Easter : The Proof of the
Power of Jesus 4-24-11 Kelly Durant
We have the lights out. Now close your eyes.
I want you to imagine yourself in the grave. You are dead. You died this Friday
in April. You have left your body but your spirit is alive.
You realize you are as much
alive as you were before, but you have lost the flesh and bone body in the
material world. You are on your way through a tunnel where there is light at
the other end, and you are realizing you are on your way to meet God and be
judged . As Heb 9:27
27 And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
The question burning: Will I
have life again as I knew it?
Recall God spoke the Word and
then there was light; light now exists
because God spoke it into existence, and
before eternal life and heaven did not exists
for humanity but now it does through Son Jesus Christ resurrected! Jesus
changed the laws of our physical & of the spiritual world to gather
resurrected human souls in heaven!
Luke 24:1-8
24:1 On the first day of the
week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but
when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they
were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like
lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their
faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the
living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told
you, while he was still with you in Galilee :
7'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified
and on the third day be raised again.'"
8 Then they remembered his words.
In this chapter we are
focusing on the prophecy of Jesus resurrection. How many of you believe that
this God/man came out of the grave as the scripture says? Notice one of the first things pointed in
verse 7 was a reminder of Jesus prophecy of resurrection! I have always been
fascinated by prophecies, and you?
I always liked to read on
prophecy, Edgar Cayse, Jeanne Dixon, that
predicted Pres. Kennedy’s death, and others, like Nostradamus.
There is a prophecy that you
will be resurrected on the last day when Jesus returns, do you believe it? Any person that does not accept that there was
a miracle of resurrection cannot claim to be a Christian! It did happen or
Jesus would not have had any followers to die for him after His death!
The Resurrection of Jesus is
the main world changing event that separates Him from all the other religions
of the world. Buddha did not come out of his grave, nor did Mohamed. Jesus
resurrection is the proof His divinity!
It takes faith to believe the
resurrection is real but it is more real than time itself. All other world religions have nothing to
offer compared to Jesus, and they lose their authority since they had no power
over death nor did they have any prophecies concerning anything.
Jesus raised Himself up with
God’s power as He claimed and He will raise us up to be with Him one day! What
a unique power! He has the keys to life and death of souls and He changed the
laws of physics and time.
To contrast the futility of
man, Jesus early in His teachings reminded us of our weaknesses.. Matt 5:36
36 And do not swear by your
head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
How many of you have white
hair and you want to just pray and make it black again? Well, some of you have
been to the beauty salon! Jesus was almost comical here in pointing out how we
as humans we are not capable of anything significant! We have no control even
of our own bodies, no mind over matter, no telekinesis. No one of us can even
prophecy the day we will die! It is very rare a person would tell the date of
their own death.
Jesus has all the power and
all control over all prophecy: all Revelation is His prophecy and not even any
angel knows what He knows!. Rev. 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the
words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart
what is written in it, because the time is near.
For Easter there are 3 main
points I want us to take note of.
No one had such purity and
Holiness as Jesus, so much power and authority over the physical and spiritual
world He created, so He is to be feared and to be obeyed and respected! He only
deserves having ownership of our souls
as all the power, glory, and honor are His forever and ever!
Point One: Luke 18:31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We
are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about
the Son of Man will be fulfilled”. Jesus repeated many times He came to fulfill
the ALL prophecies which written about Him by Moses, and all the Prophets. There
are over 300 prophecies in the Bible predicted about Jesus, the Messiah, over
an almost 2,000 year span and they were fulfilled in Jesus!
No other culture, the
Chinese, the Hindu Indian, the Greeks or Romans have any texts that come close
to matching this. God, through the prophets of His Hebrews, foretold of His
coming and without a doubt these provide obvious proof that Jesus is, in
fulfilled prophecy, the Son of God. His life, death, and resurrection fulfilled
His mission of redeeming & saving souls for God.
Point Two: Luke 24:7 He told
the future of His means of death and He came back on the 3rd day as He said! Here,
Jesus did a specific miracle, a highlighted prophecy, something never done
before! Resurrection after 3 days is not possible by any human person. This
display of the power has never been matched. He proved He was supernatural yet
also that He was flesh and bones.
The 2 men, or angels,
immediately remind them of the prophecy of resurrection!
Believing in Jesus does not
mean you just go to church and try to be good. Easter means you respect his
prophetic power and you must love Him and confessed Him to all your family and
friends as the women and disciples did!
Point Three: Luke 24:47 The prophecy
of sins forgiven is preached to all.
47 and repentance and
forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem
He prophesied about Jerusalem
and in the book of Acts 2 we see the fulfillment of Christianity beginning
there as He stated. Also recall before his acension Mark 16:15
15 He said to them, "Go
into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
His main emphasis is that it
is your and my responsibility to tell others the good news that He is alive and
resurrected and that He can forgive your and my sins. But for Him saving you
and me from death and hell, means more than you giving Him a “hallelujah” on
Sunday, it implies you and I must be found in obedience, serving, loving, and
saving others. His resurrection and gift
of eternal life is priceless!
Easter means believing Jesus
is God’s fulfilled prophecy, sharing the good news that sins are forgiven, and
then we must praise God because eternal life exists for whoso ever will follow.
Jesus came back to life for
you but He has no other hands but your hands to show others of His love. He has
no other feet but yours to go out to share His gospel of peace. He only has
your mouth to speak of the good news! You must tell others or you are failing
Him!
Today let’s remember, death
is a reality for every one of us this earth. According to science and the
physical world, the death rate statistically so far has been 100% , except for
Jesus and a couple of old prophets. You and I will die on one day God has
destined, not on a day you or decide in prophecy.
.
Do not forget Romans
1:4,5 4 and (Jesus) who through the
Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection
from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and
apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for
his name’s sake.
If you have not received
Jesus today, then now is you chance. If you have believed on Jesus but you have
not been telling others about Him, telling them of His forgiveness of sins,
then now is your chance. Let’s pray…
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