time that

we just bury ourselves in this gospel. Bury ourselves

in the life of Christ and just go for it all

the way. If one person in this room leaves today

with some fresh fire in their spirit to bury

themselves in Christ, to really go for this thing

with all of their life, if one person, I'll be

so happy. I'd say, okay, that's it. There may

be 30 people that just say, I don't know what

he was talking about. I don't know. He was yelling

and screaming and sweating. face is red i don't

know but let's go to lunch but if one person

just says i'm done with devil i'm done with everything

that jesus paid the price for and i'm going to

live in this resurrection life if one person

does i'll be happy crucified with christ crucified

with christ buried with christ that means you

know That means I lost my vote because I was

crucified with him. You know, any person who's

ever made impact for Jesus had one thing, if

nothing else. I'm not here to please man. I don't

care what you think of me. I don't care what

man thinks of me. I'm here to live for Jesus

Christ. That's what it means to be crucified

with Christ, among many other things. Somebody

said, a little boy came to their dad and said,

Pop, how do I know that I'm dead in Christ? How

do I know that I've died to myself? And he said,

well, son, go to the grave over here. I want

you to just curse them. this person in the grave.

Say everything bad you can say about him, and

come back and tell me what happens. Okay, so

he comes back. What happened? Well, nothing.

He didn't say anything. He says, okay, well,

now go and just praise this person and tell everything

good about this person, and come back and tell

me what happens. So the little boy went and said

he did it, and he came back. He said, Pop, I

did it. What happened? They didn't say anything.

Okay, that's what it means to be dead to yourself.

Not swayed by the applause, not swayed by the

ridicule, but totally buried in Christ. What

was Paul's revelation? It's not I that live.

I'm dead. I am out of the picture. It is no longer

I but Christ. Christ is everything. Christ is

my life. Jesus and him resurrected is the essence

of my being. Yes, the essence of my being, Christ,

Jesus. Hallelujah. Look at Colossians chapter

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

3. We're crucified with him, buried with him,

raised with him. Look at verse 1. If you believe

that, does anybody believe that? Okay, well then

this message is for you. If you believe that

you're crucified with him, if you believe that

you were buried with him, if you believe that

you're raised with him, then he says, seek those

things which are above, where Christ is sitting

at the right hand of God. Anyone ever heard,

don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly

good? What do you think about that after hearing

this scripture? So what happens is when we come

into Christ, we're crucified to our Adam nature.

We're crucified to sin. We're crucified to the

world. We're crucified to all the effects of

that sin. We're buried with Christ. We're raised

with Christ. Then actually, Not theoretically,

not theologically, not mystically. Actually,

our life then is hidden with Christ in God. The

reality of who we are is right there, seated

in God, seated in Christ. That would mean we

were crucified with him. We were buried with

him. We rose from the grave with him. But then

when he ascended, think about it. What does it

mean to follow Christ? Follow him to the cross.

Follow him to the grave. Follow him in the resurrection.

And then he didn't stop at just resurrection.

He lifted up. I mean, this. Think about it. There's

men and women watching, and Jesus said, I want

you to go in Jerusalem and wait until you be

endued with power from on high. And as he's talking,

he just starts lifting up from the air. It wasn't

like, you know, beam me up, Scotty. It was a

slow levitation. He just started going, and their

jaws were on the floor. If there was any doubt

about this man being God, We watched him go into

heaven. So if you were there, do you think you

would have gone to the upper room? I probably

would have said, okay, whatever you say, sir,

I'll be there in the upper room. So he went up

into heaven. He rose from the earth. And then

Paul gets this revelation that in the same way,

when you come into Christ, you raise up with

him. What does it mean? You ascend above the

things of the earth. My life is no longer, anybody

grow up in church hearing earthly, don't be earthly,

don't be worldly. Well, that always confused

me. Well, how am I not going to be worldly? I'm

right here in this world. What does it mean?

It means that your life, the actual life that

you have, think of it like this. A dog has dog

life. Right? A cat has cat life. I see some of

you kind of smiling like, come on, is this elementary

school? Maybe. That's kind of how I think. I'm

pretty elementary. I just want it to make sense.

A dog has dog life. A cat has cat life. A tree

has tree life. When we're born into this world

from our mama and papa, we're born with human

life. But that life is full of corruption and

sin and mess. So when Jesus died on the cross,

he killed that life. Because remember, I said

he breathed that life out. He said, it's finished.

