Christ is Life Podcast

In the first service, Jerry said that they've been singing that song. They don't remember exactly the number of years, but at least 30. It's been 30 years every single year on Easter that they've been singing that particular song, which means that Robert and Jerry have been singing that song longer than Ashlyn has been alive. I
life, just saying,
I love it. I mean, it's amazing. It's such a great song. I look forward to it every year because of the words the lyrics. It just describes and helps us focus in on the significance of what happened on this day a few 1000 years ago, and that was simply the fact that that Jesus, after taking his final breath on the cross, had been lying in a tomb for three days. I mean, his body was cold at that point. It was stiff. There was no blood rushing, there was no physical movements or activity of of any kind on the inside or out. But the omnipotent, all powerful God of the universe said, Arise, my son. And guess what, he rose.
He rose. The grave no longer has a hold on him. And so when we we think about that and what
had to be at God's disposal to be able to accomplish that. It was power. I mean, like, not not just some power, but like real, real power. I mean, for God to take Jesus's cold, lifeless, three day old body and bring him back to life, never to die again.
Whew. Yeah, it's right, it's real power.
But here's, here's the thing with all of this. I mean, as big of a deal as this was 2000 years ago,
it was 2000 years ago. It
was 2000 1000 years ago, and this is 2026
I mean, it was great that God had the power to raise Jesus from the dead, and that he's alive today, but it's 2026
and many of us have real problems right here and right now. So what in the world does Jesus rising from the dead? I mean, I can see that it took real power, and it's a significant event back then, but this is 2000 years later. It's 2026 and I've got real problems. What does that have to do with me today,
when we think about the problems and the things that many of us are struggling with and wrestling with, it is no joke. I mean, it's serious business, and it gives us nightmares sometimes, and in real tension and things that have a real hold on our lives. For some of us, we're walking through financial debt, and I mean, that is a hard thing to walk through with real debt, like hanging over your head and the anxiety and the pressure that you feel from that and in this economy, and you got gas prices that are sky high, and you've got rent that's sky high, and and food prices that are sky high, and your wages aren't being raised sky high, and it's really hard to pay for all of those things. And the debt just keeps piling up and piling up, and the pressure to pay it off and and do so for your family, I mean, it's real, so good, great, that Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years ago and had real power then. But how's that going to help me with my financial debt today? There's real problems in 2026 right? Some
of us, when we think about the things that we're walking through, it's, it's, it's depression, it's, it's anxiety, it's things that we deal with in the situations and circumstances that we face. And it's, it's real. I mean, we feel it in our bodies, in the in the tension, and sometimes it's so much has a hold on our lives that we can't even really get out of bed, or we get these panic attacks and we have to leave the room, and can't physically be around with this environment that we're we're in. And so, again, good that Jesus rose from the dead. But what about my anxiety? What about my depression? For some of you, when you think about your life, you just can't seem to make the right decisions. No matter what you do, you end up failing at some point. You can't make the right grades, you can't stay out of trouble. You end up doing this or you do that, and no matter what you do, you can't seem to get to where you need to be in school and in your classes or in your job or with your family or or any of those things. For some of you, you're struggling with a porn addiction or something like alcoholism or using drugs to kind of cope with life. Maybe your marriage is falling apart, or you're in the process of a divorce, or it's just barely hanging on. And so again, great that Jesus rose from the dead 2000 years ago. But what about my marriage today? What about the addiction that I have to porn? How about what about this alcoholism that I cannot seem to break free from that has a hold on my life? And by the way, what about this king?
Cancer that I'm dealing with. I mean, where's God in all that great resurrection power that that rose him from the dead? But what about my cancer today? In 2026
I'm I'm sick and I'm not getting any better, and I'm lonely and I'm fighting and it hurts, and I'm getting older and and I'm struggling with just my purpose and even being here. So again, it's great we can gather here together today and celebrate Jesus's death and his his resurrection over death, but I got to get up tomorrow morning and go to work and deal with my cancer and my marriage problems and my porn addiction and all the things that I'm facing in this particular moment. And so
enjoy this today, but back to the real life tomorrow. Where's Jesus in all of that? I
want to show you something that the apostle this is absolutely amazing. This is going to, if you've never read this is going to blow your mind, okay? Because look at what the Apostle Paul wrote in a letter to the church at Ephesus, 2000 years ago, after after the death, after the burial, after the resurrection of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit. Here's what he writes in Ephesians, chapter one, verses 18 through 20. He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, in order that you may know his incomparably great power. For us who believe that power is the same as the mighty strength that he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead.
