Resurrection Power - Bill Johnson (Full Sermon) | Bethel Church

thanks you're cutting into my message time here wow happy easter because he has risen risen indeed amen what a wonderful day how many of you were at the uh the good friday service now was that just wonderful or what i honestly i i plan my schedule around that event every year all right where is it all right i'm home that week i i cannot miss that event it's just so good i don't even want to be gone somewhere until thursday in case there's some mess up with the flights you know i got to make sure i'm home for that thing because that oh goodness it blesses me so much all right i have something very important to read i've read it before but you'll understand why it's appropriate today a man and his wife his mother-in-law went on a vacation to the holy land while they were there the mother-in-law passed away the undertaker told them you can have her shipped home for five thousand dollars or you can bury her here in the holy land for 150 man thought about it for a moment said he'd just soon have her shipped home the undertaker asked why would you spend five thousand dollars to ship your mother-in-law home when it would be wonderful to have her buried here and spend only a hundred and fifty dollars the man replied a man died here two thousand years ago he was buried here three days later he rose from the dead i just can't take that chance i know it's pitiful isn't it [Applause] open your bibles if you would the gospel of john we'll start in chapter 19. i i've had a fun experience a couple times that twice in my life i had people tell me i ruined their easter and that felt so good so so encouraging it was because i didn't tell the easter story i just presented testimonies of the resurrection power of jesus i i thought that would work but apparently the story is better so we're going to tell the story today and uh give opportunity at the end once again for the power of jesus to be displayed you and i were born for the impossible and we're actually uniquely designed to walk in a relationship with god in this relational journey where the impossibilities of life can be confronted it's actually in our dna it's uh we're designed to carry that possibility of potential every day of our life the death and resurrection of christ two sides of the same coin the death and resurrection of christ are the most is the most demanding reality in all of life i remember when i was uh a number of years ago i met with a bunch of high school students and in fact it was at chris's house in his living room and i i just talked with him about this this claim of the death and resurrection of christ is so significant that if it's not true i owe humanity the rest of my life to warn them of this lie and to disprove this fallacy on the other hand if it is true i owe all of humanity the rest of my life to bring the story and demonstrate the power of that resurrection because it is it is the thing it's the thing that defines everything else all of life is defined because of this one great reality take all the confusion that exists in the world all the craziness that is going on and all of it could be settled and fixed with a clear understanding of the death and resurrection of christ every single bit of it because when jesus died he did not die missing anything he didn't forget to deal with something he didn't he didn't offer himself as an offering for part of the problem he actually became the offering to settle all the issues um i was trying to remember quote earlier eric uh sent it to me during the between here and on my way to the next service over to twin view and it's one of my favorite quotes of all time it's a c.s lewis quote he says i believe in christianity as i believe in the sun s-u-n the sun has risen i believe in christianity as i believe that the sun has risen not only because i see it but because i see everything else by it because of it i can see everything else the resurrection of christ the death and resurrection of christ redefines everything about life relationships giftings purpose dreams visions all the stuff takes on a different flavor and definition because jesus conquered death in my place and rose victorious interestingly his resurrection is actually is actually our resurrection um roman says if you've been baptized with him you've been buried in his death then you also have been raised up in his resurrection that the resurrection of christ is what's given to you the moment you're born again it's what causes us to be born again do you understand jesus didn't raise himself he didn't raise himself the spirit of god came upon him and raised him up as this testimony of resurrection so what i want to do today is i want to just go through the story we're going to take some of the the crucifixion right at the tail end and uh and then going to go into some of the resurrection story and just read to or read a few verses and i'll talk and and until we're done all right and if you get through before i do just go home all right i've always wanted to tell you that all right here we go john chapter nine open your bibles to the gospel of john the ninth chapter 19th chapter did i say 19 already once and then i just said ninth yeah you just pick and choose they're both good but i'm going to be in chapter 19 if you want to join me so i was just at twin view one of our other campuses and uh and i just was going to start reading and i didn't even tell them what book i mean what chapter in john so i accused them of just not having a strong enough prophetic anointing on their life but i repented quickly it's all right all right uh the gospel of john chapter 19 let's just go right to verse 31. jesus is already crucified says in the previous verse he gave up his spirit announced it is finished verse 31. therefore because it was the preparation day that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the sabbath for that sabbath was a high day the jews asked pilate that their legs might be broken that they might be taken away then the soldiers came and brought the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him but when they came to jesus and saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs a couple things i want to mention here first of all it was uh the prophets had declared that not one of his bones would be broken so it is essential that his legs were not broken in the fulfillment of prophetic word but what's interesting to me is that he was dead before the other two wh which first of all the guy the the thief that died with him on the cross next to him talked about coming into the kingdom at the last moment this guy this guy just make can you imagine this guy you'll see him in heaven and you'll recognize him you'll know who he is you'll know his story and he will be able to brag throughout all of eternity that he was one of those guys that came in at the exact last moment years ago we had some of our team down in the streets of san francisco they were sharing the gospel ministering to people and uh one of our directors a 14 year old girl sat down on us on a curb and there was an elderly man sitting there and she shared the gospel with him and he ended up getting born again tremendous holy spirit moment where he just came upon that man and he was so deeply touched and changed transformed she went around ministering to other people and heard sirens and followed the sirens and the sirens came back and this man had passed away since the time she led him to the lord and uh so she was there at that moment my prayer is that it would be impossible to get to heaven from reading that there would be people at the gates at the hospitals in the convalescent homes the the uh ambulance drivers all these places that really are the gateways to eternity would be manned by people who love jesus and can introduce people into that last final moment experience that's my that's my prayer for this this city but here these two guys are still alive their legs have to be broken to uh so that they can no longer push up and keep themselves being able to breathe so they suffocate when they came to jesus he's already dead why was he dead ahead of the other two personally i think it was because the weight of sin if you take the billions of people the sin you know what it's like when you've done something wrong that shame that guilt that heaviness that you feel for one thing multiply that by billions of people then multiply that by a lifetime of sin and put all of that on one person in one moment jesus who proved himself to be holy demonstrated power in miracles but also demonstrated power in holiness as talked about in romans 1. this one in that moment was crushed and literally died of that broken heart because the weight of sin wow jesus became a curse it says he became a curse on a tree referring to the cross became a curse on the tree so that you wouldn't have to bear the curse he didn't suffer and die so that you would have a good example to follow he did not bear the weight of sin so that you and i could keep a stiff upper lip and deal with our sin he bore the curse so that the power of the curse would be broken and the completeness wholeness would be available to every person in every situation it says here uh verse 34 says one of the soldiers pierced his side with his spear immediately blood and water came out i love this part of the story in the old testament i'm going to use several old testament references today in the old testament there was this uh the tabernacle of moses and it was a courtyard area outside inside was a little tinted area building with two compartments holy place holy boys get to that later as people would enter this courtyard area the first thing they ran into was a brazen altar this is where the blood sacrifices were made right past that was a labor as a it was a bowl that was made out of the mirrors of the women this is in the wilderness now out of the mirrors of women and it was uh it would contain water so here's the interesting thing they the priest would sacrifice the animal which never dealt with sin by the way it only postponed the penalty for one more year it gave them an act of obedience to be included in his redemptive plan but it never dealt with sin and so the blood would deal with sin but in this labor the priests were still required to wipe off uncleanness let me put it this way your people who live with people you get dirty you get contaminated just in relationships just by i go on social media and you can get contaminated quickly it's a very quick experience it's it's it's just available to you right it's like the kingdom it's at hand it's right within reach those you can feel uh seriously you can feel like you did something wrong you can feel that shame thing or you don't know what's wrong you feel something's unsettled but you know you ask god god what did i do wrong there's nothing to confess because no sin was com committed there's just uncleanness the scripture says we are washed by the washing of the water with the word of god i've had times uh countless times through my life where i just feel like unsettled something something's wrong i don't know what it is and i i pray i think god what did i do something