This life is done. Come on, can you bear with

me? God can't die. Right? The Word can't die.

We can agree, right? So, if the Word can't die,

how did Jesus die? He died as a man. He died

as Adam. Why am I saying this? Why does the Gospel

say it? Because... We want to really, really

get the understanding that sin no longer has

dominion over me. Death no longer has dominion

over me because that life is actually, factually

dead. So he died. He became a man so that he

could die. And he died as Adam. So that human

life, that life died. That was a type of life.

Then he rose from the grave. Now think of it.

Is everybody with me? Okay, think of it. He said,

it is finished. All the blood left his body,

right? He breathed his last. There was there

now on the cross, Jesus Christ, hands spread,

nails, nails. crown of thorns, nails. Now, did

he have two nails? Was it in the wrist? I don't

know. But he's there on the cross. He says, it's

finished. And he closes Adam, closes the door

on Adam, and they take a body from the cross

that is no life, no blood. It's flesh and it's

bone. And they put that body into... Joseph's

tomb, right? With no flesh, no bone, I'm sorry,

no blood, and no breath, no life. The life of

the body, gone. Then Jesus, in the grave, after

three days, three nights, I've never seen the

chosen, but I think it's the chosen, right, where

he wakes up. Something happens. What happens?

Life comes into his body. But wait, what life

is it? The life on the cross left him. And he,

as a man, died. But then he's in the grave and

life comes. What life is it? The Bible says that

Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of

the Father. The life that left his body was the

life of man that each of us are born into this

world with, the life of sin. He became sin. Are

you with me? He became sin. He didn't become

sins. He became sin, which was a life, a nature.

He became sin on the cross. Buried sin. Then

life came into his body. It was the spirit of

life from God. And the Bible says that in that

moment, Jesus became the first person to be born

again. Old things had passed. Why? Because life

was crucified on the cross and buried in the

grave, a body with no life, no blood, no breath.

And then after three days, Jesus didn't, it wasn't

a restoration, you understand? It wasn't a remodel.

It was a new life, a new order. He changed lives.

The life that was now, animating the person of

Jesus after he rose from the grave was zoe life

of God what we call eternal life he could walk

through walls he could he was the new creation

the firstborn the firstborn the firstborn you

see it he was no longer Adam man. He was now

God man. Zoe life man. He has a body, but his

body now, instead of having blood and the breath

of Adam, it has the spirit of God. Now, come

on, we're getting deeper, I know, but listen,

this is so powerful. This can do so much in our

day -to -day lives. Romans 8 -11. We can maybe

come back to that. Just forget about having points

and all that, okay? I'm sorry. We're just rolling.

I want to live forever. That's important to me.

And I shall. Romans 8, 11. And you shall too.

Now, look at this. If the spirit of him who raised

Jesus, so... there's a mystery revealed, right?

How did Jesus get raised from the dead? The Spirit

of God, this great Holy Ghost, raised Jesus from

the dead. Now, if that Spirit does what? Dwells

in you. That's born again. I've come through

the cross. I've come through the grave. I've

come through the resurrection, and now the life

in my body is the same life that was in Jesus

on the cross? No. It was on Jesus and in Jesus

after he rose from the grave. You see it? What

does it mean to be a Christian then? The life

of Adam leaves, and the life of Jesus, the Spirit

of God that raised him from the dead, is now

my actual life. Not someday, whenever I enter

the pearly gates, not someday when my body perishes.

Now, eternal life. Now, life. Now, the same life

that raised Jesus. now dwells inside of this

body. My body is the temple of this life. I've

changed lives. Born again, not after flesh and

blood, not after flesh and bone. I was born of

my mama once, but I was born of God again. I'm

a new creation, a new man. The old me died on

the cross. The new me rose with Christ, and now

I'm filled with the... Resurrection life of God.

Yeah? How could death have its way in me? I will

never die. See how strong the gospel is? Man,

it just puts something in you. You know, people

say, you don't say that. The devil's going to

get riled up and come at you. I wish he would.

He's scared of me. I put him on the run. That's

the mentality of a Christian. Oh, don't do that

because there's a witch in that neighborhood.

They may curse you. I'll curse the witch. Come

on. I've got the life of resurrection in me.

