The Power of His Resurrection - Pastor Greg Locke

Worthy is the Lamb. Amen. Father, we’re grateful today for the privilege we have to be in this house. We thank you that our hearts can be stirred, but also participate in the glory of worshiping you; and not just what you’ve done, but who you are. If you never do another thing, you’re still God, and for that we’re grateful. When things aren’t good, we know that our God still is Lord. We know the word of the Lord is anointed, and so we ask that that anointing would flow into us today and do something in our spirit man. Well, we talk about resurrection, but how the American church needs to be quickened in its spirit; resurrect dreams within our hearts; dedication to the things of God. Thank you for every man and woman and teenager and child and infant in the house today, whether they’ve been here many, many times, a handful of times, or this is the only time. God, today may the word of the Lord, and only the word of the Lord, captivate and change our hearts, and we’ll be careful to give you honor, glory, and praise for every ounce of it, in the name of Jesus. And all of God’s people said, “Amen.”

You may return to your seats. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord for a few moments. Thank you for worshiping with us, for giving. I want to move into the word of the Lord, and I know many times preachers have little catchphrases: “I’m not going to keep you very long,” and “I…I know it’s warm in here,” and so I’m very cognizant of that, and so I…I want to just…I want to talk today on an obvious subject that everybody expects preachers to talk about. We’ve been in the book of Mark; we’re not going to be there today. We’ve been going verse by verse, word by word, phrase by phrase, hitting every part: the high parts, the low parts, the difficult parts, and the easy parts. And that’s what expository preaching should be. I…I believe, and I’m a firm believer, that Bible preaching should actually come out of the Bible. But today, in lieu of the resurrection, in lieu of the empty tomb, I…I do want to preach on the resurrection, but perhaps in a different context, from a different way than…than many times we understand. Because we know that Jesus rose from the dead, and…and what that did theologically. Romans chapter 4 teaches us that we are saved, that we are justified because of the resurrection of Jesus. What good would it do us to serve a man that’s still in the grave? Can I get a witness?

I was sitting some time ago with my dear friend Yitshak Mamo, who is a…a very high-ranking rabbi in Israel, and we were talking about the Messiah, the Messiac as they call him. And he said, “You know, we don’t disagree on the Messiah; you just happen to know who he is, and I don’t.” And so we began to talk about the gospel; we began to talk about the resurrection. If you’ve ever been to Jerusalem, you will understand why they think this way; they have the mentality that all Christians in America have a Catholic upbringing, because everything in Jerusalem is covered with a Catholic shrine and a statue of Mary of some sort. So I began to talk to him about the one Christian site that is there: the garden tomb, the empty tomb. And I said to him, “What type of a believer would I be if I did not believe that Jesus actually got up out of the tomb?” He said to me, “Pastor Lok,” he calls me “Pastor Lok,” he says, “You don’t talk like average Christians that I’ve talked to.” I said, “Dear sir, we at our church are far from average; there is no doubt about that.” And so if you were to go today to Jerusalem, you no doubt would see an empty tomb. We know that that brought about justification; we know that brought about an understanding that we are now in rightness, in correctness with God. Uh, we know that Jesus did not, nor could he have stayed dead; for if Jesus stayed dead, it’d be no better than Buddha or Muhammad or Confucius or Mary Baker Patterson Glover and All Points West Steady of the Christian Science Movement, which is neither Christian nor scientific. And word tells me that they buried her years ago with a telephone, but I promise you she’s not answered it in 40 years. Jesus is alive. We understand the theological depth; we understand the…the concrete importance. It is the…the fundamental crux of who we are. If you were to boil all of Christianity down to the two most important, the…the two most fundamentally divine moments in history that you cannot take away from the gospel, it would be the virgin birth and the empty tomb; the two most powerful moments in the history of the world, and we happen to be a church that believes in, practices, and preaches on both of them. Can I get a witness?

So we understand Jesus is alive, but I want you to go to Philippians chapter 3 this morning for a few moments, because although we understand that hell shook the day that Jesus got up, and although we understand Mark 16 and John 20 and John 21 and Luke chapter number 24 and Acts chapter number 1 and all the passages, Matthew 27 going into Matthew chapter 28, all the passages that explain to us what happened on the day of the resurrection…Very often, especially around this time of year, we hear about the impact of the resurrection as far as heaven and hell is concerned, and it is a heaven and hell issue, because Jesus is not one of many ways to heaven; he’s the one and only way to heaven. John 14:6, he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me.” If you trust anyone to get you to heaven other than Jesus, you cannot go. Do you understand that fact? I understand that puts me in a bigoted line of narrow-minded preachers, but Jesus was the most narrow-minded preacher on the planet, because he said, “Broad is the way that leads unto destruction, but narrow is the way that leads unto life, and few there be that find it.” My grandfather used to say, “Pastors should be so narrow-minded when it comes to Jesus that a gnat could land on the bridge of their nose and kick both eyeballs out at the same time.” That’s narrow-minded, and when it comes to Jesus, he’s the only way to the kingdom; not one of many, not one of a lot; he’s the one and only way. It’s the exclusive claims of Jesus, and that puts us in a different category. I recognize that fact, but all roads may lead to Rome; all roads do not lead to the kingdom of God.

