SPEAKER_00: Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith Church.
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SPEAKER_01: Matthew 26.
SPEAKER_01: Living and Resurrection Power.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the Last Supper, as it's called.
SPEAKER_01: The meal, of course, that Jesus ate before his crucifixion and uh his physical death.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, as they, Matthew 26, verse 26, as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave to the disciples, and said, Take ye, this is my body.
SPEAKER_01: And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink all of it, for this is my blood.
SPEAKER_01: Notice the word of the New Testament or of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sin.
SPEAKER_01: And then in Mark 14, we'll look very quickly at all three of these accounts.
SPEAKER_01: Mark 14, verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, As they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and break it, and gave to them and said, Take ye, this is my body.
SPEAKER_01: And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.
SPEAKER_01: And he said unto them, This is my blood.
SPEAKER_01: And he used this word again, of the new covenant or the new testament, which is shed for many.
SPEAKER_01: Then in Luke 22, and verse 17, it says, He took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: For I say to you that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come.
SPEAKER_01: And he took bread and gave thanks and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, in my blood, which is shed for you.
SPEAKER_01: So the first two accounts, he says, the blood of the new covenant.
SPEAKER_01: Then in Luke, he says, It is the new covenant in my blood.
SPEAKER_01: So here we see the blood of the new covenant.
SPEAKER_01: The blood of the old covenant obviously was the blood of animals, the blood of bulls and goats.
SPEAKER_01: And through this blood was the possibility, this blood of Jesus, through this blood was the blood, the blood of Christ was the possibility of man coming into union with God.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection was so vital because of the power that it produced.
SPEAKER_01: It not only produced power to live a life above sin, the Bible says that it produced a power that made us able to become sons of God.
SPEAKER_01: Something so radical was released in the resurrection of Christ that it changed the spiritual DNA of every person that would receive the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So when we think of salvation, it was not just a saving from sin, it was a saving out of sin, and it was a salvation that produced in me the nature of God so that I'm no longer a sinner, I am truly a saint born of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when we think saint, of course, people think of somebody that, you know, is perfect and never makes a mistake and never does anything wrong.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible calls us saints because that's set apart once.
SPEAKER_01: And so this blood of Christ gave the possibility of man coming into union with God through a common life, which is oneness of blood.
SPEAKER_01: A common life.
SPEAKER_01: If you remember the high priest, he did not know he was prophesying.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says he didn't know he was prophesying, but he told the people that were conspiring against Jesus, he said, You don't understand anything.
SPEAKER_01: He said, It's better that one man give his life for everybody.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says he didn't know he prophesied.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't know he was saying the whole reason that Jesus came was for one to give his life for the many.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's the thing: the one gave his life, his spiritual life, his life, his natural life, his blood for the many.
SPEAKER_01: And whoever partook of that life partook of the life of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: So the one who could speak to God offered his blood to make those that he loved of the same nature with himself.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And the same nature with God.
SPEAKER_01: In order to bring them into blood friendship with God, he offered his own body.
SPEAKER_01: I had to be brought into blood friendship with God.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot be a friend of God without partaking of the nature of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Look at John chapter 15.
SPEAKER_01: See, when you understand this, you understand that the Bible says, every person that's not born again, he said, their father is the devil.
SPEAKER_01: The God of this world is their God.
SPEAKER_01: And there are people that are not born again, and they'll say, Well, the devil's not my God.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture says he is.
SPEAKER_01: He's my ruler.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the devil's not my father.
SPEAKER_01: Scripture says he is.
SPEAKER_01: Because if I have not received the new nature of God, I have retained the old nature of sin.
SPEAKER_01: The only way it can be broken is by receiving his nature.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And when I receive his nature, I receive the nature of one who never sinned, one who was never tempted by sin.
SPEAKER_01: And I can walk in the victory over sin.
SPEAKER_01: When you hear people talking and telling how hard it is to live above sin, I question whether their nature has been changed.
SPEAKER_01: When I got born again, and I know many of you in here, when you got born again, there were things that immediately dropped out of your life.
SPEAKER_01: There were things that you immediately quit doing.
SPEAKER_01: There were other things that I had to grow into and I had to mature in.
SPEAKER_01: But I can stand up here without, without hesitation and tell you there's nothing in me that wants to sin.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing in me that wants to do anything contrary to what God wants with my life.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: My nature has been changed because I've become a partaker of the blood of Jesus and I've come into close kinship with God.
SPEAKER_01: God is not someone afar off.
SPEAKER_01: God is someone on the inside of me.
SPEAKER_01: God is not someone that holds me at arm's length.
SPEAKER_01: God is someone that says, You're my child.
SPEAKER_01: Come boldly into the throne room and ask me for whatever you need, and I'll give it to you because you are part of the family of God.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: Glory.
SPEAKER_01: And it goes even farther than just sin.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't have time to get into it.
SPEAKER_01: It goes into our standing.
SPEAKER_01: When I partake of the blood of Jesus Christ, I'm immediately made righteous.
SPEAKER_01: I'm immediately made holy.
