The Children Of Resurrection

Good morning. What a blessed time of open sharing. My heart was touched.

Just to hear how the Spirit moves in your heart, Brother Dennis, touched by standing in the gap, that opening, that hole in someone else's life. It's just following in the steps of the Lord Jesus. It's what it says of Him.

It says He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. And it says, and He bare the sin of many, and He made intercession for the transgressors. Not for the righteous.

He didn't just have righteous friends. He made intercession for the, for me, for the transgressors. That's where I come in.

I appreciate, I was thinking Brother Cleet should just stay up here and keep speaking. It's such a touching, stirring, motivating thing to hear about people who are hungry, who have never heard. And how He mentioned there is a blessing even in just that hunger.

Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, there is a blessing just in that hunger. But I tell you, this morning there's not just a blessing, there's a guarantee. They shall be filled.

That's the Word of God. And we gather this morning in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I trust hungering and thirsting after righteousness, because we want that guarantee to fall upon each heart here today, that we would be filled.

And what does the Scripture mean when it says filled? It means that we would be filled with all the fullness of God. Can we comprehend that kind of filling? It's the kind of filling where when the windows of heaven are open, there's just not room enough to receive it all. And when there's not enough room to receive it all, what happens when you pour something into a cup and the pitcher is bigger than the cup? What happens? It just goes everywhere.

And that's what the Spirit of God wants, that we would be filled with all the fullness of God. And we can't hold it. It's just going to impermeate and go everywhere.

That's the desire that we have this morning. Thank you, Brother Mike, for your kindness, your kind words, and just the memory of all the years behind us. There's been times when I've come alongside Mike and it was just a joy.

And there's been times when he's come alongside me with my rough edges and just acted like there weren't any rough edges. And together, we made it. Don't know if we'd make it alone, but this is the kind of comradeship.

I love the scriptural phrase that talks about true yoke fellow. That's a blessed term. May we each be that to each other as we journey through life, true yoke fellow.

What we desire this morning to continue to minister life, that is the burden. That is the desire of our heart. Yes, Brother Jesse, you heard our heart right.

We want to encourage us to keep going, to press on in the midst of trial, in the midst of trauma, in the midst of trouble, in the midst of opposition. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. And if God before us, who can be against us? We want to minister life this morning.

And sometimes we minister life just simply by reminding us who we are in Christ. You know, sometimes we forget. The Bible is full of reminders, things that we should remember, because we do forget them.

Paul said to Timothy, he said to him, he said, And if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up, strengthened in the words of truth. And so we need to bring to our mind things that we often forget. Hebrews tells us that we have forgotten the exhortation that God speaks unto us as sons.

Jude says, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this. In other words, you've forgotten some things here that you need to have. And so there's a reminder.

And James talks about straightway, forgetting what manner of man, you know, we are. And straightway means we forget pretty quick. So we need reminders this morning.

We want to remind us who we are in Christ. Sometimes we get encouragement. We get strength.

Life comes by reminding us of who we are in Christ. So sometimes we forget, but brothers and sisters, sometimes there are things that we've never learned. We haven't forgot them.

We just haven't grown in understanding. And that's the counsel of the Scriptures. We've grown in grace and in the further knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we would have all that God wants us to have.

Jesus said one time to his disciples, he said to them, ye know not. They hadn't learned yet what manner of spirit ye are of. And I think what they're saying there is that the spirit of God was upon them, and they just hadn't learned how to respond to that spirit yet.

So sometimes we need reminders of who we are in Christ, of who Christ is dwelling within us. And other times we need to just learn more about the power that is available unto us and who we are in Christ. Romans chapter 8, I'm just going to give you a little quotation out of here.

I want to challenge you with this. I want to challenge you that sometimes maybe we forget this, but it says that if the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, now that's quite a spirit. And we know that it's the Holy Spirit, but I tell you this morning, whatever it is that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, that is a powerful thing.

Amen? That's what the man born blind says, never even been heard of before, that a man born blind could receive his sight. Well, how much more? Raised from the dead. Well, if the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, hallelujah! I mean, we're talking big stuff here, brothers and sisters.

And these dear souls over here in Turkey or Greece or wherever it is that are hungry, that's what they're hungry for. They don't even know what all goes with it yet. May God fill us up with all the fullness of God so that our cup would overflow and minister grace unto them.

We have a subject before us this morning that I believe can minister life. To each heart. We want to share a message this morning on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We want to focus on him with a single eye, and we want to focus on what effect the resurrection has on our lives and the power that it brings into our lives. We don't want to just focus on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as a something that happened sometime somewhere. This is much bigger than that.

It does not stay in the books of history. It comes into everyday life for every one of us when we understand the power of the resurrection that comes into each of our lives. It ministers grace.

It ministers life unto each of us. It's a very scriptural subject. It's an exciting subject.

It's a blessing. Could I ask for a drink of water? It would be a blessing. I think I want to begin this morning by giving a title to what we have before us.

I was thinking about it, a title for the resurrection. And I was just thinking, you know, Jesus said one time, he had a phrase that he used, I love it, I never even saw it until a while back. He had a description for the people who made it to heaven, the people who were, you know, the redeemed, the saved, the ones who were victorious, overcomers, faithful, whose names are written in the book of life.

Jesus had a phrase for them that he used one time, and it's in the book of Luke, but the phrase is this, they are children of the resurrection. Beautiful phrase. I'd like for that to be our title this morning, children of the resurrection.

And I want that to be each one of us here. I don't want that to be something that somebody learns about or sees in somebody else. We want it to be that, but we want it to be more than that.

We want it to be a real personal testimony of each person here. Children of the resurrection. There's other titles that we can come up with.

I was thinking when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he said to Mary and Martha, he said, Roll ye the stone away. Those are beautiful words. And many times we have stones blocking the life that the Lord plans to bring into our life.

And our desire this morning is that the Lord would roll that stone away. And like he said to Lazarus, loose him and let him go. That's what we want for each one of us here this morning, that God would come down, that the chains that have bound us would fall off of us, and God would loose us and let us go.

It's a beautiful promise to children of the resurrection. What I want to do this morning, I'm just going to write down here, children of the resurrection. And let this be our focus and our goal this morning.

And what I want to do is I want to, I better think here to write this word right, spell it right here, I think. What I'd like to do is I would like to come up with some words that just minister and explain and reveal who we are as children of the resurrection. I think I'm going to begin, the first word over here, I'm just going to write down is life.

That is just a word that just is inseparably connected to the resurrection. That is what the resurrection is. That is what Jesus said to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus.

When Lazarus died, Jesus said to Martha, He said, I am the resurrection and the life. They just go together. I'm the resurrection and the life.

Can't have one without the other. But I want you to notice that Jesus didn't say to Martha and describe to her that the resurrection is something that was going to happen to him sometime. That's not what he said.

No, he said, Martha, I am the resurrection. The resurrection is a person. The resurrection is a power within our Lord.

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. When Christ dwells within us, and that's very, very scriptural, amen, Christ in you, when he is the resurrection, and when he dwells within us, we are children of the resurrection. The Bible says that the grip of death and of the grave that was upon Jesus, when Jesus was in the tomb, the Bible says in very clear terms, it says it was impossible that he should be holding of it.

No way you can leave him in the grave because he is the resurrection and he dwells within us. I'm reminding us. If you haven't learned this, then we're thinking.

We need to get a hold of this. God wants us to be children of the resurrection. It's a beautiful picture.

The Bible talks about the spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus and the spirit of life that is in us because the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in us by the Holy Spirit of God. The next word that I want to write up here, beautiful word, this word has two meanings, but it's victory. That word just goes with resurrection.

That's just what the resurrection is. The resurrection is victory over the grave. That's it.

Well, this is a big word. This doesn't just stay in the books of history back there in Israel at Joseph of Arimathea's tomb that he used for the Lord. This term belongs to us today.

Victory. I want to think first about primarily it's connected to Jesus Christ coming forth from the grave. Victory over the grave.

And that's what Corinthians says, O grave, death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The grave doesn't have any victory. Zero. Jesus Christ is 100% victorious over the grave.

The grave didn't keep .00001%. None. He is 100% victorious over the grave. What does the Bible say about what Jesus did to death? It says he abolished it.

He abolished death. There's nothing left of the power of death upon the children of God. Think of it.

