Transcription
Thank you for joining us for another power-packed message provided by Monroe Global Incorporated and Monroe Global Comm. We transform followers into leaders and leaders into agents of change. We hope that this message is a blessing to you as you advance your life and discover your purpose.
Now, let's go into the message. And I wanted to begin with a scene that all of us are afraid of: the cemetery. Do you know it's cheaper to buy your plot now? So why didn't you buy it? I know why, because we are afraid to think about death, and we believe superstitions that if we buy the plot, we'll use it quickly. We try our best to postpone this. But I want to speak today on the topic, please write this down: Kingdom Without Boundaries. This is Resurrection Sunday. Kingdom Without Boundaries.
I want to focus on understanding why Jesus was resurrected. Everybody say, "Kingdom Without Boundaries." Say it again, "Kingdom Without Boundaries." May be given a couple of thoughts. I believe that the greatest gift God ever gave man was the gift of life. We all would agree with that. When the Lord breathed into man the breath of life in Genesis chapter 2, that was the greatest gift He ever gave us. He gave us life. But He has a paradox. The greatest gift God ever gave man after that, the second greatest gift was the gift of death. I call this a paradox. The greatest gift He gave us was what? Life. And the second greatest gift is what? Death. Now, you may ask why? Because man lost the life that God gave him, and the only way to get the life back was death.
And so, the third statement is very critical. It's from the book of John chapter 10, verse 18. Jesus said these words: "No one takes my life. No one kills me." He says, "But I lay it down of my own accord, of my own will. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it back up again from the grave because this command or this promise I received from my Father." What's important here is to always remember that Jesus Christ talked about death a lot, but He never left it a death. He always made sure He added the last sentence: "That is coming back again." It is the coming back that's tough for everyone on earth.
Christmas is celebrated as the birth of Jesus, but that's not a big deal, except of course, He was incarnated. But everyone in this room and watching this live television program, you and I were born. So being born, everyone participates in that, even if you were born by spiritual manifestation. Secondly, the fact that Jesus lived is not really the major issue because all of us are living. The fact that Jesus died, even though He died for humanity, we all will share, unexperienced death. The only thing that He did that we cannot claim is He promised to come back.
Here's something to remember: Calvary made the resurrection inevitable. The death of Jesus made the rising of Jesus inevitable. I used to be afraid of death. And being born in Bain Town, you had it will fear because if you walk across a grave, you had to spit on your finger and hold it in the wind until it dried. Anyone know about that? And if you step over a grave, they say your feet were rotten off. I was so afraid of death that when I saw a funeral, I'd run to see the band, but run away from the hearse. The fear of death is in our culture, and yet it was death that made the resurrection inevitable.
Here's something that makes it a little clearer: The resurrection of Jesus was the greatest evidence that man's sin was solved. I'm gonna prove that today. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, the sin problem would not have been solved. This is gonna be a little deep today, so you gotta listen carefully. But if you understand it, you become a good teacher yourself.
Point number two: The resurrection of Jesus was the greatest promise of hope beyond the grave. If He did not come back from the grave, we would have no hope.
Point number three, very simple: The resurrection of Jesus was the greatest proof that death lost its power. Death is very powerful, and if you, and if you ever had a loved one die, you know what I'm talking about, especially if you went to see them at what they call the wake, and you see them laying in the casket, and they look like they're still there, but they won't talk to you. And sometimes you talk to them and touch them and cry over them, and they will respond. Death has so much power that it makes sure they can't respond. But the resurrection of Jesus is proof that that power, the death had over your mama, your daddy, your cousin, your husband, your wife, your baby, that power was broken.
Some people don't believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. I can find you many scriptures to show you where it was prophesied that He will rise from the dead. But you will see on CNN, and National Geographic, and NBC, ABC, and Fox Network, and all the other networks, this whole day, they're going to be discussing whether the credibility of His resurrection is real. And man has a right to do that, I guess, speculation. But there's a problem with Jesus that you cannot figure out. He predicted everything before it happened because He was living in a prophecy. He was living out a prophecy. He was actually a prophetic manifestation.
Here's what the Bible says about Him. Now, most of you have read the scripture before. If you read the Bible about the coming Messiah, and this is a prophecy made by Isaiah. And Isaiah in chapter 53 prophesied about the suffering servant. And in that chapter, where we read where He was bruised for our iniquities, He is, He was chastised for our sins. And, and but you wonder, did Isaiah prophesy the resurrection also of the Messiah? Let's read it together. Isaiah chapter 53, verse 10. Read: "Yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days." That means even though He is dead, He will rise to see His offspring. It's a prophecy of the resurrection. "And the will of the Lord will prosper in His hands." Look at the next verse, verse 11. Read: "After His suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. He will come back."
Now, when Jesus said to the disciples 2,000 years later, He said, "Look, I received this command from my Father." He was talking about this statement right here. God promised me that if I lay my life down, I will still see the sons that I bear. I'll come back and see them. He said, "I am convinced that if I die, I'm coming back."
Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me just say this. You know, if you decide that you read the Bible and you're gonna pretend to be the Messiah because you are somehow mentally convinced that you know you could do this, do you realize that you could claim to be born of a virgin if you may not know that? You could claim to be a holy man, a holy woman. You could, you could do that. You could claim to even die for us. You can actually go, you know, get yourself killed. You can do that. But would you take a chance to tell people you're coming back? See, that's the trick.
Now, could you imagine, please listen to me carefully, that's how we know that Jesus knew He was the Christ. It was that last statement: "I will come back." You don't take chances dying hoping you come back. The fact that He repeated it over and over again. Matter of fact, let's just read what He says in the book of Matthew 16. This is hundreds of years later after Isaiah. He says, "From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be what? Killed." He told them, "He will be killed." And on the third day, He says, "I will be raised again." It's that part that proves He was the Messiah. Anyone can say, "I could die for your behaviors and I'm coming back," and then you don't come back. So your everything goes and take a chance because you ain't sure you're coming back. But He kept on repeating it. "They gonna kill me and I'll be back. They gonna kill me." And in three days, He even timed it. "In three days, I'll be back." The resurrection is confirmation of His Christ position. He was the Christ, therefore, He was the greatest of all humans.
Matthew chapter 28, please read together. Verse 28. Read: "After the Sabbath, at the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb." Verse 5 of Matthew 28. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for who? Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; He is risen, just as He said." That's important. Angel says, "Look, we ain't telling you this, He told you that." That separates Him from everybody else. Read the next statement: "Come and see the place where He used to lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will what? See Him." Now, I have told you, angel says, "Go." This is Jesus Christ fulfilling the Word of God. Everything that the prophecy said about Him in the Bible, He fulfilled it, even to the greatest one, the resurrection.
Look at Matthew 16:13. Everybody read together: "When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?'" This is going to be the heart of my message here. Please don't miss this one. Now, I had to set this up for you because you got to understand that why the question is important. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle were the greatest Greek philosophers in history, and they are still affecting us today. As a matter of fact, the Bahamas is ruled by Plato and Socrates. The United States is being ruled by Plato and Socrates because it was Plato and Socrates who invented the idea of democracy. It's a Greek word, "democrat." "Democrat" there is a Greek word invented by the philosophers of Greece in their debate concerning rulership and government. So every democratic country is actually being ruled by the Greeks' mentality.
Now, Aristotle and Socrates and Plato also discussed kingdoms. And if you read their writings, which I did in college, I was intrigued that they studied kingdoms. Matter of fact, there were many kingdoms before the Greeks, and the Greeks did have a kingdom. But these philosophers studied how do you rule effectively? And they invented the idea of democratic. Now, one of the things that they studied was how kings ruled. And here's what they discovered. Listen carefully, please, otherwise the Bible don't make any sense to you. They discovered that a king ruled in the reverse way than democracy. For example, in democracy, you vote the leader in. The people vote the leader in, and then the leader chooses a cabinet, then the cabinet counsels the leader. That's democracy. Everybody got that? Are you sure? I'm gonna say it again. In democracy, the people choose the leader by voting. The leader appoints the cabinet, and then the cabinet counsels the leader.
In a kingdom, it's reversed. In a kingdom, the king votes for the citizens. Crisis, you didn't choose me. I'm okay. So in a kingdom, the king chooses the citizens. Number two, in a kingdom, the king chooses his cabinet, but the cabinet is chosen not to counsel the king. The cabinet is chosen to execute the king's will. In the kingdom, their job is to take the king's desires, translate them into legislation, and make them laws in the kingdom. So the people actually obey the king's mind through this group called the cabinet. In turn, the Romans implemented the Greeks' idea, and that group was called the Senate. Please hear me, please. Some of y'all missed this. The Senate in Rome was King Caesar's group that executed the will of the Emperor throughout the entire kingdom. That's why Rome was a kingdom. The group, when Plato and Aristotle was discussing this, the group that the king appointed to carry out his will, they invented a word for the group. Now, the Greeks existed before the Romans as far as an empire. And so the Romans stole all the Greek ideas and made Rome powerful. The Greek ideas, the group that the Greeks described as chosen by the king, they invented a word. Write this way down. This is, this is a Greek word. I'm giving you a Greek word. An exact Greek word: E-K-K-L-E-S-I-A. That's a Greek word invented by the Greeks. What's the word? Ecclesia.
