"Jesus Resurrection for Us" By Brother Parrish Lee April 2nd,
2017
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. 54:03 I've been waiting for this. I've been preparing for this. Not the sermon; I've been preparing for the message, because the message has been going on for two thousand years, Saints. It is a message of joy and peace. It is a message that never fails. It is a message that never stops. No matter what the sermon is, the message never stops. Ohhhhhh, thank You, Lord. Ah, man. You know nothing can stop that blessedness of God. Isn't it a joy just to know, nothing can stop the blessedness of God. It's the type of thing, that, a gift come to you, you have to leave the door shut, no go and pick it up, for it not to get to you. You have to acknowledge, “No, Lord, I don't want that. But, for all the Saints, we always turn around and say, “God, just give me, gimme, gimme, gimme more. Ah, just more of You, God.” So blessed, like that last song said, so blessed, I can't contain it. Hmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm. Giving honor to God, who is the Head of our lives. Giving honor to the compassionate, and the merciful One, the One that's full of grace and Truth, the One who has never failed, the One who saw us when we were so unlovable, and loved us anyway. Giving honor to that God, to the God who, for two thousand years, has been reaching His hand out to every single one of us, and, Lord, thank You that Your blood has never lost its power. You know what? I feel like I just got saved yesterday. That's how I feel. It's just new. It's just like that. It's just a happiness and a joy unspeakable, full of glory. And, if you just—I ain't even started yet—But, if you just want more form God, you don't even got to wait. You don't have to wait for somebody to come up here and urge you on. You don't even got to wait for a song to be sung. You can turn your face around, and say, “God, it's You I make my appeal to. I want Your grace and Your love. I want You to shower down on me. Bless me for real. Bless me with the blessings that You gave.” Oh, giving honor to that God. You know, we have—in the Bible, it says—no, I haven't started yet—but, in the Bible it says that, when they were going to go out to meet God, it was three days. He said, “Be ready. Take three days ahead of time to prepare yourselves to meet Me. Just prepare yourself.” (Exodus 19:10-20) And, I try to adopt that for my own personal conviction, own personal conviction. And, you know, sometimes the devil throws everything at you. He'll throw work at you, he'll throw family at you, he'll throw people that disappoint you, and break your heart. He'll throw things at you that just distract you, and take you off course. He'll throw every single trick in the book to get you up off where you know you want to be when God comes to meet you. But, though ten thousand come at you, they shall not prevail. No weapon formed against you will be able to prosper (Isaiah 54:17). They will come in like a flood, the Bible says, He will raise up a standard against them (Isaiah 59:19). That's the God that you've just got to love. You've just got to love Him. You've just got love Him, full of grace and truth and mercy and awesomeness. And awesomeness, because whenever I get into—I never have lost that—I know, we, who have got a good taste of God, whenever you get into His presence, you never lose that sense of awe. “God, I know I experienced it before, but You didn't even diminish it a little bit. You're still that same exciting, full God.” Giving honor to Him. Giving honor to those whom He has appointed, who He has called, who have gone on before us. Those who, down through the Scriptures, have been faithful to His call and allowed the very lives to be an example, to carry His Word forth, to be obedient, to listen to His Spirit, and allow Him to correct them in the beauty of holiness. And, giving honor to those, even in this ministry who have listened to Him, and, because of their faithfulness, we have a ministry here, today. Giving honor to all—and our founding pastor, he and his family, our pastor, he and his family, all of those who have come to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, because, today, because of other people's labors, and the wonderful Spirit of God, I'm saved, today! I''m saved today! I thank God for everything He's put there to keep me saved, get me saved, and make me stay saved. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. And, giving honor to all of y'all, giving honor to all of y'all,who have said, “There ain't nothing better to do. Absolutely nothing! No final four, no Superbowl, no shopping to do... Nothing better to do than to get myself over there, subject myself to that wonderful God, hear His message, and give some glory to His name to the name of the Almighty God. I'm a little excited this month. Just a little bit. This month is the month that they take aside, and they say their going to give it to Christians, because it's the Easter month. And, even though, it used to be Easter vacation when I was a kid in school, but they had to take that away, and they said they were going to make it—what do they call it now?--Spring break. “We're going to make it Spring break. We're going to take that whole Easter thing out of that.” And, even though, for years, they came, and they tried to pollute it, they put up Easter bunnies, and they put up eggs, and they put of every little thing to try and distract from the fact that the blood of Jesus is what makes this a holiday, a holy day! Even though they did all of that, it has never lost any of its power. And I get excited about that! And anybody who is saved today has to get excited about that blood that has never lost its power. Just to know, just to know that our sins, our actual sins are taken away by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You, God! Thank You, God! I get a little stirred up, just to know. I don't know about y'all, but I was a sinner. I don't know about y'all, but, I couldn't get rid of my sins. I don't know about y'all, but I tried to be good, sometimes. And my goodness was, as the Bible says, not even filthy rags, mine was astonishingly nasty rags (Isaiah 64:6). My righteousness never amounted to nothing! And then came Jesus. And then came the Lord of glory, to who? Little old me? Yes, God! Yes, God! And to you, and to you. Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, God! So—and, in that same vein, I have to say, we have decided on one thing at the men's retreat: Brother Bill, he talked about how—he shared this, he shared this. He said, “You know, a brother prayed for me some months ago, and God healed me. Healed me, right up here! Right up here, He healed me! I was able to go on and play. I was healed, right up here. But, when I walked out the door, I left my healing behind me. I went on, and I picked back up my cane, and I went back to the things that God had delivered me from.” And, there, at the men's retreat, we were praying, a couple of brothers, Kirk was leading in prayer, and we were praying, and the Bible says when they were of one mind and one accord, that, came a sound from Heaven, and these brothers, Kirk, and the other brother, we were praying, and I could feel it, like brother Jeff shared, I could feel it, the oneness of mind and heart, I could feel it as we prayed, they refused to let the devil have the glory! And they grabbed that brother, and they picked him up, and sometimes, you have to have the faith for somebody else; they're looking to you. And, as he stood up, he said, “Thank You, God; I'm healed!” The next morning, he went to go back, and God said, “What are you doing, groaning and complaining? I healed you! Stay healed!” Thank You, God! Thank You, God. The resurrection. So, we decided not to give anything back to the devil that God, our God, has delivered us from. If God gives it to us, we're going to keep it! If God presents it to us, blesses us with it, we're going to claim it in Jesus' name. So, we claim that healing over you, brother Mike. We were claiming it before we got there; we're claiming it now. On the other side of Pastor Paine being healed, all we heard was he was rushed to the hospital; chest pains been going on for a day and a half. They had to take him into the emergency room. We didn't know what it was going to look like. It could have been bad. We called for a fast and a prayer. We called for a fast and a prayer. If you weren't on the list that received that message, make sure you get your name on the list—talk to brother Bill—make sure you get yourself on the list and do not let yourself get left out of that communication strand. Prayer and fasting was made. Before the end of the day, before the end of the day, we got word, “Oh, there's no blocks.” They took him in for that surgery thing. I ain't no medical guy. I don't know, whatever they do to go in and check your blockage. They said there was surgery. Whatever they had to do, they found out that, as we prayed, “Let them find nothing there,” and, when they went in, they found nothing there. In Jesus' name! In Jesus' name! He gets the glory! God did it! Everybody, everybody, we got several phone calls, even today, several phone calls, even today. Brother Jim hurt his back at work. Brother Greg, he hurt his knee. Many people are either hurt or they were out of town. Many phone calls, saying, “I won't be able to make it. Please pray for me.” The Bible says that the effectual fervent prayer, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man—and woman; I want to make sure y'all know that to be true, and woman—availeth much. So, we keep our sick, our injured, those who have asked for prayer, lift it up before the throne of the Lord. We give nothing back. We thank God for every healing, every blessing that He's put on every one of His people. Okay. That wasn't the message. That was all intro. Sometimes you've got to let it out. Sometimes you've just got to say it. So, our theme for the month; we've taken a theme for this wonderful month. We talk about the resurrection all year long, but, this time of the year, people kind of expect it. So, from the Book of First Corinthians, our theme for the month, our theme Scripture for the month:
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
That is our theme for the month. If Brother Mike Alford could come, I'm going to ask him to read from the Book of Romans:
Romans 1:3-4 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Thank you, Brother Mike. And, Brother Mike, I just want to mention, before everybody, that we do continue to keep you, our brother, in prayer. Amen. If we could bow our heads for just a moment. Almighty God, we come before You and give You thanks, knowing that You alone are worthy. Great God in Heaven, how You bestow so many things on us, God, and how You treat us, God, sons and daughters. We thank You for that. We thank You for Your blessings that You never stop. We thank You for grace and mercy, this morning. We thank You for the opportunity to come and worship You and lift up praises to You, God, for our praises never fall to the ground; they always reach Your throne. And, Almighty God, as we pray, and as we honor You, as we extol You, as we thank You, God, we pray that Your Word do exactly as You said in Your book, that it would not return unto You void, but God, we need to be fed and nurtured, we need to be moved upon. God, we need You to move all over in our lives. And we ask, God, we give You full permission, Lord, we say, “God, have Your way in this day in our lives.” And we pray a blessing on Your Word. And this we do and claim in Jesus' name, and everyone said, amen. Amen. So, Romans chapter one, verses three and four, “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power...” with power. That is important. “...with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:” So, the Son of God, with power. Now, we have to say this: Down through history, there have been many who have claimed to be the Son of God, or even God, Himself. We have the Pharaohs, they claimed to be god, or, in some cases, the son of that god. There were the Caesars, it was put on them, it was endued on them that they were gods, or the son of a... Yeah, the world was a lot smaller, back then, but, still, the title went on. “He is a god!” “He is the son of god!” There have been Japanese Emperors, there have been Chinese emperors, and, of course, we all have heard of that man, Alexander the Great, who, himself, said, “I am that one.” “I am that one.” And, because they all knew that there was someone great coming, I'm that guy. I'm that guy.” The world was a lot smaller then, and, even in our lifetime there are those who go and take that title among themselves. There is the Dalai Lama. He is, to his people, the divine one, the one whom Heaven opened up and came down. There was, up until a few years ago, there was Sun Myung Moon, who said, “I am Jesus Christ. I came to fulfill what Jesus didn't do. Me! Me and my wife, we came to do that.” Yes, there have been many to come and claim the title, but, in verse number four, it says, “...and declared to be the Son of God with power.” Every single one of them, all the way down through history—the list is too long for us to even get into this morning—down through history, every single one of them that claimed it, if you know where their tombstone is, you can visit their grave. But, this One, this Lord Jesus Christ, He came, and he says, about being the Son of God, and He proves it with power. It wasn't just a bunch of flapping words. He proved it by power, bu the resurrection. The only One, the only One. Though many could say, “I'm going to go to Heaven, and I'll do this and that,” He proved it! Death itself couldn't hold Him, couldn't hold Him! And they all—well, not all of them, but those that were His disciples and were with Him—saw Him ascend up into Heaven, and the angel said, “Why stand ye here gazing? For, know ye not that this same Lord will again come? He will come again.” (Acts 1:11) Power up! Power down! Thank You, God. Some, some have called Him a prophet, some have called Him, “Well, He was a really important mystery man; we don't really know so much about Him.” Some say He was a figure in history, and, lately, I've heard that some said, “We don't even know if He actually existed! We don't even know if He actually existed!” Amazing, amazing how people can put that title on—well, no thing that they say about the Lord; “Well, George Washington never lived.” “Oh, the Holocaust never happened!” History is... they will seek to change dates and times at their will to fit their convenience. So, there we are. Some say He was a figure, some say He was a mystery man, but, to those who know, He's the One who healed the blinded eyes, and He's the One who made the lame to walk, He's the One who walked on water, He's the One who could speak to a storm, “Be still,” and the storm would obey Him. Who else could control weather with His mouth? With His mouth, speak the word... I better watch my time. I haven't gotten far into my message according to my time. Just speak the word, and it is so. So, this One, he would show Himself by many miracles, and, at the end of His time on Earth, by conquering death. So, our service, today, is called, “Three Occasions the Lord Jesus addresses the Resurrection.” This is three occasions the Lord Jesus addresses the resurrection.
Occasion #1
Mark 5:22-24 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
If we were to read the beginning of the story, we would see that it talked about the man that was possessed of devils. And this man, he had tormented people. And, so, when the Lord came upon this man, the man ran up to Him, and the spirits that were in him said, “What have we to do with thee, thou son of David?” (Mark 5:6-7) And the Lord Jesus asked him his name, and they said, “Our name is legion, for we are many.” (Mark 5:9) So, after he got healed, the crowd came together (Mark 5:21). The crowd came together. And, so, the crowd is still together when Jairus comes upon Him.
Mark 5:35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?
Now we had to skip down to verse thirty-five. You see, we read the first few verses, and it talked about Jairus came, and his daughter was sick, so sick unto death. He fell down at the feet of the Lord, and this guy, this guy, they called him a ruler in the church, one of them big guys in the church. And he comes, he comes to the Lord for the sake of his daughter, but, at this time, in verse thirty-five, they came to him, and said, “Don't trouble Him any more, don't worry about it any more. Leave Jesus alone, because she's dead; it's all over, it's over.” Now, see, in between that, something else happened. While He was on His way to see Jairus's daughter, to get to the house, the whole crowd was around Him, and, there was this one woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years, the Bible says. And she didn't care about the crowd; only that they were in the way. She didn't care about getting permission. She said, “I don't have to have it all. If I just touch the hem of His garment, I'll be healed, I know. I know!” And you would think, “Hey, that's a great side story! It's kind of nice to know that, on the side, Jesus was doing that all along the way! But that's not the whole story.” I beg your pardon; that's not a side story. That is the story, because, here, Jairus finds the people coming from his house after he had just witnessed what Jesus had just did. So, on the one hand, he witnesses this woman coming, and just touching the hem of His garment, and, on the other hand, the people coming and saying, “Just give it up. You're too late, because the blessing is already gone.” So, he has a dilemma; he has a decision to make: “Do I trust what I know to be true; I saw Him do it, or, do I listen to the people who came from my house. I knew she was sick. Is this healer, right here, able to do anything for my daughter, who, it looks like all hope is gone? Is He able to do that?”
Mark 5:36-42 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
So, Jairus was in a great dilemma. The very next thing that happened, the Bible says, in verse thirty-six, “As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.” And that's the dilemma, Saints: We face so many situations, and so many times, the noise of the world climbs in and says, “Jesus can't do nothing about this. Oh, it's been going on for so long; ain't nothing happened, yet. Ain't nothing going to happen; just leave it alone.” But, on the other hand, the Lord says, “Be not afraid. Be not afraid, only believe. Only believe.” And we go on to see that the Lord put out everything that laughed Him to scorn. Everything that said, “He ain't going to be able to do that.” And that's how the Lord is when you trust Him, when you believe Him. When you draw closer to Him, when you give it to Him, He puts everything else out. He puts it all out. He says, “I'm here, to do My work.”
Occasion #2
Luke 7:11-16 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.
Now, this is something that was on the way, on the way, and it's important to know, that this woman, the Bible says, only had this one son. Only had this one son. But, it's also important to know, in verse number twelve, it says that she was also a widow, she was also a widow. So, that which would take care of her, that which would make sure that she was provided for, her husband, he was gone. So then there would be her sons, but she only had one son, and this says that he was dead. And, of course, she loved her son, of course she did, but this has ramifications for the rest of her life. Now she's not only going to be missing her son, but she's also going to be without provision. She would have to go to her neighbors, or she would have to go to her extended family, or somebody else, and accept the charity that would come to her. My brother—my second-youngest brother—he's married. He just had a little boy. And he said to me, he was talking about his wife—his wife, wonderful woman, wonderful woman. She, actually was a director at Johns Hopkins. Very educated, very astute. I kind of thought it kind of crazy that she was with my brother, but, good for him! Good for him; he married up. Yes! That's the way we should do it. So, he came to me, and he said, “Hey, my wife, she said to me, we were having a talk, and he said, “You know, if you're just looking for security, then, you know, I could give that.” And he said, she turned to him and said—I'm not going to tell you his name, in case he ever comes; I've got five brothers, five brothers, so you won't know which one—but he said she said, “Security is love.” And he turned to me, and he said, “What you got to say about that?” That's a good question; I ain't never heard that before. I've heard of love being many things, but I ain't never heard of it being security, security. And that's one of the things that now is going to be missing from this young widow who had just lost her only son, until the Lord came. So, to her, the Lord is bringing provision. To Jairus, the Lord would be bringing love. Love, the restoration of his little daughter, his young daughter.
Occasion #3
John 11:1-6 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
So, we see in verse three, “Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.” And we see in verse five, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”
John 11:20-26 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Then He puts the question to her, “Believest thou this?” “Believest thou this?” Three occasions of Jesus visiting the resurrection. The first occasion, it was just a young one, and there's a reason, there's a reason why it had to be three You see, the young one, the young maid, she represents those things that are just precious and fragile to us. Those things that are young, and beginning, and need protection. Like a job interview you were just hoping for; it ain't come to fruition. So many hopes and dreams from it, like somebody in my family, like any little child. Oh, it's so precious, and so small, but something has to protect it, to take care of it, because the pay-out is going to be immense. I'll watch her or him grow up, and I'll see what they become, and I'll see what they'll do. And that's what this one represents: those young fragile, delicate things in our lives. And then, it was the only son of a widow, the only son of a widow. And, here, the Lord is showing up to her to show her, “Yeah, you need provision and security, but I, more than your son, I am your security. More than your fragile dreams and things precious to you, I am what is precious to you. I am what you need to treat and hold onto, and let be precious to you. And then, there was Lazarus, and the Bible says that He loved Lazarus. Because there's things that God has given us, He's given them to us, because He loves us, and He wants us to have them. He loves those things He gives to us. He wants us to have them. He wants us to enjoy the whole relationship. And He's showing us, He's showing us, that, even when it looks like it's not going to come to fruition, “I, the Lord, got this all in control, if you believe, because all things are possible if you believe. I am the life. I'm it. I am the resurrection. I'm it. I'm the One who can make this come about. Don't believe in the storm, and the weather that comes and says it's not going to happen. Don't believe in the noise of the friends and the naysayers, that say, 'You'll never amount to what you think you can be.' Don't give in to that. I, the Lord, am the answer for all these things.” So, it didn't take too long for me to realize, that security, that my brother had asked me about, that, at the very second he was talking about him and his wife and that relationship, and that the thing that she saw in him—one of the things she saw in him, anyway—one of the things that she saw in him was security. Which is what we find in the Lord Jesus Christ. We find somebody that's going to take care of us. Somebody that's always got our back; somebody we can turn to, somebody that, “God, when I am so depressed, when I'm so estranged, when I don't think I can make it, somebody that will come walking on the water to me. When I think that my hopes have been dashed, somebody that says, “Arise!” When I think that the love that I had ain't going to be filled up, somebody says, “Believest thou that I can make this work for you? Not your way; the way I called it to be.” Do you believe that I can do this? And not your way; My way. It doesn't matter that the crowd is around you. It doesn't matter that people are talking in your ear. It doesn't matter that people are trying to discourage you. It doesn't matter what's on TV. It doesn't matter who's in office. I am the resurrection and the life. There's no failure in Me. Believest thou that I can do this? Do you trust me like that?” We talked about three occasions while He was yet alive. There is one more occasion:
John 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. This commandment received I from My Father. So, everybody, at the time, was crying, and wailing, and moaning, and, the Pharisees, they thought, “It's a done deal! It's over!” He told them ahead of time, “No man taketh it from Me.” So, when they thought they were nailing the spikes in His hands, what, actually He was doing, was stretching His arms wide, and said, “All that came before Me that trusted in Me, and all that came after Me, all that are here now, all of you that believe in Me, I got you. None of you take it from Me, I lay it down, and I take it back up again. I give it to you. I do it.” Oh, Jesus. Who, but the lamb of God? Who does it over and over and over and over? Who can do it? What is there that He didn't put in His arms that day? What is there? Do you believe? Do you believe that He will do it? That's all that matters. “God, I don't care what else is going on around me. I don't care what it looks like is surrounding You, You're bidding me to give them to You. You will be able to raise up my hopes and my dreams. You will be able to restore my love. You will take care of me. You will do it. You will.” Great God in Heaven. Great God in Heaven. Glory, glory, glory. What will challenge Him, that He's afraid of? What is there that's not known to Him? “I, the Lord, I've got the power. I've got the power. Don't you see it? I've got the power, and I got you.” Great God Almighty! Give the Lord a praise!
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