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Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

NOW… what does the Resurrection of Jesus mean?

• The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from is the fundamental Redemptive Force of the Gospel
• The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from is the foundation of for every believer’s future….  
• The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the Reason for the Church
• If there is no Resurrection we are “of all men, the most miserable….”

1Cor 15:19 if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

I’m not miserable.  Never will be.    The fact that we are here in this place this morning attests to the FACT that Jesus Christ is Risen and Alive. 

 Unless we can “personalize” what Jesus did, then, what He did is of “none effect” for us.   

Our attempt is not to PROVE the FACT of the Resurrection.   I know He lives because:

• He answers Prayer•   He heals the sick•   He overpowers demonic forces•   He saves lost sinners•   His Word is Alive and Full of Power•   What He said would happen, has happened and is happening•   His Presence is with me and I am living, by His Grace, a Resurrection Life

Now, since we KNOW Jesus Rose from the Dead….What does It do for me?  How can It change my life? What does It mean for me?   

1.  The RESURRECTION Means My sins are forgiven and forgotten. 

Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

God does not remember them.  They are forever gone.  They no longer exist.  If I am still carrying the burden of my sin I am guilty of discrediting the Redemptive Work of Jesus

Every human being ever born was born with a sentence of Death.  For the Bible also says that the wages of sin is death.  Unless this curse of death can be removed, there is no hope for the human race.   

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

We are now exonerated.  Pardoned.  The case against us has been thrown out.  There is no judgment against us and no punishment required.  It has all been paid for by Jesus.  My sins are forgiven.  My debt has been paid.  I am not guilty.  God is not displeased with me.  I have been reconciled to Him.  I am now a member of His Family.  I will never die.

2.  The RESURRECTION means I have been made Righteous.

Not only have I been Forgiven, but I have also been made righteous. 

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

I now have right standing with God.      I am no longer a “sinner” I am a Son.  I am no longer a “slave” I am a Son.  I am no longer in bondage to sin, I am free.  God has brought me into His Own Family.  He has made me an Heir of God and a Joint Heir of Jesus Christ.  God has imputed His Own Nature into me and now I am as Righteous as Jesus is.   

I have been REGENERATED (re-gened)…   He has made me   a partaker of the Divine Nature of God.

2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

I am not made righteous by what I do.  I am made righteous by what I believe.     

Titus 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

3.  The RESURRECTION means I am no longer under Condemnation. 

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

This means I am not guilty.  I am under the Full Pardon afforded me by the Shed Blood of Jesus Christ.  Jesus took my Guilt and gave me His Innocence.

God is NEVER displeased with me…simply because He can never be displeased with Jesus… And Jesus is Who He sees when He looks on me.     

4. The RESURRECTION means I am Exempt from the Wrath and Judgment of God. 

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The Suffering and death of Jesus has delivered me from the wrath and judgment of God.    God is not mad with me. God is not mad at you.  God is not looking at my failures, my weaknesses, my sins…  God is not out to punish me for my wrongs.  God is no longer my Judge.  God is not going to cut me off.  I am fully “accepted” in the same Family with God.

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Jesus became my sin and as a result became the victim of God’s wrath… in my place. 

 5.  The RESURRECTION means I will  LIVE FOREVER.

1John 5:11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

 Now, let’s get personal.  Where are you as far as God is concerned?    As far as you are concerned, did Jesus suffer and die and arise from the dead in vain?  What will you do with Jesus?  Now, having seen what He has done for you and me… What will you do with Him?   

The options we have: 

1.  Receive Him as Savior and Lord and LIVE

2.  Reject Him and DIE

 John 14:6   Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Acts 16:31 …Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved…

Word for Today: April 7

God’s BEST is not a miracle.

God has promised to meet all your needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19).  Jesus plainly told us not to worry about what we are to eat, where we are to sleep or what we have to wear (Mat 6:33). Remember?

Worry is faith in the devil.   Worry is faith in reverse.  Worry slanders every promise in the Word of God.  Prospering means having all your needs met with a surplus left over.  And this is the will of God for you.

Remember, God’s best is never a miracle.  God’s best is that you never need a miracle.  Miracles do happen but don’t you think it is better if you never need one?   Living in health is better than needing to be healed from some sickness or disease.  Living in prosperity is better than needing some miraculous financial break-through to keep you afloat.  Living in joy and happiness and peace is better than needing some kind of miracle to free you from stress and depression.

God’s promises are far better than psychological band aids.   Look up scriptures that promise you what you need and then simply believe what God says.  Believe what God says in spite of what you see, what you feel or what you think.

You do not have to live constantly in fear and doubt….  God says that everything you set your hand to will succeed.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.  Psa 1:3

Living in the constant blessing of God is better than needing a one-time miracle.

           Jesus of Nazareth was sentenced to be scourged (Mat 27:26).  Roman scourging was nearly always fatal to the victim due to the brutality of the prolonged beating.  The victim’s hands were tied to a post over his head and then he was beaten with a whip consisting of nine leather thongs.  On the end of each leather thong was attached small lead spheres.  At the beginning, the leather thongs cut through the skin only but as they continued they cut deeper into the tissues of the sides and back, producing, at first, an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and later, spurting wounds from arterial bleeding from the arteries in the underlying muscles.  The small balls of lead first produced large deep bruises which were broken open by repeated blows.  At the end, the skin of the victim (Jesus) was hanging off His body in long ribbons while the entire area of His back and sides are an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue.  (See Isa 53)

The Crown of Thorns was made from a bundle of flexible branches covered with thorns some 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches in length.  This was plaited into the shape of a crown and pressed into His scalp.  The scalp is one of the most vascular areas of the human body so as the Crown of Thorns was pressed onto His head, the bleeding became profuse and the pain unbearable. 

            The heavy cross-beam which weighed approximately 110 pounds, was dropped onto His tortured back and Jesus was forced to carry it in the procession of the two thieves and the execution detail of Roman soldiers.  As Jesus attempted to walk uprightly, the weight of the cross beam gouging into the lacerated muscles of the shoulders, together with the shock produced by the massive loss of blood, caused Him to stumble and fall.  The commanding centurion selected a strong north African onlooker named Simon to carry the cross of Jesus the remaining 650 yards to Golgotha.  Once there, Jesus was stripped of His clothing and prepared for the crucifixion.

            Simon was ordered to put the cross beam on the ground.  Jesus was thrown backward with His shoulders falling on the beam.  The execution detail charged with the crucifixion began their grisly task.  They felt for the soft depression at the wrist and then drove a heavy, square iron spike through it into the wood of the cross beam.  This was done for the left and right arms.  Then, the left foot is pressed backward against the right foot.  With the toes pointed downward another iron spike is driven through the arch of each.  As they raised Him up the weight of His sagging body tore through flesh and nerve and was intensified as the center beam of the cross fell to the bottom of the hole that was dug to secure the cross.    

            Jesus now struggled just to inhale.  (The major pathophysiologic (path-o-physio-logic) effect of crucifixion was in interference with normal respirations.  Accordingly, death resulted primarily from hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia) Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) an article by Dr. William D. Edwards in the March 21, 1986 issue        Jesus now struggles)   “… Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber:  Then another agony begins.  A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart…”

            “… It is now almost over— the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level— the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues—  the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air…”

            “… The body of Jesus is now in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues…”

            To make sure Jesus is dead, the legionnaire drove his lance through the ribs upward through the pericardium and into the heart.  “And forth with came there out blood and water…”   There is postmortem evidence that our Lord died, not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and a constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium. 

Isa. 52:14   As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

Isa. 52:14 AMP [For many the Servant of God became an object of horror; many were astonished*. (stunned; amazed; appalled; horrified)]  His face and His whole appearance were marred more than any man’s, and His form beyond that of the sons of men; but just as many were astonished at Him.

*The Hebrew word for “astonished” comes from the root word for “sin offering.” 

It is humanly mpossible to grasp the physical and mental suffering bore…

Such was (is) His Love for you and me…

Word for Today:  April 6

It’s not your battle.

Remember, the battle is not yours… it is the Lord’s and He always wins.  Some have faced the impossible.  Others have suffered vicious satanic attacks.  Many of you are right now “in the fire.”  Cheer up.  Your situation will turn around and work for your Good and for God’s Glory.  Your circumstances and hardships and reverses will become doors of opportunity.  You are called to spoil the enemy.  When he runs in retreat he always leaves more behind than he took.