Interesting. The word "ekklesia," when you translate it into English, the English word, write it down: C-H-U-R-C-H. Was that spelled? Church. Take a deep breath. Okay, listen to me carefully. We got a lot of politicians in here today, and I want them to take this with some education. See, "ekklesia" is not a religious group. It is a political agency of a king. It is the state. They got problems now. Alright, here's why the question is important. The only person who can appoint an "ekklesia" is a king. A prophet cannot have an "ekklesia." A priest cannot have an "ekklesia." A teacher cannot have an "ekklesia." Only a king can have an "ekklesia." You're hearing me?
So Jesus, now it's three-quarters into His three-year ministry. He's getting ready to wind down. And He did a lot of work with these guys. He, He taught them and taught them the kingdom, the kingdom, the kingdom, the kingdom, the kingdom. He sees His time running out. He said, "Look, I gotta make sure before I leave, I establish my government." So He turns to them. He says, "Look, who do people say that I am?" Because who I am determines what I am qualified to do. Some of y'all ain't get it yet. That's why the Muslims, they call Jesus in the Quran a prophet, that disqualifies Him from having a kingdom. The Hindus call Jesus a wisdom teacher, that disqualifies Him from having a kingdom. The Buddhists see Jesus as a wise man, that disqualifies Him from having a kingdom. This is why every generation in history cannot deal with Jesus and identify Him. Every generation. And whatever you call Him, that gives Him the qualification to claim some things. He is only a good man, then He really can't help you because everybody's trying to be good. He's just a wise man. Your professor in college is wise too, and your professor can help you.
So His question is very important. He sits with the students and He says, "Look at the question again." He says, "When He came to Caesarea." Caesarea was one of them, like the resort cities that were built by Caesar in his own honor on the beach in the Mediterranean. We've been there before. It's a beautiful area. Matter of fact, the ocean around that looks exactly like the Bahamas, and in the beaches, beautiful white bits are nice in that area, in Caesarea. So Jesus Christ is in this area where there's a resort, and the king owns it. It was just like Atlantis in the Bahamas, beautiful area, and the king built this as one of his outposts where he goes to enjoy vacation. And Christ sees all this power, all the splendor of Caesar, and He sits with His disciples in a meeting and He says, "Who do people say I am? Am I shall before I leave?"
Now, look at the answers, and each answer disqualifies Him. He says, "Some say you are who? John the Baptist." That means you're just a prophet in the in the wilderness. He's okay, I can't start nothing with that title. Anybody gets me? Young people, you feel me? He said, "Look, if I'm just a prophet, I can't stop this thing." "Some say you are Elijah." That's still a prophet. "Others say you are what? Jeremiah." That is still a prophet. He ain't gonna fight to have no kingdom nor any "ekklesia." "Others say you are just another prophet." He's disqualified. So He stops. And then the next verse says, He turned to them and said, "What about y'all?" Now, this, this is the clincher here. If y'all get this wrong, He says, "It's over for me. That means my classroom didn't work out at all. My school didn't produce students that made sense to me." "Who do you say? What is your conclusion about me?" I walk on the water. I talk to trees. I speak to fish. I cast the demons. Cleanse the leper. Dead. I think I fed 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and fish. I did some stuff here. I forgave sins on the spot. You all know understand how powerful that is. The only way to get your sins forgiven in those days is to go to Jerusalem once a year and take a lamb. The guy did it on the spot, right in the village. That was, "I am the temple, glory, hallelujah. And I am the lamb, and I am the blood right here." He said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you," and you ain't gotta go downtown to Jerusalem. That's why they got mad. "It's the only God can forgive sins," they said. He says, "You're right. That's who I am." He was telling them without even guessing about it. "I can forgive sin because I am God. Y'all got to go visit God to get your sins forgiven. I am God and I forgive sins right here in this village. Who do you say I am?"
Now, watch this. They did not know. Am I right? They didn't. They still didn't get the revelation. So Peter, Simon Peter, hey boys, hey Peter, write the word Peter down. This word is important. Peter, that was not his original name, okay? His name was Simon. Jesus named him Peter. You remember that? The way Pete is important here because a lot of people get this mixed up here. Peter answered, quote out loud, please say it: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Now, remember, there were many Christs around before Jesus and after Jesus. Matter of fact, that's why we got so many religions. Every religion is founded by it. Some of them says they was a Christ. Muhammad believed that he was a Christ. Buddha was a type of Christ for the Asian people. But notice, Peter didn't say, "You are one of the Christs." Read it carefully. He said, "What? You are the Christ." Which one? "The Son of the Living God." A lot of gods they did.
Now, this statement is the key to resurrection power. Oh, Lord have mercy. Go at me now. Stay with me. He says, "Look, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus said, "You didn't know that?" Matter of fact, yes, what Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Peter. The way blessed me is happy in this particular place. You should be happy, Peter. Happy is my boy, Peter, because you are Jonah's boy." That's your daddy. Your daddy is Jonah, and boy, Jonah got a smart fella. He got it right. He's excited for Peter. He's a Peter, you somebody got it right. He says, "But then he says, don't take the credit because you didn't know that answer." Read the next verse. He says, "That was revealed to you by heaven itself. You are the Christ. You are the Christ."