What is? What is Paul trying to say? There he's he's trying to say that the same power, the same the same power that it took to raise Jesus's cold, lifeless, dead, three day old, dead body from the grave, never to die again. If you've put your faith and trust in Him, lives in you,
that same power you have absolutely available to you.
It two chapters later, the apostle Paul says, Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. See, that's where I got it from. You know, some of you may go, Okay, this is great, the working power, the the resurrection power, and it's available to me, and, and, yeah, I don't really ever seem to get any of it. You know, it's, it's, you're saying it's available. But how come it's not like pouring out and into me, but, but it's not just available to you. What you need to see this morning is, if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, it's actually in you, because Paul says it right there. I mean, God's word, inspire by the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote that his power right here, his power is at work where
within you, it's in you. It's not just available to you. It's not up there and out there somewhere. And you're going, please, can I get some of that? Like if you've said yes to Jesus, it's in you. And look how he describes that kind of power. It's the kind of power, I mean, the kind of power that dwells in you. That's the kind of power that can do immeasurably more than all you could ask or ever even imagine or dream it could do. At
least two of you are listening this morning.
That's good news. We talk about the gospel and the good news of of Jesus Christ, this is good news. God didn't just raise Jesus from the dead that day because he was his son. He rose him from the grave, defeating the power and of sin and death forever, so that he could put that kind of power in you, and you could experience it for yourselves, because that's how he created you and designed you. So it's not just, oh, good that he, he, you know, rose Jesus from the grave one day. I mean, if God's resurrection power is in you,
this has everything to do with you.
So this is what Paul was trying to write, and what he was trying to communicate to the church at Ephesus, those who had put their faith and trust in Jesus during that time, and it's what he's still even saying today. If you've said yes to Jesus, God's resurrection, power dwells in you. It's not just available to you. It dwells in you. Paul goes on, actually doesn't go on. I'm going to back up because I want to see now we just kind of just highlighted what it is that he said about the power. But I want you to see the context of what he prays, because there's even other things in here that that are so good that you need to know this morning before you leave. He starts off this section, and he says, For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. And so you'll see that the way that the apostle Paul starts this off is for this reason, and it should make us go for what reason I mean, what reason is he talking about? And what we have to know is that what he wrote before.
This in verses three through 14, is what he's talking about. And if you were to go back and read verses three through 14, one of the things that you would notice is that Paul uses this little, tiny little phrase, this two word phrase, in Christ, eight or more times in that short little section, he's writing to the church, those who would put their faith and trust in Jesus, and he's trying to communicate them that God is no longer up there in you down here, but you're in union. You're actually in Christ, spiritual union with Christ, joined by him, or together with him. Do you see that today?
And he says, as a result of being spiritually united in Christ. He says, Here's what all is true about you in that particular section.
Verse three, in Christ, you are blessed. Verse four, in Christ, you are chosen. Verse four continues, you're holy, you're blameless. Verse five, you're adopted. If you're in Christ, you've been adopted into his family. Jesus is now your brother, in some sense. Try to comprehend that right God the Father, were adopted into his family. Verse seven, you've been redeemed the purchase price that it took to get you out of the slavery that you were in that you could not get yourself out of or pay for. Jesus paid that price, so you don't owe it anymore. And because of that, you are not just kind of forgiven, like completely forgiven. I mean past, present and all the future sins you will ever commit. Jesus took those to the cross, and in Christ, then you are completely forgiven. And verse eight, it's just like Man, you've been lavished. I mean lavished with grace. I love that language. Verse three, he even says, I didn't put on here, because it just kind of sums it up, that you have every spiritual blessing that there is to have. In
Christ, did you not hear what I just said? You
already fell asleep. Come on. I mean, in Christ, in your union with Him, He didn't say, you have some blessings. He didn't say, you get part of it, and you're still lacking. And if you pray really hard and you do religious activities, and you get more money on the plate, and you do what you're supposed to be doing, you'll get more of it. He's like every single spiritual blessing that there is to have. You've got it in your union with Christ. You have it. You are not lacking in any particular way, shape or form in your union with Christ. So Paul says, For that reason, for that reason, since you sorry, let me go back for that reason.
That's the reason that I'm praying for you, and I haven't stopped remembering you in my prayers, because all this is true. Now, since that's true, he says, I keep asking verse 17, that the God of our Father, Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. He says, All right, since all that's true, here's it's already true of you, I have to pray that that'll become true of you. It is true of you. What I'm praying is that he'll give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, because it takes God's Spirit to reveal truth. That's what I was praying about earlier and asking him to do in this moment, you yourself can't just try to figure out what God is like and go, Well, I know what's true about God. You're just making it up. How do you know what he's like? You're not him. It takes the Spirit to reveal who God really is.
