RESURRECTION: MORE THAN AN EVENT

We question the idea that the resurrection is only a fact to believe and argue that it is also a revelation that transforms how we see ourselves. We read Scripture in context to show that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection include us, shifting Easter from distant proof to lived identity and newness of life.
• choosing depth over tradition and asking better Bible questions 
• why “just believe” can miss present-day transformation 
• co-heirs with Christ and what participation means 
• Romans 6:4 and walking in newness of life 
• Ephesians 2:5–6 and the past-tense reality of being raised 
• 2 Corinthians 5:14 and the inclusion language of “all died” 
• cross and resurrection as one finished work with identity revealed 
• Luke 24 and the difference between truth and awareness 
• kingdom of God as heaven here and now through opened eyes 
Open your eyes.

Transcript

Choosing Depth Over Tradition

SPEAKER_01 0:00

But I was sitting there thinking, you know, on a on a day like Easter or Christmas or something like that, a lot of times you're hearing the same messages just about everywhere you go. You're going to hear the same message. And I was sitting there thinking about it yesterday. I said, do I come up this morning on Easter morning and just preach a traditional Easter message? Or do I continue to go against the grain a little bit and go a little deeper? You'll find out in a minute what I decided. But uh I think you probably already know. But I I took this and I said, well, this is a good opportunity to not only go against the grain a little bit, to go a little deeper, but it's a good opportunity to show why we do it. We're not doing it to just be rebellious against tradition. That's not the reason behind it. Uh there's a there's a specific reason why we talk about going, and when I use the words going a little bit deeper, uh it's easy to stay on the surface level. And what I mean by that is just things we've always been taught. It's been passed down from generation to generation. Granddaddy said it, grandma said it, your parents said it, your pastor said it, and they all said the same thing. So it's easy just to grab onto something and believe it because everybody said it, but then never really question what the Bible says? Or, you know, when you dig a little deeper and start looking up some of these words, or uh, you know, what does it really say in there? If I take that verse, the meaning of it, what I've always been taught, does it align with the rest of the Bible? Uh so that's going back to context that we talked so much about. So what I wanted to do is I'm gonna look at it really from both ways.

When Belief Feels Incomplete

SPEAKER_01 1:50

And I got to thinking about it, and I said, traditionally, uh, we've understood Easter as simply the day Jesus rose from the dead. Uh, it was the moment that he rose up and he proved who he was. He defeated sin and death and made a way for us to be saved. That's the traditional teaching behind the Easter message. And we've often been taught that our role, and this is what I'm getting to, this is what I want to want you to see. We've been taught that our role in that story is real simple. Believe it.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Just believe it.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

If you believe it, then you can receive eternal life. And I got thinking about that, and I said, I'm, you know, I'm tired of just believing stuff just to believe it. I want to know when we read the good news, when we hear a story in the Bible, how does this impact my life? How does it make me a better person? How does it make me, how does it uh, you know, put me in a position to go out and be the light of the world, the salt of the earth? How does it put something deeper in me that I can go out and help somebody else that's struggling in a certain area? Because let me be honest, just because I believe it, don't always put me in a position to do that. Okay? So I've kind of got to this place, and this is what I mean by let's go a little deeper. That's not saying that nothing there is not true, but it's just saying let's dig a little deeper into it and see how this impact my life. How does it change something inside me and help me to understand a little bit about more about who God is, and in turn understand more about who I am and what my identity is in Christ? So we can take that traditional Easter message and we can understand what it means he rose from the dead and how he's given me the opportunity to have eternal life. And we can stop right there, and that's a good message. It's a great message, especially for people who's lost. But what if what we've been taught to see about the resurrection is actually limiting what it was really meant to reveal? Have you ever thought about that? What if the the message that we've been taught about the resurrection, and because we cut it off at a certain point, we cut it off at believe, and you have the opportunity to be saved. We cut it off right there. And again, that is a great message. But if we just stop it right there, it really doesn't tell me the whole story. What it was really, what I feel like the the resurrection was really trying to reveal to us. So let me say that again. What I said a while ago was not wrong. Believing that he was resurrected leads me to an opportunity for salvation. That is not wrong, okay? But I will say I believe it's incomplete. I believe you can go further into it. Okay? I believe you can dig down a little bit and say, what does it really mean for me and my life and my relationship and my understanding of God and my understanding of what Jesus was trying to reveal, and how does it impact my life today? Listen, if all the resurrection ever becomes is something that you believe in to secure your future, you might miss what he's trying to say about your life right now. And that's all we're saying. We're saying let's just take it a step further. Let's be the kind of people who's got that kind of mind who wants to ask questions. We're not asking because we don't believe what the word says, we're asking because we want to truly understand in a bigger way what the word is trying to say. What is it trying to reveal to us? And see, if you miss this, if you miss the whole picture of the resurrection, I think you're gonna miss what it's trying to say about your life and who you are. And if we miss that, we don't just misunderstand an event, the event of the resurrection, we misunderstand ourselves. What if we've reduced the resurrection to something smaller than what it actually was? Just think on that a minute. What if we've reduced it down, watered it down, and made the resurrection of Jesus Christ actually smaller than what it really was?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Could it be possible that the resurrection was never waiting on our belief?