This is a beautiful promise. Now, I mentioned that victory has a twofold meaning, and we're going to see that as we look into the scriptures. But let's open our Bibles to Romans chapter 6. We're going to also turn here a little bit later.

But in Romans chapter 6, we are going to focus first here now at verse 4. I want us to get a hold of this, and then we're going to go back and read in Philippians chapter 3. But look here. We're baptized into Jesus Christ in verse 3. Therefore, in verse 4, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead. Now, let me tell you what like as Christ means.

That means just like Christ was raised from the dead. That's what that means. And I'm open for other commentaries, but that's what it says, that just like Christ was raised from the dead.

Now, how was he raised from the dead? I tell you, 100% victorious over the grave, right? Well, just like that, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Just like Jesus was raised from the dead. Now, I love these four words here.

It says, even so we also. That's pretty clear. Even so, that means just like that.

That's what that means. Just like Jesus was raised from the dead. Even so.

And then we also. Now, all that says is me too. And every one of us here can say that.

Even so we also should walk in newness of life. Now, I want us to take a look at that. That right there is not victory over the grave.

When you're laying dead in your grave and rise forth. That is not what that means. It says, it's talking about walking in this life, in newness of life.

So this victory here isn't just Jesus coming out of the grave, it's victory for us in everyday life. That is exciting. That's powerful.

That's what those people are hungry for. I got a son-in-law and a daughter in Turkey myself, brother. And that cry from the Islam people is, what do you folks have? There's a young man coming over here to leadership seminar in a couple weeks because he's hungry.

He wants to figure this thing out. We don't have to travel that far. We've been raised, we've read this thing so many times and we forget.

We're reminding this morning, just like Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, it's the glory of the Father that did it. Well, it's the glory of the Father that's going to do it again for each of us in everyday life. I don't know what else to say except amen to the Scripture.

This is being filled with all the fullness of God. This is just part of the package that we cannot contain that's going to flow out into others. What a witness.

What a testimony. Now I want to turn to Philippians chapter 3. I just want to read this passage. It's so beautiful.

Paul talks about himself and the credit that he has, and it doesn't matter who you are, he says, but in verse 7, Well, that's beautiful. Yea, doubtless. I love it.

There's no question about this is what he's saying here. Yea, doubtless. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

And then we come to verse 10. And I'm just going to tell you, you can go home and you can study this passage of Scripture, but verses 7, 8, and 9 just point to verse 10. And verse 11, 12, 13, and 14 just point back to verse 10.

And here we are at verse 10. That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death. Brother John read that himself in his testimony this morning, but here it is again, that I may know Him.

And that know there is a very intimate word. If you study that word, it's the same word when it was talking about Mary and Joseph, and it says that Joseph knew her not. It's an intimate knowledge.

It's the real thing. Paul wanted, I want to know Him, and the power of His resurrection in everyday life. Paul's not talking about after he's dead here.

He said, I press on. I haven't got there yet, and I'm still going for it. I want to reach everything that God has called me to be.

That's what he's saying in this passage. And if we keep reading, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, that I may apprehend that, for which also I am apprehended of Christ. I want to be all that God has called me to be.

Brethren, I haven't got there yet, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. And this is going back to verse 10. It's knowing Him and the power of His resurrection in this life, and the fellowship of His suffering.

Think about it. The trials of life, the hardships, the trauma, the things that the flesh doesn't like, instead of producing discouragement and grief, it produces fellowship with the Son of God. The next word that I'd like to write up here, and you can't even talk about these others without even mentioning this one too.

We've been in it already in Philippians chapter 3, but it's power. You can't separate power from the resurrection. In knowing Him and the power of His resurrection, the power of it, the power of God that is in us.

It's an incomprehensible thing, but it's in us. I love the verse in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 that says, I better turn it and read it. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Now I challenge you to try to get a hold of that one. We are limited to all that we can ask or think. That's our limit right there.

We can ask and we can think. That's as far as we can go. But it's here, it's above all that we can ask or think.

So that's beyond us right there, but it's abundantly above all that we can ask or think. No, that's not it either. It's exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

How does it happen? According to the power that worketh in us. I'm reminding us. I'm teaching.

I'm saying amen to the word of God. This great power is in us. Think about it.

