Seize the Moment – Day 392
The Stage Has Been Set!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 13.
Have you ever jumped into a movie late? The big picture has been set and the main characters have been introduced. You can still enjoy the movie, but you don’t fully understand the story.
The same happens with the Bible. Genesis 11 is the end of the prologue and the setting of the stage for the choosing of Abram in Genesis 12. You most likely know him as the great patriarch, Father Abraham, the man who is considered the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Understanding the story to which he is introduced is very important to understanding the whole!
The Table of Nations were described in Genesis 10, but it is Genesis 11 that explains why the descendants of Noah went from being a unified family tree to scattered branches across the land. Listen to Genesis 11:8-9 which gives you a summary of the Tower of Babel story:
So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
It was the pride and presumption of humanity that led to our disunity, but it would be in the humility of one man that would ultimately lead to our unification with God!
Pride and humility are both forces unto themselves—one divides and destroys; whereas the other unites and builds. Abram believed God whereas the rest wanted to be gods!
Seize the moment and believe God! The stage has been set and you are invited to join the story that unites you to God and builds up God’s people.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
YOUTUBE:
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 391
God Knows Your Name!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 12.
Do you believe that God knows you by name?
If you ever wonder if God cares about names, take notice of how many names are in the Bible. Genesis 10 & 11 are great examples of this as these chapters list the good fruit of Noah’s faith—name by name!
God keeps His word to Noah and preserves humanity through Noah’s three sons. