THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

5. Without resurrection, there will be no hope. Just think about life without the hope of resurrection. But we have a lively and a blessed hope. Apostle Peter captures it very well in 1 Pet. 1:3 “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”.

6. The power of resurrection is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of life; he is the spirit of restoration. Rom. 8:11 says, “But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you”. Jesus was given birth to by the power of the Holy Spirit; he resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of our adoption; we are adopted as the sons of the Most High God and that spirit is already inside of you, we have a wonderful inheritance. The spirit that resurrected Jesus Christ not only quickens you, it gives you the resurrection anointing.

7. Without resurrection, there is no ascension. People love to ascend and begin to legislate but if you want to experience the power of resurrection, you must go to the cross; certain things must need to die. You need to take up the cross on a daily basis and follow Christ. Matt. 16:24 says “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”. It is at the cross that you crucify Mr self. The crucified way is the way of glory. One of the things that has made Christianity so weak today is that the cross is no longer being emphasized. You cannot be a good disciple if you don’t know how to die and follow Christ. Jesus himself said the price is to take up the cross. A disciple is a disciplined follower of Christ. People want the glory but they are not ready to take up the crucified life; they don’t want the life of self-denial; they don’t want the life of stretching to do the will of God and that is why they don’t see the glory, the glory is never found on the surface. You cannot contact the glory at the gate; you cannot contact the glory at the courtyard, not even in the holy place, the glory can only be found in the holy of holies. Jesus died that we may have access to the holy of holies where the glory is.

8. Jesus is the resurrection and life and he told us that he that has the son has life. If you have Jesus, you already have life. Make this confession daily – ‘In Jesus, I have life’. Rom. 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. There are two laws and when one is in operation, the other one evaporates. When you operate under the law of the spirit of life, you will be free from the law of sin and death. The two laws cannot operate together; they are mutually exclusive.

9. True Christians don’t die; they only transit. For a true child of God, it is goodnight earth and good morning heaven. You don’t die to make heaven; you live here and walk into it. John 17:3 says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”. Eternal life is not what you die to inherit; it is already working in you.

10. He died that I may live, he rose that I may rise, he ascended that I may reign with him eternally. When he died and went down, he routed principalities and powers and made a public show of them and now he is sitted at the right hand of God, a position of dominion. You must operate from that position. You must know who you are to be able to enforce dominion and you must rule in the midst of your enemies because you are connected to him. His authority becomes your authority; his victory becomes your victory; his dominion becomes your dominion; his power becomes your power. One of the causes of unutilized potentials is ignorance; ignorance of what you have in Christ Jesus, ignorance of who you are in Christ Jesus, ignorance of what Christ has done for you and ignorance of the glorious future that our Father has laid up for you in his master plan. Another cause of unutilized potentials is compromise. If the devil cannot get you to be ignorant, he will get you to compromise. That is why the Church is weak. All you see is glamour. Where is the glory? Where is the raw demonstration of the power and glory of God descending in the midst of his people? Thank God that we are a people born in due season. Those who clean up and connect properly will see the glory. To the extent of your connection, to that extent will the power of the Holy Ghost flow to you and through you to others. When God is giving you the anointing, he is not thinking only about you but of others. Christianity is supposed to be a flowing river of life that touches lives. Christianity is not religion it is life. There is a new move of God in the offing, if you want to be part of it, you must clean up. What are the things you are still holding onto that the Holy Spirit is asking you to drop? The sooner you obey the better.

TO BE CONTINUED.