So we understand that without the resurrection there is no hope, but the question then must be asked: What personally and privately does the resurrection of Jesus Christ do inside a believer? You see, there was power, wonder-working power in that tomb that day, in which Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and others came to anoint him, but he was already gone. And they said, “Who’s going to roll away the stone?” But it was already rolled away. And the stone wasn’t rolled away so Jesus could get out; the stone was rolled away so we could look in. Over 2,000 years of church history, and know that the tomb indeed is empty. And he said, “Don’t be afraid; don’t be afraid. This Jesus of Nazareth that you seek has risen from the dead, as he had said. Go to Galilee; tell the disciples, and tell Peter.” And for the next 40 days, Jesus, in the passion of Christ, reveals himself to the people. But the question then becomes: Yes, the powerful tomb moment; yes, the angelic presence; yes, Psalm 22, when he said, “Many bulls of Bashan—the demons of hell were trying to keep Jesus from dying on the cross—but even when he died, they thought they had won, and they thought they had triumphed, but the last enemy to be defeated and destroyed shall be death.” And in that moment that Jesus was resurrected, he put his divine foot on the neck of the enemy, and he fulfilled Genesis 3:15 and said, “I will crush the head of the serpent.” And we shall and can be delivered from darkness, because Jesus is life and light more abundantly. But the question again then becomes: If all of that is true, and it is, what does an empty tomb do for an empty life? Notice, if you would please, Philippians chapter 3 and verse 10. This is what I would consider…I can’t theologically prove this; I believe this was the life verse of the Apostle Paul. If we were to resurrect Paul on Easter morning, set him in this lectern and say, “Okay, tell us from the pulpit, what is your life verse?” I believe he’d tell you Philippians 3:10. Now, before I read Philippians 3:10, don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, let me say this: He just took the first few verses to talk about what his past looked like. You know, it’s interesting that we don’t think of it often, but the reason they call a guy like me pastor is because my job is to put your past where it belongs: behind you. Your windshield is 10 or 20 times larger than your rearview mirror, because you’re not supposed to be looking in that direction. And he said, “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” All of us have a past, but make sure it stays in your past and doesn’t develop itself into your future, or now into your present. I know sometimes we think to ourselves, well, you know, I don’t want to glorify my past; I don’t want to talk about my past. Did you know the Apostle Paul, even here in Philippians and four other times—on five occasions—shout five—not one, two, or no…no…no…five times the Apostle Paul said, “This is what Jesus did for me. I was a murderer; I crucified people; I would go into villages and do all of these manner of evil and wicked and vile things, and I did it in the name of God.” He said, “I would burn down villages, and I would steal people from churches and synagogues and he would see them burned.” He saw literally Stephen stoned to death and held his clothes and never got over that in the early chapters of the book of Acts. And yet, when you open in Philippians, he begins to talk about, “I was also religious; I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.” What he means by that is, look, I was a Baptist amongst the Baptists; I was a Pentecostal amongst the Pentecostals; I was a Church of God amongst the Church of God. He knew the Bible, but he didn’t know God. And the American church is filled to overflowing with people that have a form of knowledge of God, but deny the power thereof. They’re book smart, and they’re God dumb. They’ve grown up in flannel; they’ve been water-baptized; they can speak in tongues; they’ve had somebody prophesy over them, but there’s never been a divine change in their heart. And when you come to Jesus, there’ll be a difference in your life. When you repent and believe the gospel, oh, you’ll fall all over yourself; you’ll backslide; you’ll do some stupid stuff. Somebody said the only reason the Pope thinks he’s perfect is ‘cause he’s not married. Okay, you will do some stupid stuff, but at the end of the day, if there’s never been a change of heart and a change of mind, you may have walked an aisle, signed a card, and prayed a prayer and got in a Duncan booth, but you’ve never been what the Bible calls born again. ‘Cause when you get born again, it’ll change your habits; it’ll change your lifestyle; it’ll change your mouth; it’ll change the people you hang around; the places you go. There will be a divine metamorphosis that takes place. You won’t be perfect, but yes, you will be different, because all things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The word “new” in that terminology means new in quality. You see, Jesus changes the quality of a person’s existence; he changes the quality…Hey, listen, I didn’t say he changed the quality of the worship music; not the quality of the elegant, you know, charismatic post…no…no…no…he changes the quality of your life from the inside out. And may this resonate with our changed, transformed spirit man today.