SPEAKER_01 7:08

I'm asking a lot of questions this morning, but it's just things I want you to think about. I mean, we've been taught to see it as something we need to believe in. We have to believe in it so we can be saved. But what if it was possible that the resurrection itself was never waiting on our belief system? It was never waiting specifically on me to believe it. But listen, can I just use common sense a minute? The cross and the resurrection happened before you were here. Would everybody agree with that timeline? So your belief didn't have nothing to do with it. That's the easiest way to look at it. Your belief didn't have nothing to do with him dying on the cross and rising from the dead. Now, your understanding of it today changes a lot of things. It changes, number one, how much you understand about it, how much you understand the purpose behind it and why Jesus actually did what he did. What if the real question isn't, do you believe in the resurrection? But do you realize what the resurrection says about you? This is where I like why I like to go deeper with it because I want to get personal with it. I don't want to just say, well, Jesus died on the cross, Jesus was put into a tomb, and on the third day he was resurrected. Why? Because that's all about Jesus. And that's a great message to understand. But what I really want to know is how does that affect me? How does that affect each one of you?

Co-Heirs Who Shared The Story

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Because I believe something just a little bit more. I believe when he died on that cross, I died with him. I believe when he went into that tomb that I was buried with him. And I believe when he was resurrected, that I resurrected with him. This is why we're called co-heirs. You can't be a co-if you didn't participate in it with him. Listen, you don't have a co-pilot sitting in the airport. The co-pilot's in the plane. And if something happens, he's right there to do what he can fly that plane. He can do whatever needs to be done. I kind of look at it the same way with this. We're co-heirs. We died with him, we rose with him, we were buried with him, we participated in these events with him. It wasn't just something that we're standing back looking and saying, man, look what Jesus done. That's the only purpose in going a little bit deeper with it is to say, how does it impact my life? What role do I play in this? Because for a lot of us, I think the resurrection has been reduced down to nothing but proof. Proof that he was who he says he was, proof that Christianity is real because he rose up, and proof that heaven is real one day. And because of that, because of the resurrection and because of the ability to be saved, that we're gonna see heaven one day. So the resurrection itself has really come down to just being proof for the Christian to say, because Jesus done this, I'm gonna experience heaven one day, because Jesus done this, Christianity has to be true. And because Jesus rose from the dead, he is exactly who he says that he was. It's proof. And there's nothing wrong with that proof. I believe it. I believe it to be true.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

But I also believe there's more to it than that. I'm not saying that any of this is wrong.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

I want to, I want to I I keep saying this, I keep repeating it because I want you to hear it. Because so many people, when we start digging a little deeper into it, we start going a little bit further than what tradition leads us to, people automatically start saying, Well, I, you know, so-and-so taught that wrong, or I've always believed wrong. No, we're not saying that at all. That is not the message we're trying to send to people. What we're saying simply is let's go a little bit further into it. If the resurrection is only something that proves something to you, then it stays outside. What do I mean by that? If the resurrection is only about what Jesus done, then it's always going to be an event that I stand back here and look at on the outside. It was always only about Jesus. But if the resurrection reveals something about me, something about you, now we're talking about transformation. Now we're talking about how my life and how your life can be transformed because of what the resurrection meant. So it's more than just Jesus died and rose. It's because he died and rose, and because you died and rose with him, how does it impact your life now?

