Heroes in the Body of Christ | Pastor Jentezen Franklin

look with me in matthew chapter 27 for just a few moments this morning as we begin to turn our hearts and our minds toward calvary and toward jerusalem the city where christ died and rose again from the dead as a church as a ministry as the world begins to approach passover and begins to approach the resurrection celebration of jesus christ i want us this sunday to begin to go there we will continue to focus for the next two weeks after today but i'm going to the story of the resurrection because there are some things that i want you to see that can change your life look in verse 57 of matthew chapter 27 and when the evening had come there came a rich man from arimathea named joseph who himself had also become a disciple of jesus this man went to pilate and he begged for the body of jesus then pilate commanded the body to be given to him and when joseph had taken the body he wrapped it in clean linen cloth laid it in a new tomb which he had hewn out of rock and rolled the large stone against the door of the tomb and departed and mary magdalene was there and the other mary sitting opposite of the tomb and when the evening had come there came a rich man from arimathea who himself was a disciple and had become a disciple of jesus christ i want to talk to you for a few moments today about how to be a hero because the man that i just read about in the scripture certainly would fit that description i love the fact that the bible points out that this man was a rich man he was not a preacher he was not a prophet he was not a uh some person who was just in a spiritual office of the church or the temple work he was a business person he was a businessman he was a very successful businessman and he had become rich according to the scripture and jesus didn't turn him away he was rich and he was a disciple of jesus christ and he was a businessman and i want you to notice something else the timing of his appearance he came at evening time he came in the night he showed up and he used his prestige he used his money he used his influence he used his fame he used all that life had afforded him not for himself but he went where no one else could go into sea pilot the only reason he could get an audience was because of all of the success that he had had in his life it gave him the power and the authority to go where other people could not go the followers of jesus were just common people fishermen and different people who worked every day normal jobs but this man understood i have been given wealth i have been given prestige and power not for my own only but i have been given this position an opportunity at this strategic moment and he went at night time to beg for the body of christ it had been crucified and cut down from the cross and the body of jesus was there and he begged he begged for the opportunity to get involved with the body of christ most of the time when people become rich and famous and have everything that life can offer them and money can buy they seem to forget more and more about god and you have to beg them to come but this man was different the more god blessed him the more he begged to get involved with the body of christ now i know we're talking about the physical body of jesus but paul calls the church the body of christ and he did not the more that god blessed him with riches and financial uh prosperity he did not cause his heart to stray father but it actually caused him to step up and the timing was critical he came at evening he came an evening you know we hear a lot about heroes right now we we we thank god for the heroes in our communities the doctors the nurses the first responders the amazing police officers and people who run to the rescue and you know you you just hear these amazing stories and even the tragedy that we saw in atlanta this past week where the precious asian people were attacked by a man out of his mind and killing and all of that but there's always heroes who surface in moments like that in dark moments and in in dire times if there's heroes i think of the heroes in our community i think of heroes that have stepped up in this church and have done amazing things to help us feed the hungry and all the things there's so many heroes but what i think you need to see in this story is this man joseph of arimathea came at night that's so important he came at night he came late to jesus he came when jesus had nothing to offer him his body was lifeless his body was not performing miracles like it used to do it was not raising the dead and opening the eyes of the blind it was not attracting tens of thousands of people coming from everywhere just to hear the words that he would speak there were no words coming out of the mouth of the body of jesus it was scarred it was marred it was bloody it was gory it was not a anything attractive he was like a lamb that was led before the slaughter it was it was ugly it was not anything that you should be begging to get involved with but this man was a hero because he came in the night he came in the night when when the when the crowds were not around where was blind bartimaeus he wasn't there where was the demoniac that got set free from 5 000 demons he was not there where was lazarus he got raised from the dead but he was not there oh he was there when the crowds were there and the sunshine of miracles they were all there but now when christ when the body of christ needed someone's assistance and someone's help their steps out of the shadows a businessman who said i can be a hero in the in the night i can step up right now and i can use my influence and what god has trusted me with and i can be a hero and i can provide a place for the body of christ in my city all of them should have been there that vulnerable moment after jesus had been crucified and died and his body was just laying there in a pool of its own blood but only one man came out of the shadows he said i don't have to have a band played i don't have to have the spotlight i don't have to have big crowds noticing me and what i'm doing i'm coming in the night i'm not doing it for the applause of man i'm not doing what i'm doing and and giving what i'm giving i'm not doing it so people will see oh wow he's really something i love the fact that he was a hero that came at night under the cover