And in nothing terrified (be moved by fear, to be terrified, to be frightened or scared) by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. Phil 1:28

satan works through fear and terror.  The Bible says he “roars” like a lion.  he can roar but he has no teeth.  he can bark but he has no bite.  The devil attempts to frighten you and to scare you and to intimidate you.  Where there is no fear there is no devil.

Perfect love casts out fear and fear has torment… torment is where the devil lives.  satan will try to make things appear worse than they really are.  he will magnify and amplify and exaggerate problems and situations until they seem to be hopeless.  he makes every sickness look like death.  he makes every “good bye” look like “gone.”  he makes every financial pinch look like bankruptcy.  he tries to make it look so bad that you will just give up and quit.  he is a liar and the father of lies.  he cannot tell the truth because it is the Truth that makes us free.  satan binds and imprisons and hold in captivity.

Jesus sets us Free.  Jesus gives us Life.  Jesus gives us Liberty.  Jesus gives us Victory.

It’s His battle and He always wins

Word for Today: April 5

You are important.

You are called.  You are chosen.  You are important.  You are loved.  You are vital to the plan and purpose of Almighty God.  You are a participant in His Grand Plan and will fulfill a vital role in His Doings in this hour.  He will complete what He has begun.  You are not what or who you were.  You are now a New Creation in Christ Jesus.  And you have not even begun to be able to imagine just what you will end up being…

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:  1 John 3:2

If you could see what and who you are going to be… you could not stand it.  It is more than you can comprehend.  The devil accuses and deceives and lies to Christians to get them to believe and think that they are worthless and no good.  That they have no place in and no part in what God is doing.  The devil uses lies and accusations and feelings of guilt and condemnation.  He reminds us of past failures and sins.  He is an expert in pointing out flaws and faults and then executing condemnation and guilt.  But…

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  Rom 8:1

Some today have been attacked and accused and lied to…Some have believed the deception of the devil… Some are wondering if anybody loves them.  If anybody cares.  Some even have trouble believing that God loves them.  Is this you?  Do you want relief?  Do you long for victory?   Then:

Be confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:  Phil 1:6

You Matter

Word for Today:  April 4

Do Something

• Are you going to stay in the boat and sink in your storm?
• Are you going to sit where you are until you die?
• Are you going to withdraw from the challenge, give in to reason and unbelief and self-destruct?

Decide to do something!

Take the initiative.  Move off dead center.  Get up and go on.

There was a “great famine” in Samaria.  The enemy has surrounded the city and the inhabitants were starving.  Women were killing and cooking and eating their children.  They were slaying their beasts of burden and eating them.  The dung of birds and animals was collected for food.  The situation was desperate.  Horrific.

Four lepers were sitting at the gate to the city of Samaria.  They could not go in.  They could not stay there.  They had one option.  Go into the camp of the enemy and plead for mercy.  They asked:  “Why sit we here until we die…”

And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?  2 Kings 7:3

Do you intend for “things” to always be as they are?  Are you convinced you are going to “die” if you remain like you are and where you are?  Are you ready for a Change for the Better?  When do you want this Change to happen?  Why not NOW?

God is looking for movers and shakers…. those who will determine to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.  God expects you to do something about the stuff that is happening to you.  He expects you to do something about what’s happening in the world.

He has given you the Power and the Authority to make things change.

Just Do It

Word for Today:  April 3

A New Day and a New Place.

Let’s look at what God is saying to the Church today.

What God is saying is more important than what anybody else is saying.  What God is saying is more important than what the world is saying.   What God is saying is more important than the opinions of men.  When we hear what God is saying, we will know what God is doing.  When we know what God is doing, we can do it with Him.  We can work with Him and become His partner in the Work.

We are all aware that this is a very unique and special time.  There has never been a time like this before.  You know it.  You feel it.  You are aware of it.  There is an urgency in the air.  There is a stirring in our bones.  There is an unction within.  Even the world knows it.  Nature knows it.  All creation knows it.  The heavens know it.  We have “not passed this way before…”   There is excitement.  There is anticipation.  There is expectancy.  We must hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the Church.  We must know what God is doing so we can “go after Him…”

“When you see the Ark of the Covenant if the Lord you God and the priests bearing it, then shall ye remove from your place and GO AFTER IT…”  Jos 3:3.

The predictable format of Church as we have known it is over.