Buried And Raised With Christ

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Listen to how Scripture talks about this in Romans chapter 6, verse 4. It's a really good verse to start with. Therefore, we were buried with him. See, some people thought I was just saying that on my own a little ago, because I felt like that, or that was my feelings. Bible says, therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so also should we walk in newness of life.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Notice the language in there. We were.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

We too. See, it's it's pulling us. This is what you got to catch in this verse. This is not us standing on the outside reading this verse and saying, Good job, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

This is pulling us into his story. We were buried with him. It's pulling us into it.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

It means a little bit more than just watching him do this. You know, it's one thing to watch a ballgame on TV, but it's a whole nother thing to actually be in the stadium and experience everything that's going on. It's another thing to read this word and just look at it from the outside. But when I can get a revelation that I was included in this, it changes my whole perspective. It's a whole new ball game when I see myself in this story. And then it says this in Ephesians 2, verse 5 and 6. Even when we were dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised up. Okay. Some of you say, okay, well, I can see we died with him on the cross, we were buried with him. And now this verse right here goes on to say, we were not only, we not only died with him on the cross, we were not only buried with him, but we were raised up together with him and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So we died with him, we were buried with him, we were raised up with him. And all of that, some people would say, Well, you're just stretching it. That's the Bible. I'm just reading word for word. I hadn't even gave you my interpretation of it yet. I'm just reading word for word what the Bible verse is saying. So I don't understand why it's so difficult sometimes when for people that try to go against what we're saying when it's coming straight from the Bible. Now notice in Ephesians here, he didn't say you will be raised up one day, or you you might be raised up. Raised.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Past tense. It's already occurred.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

See, this doesn't, when you read this verse in context, it doesn't sound like an invitation waiting on you. It sounds like a reality that's already happened. So what if the resurrection wasn't Jesus coming back to life by himself? What if it was humanity being carried into new life in him?

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Oh, that's a new age thought. No, that's a biblical thought. Because ain't that what it just said? In verse 5? I think it was verse 5.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Even when we were dead and we were dead and tristus made us alive together with who? With Christ. In him. This is not new age. This is not some new thing that we're coming up with. This is right here in the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

We were made alive in Christ. Which means you're not trying to get something.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

You might just be waking up to where you already are. You might be just waking up to where you've always been. But our eyes have been closed to it. We've been asleep to it. We've not always understood it because we always stopped right there at the verse that we always understood. Instead of saying, what does this really mean? Let me go a little bit further into this. Let me continue to build on this just a minute with another scripture in 2 Corinthians 5 and 14. Look at what it says here. For the love of Christ compels us, because we were we judged us that if one died for all, then all died.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

This we're talking about humanity again here.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

People can talk about inclusion and knock inclusion down and all that, but this is an inclusion statement right here.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

If one died for all humanity, then all humanity died.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

You can't get more inclusive than that language right there.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Now think that through just a minute.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

If one died for all, and all died, my mind, the way my mind works, I always say, okay, what happened next?

SPEAKER_00 18:49

He died, we all died with him. What happened next? It's a good question to ask on Easter morning. Did only one raise up? No. We were raised with him.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

One died, all died. One raised, all raised. We didn't die with him just for him to leave us dead while he raised up. We raised with him. See, this puts a new perspective on Easter. Because it wasn't just about what Jesus done for himself, it was about what Jesus done for us and done for humanity.

Identity, Inclusion, And Union

SPEAKER_01 19:36

This is a very strong identity statement here. Because the cross dealt with sin, but the resurrection dealt with identity. Your sin was forgiven, and this was a question that was asked Wednesday night. We talked about this. And it was a really good question, really good comment that was brought up. Because we talked so much about the finished work. And sometimes I'll even make the comment. And somebody finally called it. That everything was not finished on the cross. And that's exactly right. Some of it was finished at the resurrection. Sin was finished on the cross. But our identity was brought back during the resurrection. We have a new identity in Christ. We were made into new cre to a new creation. That happened at the resurrection. So we're taking the whole thing that Jesus done, the death, the burial, the resurrection, all of it as one event. I know sometimes I break it down and I just say the cross. But we're looking at also what happened because of the cross. The resurrection is part of the cross. He wouldn't have had to resurrect if the cross wouldn't have happened. So it's all one event broke up into three singular things. Just like it's one God broke up into three singular body, soul, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, you are body, soul, and spirit. You're triune. This event was triune.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

It was the same way. So here's something to think about.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

If the resurrection dealt with identity, if it caused us to be a new identity, a new creation, and it opened our eyes up to our new identity in Christ, it exposed the lie that you're still separated. It exposes the lie that you're still outside of Him, because we just read the verse that says in Him. It exposes the lie that we're still trying to get to Him. He's one with us. How am I trying to get to somebody who is one with me? He's already connected. We're in union together. So here's something when you put all that together, something that should cause you to think. What if the resurrection didn't open the door for you to come to God? I'm pausing there a minute. What if the resurrection did not open the door for you to come to God? What if it revealed that God already brought you into Himself through the resurrection?

SPEAKER_00 22:43

This already occurred before us. And it said, when all died, when He died, all died. When He raised, all were raised. We were included in that.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Tradition has taught us that we're not included in that, that we have to work our way to Him.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

And my struggle with that is real simple. That's not what the Bible says. And I hear that, I used to hear that preached all the time.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

I used to preach it. And then one day I was like, you know, the Bible don't say that. So now we're in a we're in a predicament. We have to take tradition, and then we have to take Bible, and we're going to say which one's going to take a back seat?

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Because they can't both be true. Especially if they're contradicting each other.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

What if it revealed a God that's already brought you to himself? And I know what some of you is probably thinking. If this is true, then why don't people, why is everybody not experiencing this? If this happened and it's true, and he died, and all of humanity died with him, and he raised, and all of humanity was raised with him, as the Bible just quoted, why is everybody not experiencing this? And that's a good question. It's a legitimate question to ask. But listen, you can be included in something and still not be aware of it. You can have access to something and not know it. And I believe that's where a lot of Christians live today. We're already included, not because of what we did, we're already included because of what Christ did on the cross and then in the resurrection. We're already included. Why? How do you know that? Because the Bible says that.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

So I do believe it. I believe we're in a place right now where we're trying to get people to wake up and realize that. But it's so hard to show people that.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

If you just work hard enough, if you just do this, if you just make sure you do this, that we're trying to work our way to him. We're trying to earn our salvation.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

We're trying to be good enough for him to accept us. He accepted you on the cross. He forgave your sins on the cross. He said, It is finished. What was finished? That part of it. Everything that had to be done for you to be a new creation was complete on the cross.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

And then three days later, he rose from the dead and said, Here is what you are now. You're a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away because behold, all things, because of this, because I'm rising, all things have become new. And you're a part of that. Very first word we read.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

It's a newness. All things are made new. This issue isn't always about inclusion.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

People don't like that word inclusion. That messes with them. That is a cuss word to a Christian. But yet it's a biblical word. You see inclusion all through the Bible. I'm not talking about the word, I'm talking about the events. Jesus included everybody.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

God included everybody. The disciples included everybody.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Inclusion is seen all the way through the Bible. So I don't think inclusion is is so bad. I think it's more about just being unaware.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Having our eyes closed to what the truth really is.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Does that mean what my pastor taught me when I was coming up through youth group was wrong? No. It just means I'm going deeper into it now. I'm just trying to get a better understanding now. He wasn't wrong. Your grandparents weren't wrong. They talked to the level of their understanding. And now we have the ability to understand more. You have all the knowledge that you could ever want in the palm of your hand. They didn't have that back then. Granddaddy had a concordance that was that thick. That's the only study tool that he had besides the Bible itself. Now you can do like that and have any answer about any subject, about any person in the Bible, about context. You can go in there and say, who was Paul talking to in this verse and what was going on during that time? And boom, you have context. And it's going to mess your theology up. It will. It'll blow your theology up, what you've always believed. Because context will do that. But context brings truth to it. And I'm going to tell you, there's some tradition that's great to hold on to. It's fun, it's exciting. But when it comes to biblical tradition, listen, truth is going to supersede that every time. It should. It don't always, because it's so hard to let go of something I've always believed to be true.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

But when we come up and the Bible shows us a truth, we've got to go with the truth. That's why I love the moment after the resurrection.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

We always talk up to the resurrection. Let's take a step a little bit further this morning. We're going to get ready to end right here. I told you I'm going to be short this morning. Let's take a step further and go after the resurrection.

Tradition Versus Bible And Context

SPEAKER_01 29:58

In Luke 24, verse 15 and 16. Look at what they say here. So it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and went with them. Oh man, look at here. But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him. So you mean to tell me that this verse is saying that I can something can be true, but I not see it. Was it true that Jesus was standing there with them? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Did they see him? No.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

This is exactly what we're talking about with being unaware of things. They are true, but we're unaware sometimes. And I pulled this verse just because I want you to see that that is not my philosophy. That is a biblical. It's in the Bible. Their eyes were restrained, so they did not know Him. So maybe salvation isn't God deciding to include you. Maybe it's your eyes being opened to what's already true.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

This verse right here, if you'll study this verse out, it'll make some things clear. Let me go to one more verse here right here.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Luke 24, verse 31. Let's skip ahead a few verses. Look what it says.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Then, well just a few verses later, then their eyes were opened. And they knew him. And he vanished from their sight.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

You would have to go, I didn't research that to see how long he was with them between verse 15 and verse 31. I don't know what the time period was. Maybe he walked with them all day. I don't know. Maybe they was maybe there was a two-day span in there. And he was literally with them for two days. I don't know the time frame. The point is, he was with them and they could not see him. And then when we get to verse 31, it says their eyes were opened.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

What opened their eyes up? I don't know. I didn't study that far.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

But it's a good question to ask. Because I would like to know what opened their eyes up right here in verse 31. What happened? What event occurred? That all of a sudden they couldn't see this dude that was walking with them, and then boom, all of a sudden they're like, Jesus, where'd you come from? He said, I've been with you the whole time. See, I think that's what happens with us sometimes. Is our eyes get opened, something happens and we open our eyes up to the truth, and Jesus says, I've been with you the whole time. You just never seen me. You remember that verse that you used to learn about in Sunday school when it says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you? I didn't lie. I've been with you the whole time, but you keep closing yourself off to me. So I'm just asking the question: Is it possible that we close ourselves off? He's always there. He's not separated from us. I've never done nothing bad enough in my life that he packed his bags and left me. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. That verse does not have a common in there. It says, if until you do this. It says, never. Don't care what I go through, don't care what I do, he'll never leave me, he'll never forsake me. But what can I do? I can close my eyes off to him. And I can never experience what has always been true. He's still there, but I close my eyes. Just like these folks did right here. Their eyes were closed to him. And then all of a sudden, boom, he's there. So maybe again, salvation isn't God deciding to include us. Maybe it's our eyes being open to what's already true.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

So here's what I want to leave you with.

Stop Striving And Open Your Eyes

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Maybe we need to stop working so hard to get closer to God.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

That's not a message you'll normally hear from a pulpit. But listen to me. Maybe we need to stop working so hard to get closer to God and start living like we're already in him. What am I saying? Change your perspective. Maybe I need to stop trying to get to him. Maybe I need to stop thinking I can do something good enough to make it to him. Open up my eyes and realize he's already with me.

unknown 35:15

Why?

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Because he said he would never leave me. He would never forsake me. So sometimes it's not coming back to the altar and trying to convince him to come back to me. It's just me simply opening up my eyes and saying, thank you, Father, for never leaving me. Through my stupidity, through my bad decisions, through everything I've done that's not been pleasing to you, thank you for never leaving me. Now help me to open my eyes and see clearly what's always been true. Because the resurrection wasn't just something that happened to Jesus, it's something that happened to humanity. When we can see ourselves in this event, it changes our whole perspective of the Easter message. It changes our perspective of what the resurrection really is. It's something that happened to all of humanity. So maybe the stone wasn't rolled away to reveal an empty tomb only. Maybe it was rolled away to reveal a new identity in you. Can two things be true at once? See, here's the problem. When I make a statement like that, I'm telling you, people, some people don't like it. And that's okay. I'm gonna continue to make it anyway. Because there's a point in what I'm saying. If I say maybe the stone wasn't rolled away to reveal an empty tomb, people automatically say, oh, he's rejecting the resurrection. No, I'm not. That is true. But it can also be true that once that stone was rolled away and it revealed an empty tomb, that it also revealed a new identity in me. So if something happened for Jesus and something happened for me and for you. Two things can be true at once. Just because I go a step further don't mean I'm rejecting this. I'm not rejecting the resurrection. I'm not rejecting what Jesus did. I'm just saying that it was more to it. It included every single one of us. We read the verses. All died. He died, and all died, all of humanity. He was raised, and all of humanity was raised.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

For the life of me, I can't figure out why we want to dispute those two verses. That's inclusion. That means it's all inclusive.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

You ever went on a trip that's all inclusive? Everything's included. Your meal, your room, your everything's included.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Jesus was all inclusive. Everything was included.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