So he's praying that he will reveal those truths to you and not just reveal them, so that you'll be a great little Sunday school student, and you'll know more about how who God is. You can tell everybody how much knowledge you have about the Bible, but reveal that so you'll have a spirit of wisdom to know how to use that knowledge to be able to experience more and more and be in a better relationship with him. It's so that you'll know him better. You'll experience more of him in your life and what you already have in your life with him.
This is where Paul goes on and starts to pick up in some of the things that we said earlier, but I cut some of them out. I didn't show you the whole section. I just went straight to his power. But now put them back in. Don't worry, you can do that with God's word every now and then, as long as we get back to it. Okay? And so in verse 18, he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. Now that's not just knowledge, right? You see with that phrase, he's not gonna illuminate the truth, so you'll just know more. I mean, the eyes of your heart will will know right, your mind, your will, your emotions, and you'll you'll feel, you'll experience these truths. And his prayer is three things I'm praying that you will experience, not just know it. You'll know and begin to experience these three things, and they're so important. Number one, he says, I'll pray that the eyes of your heart won't be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which he has called you. Now, when you see that word hope in the Bible, your mind changes.
Should not go to the place. Like, wishful thinking, right? Like, gosh, man, I, I hope that my parents let us go eat at CHEWIES after this. I mean, like, I'm really wishing that that's where we get to go eat lunch or something, or I, I really hope that this guy will ask me out one day. I mean, like, it's fingers crossed, right? I mean, this is a certain the hope that he's talking about is a for sure thing that you'll experience. The hope to which he has called you. God's calling on your life was to call you out of the sin that you were in and into that spiritual union and into his family, so that you have a certain future with him. Paul had just written about this in the previous verse. Verses in verse 13 and 14, that whole section that I was telling you about, where we find all these things to be true about you, let me show you specifically what he says here. Verse 13, he says, and you also were included in Christ. See, there's those two little words that we were talking about earlier. I didn't just make that up. He actually tells it, you were included in Christ. You're in a union with Him, God, not up there, and you down here in Christ, in Union one with him. When did that happen? When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of salvation, it happened the moment you believed that there was a moment, there was a period of time where you didn't believe, that you didn't respond to the gospel. You may have known it or you didn't know it, and so you're walking in unbelief. And this wasn't true about you. You weren't in Christ. But there was a moment where you came to believe it, where you responded to that and said, I'm putting my faith and trust in Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. And in that moment when you believed, you're now included in Christ and something else, you were marked in him with the seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit, he's deposited into you, guaranteeing, guaranteeing your inheritance, our inheritance, until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. So Paul had just taught about this. He had just said it like, like, this is a done deal. If the Holy Spirit's in you and depositing you, and it's a seal, it's a permanent thing, and you're guaranteed your future. And so then when Paul is now writing in this verse, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, that you may know the hope to which he has called you, he's referring back to that, that hope of that inheritance, and you sharing that in your inheritance, and that it's certain, you know, sometimes in this world that we live in,
it doesn't have much that we can cling to to find hope in. You wake up and you don't hope about whatever is going to happen that day, because you've experienced a lot of really hard and difficult things in your life, and it can be really difficult to find hope sometimes. And so Paul's praying, I'm praying that you will know the hope, and not just know it, but you'll, you'll begin to experience the hope now. He's not praying that you'll experience the hope one day. I mean, you'll already be there one day. So what's the I mean, you see what I'm saying. It's not a hope that it's hope now that you'll experience that hope now, because you know what you have in him is coming for sure. And so this is the first thing that he prays about. The second thing we see again, just I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order, why? So that, here's number two, you may know the riches of His glorious inheritance in his holy people.
Obviously, you guys fell asleep again,
or you don't really notice what it is that we just read if you were listening, because I say that because it's easy to do, and I've even done it when I've read through this passage quickly, because when you read that, and you go the hope to which he's called me, and my sure future with him, and then heritance, okay, yeah, I see that and, and I've got this inheritance, and it's a sure thing. So what's the what's the next thing? But, but what you don't see, if you don't slow down and catch it long enough, is notice this. He doesn't say the riches of His glorious inheritance for his holy people, but he says, What Yin? Do you see the difference? Do
you know what that means? He's not talking about your inheritance. One day,
he is actually talking about this is so good. Are y'all paying attention? I hope you're paying attention. Wake your neighbor up right. The riches of God's glorious inheritance is
his holy people, is his saints, is his church. That's you and me. If you and I have put our faith and trust in Jesus, we're the riches of His glorious inheritance. He's like I get to inherit them one day in heaven, the God of the universe.