SPEAKER_01: I'm immediately made right in God's sight.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing I have to do to try to achieve holiness.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing I have to do to try to achieve righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: I was made that way.
SPEAKER_01: I was created that way.
SPEAKER_01: See, at conception, the blood of that child shows up.
SPEAKER_01: And we know that it's the blood of the Father that gives life to the child.
SPEAKER_01: The blood of the Father.
SPEAKER_01: When the blood of the Father came into our lives, we immediately became of the nature of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Christians have to be taught to struggle because they're born overcomers.
SPEAKER_01: I have to be taught to struggle.
SPEAKER_01: I have to be taught that I'm just an old sinner saved by grace.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's not true, but you understand, I have to be taught that.
SPEAKER_01: You have to be taught that the devil's such a foe that you can't hardly ever win a victory over him.
SPEAKER_01: And somehow, somehow, by the skin of your teeth, and your teeth don't even have any skin on them, by the skin of your teeth, that you're gonna figure out how to do this.
SPEAKER_01: No, I was born with victory over the devil.
SPEAKER_01: The moment I was born again, Jesus said the moment you're born again, you can go cast out devils.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I was listening to a minister the other day, and I don't listen a lot, and when I say what I say, you understand why I don't listen a lot.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, you know, when you're a pastor in a church, you have to remind people all the time that they're sinners, and that they're debased in their nature.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, well, dear God, how does anybody walk in victory in your church?
SPEAKER_01: How does anybody walk in victory?
SPEAKER_01: What does sin bring?
SPEAKER_01: Condemnation.
SPEAKER_01: Guilt.
SPEAKER_01: What does condemnation and sin and guilt bring?
SPEAKER_01: Weakness.
SPEAKER_01: Inability to win.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Part of the reason why you're such a conqueror in Christ is because you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and you stand before God with no fear, and you stand in the presence of God with absolutely no fear about anything because you're right in his sight.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see this?
SPEAKER_01: And and and and when people are not aware, I've had people say to me, Well, you you're just talking like you're God.
SPEAKER_01: No, but I'm God's son.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I wouldn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, God said it about us.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just say what he said.
SPEAKER_01: You believe what you want, I'll just believe what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, my youngest son, he walks in the room.
SPEAKER_01: There's no question who his father is.
SPEAKER_01: None.
SPEAKER_01: That boy is still through and through.
SPEAKER_01: They sent me a picture of my youngest grandson today.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, well, dear Lord, poor boy, he looks just like me when I was that age.
SPEAKER_01: I sent my sister the picture.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Is this me or what?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Oh Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, wait, there it is.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: When people look at you, when people are around you, they know it's God that they're around.
SPEAKER_01: Now, understand why I'm saying that.
SPEAKER_01: The presence of God is there.
SPEAKER_01: Why is in me?
SPEAKER_01: He's my father.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud: God's my father.
SPEAKER_01: I have the nature of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's not just this ability to overcome sin.
SPEAKER_01: You know, overcoming sin is very elementary.
SPEAKER_01: Overcoming sin is the first thing you start doing.
SPEAKER_01: Growing in your walk with God.
SPEAKER_01: You were born with victory over sin.
SPEAKER_01: You were born with victory over the devil.
SPEAKER_01: I've got to learn to live in that victory.
SPEAKER_01: In John 15, verse 13, it says, Greater love has no man than this, than he lay down his life for his friends.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, you are my friends if you do whatever I command you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 were all the upper room.
SPEAKER_01: That was all in the upper room.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said all of those things in the upper room.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know how long the conversation was or how long they were there, but just speaking in what we know, I think it would take a while to say four chapters out of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: But he's in the upper room, and notice what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You are my friends.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: No longer servants, but friends.
SPEAKER_01: Through the blood of the new covenant, we were brought into a blood friendship.
SPEAKER_01: Through what?
SPEAKER_01: The blood of the new covenant.
SPEAKER_01: So when you say something like, as a believer, there's blood between you and God, that means blood seals this relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We use the phrase this, and I know you've used it.
SPEAKER_01: No, we're blood kin.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: There's blood between us.
SPEAKER_01: There's a bond here.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We're blood.
SPEAKER_01: We're not just friends.
SPEAKER_01: We're blood friends.
SPEAKER_01: We're blood kin.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: You know, there are people who say, well, he's almost like a brother to me.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between almost like a brother and a blood brother.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that all of us, that we're brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Common blood.
SPEAKER_01: Same blood.
SPEAKER_01: Same father.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so it doesn't matter what your age is or your gender is, out of the two, male or female.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what your race is, the color of your skin.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter where you come from.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what you used to be.
SPEAKER_01: When you received that covenant blood, you received the nature of God.
SPEAKER_01: You came into the family of God, and we're kin.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, at this time, the only begotten Son of God, says, I don't call you servants.
SPEAKER_01: I call you friends.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Blood friendship.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: See, as the family of God, as children of God, we serve God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we do.
SPEAKER_01: But we're not servants.
SPEAKER_01: We're family.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 7 of the same, or actually John 15, verse 7, it says, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you'll ask what you will, and it shall be done on you to you.
SPEAKER_01: This is the scope of this blood covenant.
SPEAKER_01: This makes it possible.
SPEAKER_01: Blood friends withhold nothing from each other.
SPEAKER_01: That's covenant.
SPEAKER_01: They withhold nothing from each other.
SPEAKER_01: I have friends, I'm sure you have friends.
SPEAKER_01: All they've got to do is pick up the phone or come to my house and tell me they have a need, and it's done.
SPEAKER_01: Because they're my friend.
SPEAKER_01: We're in covenant.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I have a guy, he's my best friend.
SPEAKER_01: I would do anything for him.
SPEAKER_01: He does, listen, all he's got to do is call me and ask.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: As far as I'm concerned, it's finished.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're friends.
SPEAKER_01: We're as close to blood as you can be without blood.
SPEAKER_01: But there is blood between us because there's the blood of Jesus between us.
SPEAKER_01: And so notice, he says, the blood of the new covenant makes this possible.
SPEAKER_01: Ask and it will be given to you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And notice what he said: Ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, religion tries to temper that down.
SPEAKER_01: But I believe he said whatever it is to ask.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: He's showing you the scope of the covenant.
SPEAKER_01: The issue with the covenant was this.
SPEAKER_01: That when that covenant is entered into, there's nothing in the physical realm that it doesn't cover.
SPEAKER_01: Because we're in covenant.
SPEAKER_01: And so if me and this young man right here enter into covenant, then we go over and we enter into covenant.
SPEAKER_01: Anything you need, I'll give you.
SPEAKER_01: Anything I need, you'll give me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to beg, I don't have to plead.
SPEAKER_01: So he has a bill come due, and maybe he doesn't have the money.
SPEAKER_01: So he comes to me and he says, Pastor, I need your wallet.
SPEAKER_01: Covenant.
SPEAKER_01: Here you go.
SPEAKER_01: Covenant.
SPEAKER_01: There's a covenant between us.
SPEAKER_01: I have vowed that I'll take care of him.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: If I hit a situation and I need something, I go to him and I say, I need your checkbook.
SPEAKER_01: See?
SPEAKER_01: Well, you learn fast.
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm I'm joking.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, why is this so important?
SPEAKER_01: Because it gives us this understanding.
SPEAKER_01: We have all these ideas about when we pray and what we do.
SPEAKER_01: You know, an acronym for prayer, P-U-S-H, pray until something happens.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, the moment you pray, you're not praying until something happens.
SPEAKER_01: In this case that we're talking about, you're going boldly into the throne room.
SPEAKER_01: You're approaching your father, God, not some austere being that keeps you at arm's length, right, and makes you grovel and beg.
SPEAKER_01: You're going in as a covenant son or daughter of God, and you're saying, Father, I have need of this, I have need of this situation, I have need of this thing.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Give it to him.
SPEAKER_01: So what has to happen is your faith has to be built in the ease of receiving because you've received the nature and the blood of God on the inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time praying with a minister, and this is not a criticism, but I was praying with them at prayer meeting, not here in another church, and uh we were praying on the front row.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're we're on our knees and we're praying, and all of a sudden he started, oh God, somehow, somehow, somehow, God, oh God, if you can.
SPEAKER_01: Show up if you will, show up, oh God, if you could.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I thought I got to get away from this unbelief, or I'll never get any praying done.
SPEAKER_01: So I got up and walked on the other side of the church and prayed.
SPEAKER_01: I could hear him all the way over there.
SPEAKER_01: That would, that's their idea of praying.
SPEAKER_01: Pray until finally, somehow, you wear God down to the point that he'll finally give it to you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, now notice, this is part of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, notice, he said, whatever you ask, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you'll ask what you will, and it shall be.
SPEAKER_01: Shall is the strongest affirmation of truth found in the entire Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Without question, it shall be done.
SPEAKER_01: So when someone tells me they say, Well, I've asked, but I haven't seen anything yet.
SPEAKER_01: And I went, well, but did you ask?
SPEAKER_01: Did you ask?
SPEAKER_01: It's on the way.
SPEAKER_01: I say it's on the way.
SPEAKER_01: If you bought something online yesterday and you didn't see it yesterday, is it on the way?
SPEAKER_01: How do you know it's on the way?
SPEAKER_01: Because they said it would be shift.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, have as much or more confidence in God as you do in Amazon.
SPEAKER_01: He said, if you ask, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's something strong between you and God.
SPEAKER_01: It is not a stranger asking God.
SPEAKER_01: It is God's child asking God.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection made it possible for you and I to be children of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: I've done it.
SPEAKER_01: I've preached myself happy.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 23 of John chapter 17.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Are you glad you came to church today?
SPEAKER_01: John 17, verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I in them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one or perfectly one, and that the world may know that you have sent me.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, and have loved them as you have loved me.
SPEAKER_01: This is the scope of the blood covenant, the new covenant.
SPEAKER_01: The Father loves us as much as he loves Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's the scope.
SPEAKER_01: That's how far it goes.
