REVELATION OF THE RESSURECTION 31st March 2013 No.

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As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressionsit is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faithand this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:1-10

On Good Friday some of the folk in this Church watched the Passion film. I had seen the movie before but I must admit I appreciated it far more the second time around. One thing that I wondered about was, how could Jesus withstand all that punishment even before the cross, and not die? Any ordinary human would have 'kacked' it in the first half hour, but Jesus went on and on through all the beatings, cat of nine tails, thorns, abuse, carrying the cross, let alone the nails in his hands and feet and being lifted up on the cross carrying the weight of His body. We have to remember that there was something different about Jesus and that was that He was the first of a new line of men on the earth that had never been before. He was a man with God in him, God was in His nature. He had it in Him and knew it. Yes he suffered excruciating pain but He couldn't die until the divine exchange had taken place on the cross. He took on our fallen nature of sin upon Himself and once that had taken place, He died almost immediately from all the injuries he had sustained beforehand. His God infused Spirit was now exchanged for a Spirit without God's Presence.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

Adam and Eve would have lived on forever and not died if they hadn't sinned. Jesus was sinless in His life so the 'God kind of Life' was in Him, and it kept Him vibrant, but once He had taken on our sinful nature and been forsaken by God, He became weak and died almost immediately. It was like Samson who once he had his hair cut, the presence of God left him.
"About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). Matthew 27:46

On the cross Jesus cried out "My God." Up until this statement, Jesus had never referred to His father as 'His God'. He had always called Him His Father, but when He took on our nature that was without God's presence, He knew for the first time what it was like to be a fallen man without a heavenly father. He couldn't call Him His Father anymore. After His death Jesus went down as a fallen man into the depths of hell and was there for 3 days with all those sinners. Homosexuals, Moabites, Amalekites, Thieves, Paedophiles, Serial Killers and He was as one of them - a sinner suffering for sin. He had to wait for the Father to keep His promise. And on the third day God broke into hell and set Him free, for he was innocent.
"because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay." Psalm 16:10

On the 3rd day God kept His promise and Jesus was born again. He became the first of a race of new creatures who had overcome sin. Jesus then went on to preach to all those souls in hell and they would have been mad not to have listened to His salvation message. Jesus cleaned Hell out and then went on to Abraham's Bosom/Paradise and cleaned that out too. He then appeared on earth and spoke to His disciples and taught them for 40 days. He started a new race of 'God Men' by breathing the Holy Spirit on this Apostles.

They needed the Holy Spirit to get saved. This wasn't the baptism in the Holy Spirit which came on the day of Pentecost, this was an endowment with the Power of God.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you! After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyones sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. John 20: 20-23

Later after His ascension He went to Heaven and seated Himself at the right hand of the Father who sent the Holy Spirit to finish the work. We too have received the power to minister as Christ in the earth. Jesus was now seated in heaven with all the power and authority of God.
God has ....."made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressionsit is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, " Ephesians 2

We have been raised up like Christ once we believe and we can also have God in us like Jesus did. The trouble is we have an un-renewed mind to contend with, and this is why God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us. There is a difference between Jesus' position in Heaven and our condition here on earth. Jesus is healed, prosperous, highly blessed and victorious in Heaven. If we are seated with Him as the Bible says then why do we see such a different here in our lives? We may feel sick and broke right now finding a difference between His position and our condition. The Holy Spirit has been given to help us renew our minds and to agree with Christ and learn to walk by faith. Our praise and confession of His word will help us change and thus begin to live a far more victorious life and our condition will soon line up with His position. Remember we are raised together with Christ and can walk in newness of life here on earth.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4

The most wonderful thing that has occurred now is not that we will be able to do a miracle or two but that we have a new nature that can say no to sin. We are not slaves to our old nature anymore. If Jesus had got down from the cross after He had received our fallen nature, He would have walked the streets and soon acted like the Devil. Did you ever see that movie when Superman went bad? Praise God He finished the work and we can now with this new nature say NO to sin. We are called to come against Satan and His works here on earth just as Jesus did.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. John 14:12

Notice that this depends on what we believe and I'm sad to say that we often still believe like fallen men and women do. Jesus said that doubt in our hearts is a big problem and this can only be cured by the help of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. The Spirit helps us to believe a nd Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God to believe that we are also seated in Heavenly Places. Don't focus on your condition but His position.
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For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Mark 11:22-26