wrong did i say something did i think something did i entertain did i plan something and i go through and there's nothing to confess and i open the word up the word and i begin to read and i just become cleansed i become washed in the water of the word of god blood and water listen to this passage out of zechariah 13 in that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of david and the inhabitants of jerusalem and we stop for a minute house of david inhabitants of jerusalem that would be old testament terminology that would equate to in new testament terms the community of the redeemed right so we're talking about you all us all all right in that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of david for the inhabitants of jerusalem for sin and uncleanness a fountain shall be opened that deals with the power of sin but also makes it possible to stay clean just through the contaminants that happen in life the cleanness of conscience it wasn't something that was done wrong it's just we we rub shoulders with people we are we are broken people living with broken people that are all in process and there's a contamination that takes place you can have the tv on something comes on you quickly change the channel it's too late you saw something there's a contamination these things just happen you're you're in the office and and uh not here this office but some other place and somebody tells a joke and you didn't have the chance to get out of the room in time because it's it's a defiling it's too late but it's not too late for the washing of the water with the word just know where to go just know where to go that that's where we just stay in this throughout the day we stay in that word because there's continue continuous cleansing and the word of god himself a fountain was opened up with a spear that brought out the blood deals with sin and the water that deals with contamination verse 35 he who has seen has testified his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe here's what i did in my bible i circled the word testimony and then i underlined that you may believe and i drew an arrow because testimony is always that you may believe it is always to lead to a greater faith to encounter god for yourself chapter 20 verse 1 on the first day of the week mary magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and she saw that the stone had been taken from the tomb and she ran and came to simon peter to the other disciple whom jesus loved and said to them they've taken away the lord out of the tomb we do not know where they have laid him peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb so they both ran together the other disciple outran peter and came to the tomb first i i love this part of the story let me tell you why john is the one writing this and in verse 2 he writes and the other disciple whom jesus loved john either has some issues or he lacks self-awareness or he is facing the greatest challenge to his humility not copied since moses was required to write moses is the meekest man on earth either he's an egotist or he actually chose to walk in humility to the point where he obeyed writing what he was supposed to write at the expense of appearing to be self-serving simon peter verse 6 are you alive how alive are you okay all right all right all right he's risen let's that's he's risen all right all right that works verse 6 simon peter came following him went into the tomb and he saw the linen cloth lying there and the handkerchief that had been around his head not lying with a linen cloth but folded together in a place by itself this is interesting they come into the tomb there's a place where the body was and he was wrapped in cloth but the part that was wrapped around his head was folded in a place by itself separate from the other claw there's a jew i'm told of this jewish tradition that if you went to somebody's home to eat a meal and you hated the meal but you didn't want to say anything there was a way you could fold up the napkin and put it on your plate and it basically was telling the host or hostess i will never eat this meal again and the bible says jesus tasted death once and for all the napkin was folded saying this meal will never be repeated it's been defeated once and for all verse 11. mary stood outside the tomb weeping as she wept she stooped down looked into the tomb she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head the other at the feet with the body of jesus head lane stop right there for a minute back to the old testament there was the most sacred a piece of furniture in jewish history in their uh routine sounds uh negative i don't mean it that way in their routine of worship was the ark of the covenant we'll just say this is the ark it was a wooden box that was overlaid with gold in the four corners are rings so that they could put poles in to these corners because when it was time for the presence of god to move it was to rest on the shoulders of priests david made the mistake of putting it on an ox cart and somebody died the pre the presence of the lord is always designed to rest on the shoulders of priests those who walk in that lifestyle of authentically serving him and people carry presents and that's the design but this golden box inside the box is our three items there is the tablets of stone ten commandments there is a jar of manna and there is the almond rod that budded so these three things they testify of the law of god the word of god they testify of god's absolute complete total provision in the manna and then resurrection power this dead almond branch has sprouts buds