SPEAKER_01: You know, God has always loved the world, but he could never have, until the blood of Christ, the world could not be his family.
SPEAKER_01: Because they were not partakers of the life of God.
SPEAKER_01: After the blood of Jesus, everybody in the world has the opportunity to be in the family of God.
SPEAKER_01: They just have to choose to become part of it.
SPEAKER_01: So how much does God love you just as much as he loves Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And you would fail to put into words how much the Father loves Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So that means you can fail to put into words how much God loves you.
SPEAKER_01: So how could anybody think, knowing now that God loves them as much as he loves Jesus, how could anybody think God's withholding, God's not doing something, God is holding something back?
SPEAKER_01: Cannot be.
SPEAKER_01: It cannot be.
SPEAKER_01: It can be because I'm shrinking back.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm not asking.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I don't see myself as righteous.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I don't see myself the way I should.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, a failure to receive from God is never on the part of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's always on the part of the receiver.
SPEAKER_01: There's something that I'm withdrawing my hand.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing something.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Pastor, that's strong.
SPEAKER_01: I know, but it's right.
SPEAKER_01: Because he said, Whatever you ask, I'll give it to you.
SPEAKER_01: What did James say?
SPEAKER_01: He said you don't have because you don't ask.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't people have?
SPEAKER_01: Say it one more time.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't people have?
unknown: They don't ask.
SPEAKER_01: They don't ask.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: They have a covenant with God.
SPEAKER_01: Now the world without a covenant can ask God all they want and nothing's coming.
SPEAKER_01: Because they don't have a covenant.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: The prayer God hears from the sinner is forgive me.
SPEAKER_01: I repent.
SPEAKER_01: Save me.
SPEAKER_01: And then everything's wide open to him.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: If you need, ask why.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus died, was buried, and rose again so you could go ask the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Remember what he said in John?
SPEAKER_01: He said, In that day you'll ask in my name.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm not saying I'm going to ask the Father for you.
SPEAKER_01: He said, you'll ask, and he'll do whatever you ask.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a question to think about.
SPEAKER_01: Should I pick on you again?
SPEAKER_01: That's all right.
SPEAKER_01: So you think if Jesus went to the Father and asked him for something for you, would God do it?
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus asked?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody, everybody agree with that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Jesus said, I'm not asking.
SPEAKER_01: In that day, the day we live in, he said, I'm not asking.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to go ask in my name.
SPEAKER_01: And what did he say?
SPEAKER_01: The Father will do it for you.
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, he'll do it if Jesus asked, but he said, here's how it's going to be.
SPEAKER_01: He'll do it because you ask.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection sealed that.
SPEAKER_01: I have a right to ask God for what?
SPEAKER_01: Not just whatever I need.
SPEAKER_01: He said, whatever you will.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Look at 2 Timothy 1.
SPEAKER_01: We got a few verses today.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Timothy 1 and verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: It says, but it is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Notice this, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So the appearing of Christ abolished death and brought life through the gospel of his blood covenant.
SPEAKER_01: The covenant could not come into effect without the blood of the initiating partner.
SPEAKER_01: He had to initiate the covenant and bring the blood into it.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Hebrews 9.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
SPEAKER_01: For a testament or covenant or an agreement is a force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.
SPEAKER_01: Where a testament is, there must be the death of the testator.
SPEAKER_01: So to receive the inheritance in a will, the one who initiated the will and put it into place must pass away.
SPEAKER_01: So that I can receive what's mine in the inheritance.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, notice, now he's talking about naturally.
SPEAKER_01: He says, so a will, a testament, has no power at all while the person that wrote it is alive.
SPEAKER_01: Naturally.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I have a last will and testament, and I put in my last will and testament, my family trust.
SPEAKER_01: You know, this is what so-and-so, if I leave the earth, this is what so-and-so gets, and so-and-so gets this, and you know.
SPEAKER_01: But nobody can get it right now.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: I'm still here.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, we're not going to go to all these verses.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said in John 15, 13 that he came to lay down his life for his friends.
SPEAKER_01: He said in John 10, 10 that he came to give life more abundantly.
SPEAKER_01: He said in John 6.51, he said, I give my body for the life of the world.
SPEAKER_01: He said in John 6.55, he said, His flesh was meat and his blood was drink.
SPEAKER_01: Or his flesh was true spiritual food, and his blood was true spiritual drink.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: So the promise of the covenant cup that he made at the covenant meal was made good at Calvary.
SPEAKER_01: The promise he made at that covenant meal with the covenant cup was made good at Calvary.
SPEAKER_01: Notice in John sixth, John nineteen, verse thirty.
SPEAKER_01: John nineteen and verse thirty.
SPEAKER_01: And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
SPEAKER_01: Definite article, it.
SPEAKER_01: It is finished.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you know, you'll hear people minister, and I'm not saying they're wrong, uh, but I believe it's partial truth.
SPEAKER_01: They'll say that it was the ministry, the earthly ministry of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's partially true.
