SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Happy Easter.
SPEAKER_00: Happy Resurrection Day.
SPEAKER_00: It is so awesome to see all of you here worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to welcome you here at our Bonnie Oaks campus, but also like to welcome all of you at all of our campuses and all of our venues and those of you that are worshiping with us online.
SPEAKER_00: If I haven't had a chance to meet you personally, I'm Tony Walliser.
SPEAKER_00: I'm one of the pastors here at Siverdale, and I have the privilege today to share with you God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: So we study the Bible, and so I encourage you, if you have your Bible, go and open it up to the very last book of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: It's the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at just two verses here today.
SPEAKER_00: And then also, hopefully, all of you received one of these whenever you came in, these worship guides have a Bible study outline on it so you can follow along and take notes as we study God's Word together as well.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to be talking about Jesus Christ and his power.
SPEAKER_00: If it is true that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and conquered sin and death and hell, then he has power like no one else.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's been studied that the average American will look down at their phone a hundred times a day.
SPEAKER_00: But there is one time during the day that we will look down upon it and suddenly we'll be overwhelmed with shock, and that is whenever you see the low battery image, right?
SPEAKER_00: You go, oh no, what am I going to do?
SPEAKER_00: You begin to scan the room and you're looking for an outlet.
SPEAKER_00: You're looking, somebody have a charger, you know, can I make it to the car?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you know that even though your phone may be expensive and sleek and have high technology, yet without power, it's just dead weight.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we all know we need power.
SPEAKER_00: Several years ago, there was a major power outage.
SPEAKER_00: It started with a transformer explosion, and then suddenly, you know, the power grid went down and an entire city went black.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, can you imagine whenever you know you're at traffic lights and suddenly they don't work?
SPEAKER_00: You're on an elevator and it stops halfway.
SPEAKER_00: You have homes were silent, businesses were shut down, the the city came to a standstill.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because there was no power.
SPEAKER_00: Now we know the importance of power, not just with cell phones and lights, and that's true in the physical realm, but we need power in the spiritual realm.
SPEAKER_00: The realm of how do we live life through the stresses of life that we have, how do we live not just in this life, but the next life?
SPEAKER_00: Where do you have the power to do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, today we're going to discover that what the resurrected Christ does is he gives us his power to experience those things.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's be honest at the very beginning.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus Christ is just an ordinary man and he lived 2,000 years ago, and maybe had some great teachings, and maybe did some great signs, but he died, and that was the end of his story.
SPEAKER_00: If that's the case, then let's go home.
SPEAKER_00: Because he can't do anything for us today.
SPEAKER_00: But if the scriptures are true and he was God with us, and he conquered everything that this world could throw at him, then guess what?
SPEAKER_00: That means the impossible is now possible.
SPEAKER_00: Think about all the different ways that Jesus Christ demonstrated power.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had power over gravity when he walked on water.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had power over sickness whenever he healed every disease known to man.
SPEAKER_00: The lame walked, the blind could see, the deaf could hear, the lepers were cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had power over creation when he would speak to the wind and the waves and they would obey him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had power over the spiritual realm whenever he would cast out demons and send them to hell.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had power to multiply food, to feed the masses.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus had this incredible power, this power to predict the future.
SPEAKER_00: He predicted how and when he was going to die.
SPEAKER_00: And then he said, You destroy the temple of this body in three days I will rise it up.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's power.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I would submit to you that the greatest power is someone who can take something that is dead and bring it back to life.
SPEAKER_00: That is our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're going to do today is we're going to study just two verses from the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is speaking to one of his closest disciples.
SPEAKER_00: His name is John.
SPEAKER_00: And this is Jesus Christ in his resurrected, glorified body, speaking these words.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what the Bible says in Revelation chapter 1, beginning verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: When I saw Christ, I fell at his feet like a dead man.
SPEAKER_00: He laid his right hand on me and said, Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I am the first and the last and the living one.
SPEAKER_00: I was dead, but look, I'm alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may go, what's going on here in this passage?
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is written by the Apostle John.
SPEAKER_00: He's now 90 years old.
SPEAKER_00: It's been 60 years since he's seen Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: He has been arrested by the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_00: He's put on this desolate island called the Isle of Patmos.
SPEAKER_00: It's about 40 miles off the coast of Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: And there he's been in exile, waiting for possible execution by the Romans.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus comes and he appears to him.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the amazing thing.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, John and Jesus were so close.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus died, Jesus gave John the responsibility of taking care of his mother Mary.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, whenever John sees Jesus, he doesn't run up to him, give him a hug, give him a high five.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he falls on his face as a dead man.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's never seen Jesus like this.
SPEAKER_00: This is not Jesus meek and mild.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus mighty and undefiled.
SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus with his resurrected, glorified, heavenly body.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says his eyes are like flames of fire, his voice is like thunder, no wonder John fell at Jesus' feet.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the amazing thing Jesus gives John these words of encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: And if you are a follower of Jesus Christ here today, the same words of encouragement that Jesus gives John, Jesus gives to you.
SPEAKER_00: And so if Christ has conquered death, then here's the promise for you today.
SPEAKER_00: Ready?
SPEAKER_00: Jot this down.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, is this jot this down.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus can calm your fear.
SPEAKER_00: Now, fear, anxiety, worries, those are some of our strongest emotions.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the last decade can be described as an age of fear.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we are constantly bombarded with a lot of information.
SPEAKER_00: Our smartphones have made us a lot dumber.
SPEAKER_00: And we're constantly being informed with stuff from our echo chamber and you know, things that affirm our greatest fears, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so next thing you know, we have this anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember what happened?
SPEAKER_00: The pandemic of 2020, right?
SPEAKER_00: Now nobody's ever experienced a pandemic before, so nobody knows exactly what to do.
SPEAKER_00: So everybody is freaking out and responding in fear.
SPEAKER_00: The answer, shut everything down, right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's close the churches, okay?
SPEAKER_00: No sporting events.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Um, kids go on spring break, it's gonna last for months.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, people, right?
SPEAKER_00: They started hoarding toilet paper.
SPEAKER_00: What in the world?
SPEAKER_00: What was happening?
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you what was happening is that people, fear swept our culture, and the pandemic was more like a panic every minute.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
SPEAKER_00: Because normal concerns suddenly became irrational fears.
SPEAKER_00: The studies tell us that 85% of the things that we worry about never happen.
SPEAKER_00: We worry about all these things, but they never come true in our lives, and yet those anxieties control us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is speaking to his fearful disciple who's facing possible execution and saying, look at it again, verse 17, he laid his right hand on me and said, Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Now, John has heard this voice before.
SPEAKER_00: When John and the disciples were in, you know, a boat in the Sea of Galilee, there was a storm, and they were being swamped by this storm, and they think they're going to drown, and then suddenly Jesus comes walking on the water to them.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has under his feet the things that is terrorizing them, and Jesus says to them, Don't be afraid, it is I.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus speaks this word.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, John, you don't have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: But then he does something amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus lays his hand on him.
SPEAKER_00: Look at it, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: He laid his right hand on me.
SPEAKER_00: Human touch is powerful, especially whenever you're fearful, especially whenever you're grieving, right?
SPEAKER_00: John, it's probably been months since he's had any human touch, and the Lord himself touches him and says, Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's make this real to you and I today.
SPEAKER_00: Where in your life right now are you anxious and worried and maybe even fearful?
SPEAKER_00: Will you hear the word of the risen Lord to you if you're his follower?
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to worry.
SPEAKER_00: I've got this.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, did you know the command for us to not fear is found in the Bible 366 times in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: That means you have a command from the Bible for every day of the year, and including an extra one for leap year, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be controlled by your fear and anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: I once read this funny story about this um chicken farmer in Tennessee, and um he believed that a fox was getting into his hen house because he was missing some, you know, some eggs and missing some hens.
SPEAKER_00: And so he determines he's gonna stay up one night with this loaded shotgun by his bed.
SPEAKER_00: And if he hears a ruckus, he's going to um, you know, go investigate.
SPEAKER_00: And so, sure enough, in the middle of the night, he hears this noise out in the hen house, and so he gets up.