So Paul took all of these verses and said, “This is who I used to be.” He said, “I was a synagoguegoing, church-born, knowing-Bible-totin’ man my whole life, but did not know the grace of Jesus Christ.” May…may not be your Easter story, huh? Listen, I get it; I know…I know on Easter we’re supposed to preach woke sermons; we got to have these ridiculous advertisements to get everybody…You know why we don’t put out advertisements for Easter? Because we know visitors are going to show up, ‘cause if you got a mama, she’s going to drag your tail to church on Easter, basket or no basket, right? And so don’t fall into the Americanized trap of thinking that you sit in the glory to make you think that you have the glory. You can sit next to salvation and still go to hell; you can walk with Jesus for three and a half years and still betray him with a kiss in a garden. And so Paul says, “I was religious, but I was lost. I…I knew about the things of God. Matter of fact, if you take our religion in comparison to Saul—the Apostle Paul’s religion—ours pales in comparison. This guy knew the goods. To this day, go to the wall; to this day, go to a synagogue, of which you have to have a personal familial invitation; to this day, walk down to Jerusalem on the streets with me and see the people walking…walking with their Bibles, reading them as they go. They’re bookin’…I call them Russian Jews, because they’re always Russian…praise God! And I mean, they’re reading…read…they go down to that wall, and here they are screaming, crying. I’m thinking to myself, if Christians would pray that way one time, one day in their life, we’d turn this nation upside down for the glory of God. America’s so casual and comfortable and lukewarm in its nonsense. We get back…Oh, look at them people full of Judaism. They have more spirituality than most of us combined, and they’re still waiting on a Messiah that we know already showed up. What is wrong with us? What is wrong with us? I mean, they’re down there in mass, but we have a little worship service and people like, “Huh, what’s them flags all about? I saw somebody fall plumb out in the floor.” It don’t take all that; it takes all that and then some. Sign me up! It takes all that and then some. Okay, so now after he’s given the red-carpet treatment to his past, notice what he says in verse 10, that…that you see he’s referring to this; he’s referring to the fact that he was lost. Faith in religion kept him lost; faith in Jesus secured his salvation; his justification…here’s a fancy King James word: his propitiation. You know what that means? The satisfaction of the wrath of God. Jesus put a smile on God’s face when he was angry at sin. How’d he do it? What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And he said, “Because of that, because of faith in the gospel, the death, the burial, the glorious victorious resurrection, because of that, here’s the reason we are saved.” Get this out of your mind, dear friend, that God saved us to take us to heaven; that’s just on the bottom of the receipt. We get that for all of eternity. If God saved you to take you to heaven, you’d have went to heaven the day you got saved. God left you here because you are saved to serve. I’ll say it again: He left you here because you’re saved to serve, not sit. So sour. And so he says that…watch this: “I may know him; not that I may know about him.” I shake hands and hobnob with people all over the world—sad to say, even influential pastors—that have a knowledge of God; they know about him, but it’s obvious in their lifestyle they don’t know him. The rate and the level—we don’t have time to get into this—but the rate and the level of prophetic exposure that’s happening already to the body of Christ should shock us to the core, because everybody talking about heaven ain’t going there, and that’s a biblical fact and yet a sad reality. Of course, I’m saved; I did that when I was three, when I was six, when I was nine, when I was 12, when I was 15…blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…It’s called born again, not born again again and again and again and again and again and again and again. And if you’re born again, you’ll live different with the second birth than you did from the first birth. Am I making sense? And so he says that, “I may know him.” There’s a passion, by the way…You ever met somebody that’s passionate about something? You cannot stop them with a forklift; it doesn’t matter what you put in their way; they will barrel through it. And I hear people all the time, “Oh, yes, I’m so passionate for the things of God.” And…and they walk around and they’re timid and they’re shy, and there’s no real joy and there’s no real spiritual spiserum about them, and they’re half in and they’re half out, and every now and again they read their Bible; the pastor says something about fasting and they look at their watch because they think what that means is how fast can we get to the Chinese buffet. And it’s just where we are. And…and people hate guys like me when we prophetically call out, “Oh my goodness, y’all are just being mean! What y’all ought to do is just preach more like Jesus!” What they ought to do is read a Bible for 15 seconds, ‘cause I’m trying to tell you exactly how Jesus preached. They killed the man because of what he said and because of what he did. For never a man spake like this man spake. If you are born again, you will have one objective in life: know God passionately. Won’t be any of this, well, you know, I…you know, I just don’t believe in all that Bible-reading stuff. What? You can binge-watch Netflix till 2:30 in the morning and still get up and go to work, but…but get crooked-backed and sideways when the preacher says, “You know, you ought to…y’all to read a book of the Bible this week.” See how quiet it gets when I say things like that. Y’all about to sweat as much as I am. I’m just talking about reading the Bible. Listen, Paul said the purpose of salvation was to not have a knowledge of God, but an intimate knowing of God; to know that he both hears and answers my prayer; to speak every day with the God that allowed the sun to rise. The heavens declare the glory of God. If your Christianity is boring, you are late to the ball game, because you are doing it wrong. I get to talk to the creator of the universe every day. Well, you know…so-and-so ignoring me…whoopy-dee…God will never ignore you. You get to talk to the God of the universe. I don’t care who unfriends you on Facebook; he’ll never leave you nor forsake you; he’ll never walk out on you when the whole world walks out on you. I don’t care how many haters you have; Jesus will never be one of them. And he says that, “I may know him.” But here we go: “And the power of his…” What? Of his resurrection. Now, I’m not an English scholar; I do well to preach and heal, Billy, but I understand the structure of the sentence. When he says, “That I may know him,” and the word “and” is a bridge-building word to what he just said, meaning by that, I want to know this, and I want to know that. Make sense? He says, “That I may know him, and (in parenthesis) that I may know the power of his”—not our—resurrection. What we talk about power of the resurrection? Yes! And Paul just said, under Holy Ghost inspiration in the Bible, that the same power that resurrected Jesus some 2,000 years ago in a garden tomb in Jerusalem is the same power that dwells not just in this building, but inside my body right now. Help me, Holy Spirit! The same power that allowed Jesus to come out of a tomb…He didn’t just swoon; he didn’t just pass out; he died; he was buried; and the spirit of God, Romans 1:5, declared him powerfully to be the Son of God by the resurrection of the dead. And the same power in Romans 1 that resurrected Jesus is the same power 33 years ago this past week that entered my body at the Metro Baptist Church on Neil’s Bid in Nashville, Tennessee, when I walked an aisle and said, “Tonight I want to be set free and saved by the grace of Jesus Christ.” And at that moment, whether I realize it or not, whether I recognize it or not, or whether at almost 49 I’ve yet to appropriate it or not, the facts are the facts: The same power that pulled Jesus out of a tomb is the same power that resides in my bloodstream right this second, and you can’t take that away from me, no matter how much you hate what I’m saying. That’s the facts. The prophetic power of the resurrection for Jesus is the spirit of prophecy; Revelation says…Think about that. Why is it after his resurrection does he say—and we’ll get there eventually in our verse-by-verse study of Mark; it’ll be a long time because we’re still in chapter 1, six sermons in—but nonetheless, when we get to chapter 16, the resurrection has transpired; he’s revealed himself to Mary Magdalene…Maria Magdalina is her name…and he reveals himself to her, and she becomes…buckle in, guys, you ready for this?…a woman becomes the first eyewitness apostle to preach the gospel after the resurrection. So put that in your religious pipe and puff…puff…puff…puff…puff…puff…puff…puff…puff…that a woman was the first apostolically anointed preacher of the gospel in the Bible. Uh, that’ll preach…but another time. So you have this whole story of the resurrection in Mark 16, but you know what happens after the resurrection? Power of Jesus…when he finally reveals himself and he’s getting ready, Acts chapter 1:11, to go to heaven, he looks at his disciples and he says…uh…uh…”These signs shall follow them that believe.” Now, I know for many, many years I was a strict cessationist pastor; this church was a strict cessationist; we did not believe in the gifts. Wasn’t no shandela; none of that was going on up at his house, right? Wasn’t no demons screaming; wasn’t any reason for him to…you know why? ‘Cause religion suppresses demons, but authority drives them out. And so he says, “Because of the power of the resurrection, I now put power in you that believe.” Not that behave; not that I have behavior modification; not that just carry a nice English Bible…no…no…not the apostles; not the disciples…no…no…those that believe. If you believe, shout, “Yes!” The Bible says, “These signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall you cast out devils; you shall speak in unknown tongues; you shall take up serpents; if you drink any deadly thing, it shall not harm you; you shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall recover.” The same power that got Jesus out of a tomb is the same power that flows through my body right now. It’s the same power; same power; not a different power; it’s the same power. He said, “I want to know him and the power of his resurrection.” If you don’t have Holy Spirit authority, don’t blame me and get mad and leave the church; that’s on you, not me. God gave you authority, not your preacher. People like, “Well, you know, I…I got authority because the preacher laid hands on me.” You got authority because the Holy Ghost lives inside you, whether I lay hands on you or not. There’s power in the placement of the resurrection inside me. Now, let me just jump down here…it works good for him, so it works good for me. Praise God! Them kids don’t bother me; I like them walking around in the glory of God. Amen. And this…it’s pretty glorious up here; you ought to come touch it sometime. But nonetheless, listen: The power of the resurrection refuses to allow you to live in your nonsense. Now, do I believe in deliverance? Absolutely! I believe in deliverance. Back in my Baptist days, I thought deliverance was nothing more than a Burt Reynolds movie. Praise God! But I understand deliverance. But listen to me: Sometimes we…I’m careful how I say this…sometimes we overspiritualize deliverance ministry, and you’re talking to a deliverance minister; I get it. Listen, do you understand it ought to be the most natural thing that happens?