SPEAKER_01: Uh they'll say other things, the uh the the ministry of of uh uh blood sacrifices, animal sacrifices, it is finished.
SPEAKER_01: That's true, it is.
SPEAKER_01: But a large part of that that's missed is this it, it, that first inferior agreement is finished.
SPEAKER_01: It's finished.
SPEAKER_01: He said, It is finished.
SPEAKER_01: The word finished is the word in Greek teleo, t-e-l-e-o.
SPEAKER_01: It comes from a longer word, tetalesti, which was a legal term.
SPEAKER_01: And it means someone that was legally sent off on a mission to get some legal things in place.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus was sent off on a mission from the Father to get some things in place.
SPEAKER_01: And here on the cross, he says, it is finished.
SPEAKER_01: It, what I was sent to do, it, the plan that you had for me, it, the earthly ministry, it, that old covenant of ordinances, is finished, and this new has come.
SPEAKER_01: I've finished, I've done what you told me to do.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: It means so that the thing done corresponds to what has been said, the order, the command.
SPEAKER_01: So he's saying, What I've done corresponded to what you told me.
SPEAKER_01: The task I was sent off on has been completed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus completed all that was written of him concerning his first coming.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that was prophesied of him up till that time, he fulfilled it completely.
SPEAKER_01: There are things that still have to be fulfilled, but he completed it, he fulfilled all of it.
SPEAKER_01: He did all that he was ordered to do.
SPEAKER_01: And at the cross, he brought in the new covenant, which, according to Hebrews 8.6, is a better covenant based on better promises.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: So the blood shed on the cross was the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: That was the sacrifice, that was the place of the shedding of blood.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's important that you read the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_01: All right?
SPEAKER_01: Because even under the first covenant, the blood of bulls and goats and animals, they they started at the brazen altar, and the priests killed the sacrifice there.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that when he let the blood slip the throat of that animal, they caught some of the blood in a bowl.
SPEAKER_01: Because the sacrifice wasn't just complete with the body of the animal.
SPEAKER_01: The death of the animal wasn't enough.
SPEAKER_01: The life of the animal had to be offered.
SPEAKER_01: And so they would kill the animal, catch the blood, burn the body, but then the Bible says the priest would take that blood and go into the Holy of Holies and offer it there.
SPEAKER_01: Because Leviticus says what?
SPEAKER_01: The life of whatever it is is in the blood.
SPEAKER_01: And so the life had to be offered.
SPEAKER_01: This is so important.
SPEAKER_01: When we talk about the blood of Jesus being shed, it was in the eyes of God.
SPEAKER_01: It was the life of Jesus being poured out.
SPEAKER_01: All of us were dead in sin.
SPEAKER_01: We had to have a life come into us.
SPEAKER_01: Every person that doesn't know Jesus today, they might be breathing with a heartbeat, but they are dead in the eyes of God because they do not have the life of God on the inside of them.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so when that blood was offered on the altar, the life of that animal was placed there.
SPEAKER_01: The altar was where it was consummated.
SPEAKER_01: And so the cross was the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: With the bloodshed.
SPEAKER_01: Yet it had to be deposited in an eternal place.
SPEAKER_01: Speaking forever that there's a new covenant and a new and a living way.
SPEAKER_01: Had to be deposited in eternal place.
SPEAKER_01: In Hebrews 9.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 7, it says, into the second, or into the holy of holies, went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and the errors or the sins of the people.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the first tabernacle was standing, which was a figure.
SPEAKER_01: The first tabernacle was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered gifts and sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, that could not make them that did service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood not only in meats and drinks and different washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation.
SPEAKER_01: Meaning until the coming of the new order.
SPEAKER_01: Until the coming of the new order.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a new priesthood.
SPEAKER_01: There's a new order of priesthood coming.
SPEAKER_01: Alright?
SPEAKER_01: And this is so important because there's one coming that's going to be the high priest over everybody.
SPEAKER_01: New order.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in verse 22 of the same chapter, it says, almost all things are by the law purged with blood.
SPEAKER_01: And without shedding of blood, there's no remission, no removal of sin.
SPEAKER_01: It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens.
SPEAKER_01: So everything on the earth was a pattern of those things in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: The Old Testament tabernacle, Solomon's temple, all of those patterns of what's in heaven, but not the real.
SPEAKER_01: And so it says, notice, it says it was necessary that the patterns of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, with the blood of animals.
SPEAKER_01: But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: And so the heavenly things had to be cleansed.
SPEAKER_01: The heavenly things had to be sanctified.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: The blood of animals on the earth, the blood of Christ in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Now to appear in the presence of God, notice, for us.
SPEAKER_01: So Christ took his blood into the Holy of Holies in heaven and purified the heavenly utensils of worship.
SPEAKER_01: He put away sin with the sacrifice of himself and placed his blood on the heavenly mercy seat.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where that blood speaks.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says it speaks better things than the blood of Abel.
SPEAKER_01: And what does it speak?
SPEAKER_01: It says, concerning all that receive it, they're righteous, they're holy, and they're forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: The power of the resurrection, in its biggest part, was that it made us able to be partakers of the nature of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: In John chapter 20.