of darkness doing what he did but had he not done that i would argue that that maybe the role of this businessman was more critical because had they not put that body in that tomb the story would have gotten all messed up about the resurrection of jesus the gospel is no good if you don't have the story of the resurrection and who did god trust who did god lean on to take care of that precious body until it could be moved from a death position to a resurrection position oh a businessman a man who got up and went to work every day he didn't get up and go to the temple he didn't get up and go and and do things in full-time ministry he was a businessman he said i don't need the crowd god wants to transform us from consumers to contributors from getting a blessing getting a blessing to being a blessing from always receiving when we come to church to giving of ourselves to heal the body of christ which is not our buildings it's our people he did not come in the morning a blessing or the midday manifestation of miracles he did not come when jesus was manifesting supernatural success but he came when jesus body was its most vulnerable and needy joseph of arimathea rendered a simple service to jesus christ rooted in faith rooted in faithfulness and during this pandemic if we have not learned anything he was the only one there and if we haven't learned anything we should have learned that it is our personal relationship outside the crowds with jesus christ that is the only thing that will matter you can't just come to church and always get splash over blessings of somebody else's walk and somebody else's prayer life and somebody else's praise but the truth is if the pandemic has taught us anything it should have taught us that i must have my own personal relationship with jesus christ [Applause] i want to commend those who have been heroes in the night they begged to get involved with the body of christ we have them in this church people who who don't just come when the church can see the thing that joseph of arimathea was so powerful at he came in the night he came when the body of christ was was lifeless the deity had left and there were no miracles and there was no glory there but he said i can be a hero i can get it from the death position to the resurrection position i can help and assist and bless the body of christ and even though it looks bad right now and even though there's not glory and there's not crowds and there's not a lot of excitement i can through my faithfulness of what god has blessed me with i can give and i can support and i can take care of the body of christ i think about those who have showed up through this whole past year all of you volunteers all of you amazing people i pray and i believe that we will soon be back 100 but until then the body of christ but until then the body of christ i don't know what that is but praise the lord until then the body of christ just take it down i want to preach a minute until then the body of christ is in the night i believe globally right now the body of christ is in the night and what a moment for heroes you know who the heroes of this church will be the people who are faithful now the people who are stepping up now in the night the people who understand and love the body of christ he begged for the body when the deity had departed it was just a physical body god the holy spirit had left and gone to hades and the bible was there he was stripping hell of the of of its keys and he was he was he was going before the throne in heaven and presenting his blood on the altar according to the book of hebrews but the body was in its most vulnerable position it had no power in it it had no miracles in it it had no victory it was not extremely joyful and exciting but that was the moment when the hero in the night stood up that was the moment when he begged to get involved anybody can get involved in a church when it's packed out and you can't get the people in and it's going crazy and miracles are happening but it's rare heroes of the night in every church in every ministry who refuse to let go of it who refuse to leave it and they say i beg to get involved with the body of christ he ministered to the body of christ when it couldn't minister to him he stood with the body of christ listen carefully in the time of transition that's when he refused to be a traitor in transition just because the church goes through hard times and just because the church goes through seasons where it looks like the miracles have left and the blessings have left that's not the time to back off of your commitment that's when you can become a hero in the night because i promise you he said i'll build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail the church will have a comeback the church will move from a death position to a resurrection position and the only question is who will be the heroes in the night time until the light comes back [Applause] the body of christ is what we should attach ourselves to in the night whoa i just said something the joseph of arimathea came at night and attached himself to the body of christ when it looked it's worse when it had the least to offer him personally that's when he came running like a hero and he said i'll defend this place i'm not going to let the animals and the predators have this body i prep i'll fight i'll fight for i love this body i'm begging for this body please give me that body i'll make a donation to your campaign pilate but you need to give me that body and he gave it to him [Applause] he loved the body of christ the heroes are the ones who refuse to defect who refused to quit during the downtime notice the body of christ had a downtime every church has a down time every ministry has a down time every person goes through a downtime every believer has down times and it's the body of christ it's the heroes who come running to us not when we're on top of the world but when all hell has we've been crucified been through i'm so tired of the church just loving people when they're heroes and when they're successful and when they're doing all kinds of stuff we need to love the people who who who have hit rock bottom we need to love the people and attach ourselves to the people in their down time when they have a relapse when they mess up that's no time to turn our backs on the butt we're the