It's not me boasting. It's just me agreeing with

what the Scripture says. I mean, either God is...

Very schizophrenic and confused, or he means

what he says, and if he means what he says, that

means you and you and you and me have the life

of resurrection in every fiber of our beings.

And we've come into union with the resurrected

Christ. Sin is not even a consciousness on my

radar. That's such a low thing. My mind is set

on things above. My mind is set upon resurrection,

enthroned, all authority, Christ. I have no time

to even think about sin. I don't consider it.

Why? Because through one sacrifice, forever,

he has destroyed sin on the cross. It's no longer

a factor in my life. I live in resurrection.

I live in Christ. where there is no sin, where

moth and rust does not decay. That's where we

are. That's where we're seated. Where's the devil?

Under our feet. Where's sin? On the cross. How

do you get free from sin? Oh, sin, sin, sin.

How do I get free? Stop focusing on sin. Jesus

destroyed it on the cross. The more you focus

on it, the more you empower it. All you do is

surrender to the cross. That is victory over

sin. You don't need gospel and. You just need

gospel. That is freedom. I feel like I'm preaching

this a lot better than you're responding, if

I can just be honest. I'm doing the best I can.

I'm doing my level best here. I want us to get

so stirred up and so filled up with the life

of God, the reality of the gospel, and all of

our doing is out of inspiration. Hello, have

you heard about Jesus? Jesus loves you. For God

so loved the world that he gave... No! Pooey!

It's got to be born out of... I want to wake

up in the morning and say, yes, I'm alive in

Christ today. World, the lion is awake. You better

watch out. I'm ready to blast sin because my

Savior blasted it. I'm ready to blast sickness

because my Savior blasted it. I'm ready to blast

death because my Savior blasted it. And I believe

that. I believe that. Your life, your life is

the answer to the cry of the masses. If you have

the gospel, He said it's not a cunningly devised

fable. This is not a made -up thing. This is

life and life eternal. And in this message is

the power of God. He's vested all of who he is

in this message. Jesus died. You died. Jesus

buried. You buried. Jesus rose again. You rose

again. Jesus ascended and you ascended. Jesus

seated and you seated. And if you can get that

message into somebody's heart, that is all the

deliverance they will ever need. That's all that

they'll ever need. All things that pertain to

life and godliness in that right there. It reveals

your relationship to everything that you will

ever face. What is my relationship to God? Son.

What is my relationship to devil? Master. What

is my relationship to you? Brother. Sister. What

is my relationship to sin? Master. What is my

relationship to death? Master. What is my relationship

to wife? I love you, babe. That's all we need

to know. Everything I encounter in life, I just

need to know what is my relationship to it. That's

it. Life is just a series of answering that one

question. If I can answer that one question,

I'll live in the purpose and will of God for

my life. Our problem is not that this is, if

you don't hear anything else, hear this with

all of your heart. He who has ears to hear. I

say that because Jesus said it. And I like Jesus.

We don't have a problem with believing the Bible.

If I surveyed all of you in this room, you would

say, I believe the Bible with all of my heart.

I'm ready and willing to believe it, right? Maybe

not. I don't know. It wasn't much of a... I could

be wrong. Where am I? Is this the Mormon church?

Lord Jesus, I'm sorry. You don't have a problem

believing the Bible. I'm ready. I want to believe

the Bible. Our problem is just understanding

the Bible. Because if we understand it, I'm ready

for full throttle, right? So if we can just buy

into the simplicity of the gospel and just say

this is the understanding of understandings and

I'm ready to burn it all down and cast my all

upon Jehovah and go 100 % in and for this gospel.

Because I understand what he's done for me. I

see what he's done. I see who he is. And then

I see who I am. And I see who my challenge is.

And I see my relationship to it. Is that bearing

witness with anybody? Then all of our doing,

all of our doing is just so wonderful. I'm so

happy to... I preach the gospel to one or to

one million. I'm so happy just to let my life

be the essence and overflow of what he has done

and who he is. And my whole thought, my whole

thought life is just wrapped up in and totally

engrossed in the thought of Jesus and his gospel

and what he's done and who he is. There's nothing

else like it. There's nothing else. So good.