Okay, you don't seem to be as excited about that as as I do.
We're talking the.
Me just do it this way. We're talking about the God of the universe who created everything, who owns everything he already has. Talk about riches. He's already got all the riches. He can't have anything else. He owns it all. If you create it all. This is the same God that has no beginning, no end, no starting point. He's the eternal God, always the self existing God. No one created him. He's just always life itself. He's all sufficient, everything that he needs in and of himself. And he's saying right here that he's going, one day I get to be with them in heaven, forever. Do you see how much God values you? I mean, that's what Paul's praying. I hope that. Because why would we need to know that?
If he's talking about, I want you to know, in experience, that God has an inheritance. I mean, that's kind of a God thing. Well, great for him that he gets to. So What's he trying to What's he trying to say to you, that you are valuable. You need to know this so you can experience how valuable. This is how the God of the universe views you. This is how he sees you. There might be some of you who
woke up this morning
and you don't sense that value.
You don't sense any kind of worth.
As a matter of fact, you people look past you. You don't like the way you look, you don't think you have any skills. You compare yourself to other people, and you've gone so far sometimes to even think, I don't even know why I'm here, like I don't I don't even feel like I need to be here. Maybe I should just end it all, and it'd be better for me and every every single other person in here. And you need to hear this morning, that the God of the universe, the one who spoke everything into existence, gets excited about you as his creation and getting to share in a relationship with you. Could you be more valuable than that.
There is no one who will love you more,
who will value you more. This means that God created you
for him.
You see that like sitting in heaven, always being and goes, You know what? I'm gonna create them. And you think that we get so much of the Gospel for us? Oh, it's so nice of them to think of us and create us and invite us into this and enjoy it, and what we get to do. And he's going, I'm gonna invite them, because I get to be with them.
So much value, so much worth. And he didn't create you to be a soldier or do his chores or just someone to boss around. He created you to be in an intimate, unique, loving, caring relationship, joyful that just He gets excited about. He longs to be in a relationship with you.
So Paul's praying,
you gotta know this. You gotta know the hope to which he's called you. You gotta know that you're his inheritance and begin to experience that value and that worth right now and then he gets back into that power that we read about earlier. I'm praying that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened, so that you'll know and experience his his incomparably great power for us who believe. And he describes that power and says that power is the same, is the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power, Dominion and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age, but also in the age to come. So so we stopped here earlier about the power that he the resurrection power he adds to it. It's not just the kind of power that raised Jesus from the dead,
never to die again, huge. It's the kind of power that seated Him at His right hand in a place of authority, not just power, but but power that carries authority and and rule. And so what he's saying here is that he has
his power raised Jesus from the dead, ascended him to heaven to sit at his right hand so that he has the authority and dominion over all things.
Man, Satan, is a punk, and he, he gets in, and it feels like all this power and all the things of this world and the struggles and the I don't have any hope, I don't have any value. Is it worth living, and the anxiety and the depression and the temptations and all the things, and what he's trying to communicate here is the same resurrection power that dwells in you is the kind of power that put him in a position to be the ruler and authority of all of those things that are even going on.
In your life right now,
you see that
it's crazy to think about how much power you and I have in him. Here's here's what he's saying. Okay, if, if you're in Christ, and he's sitting at the right hand of God with the rule and the authority, then that means that you and I can take the things going on down here, because you're here and you're there, you get that right? I mean, like, if you're in a spiritual union with Him, and He's sitting at the right hand of God, the Father in heaven, then you're spiritually there in heaven, but you're physically here right now. And so you can take the things that are going on here, the struggles, the situations, the things going on in your life, you can bring them into your union with Him.
And in that union, he's sitting in that place of authority and power so that now that situation and circumstance in and through that union, you're bringing it to him to exercise his authority, to exercise his rule, to exercise his power in and through that situation and that circumstance right now. Let
me give you some examples. There are people that are sitting in these pews, people that I know, and some of these people, if you come to church here, that that you know, they're sitting right here in the pews this morning, and they can tell you that their story is of God's resurrection power in dealing with their alcoholism, that they were struggling and they were waking up, and the only thing they could think of was how to get a drink and try to cope with life and the things going on. And whenever they tried really hard to stop, they would just keep going back to it over and over again, and all of a sudden they bring it to I'm in a union with Jesus, and he's sitting in a position of ruling and authority. So I'm going to bring this alcoholism in and to through the union that I have with him in that place of authority where he has rule over it, he has dominion over it, he has authority over it, and experience that resurrection power in that situation and circumstance that I'm struggling with and wrestling with here and today, they're sitting in victory on the other side of that alcoholism.