SPEAKER_01: And uh verse seventeen.
SPEAKER_01: This is, of course, Mary had went, Mary had found that Jesus was not there.
SPEAKER_01: And she went to get his disciples, and Peter and John, of course, ran to the tomb and found that he was not there.
SPEAKER_01: And it says that they didn't know that about the scripture that he would rise from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And they went away back home, but Mary stayed.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 15 is where we'll pick up.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Jesus said to her, Woman, why do you weep?
SPEAKER_01: Who do you seek?
SPEAKER_01: She, supposing him to be the gardener, said, Sir, if you've borne him away, tell me where you've laid him and I'll take him away.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said unto her, Mary, and she turned herself and said unto him, Rabboni, master.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, and Jesus said, Touch me not.
SPEAKER_01: The Greek is quit clinging to me, keep quit holding me.
SPEAKER_01: And notice, here's why.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not yet ascended.
SPEAKER_01: I've not ascended yet.
SPEAKER_01: Where?
SPEAKER_01: To my father.
SPEAKER_01: But go to your brethren and say to them that I ascend to my father and your father.
SPEAKER_01: My God and your God.
SPEAKER_01: So don't hold on to me because there's something more I need to do.
SPEAKER_01: I've not yet ascended.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: The earthly work is completed.
SPEAKER_01: The sacrifice has been made.
SPEAKER_01: He was buried.
SPEAKER_01: He went to the place of the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He went to Gehenna.
SPEAKER_01: He went to hell.
SPEAKER_01: Death and hell are defeated.
SPEAKER_01: He is risen again.
SPEAKER_01: But the heavenly work's not yet complete.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I still have to ascend to my Father and your Father.
SPEAKER_01: Until the resurrected Christ ascends to the Father and places his blood on the altar and fulfills all things.
SPEAKER_01: It's not finished.
SPEAKER_01: In Ephesians 4.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: It says, now he that ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
SPEAKER_01: He that descended is the same that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill or that he might fulfill all things.
SPEAKER_01: So all things cannot be fulfilled until he ascends to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: He's the high priest.
SPEAKER_01: He's got to apply his blood on the mercy seat to fulfill all things.
SPEAKER_01: And he's telling Mary, you've got to let me go because I'm not finished yet.
SPEAKER_01: You can't keep holding me here.
SPEAKER_01: Now, while that sounds elementary, what we've got to understand and recognize is that same blood that's on the mercy seat is that same blood that brought us into relationship with God, and it's that same blood that changed our nature.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why when the sinner believes on Jesus, he comes into the family of God, their nature is changed, and they become like God, the nature of God.
SPEAKER_01: You and I, we're born again.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why the scripture says in 1 John, and you know the verse by heart, 1 John chapter 1, verse 9, it says that if we sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from All in righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: So so the the believer never has to become like God again.
SPEAKER_01: Because my nature never changes.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus said, I've got to go and I've got to fulfill all things.
SPEAKER_01: So he had to ascend to fulfill all things.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection of Christ meant three things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, it meant victory for the believer.
SPEAKER_01: Victory.
SPEAKER_01: Absolute victory.
SPEAKER_01: Over what?
SPEAKER_01: Death, hell, sin in the grave.
SPEAKER_01: Victory over the devil.
SPEAKER_01: If you were here the past Wednesday night, listen, we're not, listen.
SPEAKER_01: We're an occupying force.
SPEAKER_01: The enemy has been defeated, not will be defeated, has been defeated.
SPEAKER_01: Past tense, has been stripped of all of his armor, has been made nothing according to Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 says that Jesus brought him to nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: It said, because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, that he became partaker of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.
SPEAKER_01: And I even made the statement, and we backed it up by the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: If we know the devil's defeated, we shouldn't be talking about how much the devil's fighting, what a hard time he's given.
SPEAKER_01: He's defeated.
SPEAKER_01: You talk about him like what he is, he's defeated.
SPEAKER_01: Our prayer requests do not include y'all pray for me because the devil's fighting.
SPEAKER_01: Nowhere in the Bible does it say to pray for you because the devil's fighting.
SPEAKER_01: It says for you to take your place in authority over the devil and you command him and tell him what to do.
SPEAKER_01: You're not told to pray about the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Charles Caps was praying, and he said, I told the Lord, Lord, the devil's doing this and the devil's doing that.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, The Lord broke into my prayer time and said, I'd appreciate it if you'd quit telling me what the devil's doing.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So what the resurrection meant, victory to the believer.
SPEAKER_01: Death, hell, sin in the grave.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You've already gained the victory over death.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: If the rapture of the church comes, we'll be caught up together with the Lord in the clouds.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We'll be changed.
SPEAKER_01: This mortality will put on immortality, right?
SPEAKER_01: If I go by way of the grave before the rapture, my body stays in the ground, but I go to be present with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And on that rapture morning on the second coming of Christ, he'll resurrect my mortal body and it'll be created perfect and it'll be made whole and new, and I'll live forever with him.
SPEAKER_01: I live forever with him either way.