SPEAKER_00: He goes out in the dark with a shotgun, all he's got on is his nightshirt, and he's making his way to the hen house, and as he is, you know what, he's about to enter into the entrance of the hen house, and suddenly he has this thought Well, what if the fox attacks me?
SPEAKER_00: Or what if it's not a fox?
SPEAKER_00: What if it's a bobcat?
SPEAKER_00: And while all these fearful thoughts were swirling around in his head, at that very moment, his faithful hound dog blue came up behind him and cold nosed him right underneath his nightshirt, and he goes, Woo! And then suddenly, baboom! Nine hens lost their lives that night.
SPEAKER_00: But um, it wasn't because of the shotgun, it was because of fear.
SPEAKER_00: Fear can control us if we'll let it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Don't let it.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear a story of one of our members who went through an incredibly traumatic and fearful experience.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, he cries out to his Lord Jesus, and the Lord gives him the peace that he needs to make it through it.
SPEAKER_00: Check out the story of Andrew here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the truth is that most of us have never experienced something that traumatic or fearful, right?
SPEAKER_00: But if the risen Lord could give Andrew the peace that he needed in that moment, and that God's will would be done in a glorifying way in his life and family, then don't you think that whatever you're walking through right now, the Lord can do that for you as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so here is the Lord Jesus who is risen, and he's saying to his followers, Hey, you don't need to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you.
SPEAKER_00: But then he gives us a second promise.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to jot this down.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, Jesus has conquered death.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has conquered your death.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the fact is in the Bible, the Bible describes that death is our enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're all gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, every year, 62 million people will die on planet Earth every year.
SPEAKER_00: About three million will die here in the United States.
SPEAKER_00: And did you know that for every second that ticks, there are two people who die, right?
SPEAKER_00: As a second ticks by, two people die.
SPEAKER_00: Two more people.
SPEAKER_00: Two more people, two more people.
SPEAKER_00: And one day it's going to be you and it's going to be me.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible says that Jesus Christ came to live a perfect life that we could never live, and then die our death for us.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know the Muslims they'll say, well, no, no, no, no, Jesus didn't actually die.
SPEAKER_00: They just thought he was dead.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what does Jesus say about that?
SPEAKER_00: Look again what it says in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I am the first and the last, the living one.
SPEAKER_00: I was what?
SPEAKER_00: I was dead, but look, I'm alive forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: One of humanity's greatest fears is to be buried alive.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus was buried, but he wasn't buried alive.
SPEAKER_00: No, they took his lifeless body off of the cross, they wrapped it in grave clothes, they put it into a tomb, closed it up tight with a huge stone.
SPEAKER_00: And the apostle John was an eyewitness to all those events.
SPEAKER_00: This had to be one of the saddest days of John's life to see his Lord suffer and die and then be buried.
SPEAKER_00: But then his sorrow was turned into joy because three days later he saw Jesus alive.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came out of that tomb alive.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I was dead, but look, I'm alive.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're dead for three days, you're dead.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You're dead, dead, right?
SPEAKER_00: You are really dead.
SPEAKER_00: So how does someone who is dead for three days come back to life?
SPEAKER_00: If you go to the hospital and suddenly the patient's heart stops beating, what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Suddenly there's urgency in that room.
SPEAKER_00: Nurses and doctors rush in, somebody grabs a defibulator, puts it on the patient whose heart has stopped beating, and what do they say?
SPEAKER_00: They say, clear, and boom, a jolt of energy goes into that body.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that flatline heart starts beating again.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because power, energy is surged into that dead body.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there was no defibulator in Jesus' tomb.
SPEAKER_00: So how did someone who's dead come back to life three days later?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus tells us, Jesus said, I had the power to bring myself back to life.
SPEAKER_00: Look at how Jesus puts this in John 10.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, No one takes my life from me.
SPEAKER_00: I give it up willingly.
SPEAKER_00: I have the power to give it up, and I have the power to take it back again.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you something?
SPEAKER_00: That's power, folks.
SPEAKER_00: The power to give up your life, okay, I get that.
SPEAKER_00: But the power to take it back again, that is power like no one's ever had power before.
SPEAKER_00: Now you can go around this planet and it is littered with graves and tombs of dead people, right?
SPEAKER_00: I can take you to the Middle East and Medina and show you the tomb of Muhammad.
SPEAKER_00: I can take you to Sri Lanka and show you the tomb of Buddha.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can go to Egypt and see the pyramids or India and see the Taj Mahal.
SPEAKER_00: Those are just fancy tombs.
SPEAKER_00: I can take you 31 miles northeast of Beijing, and there are 13 tombs of the 13 first emperors of the Ming dynasty.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: They're all filled with dead men's bones.
SPEAKER_00: But I can also take you to a garden tomb that's about a hundred yards from Skull Hill, where Jesus Christ was crucified, and I can show you a tomb that I've looked into and it is empty.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ is alive.
SPEAKER_00: He has conquered death.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Jesus predicted this and the influence and impact it would have for his followers.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus said in John 14.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, in a little while, the people of this world won't be able to see me, but you will see me, and because I live, you will live also.
SPEAKER_00: Not only does Jesus come back to life, but now Jesus promises to give us life after death.
SPEAKER_00: There is a story of this mom who took two of her kids to a park, her son and her daughter, and they're just playing in a local park, and suddenly there's a bee that comes by and is buzzing the boy.
SPEAKER_00: And the boy tries to swap the bee away, and the bee stings him.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately he starts to scream and cry, and the mom is trying to comfort him, and it's gonna be okay, you're gonna be alright.
SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly the bee starts buzzing around the daughter, the sister.
SPEAKER_00: And she starts screaming, the bee's gonna sting me, the bee's gonna sting me.
SPEAKER_00: And then you know what?
SPEAKER_00: So she's trying to, mom's trying to calm down the daughter as well.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually she says, Look, sweetheart, you don't have to be afraid of that bee.
SPEAKER_00: Look at your brother's arm.
SPEAKER_00: You can see there is the stinger of the bee still in your brother's arm.
SPEAKER_00: That's something that you need to know about bees.
SPEAKER_00: Bees can sting you once, but after that, all they can do is buzz you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, folks, that's what death is to a follower of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Death can buzz around us, but it doesn't have the sting anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus, our Lord and Savior, has taken the sting of death for us.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Bible declares that death has been swallowed up in the victory of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul declares, Oh, death, where is your victory now?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, death, where is your sting?
SPEAKER_00: It's gone because Jesus Christ has conquered death.
SPEAKER_00: There was a British mathematician years ago called G.B.
SPEAKER_00: Hardy, and he was an agnostic and somebody wasn't a follower of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But over time he eventually became a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, what convinced him was that he began to examine all the religions of the world.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, so what I did, I just decided that I would just examine them and then ask two questions.
SPEAKER_00: One question is okay, did this person conquer death?
SPEAKER_00: And secondly, did they conquer?
SPEAKER_00: Death, allow me to conquer death.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, as I looked around at all the religions and all the leaders, there's only one who conquered death, and his name is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So I decided I'm gonna give my life to that man.
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
SPEAKER_00: You see, if Christ has really risen again, then guess what?
SPEAKER_00: If you're his follower, you don't have to live in fear and anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, he has conquered death for you.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a third thing that you need to know as well.
SPEAKER_00: Jot this on your outline.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus now controls your eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus controls your eternity.
SPEAKER_00: See, I have a simple question to ask all of you here today.
SPEAKER_00: Simple question.
SPEAKER_00: When you die, and you will, because we all die, when you die, will you go to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Will you go to heaven when you die?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Now most people will answer that question.
SPEAKER_00: They'll say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I believe I'm gonna go to heaven whenever I die, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And then you have a follow-up question, okay, why do you think you're gonna go to heaven when you die?
SPEAKER_00: And typically people say, well, you know, because I'm a pretty good person.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a good person.
SPEAKER_00: Good people go to heaven, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm a good person.
SPEAKER_00: And somehow in our minds, we just imagine that there are these um scales up in heaven, right?
SPEAKER_00: And God is somehow keeping this score here.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll look at this and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I know in my life, sure, I sin.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not perfect, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I've done things that I regret.
SPEAKER_00: Sure, okay, I've sinned, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so that's on one side of my scale, and that doesn't look very good.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm a good person, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I've done some good things in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And so if I put my good on the other side of the scale, well, then surely I'm gonna be going to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, the fact is, is that I've really got a good heart.
SPEAKER_00: I don't always show it, but I got a good heart, and that's what matters most, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so whenever we measure ourselves with ourselves, we're like, okay, yeah, I think I'm pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: I think I'm going to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what does the Bible say?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says this about our sin, that it carries a great weight.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that the soul that sins will surely die.
SPEAKER_00: And the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans that the wages of our sin is death, meaning that the weight of our sin is pretty heavy.
SPEAKER_00: It equals death.
SPEAKER_00: We are more sinful than what we will even imagine.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Bible also says this: that if you're going to go into the presence of a holy, perfect God in a perfect place called heaven, then you gotta be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: And you go, well, wait a minute, nobody's perfect.
SPEAKER_00: That's right, and that's why the Bible says that our righteousness and good works is like filthy rags to a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Tony Walliser on his best day, filthy rags.
SPEAKER_00: Even all the good that I think I have, it's really not all that good compared to a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, folks, if we're doing the scale, we're in a desperate place, right?
SPEAKER_00: But here's the good news of the gospel: God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Emmanuel, God with us.
SPEAKER_00: And he lived a perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody that was with him said he was sinless.
SPEAKER_00: Even the governor that condemned him to death said, I find no fault in him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled all the demands of the law.
SPEAKER_00: He lived the perfect life we couldn't live, and then what did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He died the death we deserve to die.
SPEAKER_00: He died on the cross in our place and for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about it.
SPEAKER_00: If the very essence of sin is us replacing God with ourselves, I want to be my own God, I don't want you to be my God.
SPEAKER_00: That's the essence of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Then the essence of salvation is God replacing you with himself.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what Jesus Christ did on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He took your place on the cross and bore all your sin and guilt and shame and punishment for your sin.
SPEAKER_00: And to prove that happened, God raised him up from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And now the Bible says that if you and I will repent and believe in Jesus as our Lord, that God credits to our account the righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And folks, Jesus outweighs all of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: And because Jesus Christ conquered death and hell, he has forgiven us of our sins.
SPEAKER_00: But more than that, he now controls our future.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what it says in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
SPEAKER_00: So here's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I now hold the keys.
SPEAKER_00: You know what keys for?
SPEAKER_00: Keys represent authority.
SPEAKER_00: Keys represent access, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you got the keys of the car, you determine who's going to drive it.
SPEAKER_00: You got keys to the house, it gives you access to the house, right?
SPEAKER_00: If somebody gives you the keys to the city, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means, okay, you have special privileges and access, right?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I have the keys, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you sign a contract and say, okay, I'm going to buy this house, they say, here's the keys, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or you sign the dotted line and you buy a new car and they go, here's the keys, right?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I now have the keys.
SPEAKER_00: The keys of what?
SPEAKER_00: The keys of death and Hades.
SPEAKER_00: You go, what is that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, death is the event.
SPEAKER_00: We're all going to die.
SPEAKER_00: Hades is the place where you go after you die.
SPEAKER_00: It's the realm of the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I control death.
SPEAKER_00: I control the access of those who come out of death, and I control Hades.
SPEAKER_00: So if I don't want to face judgment and go be sent to Hades one day, I better what?
SPEAKER_00: Go to the man with the keys, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, in fact, death is no longer the jailer.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus went into death, conquered it, came out with the authority and the keys of death and Hades.
SPEAKER_00: And now, here's my advice.
SPEAKER_00: You want eternal life with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Go to the one with the keys.
SPEAKER_00: You want to conquer death?
SPEAKER_00: Go to the one who has the keys over death.
SPEAKER_00: You want to get past Hades, then you better go to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He holds the keys of hell and death.
SPEAKER_00: And so, in fact, Jesus makes this incredible promise to those of us who are followers of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Notice some what Jesus says in John chapter 11.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_00: The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what Jesus is saying?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, if you believe in him, if you're his follower, then guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Death is not the end for you.