blossoms and ripe almonds so it's the testimony of how he marks us with resurrection life so these things are these testimonies are in this box on this top of this uh box this center area is called the mercy seat on both ends of the mercy seat are two angelic beings that face each other in the middle that is the ark of the covenant of the ark of the testimony every time you share a testimony you are ushering in the mercy seat of god into that person's experience where they can taste for themselves of god's mercy because his mercy rests upon this ark of testimony these two angelic beings face each other i'd like to suggest that when the disciples looked inside the tomb and they saw where jesus was laid and they saw these angels there on both ends that it was the prophetic decree that the old testament natural ark of the covenant has been rep replaced by the true spiritual one where the mercy of god is now released into the earth through the resurrection power of jesus because he is alive there is a shift in season we see this shift in season even more so in the rest of this story jump down to verse 15. and verse 14 she saw it was jesus and didn't know it was him verse 15. woman why are you weeping who are you seeking she's supposing him to be the gardener said to him sir if you have carried him away tell me where you've laid him and i will take him away jesus said to her mary she turned and said to him ravonite which is to say teacher i don't know i just like the verse i just like the fact she has dialogue with him doesn't know who he is but when he mentions her name all of a sudden everything gets put in place one of the things i pray for people often i pray for my grandkids i pray for my kids that there would be that hearing of the voice of god there's something about god calling your name there's something about god speaking to you where everything takes on definition because of that one thing and in this moment she realizes who it is he says mary in verse 16. she turned and said rabbani which is to say teacher then jesus said to her do not cling to me for i have not yet ascended to my father stop right there do not cling to me another translation says stop clinging to me i've not yet ascended to my father think through this with me for a moment jesus he raised from the dead ascended to the right hand of the father and was glorified at this moment he has not yet ascended all right so it's three days after his death he says to her stop clinging to me okay compare this with his first birth his first birth was a virgin birth through mary the mother of jesus the first person to touch him was the virgin the first person to touch him in his second birth if we can call it that because the bible does say he's the firstborn from the dead first person to touch him was mary magdalene out of whom seven demons had been cast out it's a shift in seasons he's making this announcement old testament you touch the leper you're unclean new testament jesus touches the leper the leper becomes clean old testament the severity of sin was the focus it had to be it had to set the context in which people would realize the need of a savior there is no solution for sin you can't fix yourself there's no self-help help program that will deal with the nature of sin and the root of sin inside a person there's only one possible answer people said there's many ways to god if there are many ways to god then god is cruel to require jesus to go through what he went through he went through what he went through because it was the only possible solution that you and i everyone within the sound of my voice would know what it is to be born again and have eternal life because of christ so here is this here is this virgin mary his first birth when he was born of the dead firstborn of the dead the first to touch him is the one who illustrated grace because it's a new season new season do not cling to me for i have not yet ascended to my father go to my brethren and say to them i am ascending to my father your father my god your god when jesus died i've heard some people say before he went remembers three days later he ascends to the father so when he died some people i heard them say jesus went into hell and suffered in hell on our behalf no no if he did then the blood wasn't enough it's about the blood so what happened luke 16 gives us the best description of this reality this place called shield there's two compartments there's a place of torment great chasm between that and the next compartment it's called abraham's bosom abraham is called the father of faith the righteous who died before the death of christ went into this place a paradise if you will a place of peace a place of comfort those who didn't went into the place of torment read luke 16 end of 16 sobering sobering chapter when jesus it says jesus when he ascended before he ascended he descended into the lower parts of the earth listen to the phrase to lead captive a host of captives you want to be captive by jesus because being captive by him is the most freedom you'll ever experience it's it's this weird kingdom you rise by going low you're received by giving you know it's that that whole thing you live by dying it's it's this confusing journey of just saying yes to jesus every day so here jesus it says he descended first into the lower parts of the earth what did he do he went to the place where the people who had died in faith remember it's a level playing field old and new testament the thing that you born again in the new was the thing that got you preserved in the old that's why it's called abraham's bosom jesus goes