SPEAKER_01: Death cannot defeat you because it's already been defeated.
SPEAKER_01: Death has no hold on you because it's already been defeated.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Why has death been defeated?
SPEAKER_01: Because sin's been defeated.
SPEAKER_01: And the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_01: And if sin's been defeated, death's been defeated.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing it meant was defeat for the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Victory for the believer, defeat for the devil.
SPEAKER_01: No chance of ever coming back.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to quit.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say this way, not you.
SPEAKER_01: Some people have to quit looking at the devil like he's on some equal footing with God.
SPEAKER_01: Like they're the two the two powers in the universe.
SPEAKER_01: There's one power in the universe.
SPEAKER_01: It's God.
SPEAKER_01: The devil's been defeated.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus rose.
SPEAKER_01: If the tomb's empty, the devil got defeated.
SPEAKER_01: If the tomb's empty, hell lost.
SPEAKER_01: If the tomb's empty, victory's ours.
SPEAKER_01: All you got to do is look and see if the tomb's empty.
SPEAKER_01: If it is, we won.
SPEAKER_01: And it is.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: The angels told those that came to the tomb twice, He is not here, He's risen.
SPEAKER_01: We can never afford to live our lives like Jesus didn't raise from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He did.
SPEAKER_01: He rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He ascended to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: He fulfilled all things.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, the resurrection of Christ meant salvation is made available to the entire world.
SPEAKER_01: Through the sacrifice of Christ, but through him raising from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Understand, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross of Calvary paid for the debt of all mankind.
SPEAKER_01: But it had to be put in place and it had to be put into operation through his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't enough just to die.
SPEAKER_01: He had to be buried.
SPEAKER_01: Why did he have to be buried?
SPEAKER_01: He had to go to hell.
SPEAKER_01: He had to defeat death, hell, and the grave.
SPEAKER_01: He had to pay the price for all people for all time.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't just enough to pay the price in blood for my sin.
SPEAKER_01: He had to go suffer in the place of me.
SPEAKER_01: And defeat that place.
SPEAKER_01: And rise again on the third day.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And when he did, it meant salvation was made available to the whole world.
SPEAKER_01: If the tomb's empty, everybody can be saved.
SPEAKER_01: If the tomb's empty, there's hope for every person.
SPEAKER_01: All they have to do is receive it.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: These are things that can't be lost on us.
SPEAKER_01: Not just the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've known people that cried over the sacrifice and lived like it never happened.
SPEAKER_01: There are people you know and I know, they'll cry about, oh Jesus, his precious body and his broken back.
SPEAKER_01: And then they just right?
SPEAKER_01: They'll cry about the lashes he took on his back and then wonder if God will heal them.
SPEAKER_01: If he took stripes, will he heal?
SPEAKER_01: He will, because it says, by his stripes you were healed.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus took those stripes, it's his will that you be healed.
SPEAKER_01: Never, never know what he did and then question, will he do it?
SPEAKER_01: Because the resurrection means that he did everything he said.
SPEAKER_01: Everything the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: And then he rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what's so powerful to me?
SPEAKER_01: Is that the Bible says in Paul's writings, it says over 500 people saw him alive.
SPEAKER_01: And he said they were credible witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, many of them are alive to this day.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: They saw it's a historical account.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Josephus, the Jewish historian, he wrote in his writings now, if you read it, it's way on back in the almost the appendix.
SPEAKER_01: And he's talking, he talks about Jesus of Nazareth.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Jesus of Nazareth, uh, who was a man.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says this he says, if you could call him a man.
SPEAKER_01: He said, He was the one that Pilate had put to death, but he didn't stay there.
SPEAKER_01: He rose again.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection of Jesus is not just something we believe, it is a historical fact.
SPEAKER_01: It happened.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And what's that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody has an opportunity to be born again.
SPEAKER_01: If the tomb's empty, that means everybody can be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: So don't we don't want to live like he didn't raise from the dead and fulfill all things.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: My victory is tied to that.
SPEAKER_01: Living my life over whatever it is is tied to that resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: If he rose from the dead, I walk in complete and total victory over the enemy, over sin, over the plans of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Because he rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He defeated it.
SPEAKER_01: He overcame it.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: That's how we know you'll overcome.
SPEAKER_01: Because that overcoming life is on the inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: It is in every believer to overcome any part of the curse, any part of death.
SPEAKER_01: It's just naturally in you to rebel against it.
SPEAKER_01: You have to be taught not to rebel against it.
SPEAKER_01: You have to be taught that God has some reason for it, that God has a plan for it, that he has a higher purpose.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the higher purpose of God was fulfilled when Jesus defeated death, hell, and the grave.
SPEAKER_01: God has no higher purpose in the curse that he said he redeemed you from.
SPEAKER_01: I would have a hard time serving a God that I saw in the Word where He said, I've redeemed you from the curse with Jesus on the tree, and then believe that He put the curse on me.
SPEAKER_01: So you're putting something from the curse on me that you said you delivered me from.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you you're either a liar or you didn't mean what you said in the first place.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're either one of those two things, I can't trust you.