And then Jesus makes a statement that is political. He says, "Upon that statement, men, we call it the way it's written here, it says, 'I tell you that you are Peter.'" It was a Peter case, important word. "And upon this rock, I will build my." The word there is "ekklesia." He uses a Greek word in a kingdom government, which is a group of people appointed by the king to carry out his will in the king's territory. We translated as "church." Church is not a religious group. I know what we've been taught. I know the way we've been brainwashed. But when I sat in my college class and reading the original language, I became angry at religion because they, they didn't, they mistaught me. This is why the church has been backed into a corner and separated, some, some compartment of the country. You ever have them say this? "Tell the church, stay out of this. This government business." Let me tell you something. The church is government. Although I'm trying to get this to you in America, they got problems in America because they're telling you that there's a separation between church and state. The word "church" is state. I think what they should say, honestly, is this: "We can separate early state from heavenly state." Now, that's a better description, but they're both states. Let me give you an example of how this works out. Okay? Hey, buddy, still hanging with me? All right.
Jesus Christ is not a religious man. Remember, He ain't no prophet or nothing. He is Messiah. I better do this first, okay? He's Messiah. Now, do you know who arrests Him? When He was arrested, He was not arrested by the Roman government. He was arrested by religious temple guards. Wrong police. Y'all know understand what I'm talking about? Please shake yourself a little bit. Get this peace. If you ain't qualified to arrest me, that's an illegal arrest. Now, if I was a religious man, you could send a religious soldiers to arrest me. My religious, religious court. So they arrest Jesus. This is so exciting. And they took Him, not the government, they took Him to the high priest's house. That's another religious center. And then the high priest called the Sanhedrin Council. That's a religious group. And they got the king in the wrong court. He's standing there. You wonder why He answered wrong courtroom? You understand? Jesus, they shouted at Him, they slapped Him, spat on Him, they cussed Him out, and He just said not a word. Why? Only all illegal. I'm talking to none of y'all. If I talk to y'all, I'm gonna give you credibility. You're incredible. This is the wrong court. From everything on top, I can answer your wrongs. On jewelry, wrong police. Come on, somebody. I'm a politician. You don't arrest me with no church guards. He never said a word. The high priest became angry and said, "Let's take Him to Pilate." Ha ha. Crisis artists getting excited now because you see Pilate was governor of the Roman region of Palestine, where He was in charge of that colony. He now be getting to talk to echo see ya. Yeah, yeah. I mean, He stood before Pilate. Now, notice Pilate's words. Pilate never said these words, "Are you a prophet?" Cause Pilate knows if He's a prophet, He shouldn't be in front of Him. Come on, y'all understand the case. What's going on here? So Pilate's question was, "Are you King?" Cause I only deal with politicians. Come on, somebody. "Are you a king?" He's answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. For this purpose was I born." He says, "That's when Pilate stood up straight. We got ourselves a different court here. This, this man is a dangerous man. He ain't no prophet. This man is a politician." And then Jesus began to talk because now is the right courtroom. But it says, "Do you know I have the power to take your life if I want to because I'm wearing the ring of Caesar? I could kill you or give you your life back." Jesus got so excited. He's finally in the right room. Jesus said, "Pilate..." [Applause] "...let me quote His answer. He says, 'Pilate, you could have no authority over me except it was given to you by my government in heaven.'" And then He threatened Pilate. He says, "For even now, I could call 10 legions of angels to deliver me out of your hand. But because I'm using you to kill me, shut up and do your job.'" Give God a praise for a king talking. Hallelujah. That was the right.
So this question, "Who am I?" is the foundation of everything. If I'm just a prophet like Muhammad, then I ain't nothing. I can't help you. If I'm just a miracle worker, I'm not qualified to have a kingdom. If I'm just a teacher like all them great teachers in history, like Buddha, Muhammad, my live here, Lisa, laugh, sorry folks, you're God. He says, "I'm just one of them. I can't help you." That's why I am so frustrated that we have taken Jesus and reduced Him to Christianity. Christianity is just one of the big four religions. How dare you bring Jesus Christ in the category of Buddha and Muhammad and Confucius and having them compete with them? He created them. But religion has diluted Christ and made Him a prophet. And if He's just a prophet, all of us are helpless.
He said, "Peter, upon that statement." What statement? "You are the Christ." "I will build my 'ekklesia.'" Now, here's the great part. "And the gates of Hell will not be able to stop, overcome, hinder, resist my 'ekklesia.'" Or is the powerful segment? Let's follow this. Get your pen. Write this down. This is important education. If you don't bring anything to write on, get a Bible, turn to Malachi, and between Malachi and Matthew, there's a blank page. Write on the page, okay? This is important stuff. Because you see, this is where the Catholics begin to get a little problems here. If you were Catholic, I know your background. My study Catholicism, and I know where your theology comes from. In this verse, the Catholic orientation here in theology is that Christ was speaking to Peter. He was not talking about Peter. Okay? Here's the Greek word for Peter. It's a Greek word, "petros." The word "petros" is the Greek word which means little pebble, little pebble, small little rock. Yeah. Now, the other word He used for rock is the word "petra." It's a different word in Greek, and it means boulder or mountain. So we got two different words being used here. Now, if you were to read this in the original language, here's how it would read. This is why people get in problems with translation. It reads like this: "Simon, you are rock, and upon this rock I will build my 'ekklesia.'" As I will read in the original language. Now, notice two words are the same. "Simon, you are a rock, and upon this rock I will build my church." So it sounds like if you just read it without knowing the difference between the two rocks, you'll think He's building it on Peter. In two different words. Come on, bishops, Catholic bishops, tell the people the truth about the two words. Come on, write me letters. The two different words. One means a pebble, the other means a big mountain. He says, "Peter, you are surely a little rock, but upon the big boulder you spoke, I'm gonna build my government agency." Tell you never you sitting next to one of the staff. Ask your neighbor, where you working? Tell him, "I work for the government." Understand what you just said. "I work for the government." Man, the oxen never how did you become employed? Ask them, "Answer them, I was appointed by the king." You have another brain city. Nobody voted for you. By the way, let me tell you why it's important to him to remember that a lot of folks around you don't like you. So they're the vocal comes in. You would never make it. Thank God the King chose you himself. Come on, give Him praise. I tell you, He appointed you. He says, "So He's talking about this, this boulder." "You are the Christ." Remember, rock means foundation. He says, "The foundation on which I'm gonna build my cabinet is the fact that I am King, because I'm qualified." Matter of fact, the word Christ is the word "Christos" in Greek, and it actually, I took it right from the right from the, the, the Greek lexicon. It says "Christos" means a king of Israel. It is, it talks about "kuriōrula." The word Christ means anointed ruler, anointed king. When Peter says, "Dharwad Christos," not "a Christos," "the Christos," "you are above all the others." Jesus says, "Ha, gotcha. Upon that, I get to establish my country, my government, my, my authority in the earth, and I'm gonna select you guys to be in my cabinet."
Now, let me take some real cabinets in the kingdoms. Remember, you don't counsel the king. In part, you know, in democracy, you could sit in the cabinet with the dry medicine, all your fossil raw, and convince him to change America. I think in the, in the kingdom, ain't no discussion. You show up to work just to carry out orders. You know, quiet on me, okay? Listen, the church is supposed to have no opinion of homosexuality. You is not no opinion of gambling. The Bible says, "He who chases fantasies shall grow poor, but he who wakes his own land shall become rich." Fantasy is inspiring numbers. Oh, you're only quoting scripture for you again. Your mother live on chance with your children's bread money. That's irresponsible. How did you legalize a responsibility? Oh, sorry for that. I'm gonna get on that. That's just some of y'all is buying numbers. Look at your eyes. Pastor Miles, don't touch their numbers. You and I represent the government of heaven, and we don't counsel Jesus. He commands us. He said, "If you love me, you will do what I say to you." Don't sing. So you love me, and they discussing homosexuality. I just closed right now. Yeah, getting quiet now, you know, but I had to please you anyhow. Enemy breach. Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. I had to please no man. I worked for government. I got to report back to my government when I finished. So I, you know, I gotta deal with that. He says, "I am King. Kings don't take counsel, they give counsel." You want to yell? Jesus spoke. He spoke in a strange way. He's talked like this. He says, "Oh, you have heard it said that thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, if you look at him and say, 'He fine.' Yeah, you say the man here caught you. If you look at her and wish she was in the bed with her, he says, 'You already committed adultery. Repent right now.'" He says, "That's the King talking. He has the right to say, 'I say unto you.'" I know what y'all discussed. He says, "But I say unto you." That's the King talking. You don't go to Jesus to give Him your recommendations. You report to Him to get instructions. That's an "ekklesia." Whenever you see what they call the church debating issues that Christ already resolved, that in the church, and in the church. And so whether you work for a company or you are in government, when you get in that boardroom and you got to make some decisions, if you represent the kingdom of God, you're not for sale. Clap loud, please. You ain't for sale. And this is where you know sometimes you wonder why organizations break up, fall apart, is because someone is so committed to their convictions, they violate what we call collective responsibility. In other words, even though I disagree, "Remi, go here. I got to pretend like I agree." In the kingdom, you don't do that. "I will leave this organization if that's what you do." That's what you say. Why? Because I didn't come to please y'all. I am reporting to a higher authority. Matter of fact, you and I only perform for an audience of one. I had a dream one night and I woke up sweating. I was sweating. Nothing about 22 years ago. So I was sweating. I mean, I was so scared because I saw myself on stage and I was performing. I was speaking and singing, and the place was packed with thousands of people. I'll never forget this dream. And when I was finished, everybody stood up, started cheering. Everybody's on their feet, shouting. I felt so excited, so proud. And then I looked down in front of me, in the front row, and there was a guy sitting down with his head in his lap, weeping. And I remember in the dream looking at that guy, and my response was, "How dare he don't stand up and applaud me? As good as I am, everybody else recognized how good I am. Who is this ungrateful member in this audience?" And I remember staring down at him from the stage. Everybody's shouting and clapping and applauding, and this person sitting there on the front row weeping. And I kept looking. I was afraid to go down. Suddenly, I turned. I remember saying, "Excuse me, sir, what's the problem?" And when he looked up, it was Jesus. I wrapped a whole knife. Never been back to sleep. And I heard these words: "If I don't get up, you're a failure." Jesus said these words, "I only do what pleases my Father." What do you do? All the girls having sex in school, and everybody clapping them up and saying how well they do it with the boys. And then you believe in Jesus, He's your king, and He says, "Keep your virginity and tell your merit." And you're sitting there, and everybody's clapping, and the other girls, the crisis clapping for you. "That's my girl. Keep yourself, girl. Keep yourself." That's my girl. And you only want Jesus to clap because everybody else gonna save you, nor help you with your sins. Give God a praise. He is King. Shout Hallelujah, somebody.
Now, write this down, please. I want you to just catch this before we wrap this up. Matthew 16:19. He says, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom." That's His next statement. "I'm gonna build my 'ekklesia' on the fact that I am King, and I'm gonna give my 'ekklesia' what? The keys of the kingdom." The kingdom means the government of the country. I'm gonna give the 'ekklesia' access to the government. Whatever they bind on earth, the government will bind. Whatever they loose on earth, the government will loose. That means if the government give them instructions, when they go to carry them out, the government will back them up. That's administration. You ever wonder why Jesus told disciples, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel of the kingdom"? And then He says, "No, I am with you always." That means I am backing you up with every instruction I gave you. I will carry it out for you. I will back you up. When you stand alone, you got the whole government behind you in heaven. And I know how it is sometimes, young people, you're the only one who ain't kissing in the dark end up in school because you love Jesus. Yeah, I know. You young woman, you ain't married and you thirty-two and you keepin' yourself, and everybody thinking you fooling, including the guy who say he loves you and don't wanna marry you. It's tough, lonely out there. But He says, "I got the government backing you up." I say, "He, He backing you up." You ain't gonna sell yourself to get no rent payment. He backing you up. If you commit yourself to the King, He will back you up. Sometimes it's tough. The hiss of my learned years ago, "You will never be completely accepted until you've been completely rejected." The qualification for acceptance is the prerequisite of rejection. You remember an event where I used to be a cult? Y'all remember that? Coming all those who knew that in the doorway, just, just, yeah, because you were part of the crew. Right now, you here. Sit. Now, am I teaching you? The government will back you up. He gives you the keys. Whatever you bind, He's there to bind. Whatever you loose on earth, He said the government will loose it on earth.