Jesus is so good. He's so wonderful. He said,

all authority in heaven and earth has been given

to me. All authority given to him. He has all

power, all authority, all might. Don't ever get

entangled with a demon again. Don't ever get

messed up in sin again. The prison doors are

open. Jesus has overcome. He's seated in heavenly

places. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 2. I

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

don't even know what time it is. Did I not say

verse? Let's just read verse 1. We'll read a

few verses, and then I'm going to share a few

testimonies, and then we're going to pray, okay?

We'll be right out. And you he made alive. Remember?

Resurrection. You he made alive. But I thought

I was alive. Well, you were, but you died on

the cross. Now you were made alive. Even though

you were dead in trespasses and sins, now you

are alive again, in which you once walked according

to the course of this world, according to the

prince of the power of the air, the spirit who

now works in the sons of disobedience, among

whom also we all conduct ourselves in the lust

of the flesh. Verse 5. Even when we were dead

in trespasses, were dead. In trespasses. He made

us alive together with Christ. There it is. See

that beautiful union. The beautiful synergy of

us and Christ. Made us alive together with Christ.

Then stop there. Look at verse 6. And raised

us up together. Have you been raised with Christ?

Now that doesn't mean just raised from the dead.

Look. Raised us up together and what? Made us

sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

When? It's already done. Where are you? Where

are we? What does it mean? I remember one time

we were in Cuba and we just let it rip about

the gospel for several days. And I asked the

worship leader, I said, what's one thing you

could take away from this? this week of meetings

that we've had and preaching, what's one thing?

And she looked at me and said, all I need to

do is sit down. I said, yes, that's exactly right.

Just sit down. Don't punch the air, like Paul

says, and have activity with no power. Just sit

down and let the power of the resurrection work

in your life. Amen? Yes, this is real. I wish

we could go on. I'd love to just continue. But

to your much relief, I just want to share a few

testimonies, and then we're going to pray. Anybody

feel like their faith is just getting stirred

up a little bit and feeling like, man, what I've

signed up here with Jesus, I mean, this thing

is big. This thing is real. Anybody? Can we put

some of those testimonies up? I don't need no

particular order. So this little boy, you remember

this boy? I wish the pictures were a little bigger,

but I think you can see. This is a young boy

and his dad. This little boy, if you see up close,

his eyes are just sparkling. His eyes are just

so beautiful. But when he came to the meeting,

and this is in Cuba. He came to the meeting,

his eyes, he had these glasses that were so thick,

he couldn't see. And I think, was he probably

10 or 12? He couldn't do schoolwork, he couldn't

function, because he was basically blind. But

he could see some light, but he had these big

glasses. And so he came to the meeting, we prayed

for him very simply, in the name of Jesus, be

healed, and look at his eyes. God opened his

eyes up, and he started seeing properly, seeing

rightly. I don't know if it's 20 -20 vision,

but it's good vision. And so, yes, please. Jesus

did it. And so now he's my little buddy every

time I go. You know, I have to go see him. And

he met him, and his dad messages me. And he's

just doing very wonderfully. But Jesus opened

his eyes. We can go on. I don't know if you can

read this. So this is our pastor in India who

he'll send me testimonies. So he said, this woman,

and bear with his English, this woman gave birth

to a baby boy. It was dead, and the doctor said,

go and bury it. And she was giving, this is her

picture, giving testimony that when she was pregnant,

she prayed to God, I need one baby boy after

four girls. But it was dead. And our pastor,

these are their names, Badar and Dinesh, prayed

for her. And her child started to cry. The doctor

said, go bury the baby. And they prayed, and

the baby started crying. And he said, there's

a great miracle happened in that village called

Mosca Mauri. And her name is Kavita, and today

she brought the baby to the house church. Amen.

Jesus did it. Jesus is alive. Okay, this guy,

obviously he's just cool, but I did it out of

order. Can you go over one? Okay, you see him.

I don't know if you remember this guy. Haas and

Jennifer and Sean and Leslie, but they're not

here, and Michelle, we went to Cuba. And this

guy, he had the very, I don't know if it was

asthma. I'm not 100 % sure, but he had difficulty

breathing. And so you see him here, and he's...

He's demonstrating his ability to breathe freely,

and he was just so happy. You can see even like

the next few days in the trip, he's just like

always come up to me and like show me how he

was so happy and so free. So we can go to the

next one. There he is again. Victory. So this

little girl, she came to our meeting in Pakistan.