How is that possible? How? Because the resurrection power that has rule and authority over alcoholism, and you're in union with it, and you brought it before his rule and reign in resurrection power that can raise somebody from the dead and keep them alive forever, can defeat the bondage of alcoholism. There are people sitting in these pews today who were in deep, deep financial debt. I mean, over their head. No way I can dig out of this. I can't do it. And they go, You know what? I'm in a spiritual union with Jesus, and he's sitting in a position of authority and power and strength. What if I bring my financial debt into that union with Him and allow Him to exercise authority and rule and resurrection power in and through that? And they're sitting on the other side of experiencing financial freedom, because the Lord, in his resurrection, power and strength gave them everything that they needed to dig themselves out of debt and provide that financial freedom for them today. What is that resurrection good for Jesus, dying 3000 2000 years ago, and he raised from the dead and all of that, but it's 2026 and real problems. What does that have to do with me today? Everything?
There are people sitting in these pews who had pornography addictions, drug addictions, number of other addictions, who brought it before the rule in the reign of Jesus and are now experiencing victory over pornography and the addictions that they were in. There are people sitting in these pews who whose marriages were on the brink of divorce and they didn't see any way out. They were just cohabitating together, trying to find ways to make it work. And they go, You know what? God created marriage. We're both in union with Him, and He's seen a position of ruling and reigning, of authority. Maybe since we're in union with Him, we should bring that situation and circumstance under his rule, under his authority, and allow that resurrection power to do whatever it is that he does in and through that. And they're sitting in these pews today still married and not just kind of living together, but they actually like each other.
They're doing life together. It's an example of His resurrection power working in and through them. There were people who are sitting in these pews who have lost a loved one who've lost a spouse, and they were
the parent of young kids.
You say, You know what? I'm
in union with Jesus.
I have resurrection power in him. He's sitting in a place of authority and dominion and power. What if I bring my single parenting now that I lost my spouse under his rule, under his authority,
because I can't do this alone, and
they spent years relying on his power and his strength, and their kids are growing and they're vibrant and they love Jesus.
Jesus and he's they're making it, and they're in it, and they're experiencing his life and joy in and through it all, there are people who are sitting in these pews who
who are dealing with cancer,
and they don't know whether they're going to live or not,
and they've brought their cancer underneath the rule in the reign of Jesus, and
sometimes there are some testimonies of people who have been healed in and through that, and others who haven't been healed yet. But the really great thing I've got to point out, as we're talking about bringing this under his rule and his authority and resurrection power is is if it's his rule, his dominion, his authority, and that's not what he does.
He's still at work in it like he's still at work to provide peace and comfort and hope and abundant life and assurance, even in the suffering and the situations and the circumstances. It's not like, well, it didn't work for me to bring it under his authority. He's still working in and through it to where, even if he decides that's not what's best for you in this moment or for the things that are going on. I'm still at work in my resurrection power to experience peace, comfort, hope, abundant life, even in and through the suffering right now, and you have the hope of your certain calling, your future with me one day
was Jesus dying on the cross 2000 years ago, and resurrection power have to do with you everything, so much so that the apostle Paul writes this prayer over the Church says, You got to know these things, because I don't feel like you know them. You have them, but you don't even know it. You got to know it's true. And I want you to experience the hope that you have in Jesus, the value that you have as his inheritance, in the incomparably great power that you have in a relationship with him today. And so listen, here's the thing, as we get ready to kind of close this out today, if the Apostle Paul is having to pray these things over the church, then again, that means that they didn't necessarily know them or weren't experiencing them. Why was that the case?
Because we have an enemy.
We have an enemy who is out to steal, who is out to kill, and who is out to destroy, and he works to deceive us and keep us from realizing these truths about what we have in Christ, in experiencing all the things that we have in Christ. And so Paul says, You got to know this, and I'm praying they experienced that. So don't let Satan deceive you this morning into thinking that Jesus, rising from the dead, doesn't really have anything to do with you today. It has everything to do with you today,
real resurrection power at work in you and through you. Don't miss it if you've said yes to Jesus, and if you haven't said yes to Jesus, just, just know, no matter who you are, no matter where you've been, no matter what it is that you've done, the God of the universe left the glory and riches of heaven to suffer and die, to pay the penalty of your sins, because He loves you,
and He longed, and still longs to be with You. Today,
you're the riches of His inheritance.
And so if you've never said yes to Jesus, would you do so today, there's nothing you can do to earn it. It's a gift, but just like any gift, you have to receive it and receive it by putting our faith and trust in Him. And so as we close today in prayer, I want to give you an opportunity to do just that.