Think about this power in us and then compare it to this ridiculous temptation that comes to the flesh. This kind of power doesn't yield to that kind of temptation. We need to be reminded of who we are in Christ.

Come on, brothers and sisters. Come on you. When the temptation comes, just stick that thing up next to the power that dwells within you.

That's what David did when Goliath came, wasn't it? I mean, Goliath looked pretty big until David just compared him with God. Goliath shrunk quite a bit. I mean, who is this Gentile that defies the armies of the living God? Let's treat the temptations that come that way.

This power, this power of the resurrection dwells within us. And it's not just temptation. It's when trials come.

It's when hardships come that are bigger than we are. The flesh can't handle it. But the spirit of God that dwells within us according to the power that worketh in us, that power, we find grace to go forward.

We don't turn back. Jesus said an amazing thing. This can teach us something about everyday life.

He said in the scriptures, he said that in one place he said about his life, he said, I have power. We're thinking about power here. Jesus said, I have power to lay it down.

And I have power to take it up again. That is a beautiful meditation. I've thought about it.

Now, I can comprehend the power to lay it down. Actually, we all have that power. Any person here can lay down your life.

I mean, that power is yours. That choice is ours. But think about this for a minute.

Jesus said, I not only have power to lay it down, but when he's laid it down, when he's in the grave, when death is upon him, at that point, he still has power to take it up again. Can you comprehend that? I don't, I don't, that kind of power has never manifested itself anywhere in the world around me. When you're dead, you still have power to take it up again.

And I want to just make the parallel here that when we are at the end of ourselves, when everything goes wrong, when there's the death of a vision, when life brings hardships and devastation and trauma, we're at the end of ourselves. Our situation is hopeless. There's nothing we can do.

In that condition right there, we still have power to rise and walk in newness of life. Am I stretching it? I'm probably not saying it strong enough. This is God.

This is the word of God. This is why we encouraged you yesterday to read the word of God. These things are in here.

Draw them out. They bring strength. They bring courage into our life.

At that point, we still have power to rise and stand upright on our feet. That's the accurate, that's actually the accurate definition from the Greek of the word resurrection, is to stand upright on your feet. And that's just the foundation to go forward.

This happened to Paul. You know, we think it shouldn't happen to righteous men. But what did Paul say? Paul said that he was pressed out of measure, above strength.

In so much that he despaired even of life. Paul said we had the sentence of death in ourselves. I mean, think about it.

How can you say it any stronger that he was done? He had the sentence of death in himself. But, he said, and but we say, we trust not in ourselves. We trust not in our situation, but in God.

What did he say about God? But in God which raiseth the dead. Now he's talking about everyday life. He's talking about a situation that he's in here.

He trusts in God at that point. Completely at the end of himself, which raiseth the dead. Now, I can't remember the reference for some reason right now.

But the scriptures tell us that though our outward man perish. What does perish mean? See, it means you're done. There's nothing left.

Though our outward man perish. Situations in life are hard. But the inward man is renewed.

Everyday. Day by day. Over and over again.

And it's all through the scriptures. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. That the life also of Jesus Christ might be made manifest in our body.

The scriptures are so full. For we which live are always delivered unto death. For Jesus' sake.

But it's that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal body. I'd like to read just the words of Job. We sang that song this morning.

I know that my Redeemer liveth. What kind of situation was Job in when he said that? Everything was gone. Everything was destroyed.

His wife had left him and told him to curse God and die. And his children had left him. He didn't have anything left except boils and sores upon his body.

And what did he say? All of my words were now written. What if they were printed in a book? That they were graven with an iron pen and laid in the rock forever? For I know that my Redeemer liveth. And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

And though after my skin worms destroyed his body. Yet in my flesh shall I see God. Whom I shall see for myself.

And mine eyes shall behold and not another. Though my reins be consumed within me. Have you ever been there? It seems like I've been there, but I don't think I've ever been there.

When my reins, the strength of my very being, are consumed within me. At that point, Jesus still had the power to take up his life again. And so do you.

You can't get bad enough that Jesus can't rise from the dead. Your situation can't get big enough. That's a problem that man has.

He lets his situation get bigger than God. And it cannot be. There's a call to faith here this morning.

There's a call to believe. God, I need this. I'm weak.

I'm here for revival too. We all need this. This is a reminder.

We're remembering the things that have been taught. May God have his way this morning. The next word that I'm going to write up here, I'm going to write glory.

This is a glorious thing. This is a glorious subject. This is the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I'm not going to say much about the word glory, but what does the Bible say about how Jesus was raised from the dead? We read it in Romans chapter 6, verse 4, that when God raised him from the dead by the glory of the Father. Think of it. Romans tells us, somebody read that this morning, that we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

That's a lively hope, brothers and sisters, that the glory of God would come upon us in whatever situation that we're in. And like as Christ was raised from the dead, even so we also should rise to walk in newness of life. I just want to say that being a child of the resurrection brings the very presence and glory of God right into our life.

What a joy. The next word that I would like to write down here, I'm going to write down revival. That's a good word, isn't it? And you know what? That's what it is.

That's within all of us. Revival should be a natural thing. We shouldn't have to stir up revival.

We just let Christ in and let him on the throne and it's going to happen. If we really do that, too many times we keep a little too much flesh on the throne. But the victory in Christ, remember, is 100%.

And when we give God 100% of the throne, that's quite a sacrifice. Oh, that's everything. If that's here, Lord, I give myself away.

It's all that I can do. Everything that I have, we give to him. And it brings revival.

Revival means, well, vive, V-I-V-E, that just means life. Vive in Spanish, that means to live. And re, that just means do it again.

That's what revival means. It means to live again. It means to die, and I'm just going to say it this way, and be born again.

That's just what the resurrection is. And I don't want to be a broken record. I've said this many times, but maybe we forget.

I'm going to say it again. This is the metamorphosis, brothers and sisters, that the Bible teaches will happen to every child of God. In Romans chapter 12 where it talks about being transformed, and in Corinthians where it says that we are changed from glory to glory into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That transformed there, that changed there. The Greek word is metamorphosis. That's what it is.

That's the Bible commandment for the children of God, children of the resurrection, be metamorphosis. We are metamorphosis into the same image. And what does metamorphosis mean? Brothers and sisters, we know what metamorphosis means.

That's when a fat, gluttonous old man, a caterpillar that crawls, dies. I mean, he just spins a cocoon and dies. And he goes through all the changes necessary, and there's a lot of changes that are necessary, but he goes through all the changes necessary to become a new creature in Christ Jesus and becomes a butterfly that just defies gravity and flies away.

That old caterpillar, he was stuck to the earth. There was nothing he could do except crawl and eat. But the butterfly, he defies gravity.

He defies the temptations. He defies the things that this earth has to offer, and he flies away. Loose him and let him go.

May God do it for every one of us. Here this morning, that's who we are. Children of the resurrection.

That's what's happened to us. Old things are passed away. All things are become new.

I'm just going to write this down here. If any man, that merits a two. Be in Christ Jesus, that merits another two.

He is a new creature. He is a new creature. I mean, I like to think of math.

That's just the way it is. This is the word of God. If any man, be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creature.

Two plus two is four. I love math because you can't argue with it. That's just the way it is.

You can do whatever you want to to this two. He can be a smart one. He can be an adult one.

He can be handsome. He can be fat. He can be skinny.

And you can add this two, and you're going to get four. I mean, this fellow here can be one vile caterpillar. But this is a new creature.

That's what God does for children of the resurrection. There's a big difference, brothers and sisters, between joining a church and that. There are people who think you need to be in the Amish church, brother, to be saved.

There are people who think you need to be in the Baptist church to be saved. And whatever church, brother, I'm going to tell you this morning, being in the Amish church will not save you. But let me tell you something else that won't save you.

Getting out of the Amish church won't save you either. Only that will save you. Being in a charity church isn't going to do it either.

I'm not lifting up or putting down here this morning any of the churches. I'm just lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be in him.

We need to be children of the resurrection. God give us grace that we wouldn't try to replace this thing, this thing, being in Jesus Christ with a church. I am not opposed to church.

Those of you who know me know that you probably think I push it too hard. But it's a glorious thing to be in the church of the living God. We honor God that way.

But we honor God this way in our everyday life. We do. So revival.