This is a New Day and this is a New Place.  We must Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.  It is a Fresh, Relevant and Contemporary Word from God.  We cannot play the role any longer.  Pretense and play church is over.  This is the Real Thing.  This is more than a seminar.  This is more than a Bible Study.  This is more than a Prayer Meeting.  This is more than a Revival Meeting.  This is more than a Camp Meeting.  This is an Encounter.  An Encounter with God.  A Divine Encounter.

And when this happens, things change.  Like lives.  Like marriages.  Like families.  Like attitudes.  Like habits.  Like ministries.  Like churches.  Like the world.

This is a NEW DAY

Word for Today:  April 2

“If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth…” Mark 9:23

Faith Vision sees things as they can be instead of the way they are…  Faith vision is seeing things as God says they can be instead of seeing things as the world says they will be.  To believe is to abandon all reason.  To believe is to hold to Truth instead of being influenced by Facts.  To believe is to connect with the Word and to connect with God.  To believe is to resist all doubt and negativism and pessimism.  To believe is to trust in, rely on, depend on, and adhere to God and His promises.

Faith believes when there is no hope.  Faith has confidence when it seems impossible.  Faith trusts when there is no “feeling.”  Faith relies on when there is no encouragement.  Faith adheres to when all else fails.  Faith holds on when everybody gives up and everything falls apart.

You can see the Invisible when you look beyond the Natural.  When you resist every symptom and rebuke everything that contradicts the Word of God.  Faith sees.  Even in the dark.  Faith sees over the horizon and beyond the natural.  Faith is unconditional believing.

• David Believed.
• Joshua Believed.
• Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego believed.
• Moses Believed.
• Abraham Believed.
• Paul Believed.
• Jesus Believed.

And because they Believed, they saw the Invisible and accomplished the Impossible.

Word for Today:  March 30

Inventory

When we take an inventory, we see what is lacking and discover what is needed.  Then we can place an order so that we will be prepared for the increase.

The wisdom of this world has become greater than the wisdom of the Body of Christ. They (the world) know just where they are and what they have to do in order to make progress.  To succeed.  To make a difference.  The merchants of the world system are wiser than the Children of the Kingdom when it comes to knowing and understanding exactly where they are.  They live in the Inventory Mode.  They have devised technology that instantly and precisely and without error reveals just what they have, what they lost and what they need.

Just what does our spiritual “bar code” tell us when we get scanned by the Holy Spirit?

What kind of record do we have in heaven?  Have we increased?  Have we decreased?  Are we lacking?  Are we depleted?  Do we need to restock? Maybe we need to

Take an Inventory

Word for Today:  March 25

We are made out of dirt.

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. Ps 103:14

We are all created from (out of) the dust of the earth.  Dirt is necessary for the mass production of any harvest.  Seeds are put into the dirt.  Seeds that are alive and that have full and complete potential for maturing and producing a harvest are planted (put into) in Dirt.  Soil.  Ground.

Jesus gave a parable about how our heart is like ground.  He said the condition of the ground determines the success of the crop.  When the condition is “good” there will be a bountiful harvest.  “Some 30, some 60 and some 100 fold…”

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it;  (puts it together)  which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Mt 13:23

The heart condition must be characterized by (1) hearing the Word (2) understanding the Word and (3) doing the Word.   Hearing is more than listening.  It is hearing with the heart.  Understanding is more than knowing.  It is revelation.  Revelation is powerless unless it is acted on.

What God has planted in you He has destined to come out of you.  It may be in seed form now, but the seed has the power to grow into its fullest manifestation.

In the parable of the Sower (Mark 4), there is an interesting word that is translated “sow.”  It is spi’ ro  and it is derived from a primitive Greek verb which means “to draw out.”

The Bible concept of sowing is DRAWING OUT or PULLING OUT what God has PUT IN.

It does not necessarily mean to scatter or throw out or to cast out it means to “draw out” or “pull out.”  In order for the Seed of God to produce, the ground must PULL OUT of it what GOD has PUT IN IT.

Paul tells the Philippians to “work out your own salvation.” (2:12b)  And this is the idea of “working out” or “pulling out” what God has put in.

In order for sown seed to produce the GROUND has an important responsibility. It must PULL OUT what God has put in.

Work out (pull out) your harvest