SPEAKER_01: No, God cannot lie.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says he can be trusted.
SPEAKER_01: Did he deliver you from the curse of the law?
SPEAKER_01: Then he has no purpose in the curse of the law.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says Christ redeemed me from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for me, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree.
SPEAKER_01: And it says he did that so that the promise that the Spirit made to Abraham could come on the Gentiles through Christ, through the avenue, through the portal, through the channel of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that God promised Abraham came upon you and I.
SPEAKER_01: And when he ascended to the Father and took his blood and poured it on the mercy seat, it was ratified in heaven, and every person that receives Christ as their Savior becomes a recipient of every promise God ever made.
SPEAKER_01: So he has no purpose.
SPEAKER_01: In any any anything that Jesus died to free us from.
SPEAKER_01: And the tomb is evidence of that.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's so powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: So salvation made available to the whole world.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'll close here.
SPEAKER_01: The uh a lot of times I hear, you know, people say, you know, the crucifixion was the blackest day, and and and I understand, I'm not being critical, my family.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, remember when Jesus came to the room where the disciples was?
SPEAKER_01: And do you remember what it says he did?
SPEAKER_01: He walks through the wall.
SPEAKER_01: And remember what it says the first thing he did?
SPEAKER_01: He upbraided them because of their unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: What was the area of their unbelief?
SPEAKER_01: They weren't there at the tomb waiting on him.
SPEAKER_01: He said he was gonna raise again on the third day.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know the crucifixion would not have been a dark, hopeless day for those disciples if they would have kept in mind that he said, I'm gonna raise again on the third day?
SPEAKER_01: Is that right or not?
SPEAKER_01: And I'll hear ministers minister and they'll say, and and they'll use that as an illustration.
SPEAKER_01: Well, on the cross it looked hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it might look hopeless right now, but because of the empty tomb, it's I understand, I get it, I do.
SPEAKER_01: It's a good, I guess it's a good analogy.
SPEAKER_01: But if, Brother David, if they would have been thinking right, they would have been waiting on him to show up three days later.
SPEAKER_01: How can you be sad and have tears about somebody that's gonna be back in three days?
SPEAKER_01: I know he suffered.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate the pain and the agony that we he went through.
SPEAKER_01: It it touches my heart.
SPEAKER_01: You understand?
SPEAKER_01: Because he did that for me.
SPEAKER_01: But how do I escape the joy?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that while he was on the cross, it was the joy that was set before him that caused him to endure the cross.
SPEAKER_01: The cross was not a hopeless day, it was the portal to life eternal.
SPEAKER_01: It was people's thinking that caused it to be hopeless.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus had to come and say, I told you I was coming back.
SPEAKER_01: I told you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: He told them on the road to Emmaus, he said, You're blind of heart and slow to believe.
SPEAKER_01: I told you I was coming back.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want to leave you with today on this resurrection morning.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be quick to believe everything he said.
SPEAKER_01: If the tomb's empty, I can believe everything he said.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection of Christ is one of the four unfathomables of the Christian theology.
SPEAKER_01: How does a man die on a cross, go to a grave, and be dead three days and three nights, and raise from the dead, and be seen alive of all these people?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says the Holy Spirit raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And it says that same spirit that quickened Christ quickened you.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Let's bow our heads today, shall we?
SPEAKER_01: If you're watching online or here today with us, and you've never made Jesus the Lord of your life, you've never partaken of that resurrection life of God.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're backslid, you're away from God, you're not living for him as you should.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to fill you with that resurrection life, forgive your sins, and bring you into close covenant fellowship with him.
SPEAKER_01: With our heads bowed, if that's you today, maybe you're here today.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Pastor Steele, that's me.
SPEAKER_01: I would like to make that decision and turn my life over to him.
SPEAKER_01: If you just raise your hand, we'll pray with you, and we'll believe God with you.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: If all hearts are right here online, if you're watching online and that's you, I want you to say this prayer with us.
SPEAKER_01: We're all going to say it, and we want you to say it with us.
SPEAKER_01: Say, Father, in the name of Jesus, I believe that Jesus came to earth, that he lived a perfect life, he died on the cross for my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And he rose on the third day for my justification.
SPEAKER_01: And I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth now that he's my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And I receive him as such.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's stand on our feet, shall we?
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: If you said that with us, we believe you're born again.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, as we go about our day today, I know many you might have uh plans with family or going out to eat or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: No, we are.
SPEAKER_01: And uh let's keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_01: If the tomb's empty, we won.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't tell you uh what it means to be pastor of this church.
SPEAKER_01: And we just love all of you.
SPEAKER_01: We love you with all of our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: We thank God for you.
SPEAKER_01: We're thankful that God brought us here.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we've been here, we've been pastoring this church ten years now.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh the Lord's grateful.
SPEAKER_01: And well, we're grateful to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your faithfulness, thank you for your dedication.
SPEAKER_01: Um thank you for putting up with us at times, but we're grateful.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And God's good.
unknown: Hallelujah.