After salvation in a Christian's life, you ought to walk into a Walmart and agitate people because your spirit agitates their spirit. Well, you know I, I just don't believe in all that. Well, you come tonight at 6 o'clock and see if you don't believe in all that you see. Here's, here's the real deal. It's not that you don't believe people need deliverance; it's that you believe you don't need deliverance. Ding ding ding ding ding. Winner winner chicken dinner. Happy Easter, huh? That's the issue. You don't deny the power of the name of Jesus; you deny that you're so good you don't need it. Right? So sometimes we overspiritualize it. Deliverance, deliverance, deliverance, deliverance. Healing, healing. Listen, deliverance and healing is our portion because the power of the resurrection lives inside me.

I used to get so tore up and think to myself, "Oh, I just Lord, give me a word for somebody. Lord, give me a word for the church." 66 books of them, Lord, they'll give me a word, give me a word, give me a word, right? I, I would see your father prophesy, right? And uh, I, I, I would watch him on these videos. I'd be like, "Lord, make me like Kim Clement. Make me, make me have a prophecy, Lord." And the Lord said, "You know what? You got the same resurrection power on the inside of you that he did." But why, why I always got to pray for a word? All I got to do is walk up to you and just start telling you what God's putting on me, and a word will just spew right out of me. We have the prophetic word of the resurrection on the inside. We have the prophetic word of the resurrection to see people set free from demons on the inside. We have the power of the resurrection to see people healed from cancer on the inside of us. Demons should stand at attention, not because of who we are, but because of what we carry. When we walk up into a room, and I've said it before and I'll boldly say it again, you're a revival carrier or you're a revival barrier, but you won't be both at the same time. I want to carry the glory of God, carry the presence of the Lord. Why? Because there's the power of the resurrection on the inside of me. So do I believe in what we're going to do tonight? Wholeheartedly, or I wouldn't do it.