We had a crusade where they invited just a bunch

of people. Muslims, everybody. And so we're preaching

in Pakistan, and there's people there, and we

don't know who's listening, probably mostly Muslim.

And I had a word, what you may call like a word

of knowledge, that there's a girl here who half

your body is paralyzed or mostly paralyzed, and

God wants to heal you. And so... I just went

out on a limb. I said, if that's you, come up

here. And there's like, you know, thousands of

people there. And actually several people came

up, which is kind of awkward. But she came up

and she stood right in front of me and we prayed

and she got healed there on the podium in front

of everyone. And then we found out she was a

Muslim. So then she gave her heart to Christ

and then she immediately got plugged into the

house church. And you can see from her face.

How excited and happy she was to have met Jesus.

How many more we got? Okay, this is our pastor

again in India. Praise the Lord, sir. Kindly

pray for Sister Huki. She got healing from leprosy

in a village called Baharmak in Madhya Pradesh.

So this is her. I wish you could zoom in, but

you can see her showing her arms that were leprous.

And you can see how the wounds on her arms had

healed up and she still had the spots, but the

leprosy was gone. So you can go on. So this one

I added because I thought it would be neat just

to tell you, but several, maybe several months

ago, I was ministering here and I did something

that was very uncomfortable and very, it's a

challenge for me. And it was... beginning of

service i said i want to pray for anyone who

has hearing problems or you know deaf ears and

i did it and but it was just sheer obedience

because i've been praying before church back

here nobody knows this i was praying back there

and i felt the lord say pray for people who have

problems hearing i said no i don't want to do

that you know it's like this such a you know

in front of everyone well as i'm praying this

message comes in This is our pastor from India.

He said, praise the Lord, sir, this young man

from Madhya Pradesh was not able to hear from

both ears. He was deaf. And God healed him, and

he started to hear or listen. Now kindly pray

for us today. We're doing work for church building.

So I get this message as I'm wrestling with the

Lord on if I should do this or not. So I said,

okay, Lord, I'll do it. And we did it. So praise

God, this man was deaf. Amen. Just one or two

more, we'll pray. He was suffering from devil

spirits more than 15 years. He lost his wife,

his two sons, his daughter. He used to cut himself

in his body. Yeah, he was healed. He used to

be bound with chains. So that's common practice

there. So he's still in fellowship in the church.

Let's go on. Okay, can we play this one? You'll

like this one. for people to pray for each other,

I felt called to go to Brad and ask him to pray

for me. We were all praying for each other in

the church. I hadn't been sleeping well at all

because my back and my shoulders were in pain,

keeping my husband awake. This had been going

on for months, and so he began to pray, and then

tears began to well up in my eyes and run down

my face, and I began to feel. coldness like ice

water across my shoulders and down the middle

of my back. It stopped about the middle of my

back, which is where the pain stops. When it

got to where that area where my back didn't hurt,

it quit. And it just stayed cold for the longest

time. And for the first time in months that night,

I slept flat on my back. I slept all night. I

didn't wake up to even get up, do anything. I

just slept peacefully, calmly all night long.

Night two, I slept all night. Night three, I

slept all night. And I've slept every night.

Some nights, not even waking up to go to the

bathroom or anything, just slept all night. And

I wake up every morning, bright and early. Where

I'd been waking up, I just was still exhausted.

Okay, thank you. Amen. How awesome. So Jesus

is alive. That's the point. Why am I showing

you this? Because Jesus is alive. And you can

believe the gospel with all of your heart. And

Jesus is the same in the Bible as he is today

in this room. So if you would just close your

eyes with me. We're going to pray out. And if

anybody wants or needs prayer, this is what I

feel to do. You believe the gospel, okay? And

this is what I'm going to ask you to do as we're

dismissed. We're going to pray out. And if you

desire prayer, if there's some challenge in your

body, in your mind, in your spirit, or something

that you want to overcome, grab the person next

to you and have them pray for you on the basis

of what we talked about today. Okay? Just be

bold, be open, and if that's you, and just believe

God for your miracle to happen today. Okay? So

with our eyes closed, we're going to pray. And

it will be dismissed. Father, we thank you so

much for Jesus. We thank you for the gospel.

We thank you for your words. We thank you for

everything that you've done for us. Lord, we

just receive it in humility. And may we walk

from this place in the boldness of what you've

done and what you've accomplished for us like

never before in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen.