The Resurrection That Rocked Our Lives | Elder Peng Hoe

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Life.

Simply just entitled the sharing or the sermon or the

teaching The Resurrection that rocked our lives. Indeed it has

rocked our lives. And you know, I pray that the

faith in which we live will continue to be vivid.

It will be so real, so tangible like how Roy

or sharing just now. You know, sometimes we always pray

for our life of less dramas.

Lord, no need, no need dramas.

No, just keep it nice and come and compose and

let me just sail through life.

But that's not how the Lord is going to want

us to live.

Because if faith, hope and love is our priority, that

means ultimately He's going to bring us through a journey

in faith, in hope, and in love. And I think

with all that raw and faith has gone through, it's

something that they can now allude to, is that the

fact God is real and God has come true.

Amen.

And so you know, when I was out in some

money on Friday after sharing and teaching at the Good

Friday Service, someone actually came up to me after service

and this person asked me this question after I shared

the message, and this person asked me, you know, very

very honestly, because this person is not a believer, and

some money did an amazing job actually fly ring and

through the flyer ring, well, let me get my specs out.

It's stuck, okay. Through the flyer Ring initiative, eleven newcomers

were invited from all walks of life, from all different ages,

and they were from all sorts of different faiths. And

so this person came up to me and and she

she was very very honest in her question, and she

asked me, why am I so convinced that Jesus Christ

died and won race from the date. She actually asked

me that because just listening to what I just shared,

and I told the congregation that I had absolutely no doubt,

and I sheard what I believed in, and you know,

she asked me that question, you know, why was I

so certain? No? If have you ever got asked that

question before in your lives? It would be good actually,

as believers if someone actually asked you that question, and

what would you what would have your answer being if

someone actually asked you, why do you believe absolutely in God?

And so, you know, I realized.

I didn't even take time to try to work out

a respond I just I answered her immediately, And you know,

I actually told her this. I believe that everything that

I just shared is factually accurate, and therefore it did

take place. And so I told her I personally believe

Jesus Christ died and was raised to life three days later.

And of course she went on to ask me, know,

how how could I or how did I come to

that conclusion? Based on what kind of evidence? Did I

come to that conclusion? And you know how some of

us actually sometimes we really desire and we want scientific

evidence that that indeed happened, that that that that that

event actually did take place. And you know, for us today,

where we are right now, two thousand years later, there

will be no physical proof that such an event took place.

It's not possible because not like any of us ate

with Jesus, not like any of us got a chance

to actually pot his scarred hands, nor put our finger

to the to the to the peers hands, not like

how Thomas did know Jesus didn't ask us to come

and put our finger in his hands. So what evidence

can we actually present to a world that doesn't believe.

Is there even any evidence?

And the answer is we can actually and we have evidence,

but it's not scientific evidence. Okay, because if you think

about it, what does scientific evidence need? Okay, When you

talk about scientific evidence, it depends on two things. The

first thing is you need an observer being present at

that point of time when that event actually happened. And

then you need to be able to reproduce that event

in the lab. Okay, So you need an observer, and

that's how science works.

That's an observer.

And then after that you can reproduce it in the lab.

But no scientist was present at the resurrection, and they

have never been able to resurrect someone else in the lab,

well at least not the way Jesus was resurrected. And

so we cannot offer anyone any form of scientific evidence.

Yet you will realize again that.

No unbelievers say that Jesus is dead, but then they

cannot produce the dat body, but believers say he is reason,

but actually we cannot produce the living body. So it's

almost like a day lock. Right, we are like, how now,

But actually there are evidences in which we can produce

not scientific evidence, but legal evidence and all these legal evidence.

I'll explain.

I'll explain because I want you all to see it,

you know, if you are in court.

Okay.

And I was trained as a lawyer, and so that's

how my mind sometimes thinks. But imagine a court case,

a murdered trial, okay, And what you need to do

at the trial is you need to present evidence, right

to be presented at the court. And what you need

the evidence that you need to be presented needs to

prove beyond reason doubt that the murder took place.

Okay. That's what the court is doing. Okay.

If someone is charged in court for murder, then the

prosecution has to come and prove to the judges that

this person, beyond reasonable doubt based on the evidence that

is produced, killed this person. And so two kinds of things,

or two kinds of uh evidence can actually be produced

in court.

Okay.