SPEAKER_00: Death happens, and at the moment you die, you go from this plane of existence to another plane of existence.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You will never die.
SPEAKER_00: But that's only for those who believe in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may go, what does it mean to believe in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Does it mean that, okay, I have this head knowledge information about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: It's got to be much more than that, right?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, it means that you have faith.
SPEAKER_00: You're trusting Jesus with your life.
SPEAKER_00: You have the information, yes, but in your heart, you have truly trusted your life in the hands of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You said, Jesus, I'm trusting you with the control of my life as my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I read a funny story about this student pilot.
SPEAKER_00: He was learning to fly, and his instructor was with him, and they were coming in for a landing, and they were in their small single-engine airplane, and it was coming in crooked, and the landing was terrible.
SPEAKER_00: It bounced a couple of times and then finally straightened out.
SPEAKER_00: And the instructor looks at the student and goes, That is the worst landing you've ever done.
SPEAKER_00: And the student goes, Me?
SPEAKER_00: I thought you were landing the plane.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's uh sad, right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the fact is, is that's why pilots are trained to actually affirm who's in control.
SPEAKER_00: A pilot will say, I have control, and the co-pilot will say, You have control.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we've got to affirm the same thing in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to affirm who's really in control of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the sad reality is we want to be in control ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We want to be our own God.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said, No, I'm the one with the keys, I'm the one with the authority.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have to affirm and say, Okay, Jesus, I'm giving you the control.
SPEAKER_00: See, this passage started off with the Apostle John falling down at Jesus' feet like a dead man.
SPEAKER_00: That's a very appropriate response for every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: Because if it's true that Jesus is the Son of God, God with us, who walked and lived the perfect life we couldn't live for us, and then dies our death for us, and he's taken the sting of death for us, and he now has the keys of death and Hades, our authority, authority over our eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Then, folks, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: We better fall down on his knees and say, Jesus, you are Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I surrender to you as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may go, how does a person do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Bible says that you do that through prayer.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, right?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible also says there's a confession, a confession that you declare Jesus as your Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes this in Romans 10.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Now I believe today that there are many of you here in this room right now who need to make that decision.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have a head knowledge religion about Jesus, but there's never been truly that point in your life where you've given the control of your life to Jesus Christ and said, Jesus, you are now my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you that opportunity right now.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm going to ask every one of you, just bow your head and close your eyes just for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want anyone moving right now.
SPEAKER_00: This is a holy moment.
SPEAKER_00: Eternity is in the balance.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're here right now and you know in your heart of hearts, it's time.
SPEAKER_00: It is time for you to truly surrender your life to Jesus as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Then what I'm going to do, I'm going to pray a prayer out loud, a prayer of repentance and confessing Jesus as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And if that is the desire of your heart, I want you to pray with me.
SPEAKER_00: I'll pray out loud.
SPEAKER_00: You can pray from your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You pray something like this Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: I confess that I've gone my own ways.
SPEAKER_00: I believe you died for me and rose again.
SPEAKER_00: I believe you hold the keys of death in my eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Please forgive me of my sins.
SPEAKER_00: I turn from myself and I turn to you.
SPEAKER_00: Come into my life and be my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: From this day forward, I choose to follow you.
SPEAKER_00: Please fill me with your spirit and give me new life.
SPEAKER_00: And I want all of you to keep your heads bowed and eyes closed just for another second.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to trust me.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's looking around, it's just me.
SPEAKER_00: And if you just prayed that prayer and you meant it from your heart, then this is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to have the courage to just lift up your hand so I can see your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Would you lift up your hand real high right now?
SPEAKER_00: Lift it up, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And if you're lifting your hand, keep your hand up, lift it up high.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to now look at me.
SPEAKER_00: I want our eyes to meet, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna look over to my left.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Looking over to my right now.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Far right.
SPEAKER_00: Looking up in the balcony now.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: In the middle, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: I see you back there.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: I want to pray for each one of you that just raise your hand and look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you so much for each of these individuals that you have spoken to today.
SPEAKER_00: You're doing an eternal work in their life.
SPEAKER_00: Help them to truly follow you and live the life of a true Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Bless them.
SPEAKER_00: Help them.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
unknown: Amen.