in and he makes proclamation the payment has been made because no one could go to heaven until jesus died because there was no payment for sin so god allowed to be a place of peace until the death of christ came so jesus having made the payment grabbed the keys of authority that man had given over to the serpent comes into the room makes the announcement you know i want the videotape on this one makes the announcement the price has been paid come on and they all begin to ascend and jesus glances over and sees mary magdalene weeping at the tomb don't know how this went down this is my imagination he turns to the crowd he says i'll be right back and then he goes over to mary magdalene well matthew 27 says and the graves of the righteous opened and they were seen walking around jerusalem when did that happen i'd like to suggest it's right now jesus says i'll be right back he goes up to mary david looks at moses and said he's going to be a while we might as well catch a few sights and when he's through back on the bus and he brings the prize of his suffering before the father the moravians have this great statement said to win for the lamb the reward of his suffering and this that jesus suffered and died was to purchase people you me this host that he led captive and he presented the prize before the father verse 19 we've got just a couple more then we'll wrap it up it says then the same day and evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the jews jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them peace be with you when he said this he showed them his hands and his side then the disciples were glad when they saw the lord jesus said to them again peace to you as the father sent me i send you jesus walks into a room where everybody's there scared they're next they're afraid they're going to die they saw the angry crowds they know that they have been recognized peter was picked out you know standing by fire by a servant girl so they've got this fear thing all over them that they're going to be crucified next and so they're hiding and then jesus walks through the wall which doesn't help with the fear issues and somebody and they don't know who it is which makes things worse he didn't you know he didn't come appearing as he did before because he likes to appear to us differently than the last time so that we learn to recognize him by voice and presence and not by our formulas that we have created he'll break out any box you create so here he he walks into the room and he says peace to you it's like noah when he released the dove out of the ark and the dove flew around could find no place to land flew back to the earth jesus releases the presence of god over this group of people and there's no one there receiving peace because they are locked into fear you say well i thought that peace would be given to those who are fearful you can't have them both you have to let go of one to embrace the other there has to be a there's a co i'm telling you there's a conscious decision i've been living by fear i renounce fear you can't hold it both you can't hold on both hoping one beats the other you'll let go of something to embrace another jesus says he showed him his hands his side and it says then they were glad when they saw the lord which tells me they weren't happy the first time that's because they didn't know who it was i've seen a lot of people that weren't happy with what god was doing because they didn't know it was him jesus releases the presence of god again this time they were glad when they saw the lord and jesus concludes this with this statement says he breathed on them and he said receive the holy spirit here's the deal the resurrection power of jesus lives in you and he wants out i personally think all of heaven is looking to see what impossibility we will conquer in his name what will we do with what we've been given it's a it's a strange example but jesus came to a fig tree it's it's one of the funnier stories in the bible it came to a fig tree out of season for it to bear fruit and he came to it to get fruit and there wasn't any fruit because it wasn't the right season and it says he cursed it and i've heard great teachings on the freak tree representing israel and his name whatever i don't know what it means except jesus is the only one who has the right to expect fruit of the impossible from us and we did he didn't find any he had he had to bring that confrontation into a reality and you and i have been given the spirit of the resurrected christ it's not a condemning word it's an invitation it's a word that says let him be who he is in his resurrection power flowing in and through our lives confronting those things that have been deemed to be impossible that's what you were born for it's what i was born for in our conversion is the dna of christ it wasn't earned it was given as a gift his actual dna where he gravitated towards the funeral towards the hungry crowd towards the leper that needed help the blind who wanted someone to guide them all these situations he gravitated forward towards them because he carried this absolute solution to every broken situation and my prayer for you for me is that in this next season we would become even more convinced of how ready the resurrection power of jesus is available in word in touch and in action word the right thing needs to be said don't don't think a casual statement accomplishes much it's the decree of god say what he's saying say what he's saying cancer be gone say what he's saying don't do this god if it's your will show mercy kindness look don't don't be stupid confront the