Revival isn't just these meetings here. It is that. It's a blessing.

It's a joy. But it's in marriages. You experience revival in your marriage.

And you're not going to want any other kind of marriage. You experience revival in your family and in the relationships with your brother. You're not going to want any other kind of relationship.

You experience revival in your work and in your church family and on the mission field. You're not going to want it any other way. You know, I think about sending missionaries to the mission field.

Brother Cleats, you've been there. But I just believe this. It's just an inspiring thought to me.

Let's send children of the resurrection to the mission field. People who have the life, the spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus. Send them to the mission field.

Let's not be looking for somebody that's looking for adventure. And yes, there is some of that there. But let's send children of the resurrection to the mission field.

And let's make sure that it's children of the resurrection that are sending children of the resurrection. So that we can pray. So that we can hold them up.

So that God's will can be accomplished. It's the whole picture. It just goes together so beautifully.

Oh, that God would have his way. Oh, that we could get the flesh out of the way. So that we could be filled with all the fullness of God.

That's the cry of our heart. We want to minister that life into each heart. The next word that I'm going to write up here.

It's kind of a big word, but I love this word. Enlightenment. That's when the lights go on.

I love it. Have you ever kind of been confused over something? Not real sure what's going on here. And all of a sudden, oh, all the lights went on.

I think one of the brothers here gave that testimony this morning. Maybe it was Brother Dennis. He'd read that scripture before.

But all of a sudden, all the lights went on. Oh, I stand in someone else's area of need and plead on behalf of them. Oh, that's what it is.

Well, that will bring you joy. May God turn the lights on in each of our hearts. So what we're talking about here this morning.

Yeah, that's what happened when Cleopas and whoever was there on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24, they were walking along there, and they were kind of confused. They didn't know what was going on. They were trying to explain what they knew to the Lord.

Maybe I should just turn and read it. I know what it says. It says, did not our heart burn within us when he spoke with us by the way and when he opened unto us the scriptures? What does it mean when the scriptures become open? It means the lights go on.

And in the breaking of bread, their lights really went on. They knew him. I trust that by the grace of God, that by the moving of the Holy Spirit, something that man cannot do.

But may the moving of the Holy Spirit be in this place this morning and stir within our hearts so that we can get a hold of who we are in Christ. A powerful thing. When you realize who you are in Christ, you're not going to have a reason to be unkind to anyone because that's what's in here.

It will just come out. The goodness of God. And what does the goodness of God do? The Bible says the goodness of God leads men to repentance.

When we're bitter, when we're full of revenge, when we're thinking thoughts, putting each other down, that doesn't lead people to God. The goodness of God within us, the fruit of the Spirit just coming out, leads men to repentance. When Jesus was here, he discipled 12 men.

He walked with them. He talked with them. He taught them.

He discipled them. He manifested himself to them. And in many ways, when he was teaching them, they didn't get it.

They didn't catch on. When he spoke of being crucified or the resurrection, they didn't understand it. And I'm just going to read there in Luke chapter 18.

I'll just read it to you, what it says. It's amazing how they just couldn't get a hold of it. It was just foggy.

Luke 18, 34 says this. And Jesus had been talking. He said, Behold, we go to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished.

For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spit it on, and they shall scourge him and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. That's what Jesus said to his disciples. And they understood none of these things.

And this saying was hid from them. Neither knew they the things which were spoken. They just couldn't get it.

There's just some things the flesh can't process. You just can't comprehend it. But, brothers and sisters, when Jesus was crucified, and then when he rose from the dead, all of a sudden all the lights went on.

And when did the lights go on? Right here. When they realized what had happened, when they realized Jesus Christ was not in the tomb, when they realized Jesus Christ was alive, those men turned the world upside down. They went everywhere.

John 12,16 says, These things understood not his disciples at the first. But when Jesus was glorified, his death and resurrection, then remembered they these things that were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. Then they understood.

And when all the lights came on, they were missionaries. They went everywhere preaching the word. Nothing could stop them.

Because Jesus said, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. I'm running out of time, Brother Jerry. I have more.

What do I do? There's some warnings in the scripture in the midst of this great joy. I would like to turn to 1 Corinthians 15. I'll try to not keep you long here.