My question is, what, why you have to have me lay hands on you and argue with some evil curse and spirit that you have when at the end of the day you have within you the ability to lay down your addiction without Warehouse Global Vision Bible Church? You don't have to have Come Out in Jesus Name movie. You ain't got to have a bestselling book. You got to learn to walk in the authority that God's already given you. You can defeat addiction because the power of the resurrection is on the inside of you. You ain't got to be me. Up, you ain't got to be peeled out. You ain't got to be an alcoholic. You ain't got to stay sick. You ain't got to be diseased. You don't have to be depressed, not because Greg Locke says so, the resurrection says so. There's an empty tomb that's provided healing, cuz by his stripes we are healed. And we think, well, you know, it's just cute, let the church world be demonized. And dear God, there's some demons in church. We just think it's cute, let everybody be sick. You know, Jesus saved us so that we could die unhealthy. Listen, your power doesn't come from a good workout program, and I got one, he kicking our tails every day. But your power doesn't come because you suck protein and barley green shakes. I pray you don't, but nonetheless, your power don't come because you can do more push-ups than me. Your power don't come because you got a membership to the YMCA. Your power doesn't come cuz you go to Planet Fitness once every six months. Your power comes from the resurrection. You know what keeps your home together? Power of the resurrection. What keeps our young ones on track? Power of the resurrection. You know what keeps this church doing what this church supposed to be doing? Power of the resurrection. I mean, if you listen to the haters, we should have been gone a long time ago. And I'll be honest, there's been times I thought, "Dear Lord, maybe we should have been gone a long time ago." And the Lord says, "Oh, no, no, no. Here comes the glory of the Lord." And the Lord's like sweeping through the room, and I'm like, "Here we go."

Just when I'm ready to quit, God says, "Here I come. Here I come." Kind of like that maniac of Gera in Mark chapter 5. I don't want to get sidetracked, but that maniac there, remember he was all crazy and buck wild? Remember what Jesus said to the people on the other side of the, of the uh, the Galilee Sea? He said, "Look," he said, "I want you to leave everything you got right here, and we're going to go over and talk to somebody." Now they didn't know who the somebody was because Jesus don't tell you what's going to happen when you get in the boat because more than likely you wouldn't get in it, right? But they got in it. The Bible says they came to the other side, which is going to happen because Jesus said, "Get in, we're going to the other side." If Jesus said we're going to the other side, the devil can sink it to the bottom, he'll make a Holy Ghost submarine, you will make it to the other side because God said you would. And so they get to the other side, and guess what they find? They don't find a crowd of people; they find one man that's got a legion of demons. One man got a legion of demons, and Jesus is able to set that man free with just one simple touch because Jesus understood the principle, and the principle was he was willing to leave all of the multitudes. He was willing to leave all of the big offerings and the big billboards and Jesus is here signing Bibles and t-shirts and CDs and cassette albums if you know what that is, right? And so here he was, he said, "Get in the boat, we got to go over here and we got to talk to one individual because Christianity always focuses on people, persons, individuals." You see the world of religion focuses on masses of people, groups of people, the whole battalions of people. Jesus said, "No, we're going to leave all the groups of people to go and deal with this one man." And when that one man got exactly what Jesus wanted him to have, remember what he wanted to do? He just wanted to blurt it out and testify, and Jesus shut him down. He's like, "Uh-uh, you don't run up to gang plank on my boat. Go back to your friends and your family and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee." And the Bible says he departed and began to publish the word. Publish, very interesting word in the Greek, not trying to impress you, trying to help you, but the word literally has the idea of newspaper reporting. He went out and said, "Extra, extra, read all about it." You go believe the transformation God did in my life. He did it for me; he can do it for you. And the Bible says that all men did marvel. And every miracle you see Jesus perform in the Bible, you can see that because of his power placed into other people. We don't get to just walk around complaining and being average. We are temples of the most high holy God of the universe, and how dare we walk small instead of walking tall and saying, "Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world." If God be for us, who can be against us? Yay, do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why are we so fearful? Jesus said, "Where is your faith?" And the moment you get saved, all of that power that Jesus touched blind eyes, raised people from the dead, touched deaf ears, stirred up demons in synagogue services as we saw in Mark one for the last couple of weeks, all of those things the Bible says becomes the portion of the people of God. The power of what we call this Easter celebration, the power of the resurrected Savior is right here. Put your hand on your heart, lay hands on yourself. You hold the power of the resurrection. That should bring us to humility. We, we don't get to walk around, did you hear what the preacher said? Uhuh. It's more like, "Wow, did you hear what the preacher said? God put power inside me." That's church right there. That's church.