And we have a hard time accepting that. So maybe now we can look at the resurrection in a different way. And we can look and say it wasn't just about Jesus. But it was about Jesus and what he was providing for every single one of us because he rose. It's fine that hey, you can keep getting up on Easter morning and saying he is risen, because that is true.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

But you can also get up and say, I have risen with him. He has risen and then chant, and I have too. Because that's what the Bible says. It's not a stretch. It's a Bible verse in context.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

And if we take it and we tear it out, because we there's no way that I died with him and I was rose with him, then we take out and eliminate the gospel message. Because I'm telling you, the gospel message, the good news wasn't just about Jesus, it was about what Jesus did for us. That's the good news. Can I even go a step farther and say this? Good news to people who are lost, who are, who are, who have their eyes closed, is not telling them Jesus died on a cross. They know that. But the good news is telling them because he died on the cross, now this is what it means for you. That's the good news. Why? Because it pulls them into the story now. And I'm not sitting back looking from afar saying, good job, Jesus. Now I'm saying, thank you, Jesus, for what you did. Not only did you go through the horrible beating that you went through, the horrible cross that you went through, not only did you get thrown into a tomb, but you did all of that with me. I was included. I was part of it. You were part of it. And we're raised up together in Christ. And then if you remember that verse, he didn't just raise up and say, See y'all later. I'm going to heaven. He said, You are seated with me in heavenly places. I could really take a sharp left turn here, and we could go into something else on that verse. But we'll do that another day. Which means that he didn't leave you behind. You are seated with me. With me, with me. Those words mean something. He didn't say, I'm seated up at the right hand of the Father, and I've left you a stool on earth. You are seated with me in heavenly places. That means where are you at? Here.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Where is the heavenly places at? Here. Cooper. Here. But we can't see that.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

You know why? Because we've been trained for so long that we got a destination we got to get to. And that destination cannot be anything like this. Because this is hell down here. But turn it around.

Heaven Here And The Kingdom Lens

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Open your eyes up. Realize he's never left you. Realize he's been there. And we can have heaven here, heaven now, right here on earth. That's the kingdom message. That's what the kingdom of God is supposed to be about. The kingdom never talks about leaving here, going somewhere. That's church talk. Kingdom talk says bringing everything that's in daddy's house down here and representing, being a representation of heaven while we're here on earth. That changes things. It's hard for some people to see themselves like that because they've been through some stuff.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

They've struggled with some stuff. Maybe they're still struggling. I'm not even gonna call for an altar. We're just gonna keep it real simple.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

Open your eyes. Stop being asleep to what Christ has done. Open your eyes. That's as simple as we can make it. Now, if you open your eyes and say, I need to go to the altar, come up. Have your altar experience. Nothing wrong with that. But really, it's as simple as open your eyes and see what Jesus has already done. Let's pray.

Prayer, Blessing, And Sending Out

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Father God, we thank you. I thank you for what you're doing in each one of us. I thank For this word that's coming forth. I thank you, Father, so much for the revelation that we're receiving, that you're giving to us, Father, that we're stepping into a new place of revelation and a new place of understanding our true identity in Christ. We thank you for the resurrection. We thank you that you didn't just do it on your own, but you included us with it. That you were raised up from the dead, Father, and we were raised up with you. If we were raised up, it means we are no longer dead. If we were raised up, we can't be resurrected without being dead first. And you said we died with you, therefore we rose with you. But Father, we thank you that we are dead to sin. We thank you that we are dead to the separation. We thank you that all the things that was, that we are dead to. And now we're raised up with you in the resurrection into new life. Not just because of you, but with you. And we are seated with you in heavenly places. And Father, I pray that this word just lands this morning and somebody's eyes are opened up to the truth of their identity in Christ. I don't care about what mistakes they've made. I don't care what they went through. I don't care what they're struggling with, whether it's physical, physical, whether it's mental. I don't care what they may be going through. Father, open up their eyes this morning to see the truth of who they are. We don't have to do church gymnastics to make it happen. We just simply open up our eyes and see. Father, we thank you. We thank you for everything. I pray for every person in this room, Father. And I just ask you to bless them, their homes, their finances, their families, everything they put their hands to, every word that comes out of their mouth, Father, we call it blessed in the name of Jesus. And Father, we'll be careful to give you the praise, the honor, and the glory in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Be blessed.