Easter: The Proof of the Power of Jesus 4-4-21 By Kelly Durant
Luke 24:5 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!
2. We have the lights out. Now close your eyes. I want you to imagine yourself in the grave. You are dead! You died last Friday in April 2nd, 2021. 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.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
3.The question burning inside you: Will I have life again as I knew it? (Open eyes now)
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 God’s Son Jesus Christ resurrected! Jesus changed the laws of our physical & of the spiritual world to gather resurrected human souls in heaven!
4. Resurrection: Luke 24:1-8 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? To be a Christian, this is the foundation of what you believe! Notice one of the first things pointed out 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 up on prophecies such as with 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! No one will die for a fraudster!
5. 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 and power from God!
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 have no power over death nor did they have any prophecies concerning anything of an eternal consequence.
6. To contrast the futility of man, Jesus early in His teachings reminded us of our weaknesses, that we really don’t have power over much anything! Matthew 5:36 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 nor how! It is very rare a person would predict 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! Revelation 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.
7. 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 that 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 before His time and they were fulfilled in Him, Jesus, the Messiah!
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 through His mission of redeeming & saving souls for God which are being prepared for heaven.
8. Point Two: Luke 24:7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ 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! Especially after how His body was tortured, beaten, and pierced. He proved He was supernatural yet also that He was flesh and bones like the rest of us.
The 2 men, or angels, by His tomb immediately reminded the disciples, and women minsters of the prophecy of resurrection! “Why seek you the living amongst the dead?” they asked.
Believing in Jesus does not mean you just go to church and try to be a good person. Today, on Easter, it means you are in shock and awe respecting His supernatural prophetic ability, His unexplainable resurrection regenerative life power, and you and as a result you and I must love Him and confess Him to all! We must tell our family and friends what happened, that “He is alive”! as the women and the disciples did!
9. Point Three: Luke 24:47 The prophecy of sins forgiven is preached to all the world! (but Jesus counts on each of us to do it!)
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 we see the fulfillment of Christianity beginning there as He stated. Also recall before his ascension Mark 16:15 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! How can we ever pay Him back?! We can only give Him our lives to do His will!
10. 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 whosoever will follow.
Jesus came back to life to save 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, and I, must tell others of His salvation or we are failing Him!
Today let’s remember, death is a reality for every one of us on 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 I decide in prophecy.
11. Do not forget Romans 1:4,5 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 in your heart, mind, and soul then today, right now, is your chance! If you have believed on Jesus but you have not been telling others about Him, telling them of His forgiveness of sins, telling them of His resurrection then now is your chance to do a reset!
Declare Jesus’ power to all! The power to fulfill all prophecy done by the prophets, to allow Himself to be killed and then raise Himself up, and to forgive sins through the spreading of the gospel! Let’s pray…
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