we need to be heroes in the night and say come on now you got to get up i can't let you i know it's bad i know you're going through something but you're not alone i love you it's who we are every church every believer every ministry experiences down times just like jesus had a down time who will be the hero in the night lord i want to be a hero in people's night i want to be the person who runs not just to people when they're on top of the world everybody likes a winner but i tell you i believe god likes people who hit rock bottom and they don't have anybody that's when you find out who really loves you that's where the real heroes step forward and say whoa whoa whoa now you can't you you say you said enough about them i'm just going to stand here and i'm going to defend the body of christ it might it might be marred it might be bloody it might look bad right now but they're still in the body they're struggling with an addiction they're going through a rough time but come on let's circle them let's rap let's be heroes in the night and say you can't have what's left hell because god's going to bring a resurrection and a comeback in that person's life and i won't give up on it everybody take a praise break if you know that god is the god in the down times like he is in the up times those same thousands and thousands of people that were there in the up times oh jesus jesus jesus jesus he's here and he's walking through our streets oh they're there but when he's in a down time none of them except the businessman he said i don't need the spotlight i don't need the attention but boy i love the body of christ so much i don't care how bad it looks i will not let hell have it that's when you become a hero when others walk away you don't learn how to be a friend don't just love people when they're winning don't just call people when they're on top of the world but you need to love people when they when they're in their down time that's what you never forget that phone call in your downtime you never forget that day that that person had you on their heart and they nailed you with a word from god and put it in you never forget that and it's not about you it's about showing the love of jesus because that's who the body of christ is we're called to lift up the hands of the weary do you understand that the body was defenseless do you understand that predators would have ripped that body apart jackals and hyenas and wild animals and buzzards they would have ripped that body to pieces i know that it's not powerful joseph of arimathea said i know it's not performing miracles like it used to i know it's not on top of the world like he used to be i know that people aren't talking good about him anymore but i'm going to defend the body of christ right now because i believe there will come a comeback and there will come a resurrection and now i shall preach [Applause] this is a time ladies and gentlemen for us to defend the church defend the body of christ don't let anybody talk bad about the kingdom there's so much we we're made fun of as christians we're made fun of because of the gospel that we preach now we're facing cancel culture if you get up and preach from genesis 19 romans chapter one if you get up and you declare out of genesis that god made them male and female and the only marriage recognized in heaven is one between a man and a woman then suddenly you're a bigot suddenly you are this and that i'm not mad i'm not angry i'm just preaching the truth of god's word i'm preaching the truth that little babies are gifts from god they have eternal destiny and it's not a blob of flesh it is a life that for whom christ died and he has a purpose for them and we must stand and declare life is beautiful and life is precious and i'm tired of feeling like we're the we're the scum of the earth because they can get on the grammys and and and rub their hind ends together in a bed in front of the whole world but we're the awful awful people the body no we're not we're not awful people we are the salt of the earth we are the light of the world we are the cold and chosen for such a time as this and it's time to defend the body of christ it's time to protect the church don't let people run your church down don't let people run your bible down don't let people run your faith down don't let them tell you that any old road is better than what you've taken no it's not jesus has changed our lives he has washed our sins and we need to stand and defend the body of christ i love my church turn to somebody and say i love my church we're not perfect we're not everything we ought to be but i love my church say it again it'll make you shout i love my church i'm not ashamed i'm a church boy i was raised in church raised in under the pews raised in holy ghost services raised in music raised i love my church i don't care who likes it i don't care who that i don't care if we don't have anybody coming but me and my family i'm gonna preach and defend the body of christ he's getting wound up i sure am we have nothing to apologize for we have nothing to back up and be quiet about we have the truth the way the truth the life his name is jesus one of these days you're gonna get your empty churches because the trumpet's going to sound and we're going to leave but until then the only restraining force on the antichrist and all that is coming the great tribulation is the body of christ and you better know who you are in times like this [Applause] my heart breaks for anybody hurting so i'm not up here throwing stones at transgender or anyone in a lifestyle whether it's adultery which is just the same it's just different or fornication there's nothing in me i would defend i would fight you physically if i had to if i saw someone bullying anybody speaking ill humiliating attacking anyone we believe in the freedom to live any way you want to live that's the beauty of our nation but we do believe too in our freedom to boldly proclaim what this book teaches to our children and our children's children and hold up the word of god as the standard and we're not evil because of that don't you let anybody put you down the church the body of christ i love it don't you i love the church the bible said that jesus entered the world through the borrowed tomb of the virgin mary he entered the world in a borrowed womb a borrowed wound he