thing don't ever don't show any respect to a problem do not show respect kindness and respect towards people love affectionately serve people but no respect for a problem don't use the word cancer with reverence it deserves no reference it's a devil it's a devil don't speak to it kindly don't speak in hush terms did you hear but so and so got back from the doctor no harsh terms we must stop being impressed with the size of our problem it's my personal conviction that most of us our breakthrough would begin the day we stop being impressed with the size of our problem i'm not trying to create a more magic formula i'm just saying listen to what he's saying declare it find someone to touch to love to lay hands on prophetically serve do acts of service kindness for people the spirit of god is released through those means over and over and over again and i just believe that jesus wants to demonstrate who he is to our wonderful city in this easter season and beyond so here's what i want to do i'm going to pray over all of you all y'all in a minute but i want it first to give opportunity for people who don't know the lord to come come to christ so i'm going to ask bethel family hold your places lunch will wait the most important thing that could happen this morning in spite of all the wonderful things we've done together the worship and the communion all those things the most amazing thing that could happen would be for just one person even to say i i want to surrender my life to jesus i want to become born again i want to find peace with god i want to be a disciple of this jesus he is alive he's prepared to lead every person in this room into a place of triumph and victory so this is what i would do i just say if if you would uh in your heart of hearts would say bill i don't want to leave this place until i know that i have peace with god until i know what it is to be forgiven brought into his family if that's you then i want you right where you are with every head raised every eye open i want you just simply to put a hand up and by doing that you're just acknowledging that me that's me i want to get right with god today i want to know what it is to have peace with god do that real quickly i'm just going to wait a few seconds real quick if there's anybody in the room put your hand up so i can see you is it is there a hand over here i can't see or right there yes wonderful wonderful beautiful yeah amen anybody else wave it at me there's another one right over here wonderful welcome welcome bless the lord there's one there's one more and i'm i'm certain there's one more i i want to i want to encourage you make that bold step jesus confesses us before the world in his death and resurrection he looks for us to make a very simple confession of our faith in him so i'm going to give just just five more seconds if there's anyone else just quickly right over here that's you all right here's what i want i'm going to ask everyone to stand stand if you would and hold your places please for a moment i want to ask i saw three if there's more than that please join us but i would like to have the three people if you're here with friends i would encourage your friends to walk with you up to the front right up here we have people that we know and trust it's not about bethel it's not about church membership it's about a relationship with jesus i want you to know what you just said yes to so i'm going to ask you to leave your seat and to come right over here to my left where this banner is and these folks will come they will talk with you they will pray with you and again if you brought one of these folks offer to walk with them down here because i want them to uh to have a wonderful wonderful encounter down here why don't you bless some church as they come just come on down wonderful bless you right over here wonderful wonderful wonderful god yep that's it right there thank you jesus here i want to pray over you because i i feel like some of you are about to be surprised by opportunities that are in front of you the cool thing about a miracle is that he does all the work you and i are the ups driver that pulls up to the house and delivers a package that somebody else sent that's what we do we'll lay our hands under the shoulder we pray very simple prayer but jesus is the one who heals and delivers put your hands in front of you i just want to pray that there would be such a great release of anointing over everybody in this room and that over the next seven days specifically there will be opportunities that are new and fresh to demonstrate the resurrection power of jesus father you've heard our cry that's what i asked for demonstrate your love and your power now in and through this wonderful family of believers that there be an increased appetite increased appetite in every person to display your resurrection through purity and power i ask all of this for the honor of the name jesus everybody said amen amen amen good hold your places ministry team if you could come on up chris tell us what to do oh that's that's good right there huh that'll do all right well bless you happy easter if you continue if sorry if you can need ministry further our team is here to pray for you other than that have a blessed sunday enjoy that incredible weather enjoy one another happy easter but our team is going to be up here to pray for you if you still need prayer you didn't get any prayer durian you

Channel: Bill Johnson Ministries

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Id: -6r44xoKtKk

Length: 41min 55sec (2515 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 01 2021