The first kind is eyewitness testimony or eyewitness evidence. That is,

this is direct evidence someone actually saw this person stabbing, okay.

And then based on this person's testimony, the court will say, Okay,

it looks like this this event did happen, and this

person did murder someone. And then the other type of

evidence is something called circumstantial evidence, okay, is basically the

person did not see it happen, but saw things that

point to the fact that it happened. Okay, that's what

circumstantial evidence is. That means you didn't see this person

stab his wife, okay, because you just weren't present. But

then you saw some evidences of all this person buying

a plane ticket, wanting to escape, wanting to go somewhere

at this point at time. And then after that you

dig a little bit further than you find out actually

this person has a mistress out somewhere. There are all

circumstantial evidence that can actually help a person conclude that

this person murdered his wife.

Okay.

So these are the two kinds of evidences that we see.

In the case of Jesus' resurrection. We actually have eye

witness testimonies. In fact, we have five, and they are

from Matthew, Mark Luke, and John the Amazing Gospels. Not

only that, we actually have Paul as well, who wrote

about Jesus. If you study the Gospels, you study the scriptures,

these are actually evidence of what they saw and what they.

Experienced, and they shared it.

In fact, it was Paul's testimony that probably came first,

because if you look at the dates of your scripture,

the Gospels who were written after a little bit later

or a little bit after the letters that Paul wrote. Okay,

that's beyond you don't need to know that. But again,

eyewitness testimony is terribly convincing, and that's why people can

be charged based on eyewitness testimony.

And I tell you why.

You see, you know, five people, they see something and

then they stop describing it, and you realize, wow, all

these descriptions that we get in the Gospels, all the

four Gospels, sometimes they don't tell you or not and

then you realize, you realize that when you read the Gospels,

some events don't quite tell you. You know, is there

really harmony within the gospels? Is it all telling the

same thing? But yet they were writing it as they

saw it the means, as they saw what happened.

They were writing it.

You know, if all four of them give identical accounts

of what they saw, the chances of that being made

up is actually much higher. That's how evidence works in

the court of law. If fall fless, no different flows

from different angles and different walks of life come and

they give identical testimony.

It's almost as if you can.

Conclude that that evidence that they are whatever that they

are writing is cooked up. They are trying to make

sure that whatever that they're saying is all true. But

you see this group of people, they wrote it as

they saw it. So some may have seen one angel,

some may have seen two angels, maybe depending on where

they were standing, depending on who they were encountering.

But they were writing the truth.

It's not that there are discrepancies in their accounts. It's

just the on truth of what they saw. And so

we have this genuine eyewitness testimony. And then we also

have some amazing circumstantial evidence for Jesus' resurrection.

Do you all realize that? Do you know? Just imagine this.

No, the first circumstantial evidence is this the Jews, who

have been worshiping on Saturday on the Sabbath for as

long as they came about. Suddenly they changed the worship

day from Saturday to Sunday. It was almost a sudden thing,

and if you study the history, it's really true, and

it's not a normal thing. It's not an easy thing

to do because Sunday is actually a working day, and

so the Jews, of course the early Christians were mainly

the Jews, and they realized that this is the reason

king in whom now we worship. He is the King

of the Jews as well as the king of the

gen else, and we now must worship and celebrate him

on the day in which he rose and he started

work again.

And they change. And that's why. You know how the

early Christians used to worship.

They're either worshiped really early in the morning because they

had to go to work, or their worship after work,

which was later in the day. But something that had

never happened before, something that was unprecedented. A whole group

of people who worship faithfully religiously, on one day decides

to change.

That's amazing.

That's circumstantial evidence that something took place. It has to

be something that caused them to make that switch. Another

circumstantial evidence is evidence is this. You know, the followers

of Jesus, the disciples know if you read and you

study the Gospels, you realize that prior to the Crucifixion,

prior to the resurrection, they were all afraid, they were

all scared, they were all hiding. In fact, Peter so

readily denied Jesus because they were just afraid for their

safety and their security. Jesus was almost a rebel in

the eyes of the people, and even his closest associates

were actually dissociating themselves from him. But after what happened

on Resurrections Sunday, suddenly it just turned and it changed,

and those who were afraid were now out on the

streets and they were standing up against anyone who was

accusing their Savior, and they were ready to die to

proclaim the reason king.

No one does that.

Of course, we can't say conclusively, but I believe that

it is circumstantial evidence.

If the resurrection was not real, today.

We won't have billions of people two thousand years later

following something or following an event that is fake and

did not take place. The reality is today you see Christians,

those who believe that the resurrection took place and is

indeed an event that we can continue to glorify God with.

It's really an amazing evidence to tell us as well

that God is working. If you look at healings that

are taking place, and I tell you this, a lot

of our healings happened because of the resurrected Savior, because

true resurrection. What he has essentially overcome is death, and

every healing is a healing from what is eventually leading

us towards death. And so because Jesus overcame death, we

can now proclaim healings. And we have all seen how

God continues to heal people until today. And so after

saying all this, this person that I was talking to,

I actually went on like this for about ten minutes,

and then she's finally nodded and she's said, I now see,

and I now understand how you came to believe in

this event. And then I actually stopped her and I

corrected her. I told her, I do not just believe

in an event. I believe in a person, because ultimately

we are not believing that the resurrection takes place. Only

we are believing in the resurrected Savior. Jesus is his name, Amen.

And so I want us to understand this because today

what I hope to do is I want to bring

us through a portion of John's Gospel that we have

all been reading together as a church for the past

twenty one days. And here is where I want to

highlight both the evidence of the grave, because I think

it's important for us to see the evidence and read

it for ourselves, and you will be the judge and

the Jew. And then also the experiences that the different

ones went true at the garden. Let's go to God's

work because both the dimensions of the evidence and also

the experience is actually necessary to understand the resurrection of

this person we call Jesus. You need to look at

the evidence to convince your mind because a lot of

us sometimes our minds are not convinced. But evidence, when

you look at it, is to convince your mind. But

you also need to look at the experiences because really

the experiences is what allows our heart to really take

it all in and take it on right. And so

the experience, the reason we need to experience God for

ourselves in our hearts is something that's very very very important,

and either one without the other becomes very one sided.

That's why both our mind and our hearts needs to convinced,

because if not, we were always ten on the fence,

will always be neither here nor there. Okay, everyone doing good.

Let's let's go to the scriptures and I'm gonna read

basically from John chapter twenty. I'm gonna read verses one

to nine verus. I'm gonna break it down into two portions,

but they are essentially the same chapter.

Okay.

John Chapter twenty says this early on Sunday morning, while

it was still dark, Mary Magdalene, Okay, this is Mary Magdalen,

not married, the mother of Jesus, not Mary and Martha,

the two sisters. But Mary Magdalene came to the tomb

and found that the stone had been rolled away from

the entrance.

Hallelujah.

She ran and found Simon, Peter and the other disciple,

the one whom Jesus loved. Okay, this is John talking

about himself. She said, they have taken the Lord's body

out of the tomb, and we don't know where they

have put him. Peter and the other disciples started out

for the tomb. I guess is a very humble way

of righting about yourself. Hey, okay, referring to yourself. He

as the third person. They were both running, but the

other disciple out ran Peter. Of course, he still need

to get up. Peter a bit and reached the tomb first.

Of course, John, we know is younger. He's much younger,

so that's why he could run faster. He too, and

looked in and saw the linen rappings lying there, but

he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and ran

right inside. Isn't that Simon Peter for you? He doesn't hesitates.

He's one of those like, ah, I'm just gonna go

straight in, okay. And so that's what Simon Peter did.

He arrived and he went straight in.

Here.

He also noticed the linen rappings lying there, while the

cloth that had covered Jesus's head was folded up and

lying apart from the other rappings. Then the disciple who

had reached the tomb first also went in.

Okay.

So he eventually John went in, and he saw and

believed amazing. He saw and believed. For until then, they

still hadn't understood the scriptures that say Jesus must rise

from the day. Okay, something something casts him to believe.

So I want to start off first with the evidence outside.

And the evidence outside is, of course, the stone that

has been rolled away. You've got to imagine this with me.

That stone probably weigh more than a ton, okay. And

how they build the tomb is it's in a little

bit of an incline.

Okay.

It's easier to actually roll the stone to shut the tomb, okay,

but to actually roll it the opposite direction. You try

rolling a one ton boulder, even though it's round, but

you're rolling it up and incline. It will probably take

quite a number of people to actually do that. And

one of the reasons for this is because they want

to prevent people from robbing graves. It's a normalty, especially Jesus,

because many people were trying to disprove the fact that

he will be resurrected. Jesus actually spoke about this. This

wasn't something that just happen things, so people were preparing

to disprove it, or at least not allow it to happen.

And so the women actually wandered, know when they were

on the way to the tomb, who will roll the

stone away for us?

How are we going to get in there?

Of course we don't have that account written in John,

but you can see in the Gospel of Mark and

these women they love Jesus, and so they wanted to

serve him all the way to the very end by

embalming his body. Because Jesus was again he was crucified

as a criminal. And this is the criminal who committed

no crimes. In fact, he was probably the only person

who committed no wrong in his life that was actually

put to death, and so he was not afforded any

kind In fact, they usually used to throw criminals hanging

on the cross into a valley called Guhana that actually

is also a place that is known as hell in Jerusalem.

They throw them all into that.

But somehow in the Sanhedrin there were two secret believers.

Hallelujah praised a lot. One of them was Nico Dimus.

The other one was Joseph of Arimitia and of Aremitia

had a plot. He had a tomb, and that's why

Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that he was going to be

buried among the rich people. I think it was something

along those lines that it was.

Stated in the scriptures.

And so the women were wondering, oh, I wanted to

serve out the embalm his body because he wasn't afforded

any form of burial rights. And so they must have

been really shocked when they saw not only the stone

rolled away, but they also realized, Hey, the soldiers not there. Hallelujah,

praise God. No soldiers, no stone. And somehow we know

today because of the scriptures. In Matthew, it was the

angels that actually pushed the stone over, Allelujah, Praise God,

and then they sat on it. Okay, in Mathew there

was the account. So ever, I imagine, why was the

stone remove think about it? Was it so that Jesus

can come out? Actually, No, Jesus in his re embodied state,

the means are in his new body. Actually he can

go in and now even though there is a stone there.

In all honesty, because I'm not going to go into

the scriptures, but if you read on in his re

embodies there, he was moving quite quickly. He couldn't be

in multiple places at one time, but he could go

to different places really really quickly.

I don't know.

I think I can't wait to be re embodied and

resurrected in Christ because can do some pretty cool flash stuff. Okay,

but we didn't need the stone to be rolled away

for Jesus to come out, but it was essentially rolled

away for the world to go in because the world

needed to see. And this is what happened next. Okay,

let's look at the evidence inside. Because when they walked in,

when Mary and the other women noticed, they noticed the

body wasn't there, okay, you see the account in Luke

chapter twenty four, and they will overcome with terror because

they were like, oh, no, someone robed or someone's stole

Jesus's body.

And then what she did was she ran.

They ran, and God that disciples got Peter and John, uh,

and they were telling them someone has taken him.

No, come quickly, come quickly.

And then we saw both Peter and John running, and

of course John outran Peter, but when he arrived he

didn't go. Strangely, it was Peter who when in. And

what they witnessed was they saw the bandages or whatever

there was used to wrap Jesus just lying there, okay.

And John knew because John was the one that saw,

and he saw very clearly. He knew no human being

could have gotten out of the body in that way.

You think about it.

Even when Lazarus was resurrected, he came out and there

was still the bandages around him. But this was as

if they were what they were witnessing. It was almost

as if Jesus's body evaporated. And that does not happen

to date bodies in graves, right, What happens to date

bodies in graves, they usually decompose, not evaporate the resu

They they slowly and grad jually this disintegrate. But this

was just boom. And then this is where the scripture

actually records. John saw and believed, and he knew that

the tomb had been robbed, but he was robbed by God.

And you know who the greatest tomb raider is is God,

because one day God is going to rob every tomb

of those who believe.

Amen.

Because we are all who believe will be re embodied

one day.

Amen.

And so we give thanks for that. Because John knew

that whatever took place that day was something supernatural. He

was something of God. And you know that it was

prophesied a thousand years before. King David actually said this

in Psalm sixteen, verse ten. You will not let your

Holy one see corruption. And therefore, if death is the

punishment for badness, a good God can not possibly let

a person who lived a blameless and faultless life to

suffer death's.

Decay and corruption.

Does that make sense? I'm telling you the scriptures make sense.

It makes logical sense. And that is why it is

logical that Father God would plan for Christ to get

out of that tomb within three days, because decay.

And corruption usually besets a body on day four. How

do we know that?

The account actually we read in John chapter eleven itself,

because you know they wanted to go and Jesus went

to resurrect who Lazarus, And of course Martha said, hey, God,

Jesus Rabbi, he's been there for four days ready, and

the smell will be unpleasant by then. And we know

usually by day four is where decomposition takes place. And

Jesus was resurrected three days later, Hallelujah, Praise God. And

so the evidence for Jesus' resurrection from the day is

actually stronger than the evidence of any other historical event

two thousand years ago. Do you know that if someone

studies it with an open mind, they must be convinced.

That is the logical conclusion that I have come to.

And actually, there are a lot of lawyers who if

they sit down and study the scriptures and study the

historical records of the scriptures, a lot of lawyers have

come to the saving knowledge of Jesus because they're weighing

out all the evidences, and with that many have given

their lives to Christ because they realize, wow, it really

they take place. So the question that sometimes we ask

ourselves is this, why aren't people convinced? And I'll tell

you why, because this is one historical event that will

change your life.

It will change your life. You see, a lot of.

People can believe that Julius Caesar invaded many countries, right,

you believe in that because there are some historical records,

far less historical records than what the historical records we

have on the Bible.

But yet people.

Believe Julius Caesar invaded many many countries. But the question

I ask you is this, what does it matter to

you whether Julius Caesar is invaded many many countries or not.

Doesn't change your life in one way or the other. However,

if Jesus Christ broke out of death two thousand years ago,

then me and you have to take notice of him,

because if we don't take notice of him, essentially we

won't allow him to break into our lives and let

him be the lord of our lives. And that is

why people choose not to believe in Jesus resurrection, not

because the evidence is inadequate. That's not enough evidence. I

don't believe it actually took place. But it's because if

they accept the evidence, then there are certain consequences that

will follow, and there is a response that is needed.

They don't want him to be alive because if he

is alive, they are now unswerable to him. You realize

that they have to change the way they live. It

applies to me, it applies to you, It applies to

all of us personally. I have considered the evidence. It

is so overwhelming that I cannot but do what John did,

and that is to just believe and allow Jesus to

break into my life. That is why I stand convinced.

And that is what Roy shaid just a moment ago. Actually,

because Jesus is either Lord of all or he is

not Lord at all.

That is the truth.

And this is how we need to look at it.

Look at the evidence. Studying in that manner, does it

make sense. Let's look at what Jesus being Lord of

all means by studying Mary Magdalene's subsequent experience. Okay in

the garden, Okay, I'm going to go to the next

portion of scripture and our end on time. Don't worry, Okay,

I know you're a like what this one partony. Okay,

let's go. Let's read that verses ten to eighteen. I'm

going to read on Jesus appears to marry Magdalene. That's

why you say it's in a nalty. Verse eleven. Mary

was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she webt

she stooped and looked in. Okay, this was after the

two disciples went in. Ready, she saw two white robe angels,

one sitting at the head and the other at the

foot of the place where the body of Jesus had

been lying.

Dear woman, why are you crying?

The angel's asser because they have taken away my lord,

she replied, And I don't know where they have put him.

She turned to live and saw someone standing there. It

was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. Dear woman, why

are you crying? Jesus asked her, who are you looking for?

And then he says, this air she taught. She taught

her he was the gardener, sir. She said, if you

have taken him away, tell me where you have put him,

and I will go and get him. And then he

goes Mary, Jesus said. She turned to him and cried

out rab Bonnie okay, which is Hebrew for teacher, I

will explain all this because it's significant. And then Jesus

goes on to say this to her. Don't cling to me,

Jesus said, for I haven't yet ascended to the Father.

But go find my brothers and tell them I am

ascending to my father, and your father, to my God,

and you your God. Mary Magdalene found the disciples and

told them I have seen the lot. Then she gave

them his message. The Lord blessed the reading of his word.

Amen. Okay, wait, I'm gonna take a drink.

So the story of Mary Magdalen actually only appears in

John's Gospel.

Okay.

But Mary supposedly went into the empty tomb and those

surprises she found. It was not empty, Okay, it was

not empty because when she went in, when she took

in and she looked in, she saw two angels.

Okay uh.

And some some people be wondering Mary ce injured, like

can chat with them?

Like? Nothing like that.

But if you if you read the account of Mary Magdalene,

she was used to spirits. She was always in contact

not so good spirits previously her previous life. But she

was someone who was quite attuned to that, and so

she was having a conversation with these angels, and the

angels actually said to her, quite surprised, why are you

crying on a day like this. Why you should actually

be singing, You should be dancing, you should be rejoicing,

because if you saw what we saw, pooh, it was amazing.

They probably witnessed how Jesus yeah, took on his new body.

And then she replied them, I'm crying because they have

taken him away. I'm frustrated that I can't do the

last living rights that I wanted to do for the Lord,

the very thing that I came to do. And then

suddenly Mary became aware of somebody standing behind her.

He actually says some of the words.

If you study the scriptures, it says that she actually

glants from the back. That's one of the reasons why

maybe she didn't recognize Christ, because she was just looking like, okay,

on the side of her eye, and she thought, hey,

there's a gardener, maybe he will know. But actually it

was Jesus. And then he also asked the same thing, hey,

why are you crying? And then you will notice, now

Jesus did for very lovely things and I want to

emphasize Mary's experience with Jesus here because they are what

Jesus wants to do for each and every one of us.

I believe this is the experience, okay, and if we

allow him to enter into our lives, I believe these

are the same experiences that we should also encounter. So

the first thing that Jesus wanted to bring Mary through

was this. He wanted he took her from a place

of just feeling to a place of thinking. Okay, because

Jesus asked Mary Magdalen a question, who are you looking for?

Right?

And then the scripture said, what did the scripture say?

It says she she wan, look at your scriptures, she thought,

and then she replied, okay, so she thought, and then

she replied, if you have taken him away, tell me

where I want to do something for him. I will

carry Jesus myself. I mean, she was talking in a

very lucid, in a very composed manner. While it's an

amazing thing for her to say, and she was thinking

she was actually now even more determined to do the

right thing, and just a moment ago she was a

nervous rack. Actually She's like, oh, crying. The Angel said

to like, hey, you're trying to calmel down. But she thought,

and that's what Jesus is going to do. He's going

to help us move from feeling.

To thinking.

Amen, we've got to allow him to do that in

our lives. The second thing is this, he took her

from ignorance to knowledge. I'll explain, I'll explain everything. And

you see, John actually wrote the word Mary, not in Greek.

If you study the scriptures, he did not write the

word Mary in Greek, which is the language that he

was writing the Gospels in Okay, all the New Testament

is actually written in Greek. But he actually wrote her

name in Aramaic Okay, which is the name Miriam. So

he didn't write Mary, he wrote Miriam. And this is

the language that they spoke in Galilee, where Mary Magdalene

was from. And so when Jesus actually called out her

name Miriam straight away, you know, she heard her own

name in her own mother tongue, in her native language.

And a gardener in Jerusalem wouldn't have called her Miriam la,

but this person did. And immediately ignorance change to knowledge

because she realized, and then her sorrow changed to joy.

And that's how you see Mary's joy came flirting back

into her life because she now in return turns and

then she responds, not rabbi, but she responds in Aramaic rabboni,

which is what they would have called him in their language.

And the relatelationship between Jesus and Mary was restored then then,

but it brought what Jesus was essentially doing was bringing

her from a place of ignorance into a place of knowledge,

because now she's aware and now she knows, and that's

what Jesus wants you to experience as well in your life. Curtly,

Jesus had to change her from sense to faith again,

I'll explain. Okay, So Mary did what made sense, right, Okay,

I'm looking at time.

Oh I have time. Okay, Mary did what made sense.

She fell at Jesus's feet and sees him by the ankles. Okay,

I mean I think I would have done the same thing. Okay,

you just lost him a moment ago, and then suddenly

now he appears, and what else to do?

Hold on to him?

Lass like, Okay, don't let I don't want to let

you go. I'm never gonna let you out of my sight. Again,

it's almost like a mother telling a child that she

doesn't really trust to stay puted to not go anywhere. Okay,

that's probably how she was viewing the whole thing, and.

She's like, I'm going to hang on to you.

But Jesus wanted Mary to move from sands to faith,

and that he replied, he is, Mary, this isn't a

way to hold on to me.

Think about it. Think about it.

This is not the way to a permanent relationship with me,

because that will come only when I've ascended to heaven

and send my spirit. Actually, Jesus has been teaching the

whole book of the Gospel of John. If you study

from verses chapters fifteen, sixteen, seventeen eighteen, Jesus was talking

about the helper, the comforter. Jesus could only be with

his people one at the time because he was always

limited by his humanity.

That's the reality of it.

And he already preempted and he told his people that

I must go, and I will eventually be at the

right hand of the Father. But when I go, I

will send my spirit. And the spirit of Jesus is

the Holy Spirit. And so this is how Mary and

all of Us can always have Jesus. It's when the

spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus comes and the

Spirit of Jesus will always be with those who call

on the name of Jesus. That is why today we

can call on the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit

is exactly who we have with us right here and

right now. Amen. And that is why Jesus told Marry

to stop clinging on to me. It was as though

Mary wanted to go back to the human relationship with

the human Jesus. But it's got to be a divine

spiritual relationship. From now on, I'm going to my father

and your father, you'll have me then forever, because I

am with you always. My spirit will be with you.

So stop clinging. And that was what he told her.

And we have to learn as Christians not to depend

on our senses. That's why I mean that she had

to move from sense to faith, because we need to

have the constant relationship with God the Father in spirit,

whether or not we can see and touch him, because

that is faith.

Amen. Makes sense. That's why in the Book of.

Ezac Kilm, the prophet actually wrote in chapter thirty six,

verses twenty six, twenty seven. He says this, and I

will give you a new heart, and I will put

a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony,

stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And

I will put my spirit in you so that you

will follow my decrease and be careful to obey my regulations.

God is going to replace that physical needs we need.

And he had to do it for those that he

appeared to because they were the only ones that experienced

the physical Jesus, and it's a normal thing for them

to want to hang on to the physical Jesus.

But Jesus said, I have to go, and I'll leave

you the spirit.

And that's why I know greater are those who didn't

see him actually but still believe that is us today.

We didn't see him, but still we believe because we

have the spirit of God that lives in us.

Amen, and the thought and the last one.

And I'm about to end, so the band can actually

come up.

I'm going to end.

He wanted to move her from self to others. Mary

was saying, I want you all to myself. That's why

she in a way, that's why she hang on to him.

She cling on to him she held his feet. But

Jesus in return told her. What did he tell her?

He said, she go and tell others, Go and tell

others that you saw me. And Jesus wanted her to

be more concerned than our should know. Jesus then just

her benefiting of the relationship or from the relationship that

she had with a lot. It's amazing, no, because with

that Mary turned from a mourner to a missionary. She

was someone who was in mourning. But the next thing

she did was she did what a missionary would have done.

We shall go tell it to the mountains. And she

went out and she told the disciples. And here is

how I want to end. This message can come up.

If you read it carefully, you'll notice the message given

by Jesus to Mary for the disciples, because Jesus actually

told her go go and tell the disciples. But the

way he addressed them in the message that he wanted

her to pass on, it's quite interesting. Jesus addressed them

with a new title. Actually, he says, brothers, go tell

the brothers. You see, he had never given them this

title before. Nowhere in the scriptures you see him calling

them brothers. He has called them friends. He has called

them servants, he has got them disciples, but never brothers.

But from now on they were his brothers. It's amazing.

For those who believe in the evidence of Jesus's death

and resurrection will go on to experience his real presence

in our lives because he has now made us his

brother and his sister. Really, that is the power of God,

the power of Jesus breaking true into our lives, because

he's not a shame to call us brothers. And what

a privilege right to have your Lord and Savior call

you brother.

Sister.

And this is the glory of the resurrected Christ. This

is the resurrection that rocked each and every one of

our lives. And so this morning, this is my prayer.

A lot of us, sometimes we sit in this congregation,

some of us, you know, wake in and wake out,

and many of us will say that, Yeah, I too

believe in the whole account. I believe in all the

eyewitness record that Jesus indeed died and was resurrected. A

lot of us believe that Jesus died and was resurrected.

A lot of us believe in facts, which is what

I believe in as well. But we have to move

from believing that Jesus died and resurrected to believing eat

the Christ who died for us and who is now resurrected.

There is a difference.

It's different when you say I believe that Jesus died

compared to I believe in Jesus, because one solicits a

response because one, and it's the letter. When you say

I believe in Jesus, you are essentially saying Lord, you

are either Lord of all or not Lord at all.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you. God bless