This past Sunday was Easter/Resurrection Sunday. I have taught you several messages about the importance of the Resurrection already, but I will build on what I have shared thus far.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. God’s Word and His Spirit are the keys to unlocking the power of the Resurrection.
— God’s original plan was for mankind to represent Him on this planet and extend heaven to this world. That plan is still in operation and execution.
— Unlike Adam, who started walking with God from the moment he had life, we were born disconnected from God. We learned how to think and act like the world. Paul said, “In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. 3 In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted…” (Ephesians 2:1-3 ERV).
— Since we were born disconnected from God and trained to live like the people of this world, we needed to be Born-Again and then trained to live like God. To learn how God thinks, He gave us His Word and His Spirit.
— The Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible, and He comes to live INSIDE every Born-Again believer. Before I was Born-Again, I read the Bible, and I could not understand it. However, after giving my life to Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit (the author) began to explain and reveal God’s Word to me on another level.
— When God reveals (unveils) Word to us, the revelation becomes an invitation to experience the Word He unveiled to you.
— God wants His Word to get in your heart. Once it gets in your heart, it can become your life, your reality.
— God’s reality will become your reality when it becomes the foundation of your heart. Once it is in your heart it will be part of your life because the Holy Spirit will help you unlock the riches of God’s Word to the point where you get to experience God’s reality in this world.
— The key to Adam’s walk with God was the Holy Spirit. Adam never needed to be “deprogrammed” initially because he was “programmed” to think and act like God from the beginning.
— The key to Jesus’s walk with God was the Holy Spirit. Jesus never needed to be “deprogrammed” because He never sinned. He never took on the ways of the world.
— Unlike Adam and Jesus, you and I were programmed to think and act like the world. We had access to the Bible, but the Bible did not really make sense to us becuase we did not have the Holy Spirit. The Bible is Spiritual, and without God’s Spirit, it was foolishness to us. Once we were Born-Again, the author of the Bible came to live INSIDE of us. He then began to unpack, unveil, unfold, and explain the Bible to us. He quickly revealed to us that we needed to be deprogrammed and then reprogrammed to think and act like God.
— None of this would have been possible without Jesus. Before Jesus, people were focused on the religious activity of the Old Covenant. But once Jesus came, He fulfilled The Law, He lived a life that was Spirit-led, He restored the Holy Spirit to mankind, and how we can live an entirely different reality. We have access to the Holy Spirit becuase of Jesus, and we now get to understand the Word of God on another level.
— Once we start being led by God’s Spirit, we get to experience the life Jesus died for us to have. God teaches us through experiences. He does not want us to have Word without the experience of it. He wants us to get the Word down in our hearts, and the Holy Spirit will then lead us to experience the Word we received.
— This is the life of faith. It is not Law-based or performance-based. It is grace-based, and it is our reality now because Jesus died and rose from the dead!
2. Jesus restored the Holy Spirit to mankind, and that changed everything!
(John 7:37-39 ERV)
37 The last day of the festival came. It was the most important day. On that day, Jesus stood up and said loudly, “Whoever is thirsty may come to me and drink.
38 If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from their heart. That is what the Scriptures say.”
39 Jesus was talking about the Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given to people, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit.
— Jesus paid the penalty for what Adam did in the Garden of Eden.
— The Holy Spirit was removed from mankind because of Adam. The Holy Spirit was restored to mankind becuase of Jesus.
— On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was restored, and the New Covenant church was birthed.
— Now, we can be just like Jesus. We can live like Adam lived before the fall. We can live like Jesus lived when He was on the planet.
— We have the same Holy Spirit Adam and Jesus had. Therefore, everything Jesus was to do in this world, we are able to do in this world.
— As Jesus is (the Glorified Jesus), so are we in this world!
— We are supposed to live the way Jesus did. We are supposed to see ourselves as ONE with Jesus and the Father. That’s what Jesus prayed for in John 17. But He knew we would never think that way until the Holy Spirit was restored to man. Now that He (the Holy Spirit) has been restored, we are supposed to think and act like Jesus did, being led by the Holy Spirit every day in every way.
— In John 7, Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit, but people could not understand Him because the Holy Spirit had not been restored yet. But He has been restored now. That’s what Easter/Resurrection Sunday was about. Jesus came so we could go back to the original intent. Jesus came so we could receive the Holy Spirit and live like Him on this planet. Jesus came so we could represent heaven’s agenda in this world. Jesus came so we could extend heaven to the earth!
— The Holy Spirit is a helper, comforter, guide, and source of power. The Holy Spirit lives in us so we can live like Jesus.
— The Holy Spirit convicts us daily, not of sin, but of WHO WE ARE in Christ! People think the Holy Spirit is focused on sin. We are delivered from the power of sin. When we sin now, the Holy Spirit speaks to us, but not of the sin. He speaks to us about the righteousness and power we are supposed to walk in. When we get convicted, in our hearts, to live as the men/women we are called to be, we will walk away from sin, and it will no longer be an issue for us. This conviction comes through the Holy Spirit.
— Jesus modeled what your life should be like. He was not just an example FOR us. He was an example OF us. When you think of Jesus, you should think of yourself. His life painted a picture of what a man (male or female), filled with the Holy Spirit, looks like. As Jesus is, so are we in this world (1 Jn 4:17).
— Jesus ushered us into the dispensation of grace. What we get to experience now is not based on our performance. It is based solely on the grace of God.
— There are things God wants to do with/through you that you don’t have enough education or money to do. But if you can open your heart to believe, He can do it all through you, by His grace and for His glory!
— If you learn how to receive, you can have all heaven has for you. Heaven releases it by grace, and you receive it by faith! This is #TheGraceLife
Declaration of Faith:
Father, Jesus restored mankind to Your original intent. The Holy Spirit was restored becuase of Jesus. I have the same Holy Spirit Adam and Jesus had. I am filled with Your Spirit, I am covered by the Blood of Your Son, and I am called according to Your purpose. Everything You planned for me, You release to me, in the fulness of Your timing, by grace. I receive it all by faith. My life is not performance-based. My life is grace-based. I live #TheGraceLife. Therefore, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