This is often referred to as the resurrection chapter. And I think there's some things that we can learn here about the resurrection. Paul talks in the first few verses here about himself even having seen the Lord Jesus, and by the grace of God, he is what he is.

But in verse 12, it says, Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And I'm just going to throw this in. If we forget that Christ was risen from the dead, then really the power of him having risen from the dead is not upon us. I mean, it's there, but we don't realize it.

How can I say it right? I want to say it right. It's there, but we can't tap into it because we forget that it's there. If there be no resurrection of the dead, then for us, Christ is not risen.

And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. I'm going to look at that verse 14 really close, but let's keep going. Yea, and we also are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.

For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. Now look at verse 17. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sin.

Now I want you to just think about this for a minute. Do we believe that? If Christ be not raised, then your faith is vain, and you're in your sin. Now think about this.

The blood has already been shed. Paul is talking about our faith being vain here after the blood has already been shed. I'm leading up to a point here to challenge us.

The blood has been shed. And Paul says in verse 14 that if Christ be not risen after the blood is shed, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain. And verse 17, if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and you are yet in your sin.

I want to challenge us this way. If we don't have the power of the resurrection in our everyday life, do we really have liberty to claim redemption through the blood? Do you see the point that I'm making here? It's a very significant point. Paul is saying, he's talking about our faith being vain.

I can't really handle the thought. And being yet in our sin. We want to be covered.

But we are children of the resurrection. We're not just children of the shed blood. Yes, we are.

We are brought by the blood of the Lord, but they go together. We cannot separate them. We cannot just claim holiness and all the good things of God and leave the power of the resurrection out of it.

We are children of the resurrection, and we need to live like it in everyday life. Yes, we do. Would God strengthen us so that our faith is not vain? So that our witness is not weak? So that we are children of the resurrection? Knowing the life, the victory, the power, the glory, revival, enlightenment in everyday life, no matter what the situation is that we are in.

I've heard people say, you ask them how they're doing, and they say, well, under the circumstances, pretty good. I heard a man say one time, if you're under the circumstances, what are you doing under there? Get out from under there and be a child of the resurrection and don't let that circumstance be bigger than the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. It's the high calling of God that Paul said, I press, I want this, toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

I'm going to head for closing here. In Acts chapter 4, verse 33, we just need to read this. This is the early church.

This is the power of God moving in the church. It says in chapter 4, verse 33, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. I love that verse.

What a sermon! What a witness! It says here that they gave witness of the resurrection. It says with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them all. I tell you this morning, we want that great grace and it comes upon us as children of the resurrection when we lift up the Lord Jesus Christ and who He is.

As you can say, well, Paul gave witness of the resurrection because he was there. He saw the Lord. You can say the apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord because they were there.

They saw Him after He rose again. Okay, let's turn to Acts chapter 5 and let's read verse, I think it's 32. Yes.

Verse 31 says, or 30, The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things.

Okay? These brothers saw Him, but it says here, And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him. I tell you the smarty, if we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we are witnesses of the resurrection because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and the Holy Spirit is a witness and He dwells within us. We have it too.

May great grace be upon us as we share it to a lost and a dying world. I need to bring this to a close. There were two boys.

Actually, there was a man and a Muslim man. It was a Muslim man, Brother Cleat. And they were talking.

They were sharing their religions. And the Christian said, We believe that God created heaven and earth and all things. The Muslim man said, We believe that too.

Allah created all things. For we believe. Christian man said, We believe that the Bible is the written word of God.

The Muslim man said, We believe that too. The Quran is the written word of God. Our religions are very close.

The Christian said, We believe that God sent His only Son and all things are complete in Him, the man Christ Jesus. And the Muslim man said, We believe that too. Allah sent Muhammad and all things are complete in Him.

The Christian man said, But we believe that Jesus died for all mankind. The Muslim man said, We believe that too. Muhammad died, gave his life for the people.

The Christian man said, But we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and lives forevermore. Hallelujah! The Muslim man said, We have no record of Muhammad after his death. We are the only religion where you can be born again, where you can be a child of the resurrection, where you can be filled with life no matter what life may bring.

May God have His way is our prayer. For each one of you, may God minister life. May you be children of the resurrection.

God bless you.