exited the world in a borrowed tomb jesus said in three days if you tear this body down i'll raise it back up and joseph of arimathea was the only one to take him up on he said i believe that i don't think he was just so generous that he was willing to give that big expensive garden and tomb away he knew he said in three days he would get back up so you don't have to buy something why why in the world don't buy what you can borrow don't make permanent what god intended to be temporary and joseph of arimathea said i'm going to let him use my grave you know you may give your lawnmower away and let somebody use it but you don't let people use your grave it's permanent but he knew and that was a tremendous statement of faith he said in three days he'd get up so i believe what he said if nobody else believes it i believe it in the night i still believe in the resurrection i still believe it's coming again i still believe the trumpet's going to sound i don't care how how many people laugh at it scoff at it make fun of it i still believe the dead in christ shall rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the lord in the clouds in the air [Applause] don't borrow don't buy what you can borrow yeah we may have to borrow some disappointing moments right now but we're not buying it everybody say these words this is not our new norm now smile about it this is not our new norm i'm just borrowing it i'll wear the mask i'll be careful i'll do what i need to do i'll social distance but this is not the new norm he's moving us from a death position to a resurrection position and one more time before jesus comes this church and every church that is preaching jesus and revival is going to see god pour out his spirit in unprecedented fashion like never before we're coming back we're coming back everybody shout we are coming back say devil we're coming back world we're coming back and when we come back we're coming back stronger than we've ever been rejoice not over me o my enemies when i fall i shall rise again you believe it who wants to be a hero who can say with a heart of conviction i love my church i love my work of god in the body of christ and the end time harvest stand to your feet all over the room and would you raise up your hands and in the overflow and in all of our campuses would you raise up your hands and if you feel a little bubbling down in your soul would you open your mouth and offer god a shout not in the daylight but in the night time of our world and our nation at midnight paul and silas gave praises unto god [Music] don't just shout in the sunshine don't just shout on the mountaintop but be a hero in the night glory we're the body of christ just reach over and touch somebody on the shoulder or just look at them and do like that if they don't want you to touch them we're going to pray for one another every campus we're going to pray for one another god sees where you are god knows what you're going through lord in the name of jesus we stand together as the body of christ unite us like never before give us a love for the church like never before god touched the young touch the old touched the middle to age lord give us a passion for the things of god make us heroes in the night help us to run to people when they're down in their down time help us to be that friend that loves at all times help us god to surround and to care thank you that we can be faithful not just when miracles are happening and when it's exciting but we can be faithful in the night we can be involved and engaged and begging for the body of christ in the night time lord that's when you go through and you notice who's standing it's when it's dark and we thank you for that determination let it get in our spirits in jesus name praise the lord every head bowed every eye closed you didn't come here by accident it's in your he came late joseph of arimathea came late i mean that's about as late as you can get that body is about to go to heaven and go up on a cloudy elevator but he got in and some of you you've wasted a lot of time and you've come late but it's not too late to get into the body of christ to discover the forgiveness of sin and the power of the blood and the cross and the precious holy spirit so with every head bowed and i want true christians praying feel the burden of this moment because i sense a mighty harvest i'm lost without god i need a savior i need to engage with the lord jesus christ i need a change in my life life is life is dark but it's not too late i want to get in i want forgiveness i want to be a part of the resurrection i want to be a part pray for me if that's you i won't embarrass you but he never comes where he's not invited behold i stand at the door and i knock when i came to jesus i came for three reasons i needed a friend i needed a future i needed forgiveness he became my friend he gave me a future and he gave me forgiveness and that's what he offers you this morning but you've got to ask for it and that's why i'm giving you this opportunity pastor pray for me i need to get right with god today i want jesus to come into my heart and live in me today i want to be his body pray for me if that's you boldly raise your hand right where you're standing i want to see it all over this room yes yes yes yes amazing keep it high and unashamed oh thank you lord i love to see this praise god anybody else lift your hand high lift your hand high this is fantastic in the overflow in any of our campuses wherever you are there everybody just right now pray this prayer out loud with me would you say it lord jesus i surrender to you i invite you into my heart into my life i receive you your blood cleanses me from all sin satan get out of my home get out of my family get out of my marriage get out of my future get out of my past you are defeated you are canceled your assignment is canceled the blood of jesus sets me free from every bondage from every fear from every defeat say it i am free in jesus christ i am forgiven in jesus christ and you're an overcomer by the blood of your lamb and what you're just saying right now the words of your testimony everybody clap your hands and thank god for souls that have been saved

Channel: Free Chapel

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Length: 36min 3sec (2163 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 21 2021