Daniel Webster, one of the great masterminds of generations gone by, they came to him one day and they said, "Mr. Webster, we believe that you are one of the greatest scientific mathematical minds in the history of the world. Is, is there anything that bewilders you, Mr. Webster? Is there anything that shocks you to your core? Or shall we ask it this way, what is the greatest thought that's ever coursed its way through your brilliant brain?" And without hesitation, Mr. Webster looked at the man asking the question and he said, "God lives in my body." God lives in my body that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. I don't have to live casual. I don't have to live defeated. I don't have to live in a lack of deliverance. I don't have to live in anxiety and stress, nervousness, heaviness, depression, addiction. I don't have to live in those things. I choose to. Because in choosing to stay there, you are choosing to ignore the power of the resurrection. This is just kind of coming to me, so let me just say this. Last night we had something interesting happen in the prayer meeting. This is, I, I get it, this is a decoration, this little rock. For those of you that don't know what that rock is in the pulpit, it's very significant. It's a step from Pentecost where Peter preached the message 2,000 years ago. And so last night we were up here praying for our 6:30 prayer meeting, which I highly recommend. It's become one of the highlights of the week of our church, just agonizing before the Lord. It's beautiful. So I was up here and I, I was praying, and, and I, I grabbed a hold of this, this rock. Just, I just put my hand on it like as I'm talking right now. I can feel the subs in the bottom of the floor. So the music was playing, right? And we just have soft music. We, we dim the lights, and we got a big thing up on the screen that says, please, you know, carry on conversations out there, and we just, we just pray. Just talk to the Lord. People aren't talking but to the Lord. And so I'm praying, and it was interesting, and I, I get it, it's just a rock. I'm not talking about some miraculous deal, so don't misquote me online. But when the music was playing, because obviously so much of it comes from underneath this platform and these speakers up here, when I, when I grabbed a hold of this rock, I said, "Honey, you ain't going to believe this." Come. And I started calling people from all over the room and had them grab that rock because what was happening is the rock was pulling the vibration from the room, and you could feel the music in your hand through the rock. And I was like, I'm about to fall out in the glory of God over a music rock. And my wife says, well, you know the Bible says the rocks to crawl out, and I said, yeah. And so I, I was, I was kind of holding on to that rock, and I, and I could feel, and I know it was just the music and it was the, you know, the, the sub, we call them subwoofers, whatever. I know it was all that stuff under there, but I could feel the vibration coming through that rock, and I was like, that is fantabulous. And it was so prophetic. And now I'm preaching, and I'm thinking to myself, that is the way that we are to conduct the power of God. We're to pull that power, that resurrection power that we have within us, and when people get around us, when people shake your hand and hug your neck, they should know you're not the same person anymore. There's a frequency, there's a vibration about you. I've been around so much evangelical fake, I could vomit. But if you carry the glory of real resurrection power, you'll never have to make up stories and fake stuff. You hear me? Got quiet. I'm gonna say something. I'm not going to give no names. I ain't got time to do all that. I ain't fighting people. There's a very well-known preacher, and I don't know this secondhand, third hand, no, not the real deal, take it for what it's worth. Very well-known preacher, a healing evangelist who I believe God has used to no doubt heal some people. It's because of their faith in the power of God, not the power of man, okay? But some years ago, he started using a technique to build people's faith, so he would put hot pepper on his hands, and then he would put his hands on their face. He say, "You, you feel the glory of the heat of God rising?" I'm like, "No, I feel like you about to give somebody heartburn up in his hood. Praise God." Now I say all that, say this, I don't know what other people do, and I don't care. I know what I'm going to stand before God for, what I said and what I didn't say. But we are carriers of resurrection power, and if you think I'm gonna fake it till I make it with a Jimmy Carter smile, put cayenne pepper on my hand to make you feel like you got the heat of the Holy Ghost, you got the wrong one. It's either real or it's not. I either believe the words of this book called the Bible or I don't. And if I do, because he's alive, I ought to be living, not just existing. And the church world is full of people that exist and they don't live. And we have resurrection power flowing within us. Now I don't have time to develop in the text all that I want to say. It's getting warm in here, and I can feel it. But I do want to say this. I'm one day I'm gonna get my red button, beep, and I'm push it, and the piano says, go. Look, I didn't have to push it, he started making his way this way. Praise be unto God. You say, "Why do you have the pianist come?" Because if he don't, you going to be here a long time. That's my cue to stop circling the airport and land it so you can go to lunch with your family, okay? But hear me, I love to preach on this part right here, the power of the resurrection, and rightly so. We've got it. We've shouted about it for 30, 40 minutes, but there's only one way you get it. Notice what comes next, and something else he said. I need to know the fellowship of his sufferings. Everybody loves the empty tomb, but nobody likes the crucifixion. Everybody wants to be praised, nobody wants to be spit on. Everybody loves the glory, nobody wants the glory. But you don't get resurrection power without afternoon crucifixion. You see, everybody wants the power, nobody wants the process. But if God gives you the power without the process, it'll ruin you. You'll disrespect it. You'll use it in a way that is not authoritative but in a way that's filled with arrogance and pride. You see, although within us contains the resurrection, the power thereof, the power of the glory of the Holy Spirit resurrecting Jesus from the grave in Jerusalem 2,000 years, it resides in me. But that which gives it permission to flourish is when God crushes me, when I submit, Matthew 10:38, to take up my cross daily and die to myself. We live in a year and a day and a decade in a century self-indulgence, self-indulgent, do more for yourself, love yourself, love yourself. We even call them selfies. We're full of our self, and God says, "Here's how you force out the power of the resurrection: you crawl on a cross and you die to yourself." Because everybody wants the power of the resurrection, but nobody wants the sufferings of the crucifixion. But you don't get one without the other. You don't get one without the other. Of course, everybody wants a growing church, a blue check mark, big YouTube page. Not against those things, not against influence, as long as you don't subtract it, replace it for authority. But you know, sometimes all the things that we seek, God knows that if he gave them to us now, they would circumvent our walk and they would destroy us because there's not been enough self-denial and death to self. You see, God, he has to change the packaging because if the packaging cannot contain the glory and the power, then the glory and the power will destroy the container. Am I making sense? So God changes the container. People leave church, new people come. People walk out of your life, new people come in. God keeps you up at night, your heart breaks, your friends walk away, you go through some tragedy, some accident, you question God six ways from Sunday, you get all sideways in your spirit, and God says, "I'm doing what you asked. I'm preparing the packaging. I'm creating a proper container, a containment unit because if I give you now what you think you want so bad, it'll dissolve and destroy you. So I have to stretch you." And once a year, for some odd reason, the church deems worthy around the world to talk about an empty tomb when it's empty last week, next week, and the week after. But what we fail to recognize is the power that got Jesus out of a cool tomb 2,000 years ago is power that very hotly resides within us now. And if we want to be able to walk in that power, then we're going to have to submit to the process and say, "God, I'm going to allow you to crush me so the oil can come out. Not going to fuss and cuss and be mad and regurgitate insults at God when things happen. No, no. If I'm going to pray for power, I'm gonna buckle up, and I'm going to submit to the process, and I'm going to walk this thing out with God. It's not fun, but it's interesting."

Case in point, I can spend 30 minutes preaching on the crucifixion, and we shout and raise hands all over the building. I can spend five minutes or on the resurrection. I spend five minutes preaching about the crucifixion, and everybody's like, "And that's okay. I like it that way." You know why? Everybody wants the one without the other. Why couldn't you start it with that one and then land it on the resurrection? Well, you know all these visitors are here. Yep. See you next week. I told you before, I'll tell you again, I'm not spending the next 50 years of my life trying to keep a crowd. Could care less. I don't have to do Easter weed smoking videos, Mr. Georgia. I'm just going to preach what the Bible says. I, I don't have to have a big show and a big shind dig, right? I'm just going to get up and say, "You want power?" Okay, here's how you get it. Get on a cross and understand the fellowship of difficulty, the fellowship of his sufferings, the fellowship of temptation, the fellowship of persecution. Yay, that all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall, shall suffer persecution. My troubles have come and my troubles have gone, and more trouble is on the way. One thing is for sure, my troubles endure, for my trouble will meet me today. So often I've tried just simply to hide my face from its long gazing stare. Yet running my best from east to the west, I find that my trouble's still there. From dusk until dawn my troubles roll on, and it seems like my troubles won't end. But then as I look in the words of God's book, I find there that troubles my friend. And what sort of pastor would I be if I promise you power but I limit your ability to use it because I don't tell you that not everything in life is going to go your way? That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and, and, and the fellowship of his sufferings, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I'd already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after that I may apprehend that for which I'm also apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. Be thus minded. And if in anything you be otherwise minded, God himself shall reveal even this unto you. What is Paul saying in the remainder of this passage that I choose not to preach on? He is saying that if you are going to be blessed, you are going to be broken. How's that for resurrection day? If you're going to be blessed, you're going to be broken. Would you stand all over the room for a moment? People have already begun to come even before I've said something about it. What about it, sir? Right now. What about it, ma'am? What about it, visitor? What about it, young person? Why don't you begin to just make your way out right now and come to this altar and say, "God, today, oh, how I want the power of the resurrection to flow freely through me. But God, I submit to the cross. I submit to death to myself, denial of what I want in life. I'll submit, Lord. I want to know the fellowship of your sufferings as well as the power and the glory of the empty tomb of your resurrection. I want to know you, and because of that, I want to make you known as I'm becoming to know you." More all over the room right now, just begin to come. Just begin to come. Just begin to come. We'll release folks to worship here in a moment. Just begin to come all over the room today. God, would you bless us? Lord, would you break us? Would you bend us? Would you mold us? Would you make us? Would you make us less of who we are by nature and more conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 8:28 and 29. God, today, may we be people of authority, may we be people of the power, people of the passion, but people of brokenness. Real, genuine, authentic, no made-up, no fake smiles, real, non-double-minded, non-hypocritical, walking in the genuine power of heaven because we've submitted our life to the cross. The world behind me, the cross before me. No turning back. No turning back. Though no one join me, still I will follow. No turning back. No turning back. God baptizes us in such a commitment. God baptizes in such a, a moment in which we will say, "Yes, Lord, I will die to myself so that I can live for Jesus." Just come. Just come. Just come. Tonight we'll be praying for folks for healing, for deliverance. This is your moment just to come clean with the Lord and say, "God, I want to be so used. I want to know you so much, but I'm willing to submit to the process, to the difficulty, to the pain, to the persecution, to the misunderstandings of life and others." Come on. Come on now. If you're in the room today, maybe you're praying, you can certainly take your time. But if you're here today and you've never been water-baptized, you know you're saved, you've done what I said a moment ago, you've repented, you believe the gospel, but you've never been born again, or, or you've been born again and you've done that, and you know for a fact, not because church said, not because Greg Locke said, but because the Bible says you know you're saved, but you've never been baptized in water, you know the Bible says it's the next step. It's the step of obedience. We're going to have some folks over here, and Miss Billy and the crew is getting ready. We'll get you a name tag, we'll get you a towel. We got a pastoral staff that'll be willing to help you today. If you've never been water baptized, would you begin to just line up to my right, your left, and we're going to water baptize. We'll do it tonight also in the deliverance and healing service and our supernatural Sunday night, cuz I believe you need to be water baptized if you're going to go through full deliverance. I believe that. But just begin to make your way over to my right, your left, and we're going to water baptize those that want to follow the Lord and believers baptism. Those that are here, just continue to pray. Just continue to pray.

If you need prayer today, specifically, slip your hand up. We will pray over you. I know tonight we'll be doing that for a long time; it'll be the main emphasis of the service. But if you just can't wait and you need prayer today, then make sure you just slip your hand up, and people will come to you. We'll begin to lay hands on you and pray. If you're going to be baptized, please slip over that way.

I want to say this right now, as we're bowed before the Lord. I want to say this; I want to ask you this question all over the room. All over the room, is there one person? I'm not going to give you a microphone; I'm not going to come to you; I'm not going to pull you out of the crowd; I'm not going to embarrass you. You have my word as a gentleman; I'll require nothing more of you than that which the Holy Spirit does. That's it. I'll—all I'll say is thank you or God bless you. I will not embarrass you.

Would there be one person here, anywhere in this room? Anywhere in this room, one man, one woman, one young person, one child? Would there be somebody who would say, "You know what, Pastor Lo, you are speaking my language because I've never truly been saved. I've been to church, and here I am on Easter Sunday, big American Sunday in the church world, but I've never been born again. I've never truly been saved. I don't know what it means. I want to know for sure that I'm saved. I want to know that Jesus has changed my life and my world like you preached about a moment ago. I want God to change my past and resurrect something in my present. I don't want to go to hell; I want to go to heaven. I want to know Jesus and make him known, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure that my sins have ever been forgiven."

Now listen, I don't want you to embarrass anybody, but I wonder if there be some person anywhere in this room, while some are lining up, while some are praying, would there be one man, one woman, one person in this room, whether you've been here many times or the first time, who would say, "I'm here today, but I've never trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and today, right where I'm at, the best I know how, I want to do just that right now in this room." If that's you, anywhere in this room, I don't want to overlook one of you at all. Just slip your hand up high enough so I can see it. Thank you so very much. You may put it down. Anybody else? Thank you. Thank you so much. You may put your hand down. Anybody else? Thank you, my friend there in the middle. Thank you. Thank you to my left. Anybody else? Just slip it up high. "Preacher, I don't know, but I want to know." I don't know, but I want to know.

Now listen, I'm not a magic man; I'm a Bible preacher. I don't have any pixie dust and hocus pocus I can sprinkle on you, and a prayer didn't leave heaven and die for you, but a person named Jesus did. But the Bible says if you'll call on the name of the Lord, that you shall affirmatively, you shall be saved. Not because of what you've done or what I've said, but because of what Jesus has done for you. There is no method, methodology in these words. You could pray a prayer a thousand different ways; it's not the prayer, it's the person. But if you slipped up your hand and said, "Preacher, I am not sure that heaven's my home, that Christ is my Lord and Savior; I do not know for sure my sins are forgiven, but I want to know right now," then where you stand, sir, where you stand, ma'am, I want to help you carry on a conversation with God, but it's from your heart. The Bible says you believe in your heart, you confess with your mouth. You believe in your heart; you confess with your mouth. And right where you are, if you slipped up your hand, I want you to say something like this: "Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner, and I know for my sin I deserve hell, but I believe Jesus died for me, took the payment of my sin, and today I receive that payment. I repent of my sin, and the best I know how, I accept you, Lord Jesus, and you alone as my Lord and my Savior. Forgive me of my sin, save my soul, change my life, and I trust you and you alone by faith to take me to heaven when I leave this earth, in the name of my savior Jesus."

Now listen, if you just ask the Lord to come into your life, to transform you, could we rejoice with you, sir? Could we rejoice with you, ma'am? If you did that, would you slip your hand up high all over the room? Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you, Father. Today, just continue to work in this house as people are being baptized. Thank you that we're able to welcome new people into the family of God—not the family of the church, the family of God. Lord, thank you for these that are praying. Thank you, Lord, that tonight at 6:00 demons are going to manifest and flee; healing is going to transpire; sickness, disease, infirmity, generational curses are going to leave tonight in Jesus' mighty name. Prepare this room, prepare this altar, prepare the sound system, prepare the music, prepare our hearts, prepare every seat for what's going to transpire later this evening. Father, we thank you that the tomb is empty, that Jesus is alive forevermore, and because of that, he holds the keys of death and hell in his hands, and you have triumphed gloriously to give us life, not more redundantly, but more abundantly. And Lord, we praise you, and we honor you in the mighty name of Jesus. Would you lift up the Lord in this house and just give the Lord a shout? Give the Lord a shout. People can continue to pray; folks are lining up for baptism. We never have an official dismissal; we just say we'll see at the next appointed time.

Men, for you that's 6:30 in the morning. Listen very closely. You know that Thursday night we begin with my wife, the Encounter the Glory women's conference. We have over 800 women signed up and registered. There's no Wednesday night; there's a lot of paving the way this week to get to Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and closing out on Sunday. So no regular Wednesday night service. Everybody that's going to be working here through the week, you already have your responsibility, so no Wednesday night. But men, we will see you in the morning at 6:30 right here in God's Warehouse. Get around, love each other, hug each other, continue to pray. People are going to be baptized. We love everybody—our hubs, our campuses, our live streams; we appreciate you so much. Make sure you love some people on the way out. Bring somebody with you tonight to the house of the Lord, and we're going to have a glorious time. And we will have a meet and greet service tonight before mass deliverance. I'm not going to do one now, simply because I want to have dinner with my family, like you do. All right, so I love you guys; we'll see you tonight at 6:00.