Now, here's what I want to get to. The graveyard. The last thing when He made is this. He says, "And the gates of Hell will not prevail against this government." The resurrection is proof that the country of God cannot be limited to the grave. Write this down, please. Write this down. The kingdom of Rome can only rule the citizen to the limit of the grave. How many of you know that? That the Bahamas government cannot collect taxes from you after you die? I don't care how much real property taxes you owe, once you die, they can't come after you and get that. Folks from America, imagine the IRS can only get you to the cemetery. When he gets to the cemetery, they gotta stop. In other words, all governments stop at the graveyard. Stay with me now. So the kingdoms of the world can only rule their citizens to the limit of the cemetery. Therefore, the kingdom of God, Jesus said, will transcend death and continue to rule the citizen beyond the grave. Okay, let me explain what I mean. The word that He uses, you're Hades. The word "hell." I can't explain everything because, you know, their ignorance is a dangerous thing. Okay? Hades. Say "hell." Say it loud. One of the weakest translations that you can ever read of the Bible is the King James Version. It's a very weak translate. It's a beautiful one, but it's very weak because the King James Version does not do justice to many important passages and words that are causing confusion. One of these words is the word "hell." Write the word "hell" down, please. There are three words in the Bible for hell, but in the English, they are all translated "hell," but they are all different. And that's the problem. For example, when Christ says, "I will build my 'ekklesia' upon this statement, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail," that word "hell" has nothing to do with fire. It has nothing to do with a lake. Three words for hell. First one: Gehenna. He spelled G-E-H-I-E-N-N-A. Gehenna means the place of torment. The second word for hell is the word Sheol. S-H-E-O-L. It means the lake of fire. The third word for hell in scripture is the word Hades. H-A-D-E-S. Write it down. The word Hades means the grave, the cemetery. Now, when Jesus spoke, He chose one of those words. Which one? He chose Hades. He's talking about the grave. He's talking about death. He says, "Look, my kingdom will be established on the fact that I am the Messiah, the King, the Anointed One of God." He's really throwing chairs at Rome. He's telling the disciples, "Not only y'all are victims of Rome, you being oppressed by Rome, but you will be relieved when you die because Caesar can't get to you when you go to the graveyard." His rulership ends at the cemetery. Christ had to add this piece to him. He said, "Look, I'm gonna build my government on my kingship, and my country shall have influence over this earth. He said, 'But I'm gonna rule your life and take care of you, but it won't end at the cemetery.'" Oh, that's a lot to be praising God for. That's why Paul says, "Absent from the body, you are still present." Do you know that? Present in the body, you still got absent from Him. You know He is with you now, living in you. He said, "But if you leave your body, He is still present." In other words, no matter whether you live or die, this side agrees outside the grave. My kingdom ruled both sides. Can I hear an amen? We are the only people on earth who don't have life insurance. We got death insurance. Come on, give God a praise. Hallelujah. You collect on both sides. And all, Lord, I just said something deep. Come on, help me here. I say, you collect on both sides. You realize that life insurance never been a video? But when you're in the kingdom of God, the life insurance is also death insurance because He who is in Christ, when the Trump of God shall sound, they shall be raised from the dead because they were never dead. The gates of Hell cannot prevail. Write this down. In the kingdom of God, dead cannot separate the citizen from the jurisdiction of the King. That's why I follow Jesus because I can never lose on either side. The resurrection gives me peace. It doesn't matter if I live or die. Paul says, "If I live or die, he says, I sell a victory."
Number four: The resurrection of Jesus was evidence that He, that's the King, had authority over death also. He says, "Look, my country, my government cannot be stopped by the grave. When you leave this side, you still see my authority over you." That's why you can die in peace because you ain't die, you just change sides. Absent, present. Absent, present. Absent, present. Absent, present. That's why Christ brings us hope. When my mother died, I had to be aware that she was absent, but she was also present. So my hope gave me peace. And if I die, absent, present. And I can be watching all of y'all who survived me cry. I can be peeping at you and know where no black at my funeral. I tell you now, I want yellow, pink, orange, I want purple ties. Yellow ties. Why? Because this ain't no depressing experience. With me, we having a celebration of life. [Applause] Look at your religious spirit come upon us now, boy. I can still wear my black hat. See, you still got debt control. And you praise God. And if you wear black, I can come out that grave. I got to hide you that night. I got to hide you. I can throw a rock in the house now. Okay? I can throw them dishes off the shelf that night. So you better get pink. Coming back. Jesus Christ has picked me over there. The Spirit of God, therefore, is giving us a promise. Now, here's the promise. "Therefore, I will give Him a portion among the great." Remember, He died with the rich. He was buried in a rich man's tomb. "I will give Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong." That means He can bring the victory back to you. And because He poured His life unto death and was numbered with the sinners, for He bore the sin of many, He made intercession for the transgressors, because He did that, and God says, "He will raise Him from the dead." Death is the most common denominator of everybody. Everybody dies. And the greatest equalizer of all mankind is death. It doesn't matter who you think you are, we gonna bury you. The only thing mankind cannot stop or postpone or avoid is death. See, so you might as well plan for it. Death is life in reverse, and it's nice final solution. No matter, I'm me, and somebody been to you, they can die. So yes, outlast them. Don't think what your husband or at that. They're not. I don't mean like that. Oh, your wife or something. For example, Hitler, Saddam Hussein. I mean, no matter who thinks they're tough, death is a solution. It solves the problem. They're gone. But death is the ultimate fear of mankind, and that's why the resurrection is so important. It cancels the fear of death. His kingdom is beyond the grave. Death is only an appointment, but every man must keep it. Every woman must keep it. Every child. There is nothing as permanent as death. Once you die, you can come back and tell. He comes. Nothing makes us more helpless than death. You can't bring nobody back. You touch their body, you cry over them, can't touch them. The only thing you can do with death is prepare for it. And that's why the resurrection is so important again. Jesus Christ gave His life so that you could be raised from the dead, but you got to give Him your life in return so He could live inside of you and raise you from the dead. And that's why you need to come to Christ, not to join a religion, but to secure your resurrection. God's response to death was Good Friday. His seal on death was Resurrection Sunday. I was thinking that God created man so that man could become His expression on earth. Death was created by God, but death had no power. When Adam sinned, he gave death power. And therefore, sin gives death its power. God said, "He warned Adam, He says, 'The day you eat from this tree, you will what? Surely die.'" He was surely what? Died.
All right, young people, listen to me, and this is the heart of the resurrection. Death was not created by the devil. God created death. Look at that verse. It's an important verse. Study the rest for a second. Causes Adam, "The day you eat, he was surely one died." That means death was there in the garden somewhere. There's this guy named Death that was there. God says, "You never met him before. It's the first time I'm using the word. It's the first time I'm using the word." God says, "I'm describing something." Says, "This guy named Death, he exists. Now, Adam, listen to me carefully. The day you disobey me, this guy will kill you." Right now, he can't kill you because you haven't disobeyed me. So the way you give him life is you got to disobey me. If you don't disobey me, he stays dead. So death was created. Dead. The only way to give that life is for you to rebel against God. Sin. So sin gave life to death so death could kill the sinner. So the Bible says, "The power of death is sin." Please close. Don't let miss this. So if there is no sin present, death can't kill the prison. This is why Jesus could not be borne by a man because all men are sinners. Meetings number. You, you are a marked today. You were born to die. Death was being you before you came out. Why? He was born in sin, and sin gives life to what? Death. So the way you kill death is get rid of sin. So when Jesus Christ came into the world, the Bible says, "He knew no sin." You realize Christ Jesus would have still been here 2,000 years old? I'm talking to myself. I said, "If He was still alive, dead could never kill Him." He would have been in 2,000 years old. That means He would have never grown old because yourselves die because dead is in your blood. [Applause] He would have been thirty years old, walking around, looking thirty-two thousand years old. But death couldn't kill Him. Oh, Jesus. And myself. So He came to take the power of death out of death. What is the power of death? Sin. His problem is He ain't got none. Getting ready to shout all by myself. He's enough. In order for me to stop you from dying, I gotta take out of you what's giving die its power. So the Bible says, "He who knew no sin, be He God laid on Him the iniquity of us all." For by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. But by one man. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He bore our sin. Please show up. We're gonna finish that means Calvary, Golgotha, Good Friday, canceled death's right to keep you dead. Job. Oh, grab us a table. Car. Listen to me. Listen to me. No wonder He stood there in front of that girl, Mary. Mary said, "My brother is dead." And then he was here. He wouldn't have died. And Christ says, "What are you talking about?" [Applause] The resin rich woman. The thing that killed him. I came to kill or shot before. Go. He said, "I tell you, Mary, Lazarus will rise again." Watch this now. Watch this. Mary says, "I know, but I could happen later." He said, "No, the happening is hearing you. Glory, hallelujah." He said, "Guess what? The fellow who killed Lazarus, God killed V." Coz he knows sin and me, and I can tell him, "Let my friends go now, cuz he knows it at me. I got authority over him." Lazarus. [Applause] He two days ago. Top out of you what gay death the right to kill you. [Music] So death has been rendered not non-existent, powerless. Devices. Come on, give Him praise. They'll exist, but no power. Privilege still around, but can't touch it. That's why today, the Bible says, "All those who died in Christ, when the Trump of God shall sound, they shall be raised from the dead." Because they were never dead. The gates of Hell cannot prevail. Write this down. In the kingdom of God, dead cannot separate the citizen from the jurisdiction of the King. That's why you can walk on a hid choice, dancing with power and authority. Go back to work on Tuesday. Walk inside and tell the devil, "Try your best, blue." Why? Because my sin was nailed to a cross 2,000 years ago. And death, where is your sting? Grave. [Music] Somebody on a shopping grave. Where is your victory? Jesus. Your readiness is the clincher. He destroyed death with. [Music] I feel like jumping right there. Look. Okay, see, listen to you. See, once, okay, the wages of sin, the death. Once you pay the wages. [Applause] Their daddy got no more right to demand me. Hang on. Oh, Lord. So Jesus died, and the Bible says He can never die twice. He died with your sins, so you can never stay in the tomb. Here's what I tried to say in slide number three today, but I say, death is natural. See, dying is natural. If you sin, that kills you. So rising is natural. It ain't no sin. Dead let you go. The power of sin. Power of sin. Yep. Calling you. No matter how big you are. Now, notice behold me. No I hole in this. But if I lose my power, he gone. I said, I'm on three. Don't lift me up. I said, I did. [Music] [Applause] That's Easter. Eastern's get on the ground looking stupid, and Christ out from the grave, triumphant over them and itself. Because I live, you shall live. [Applause]
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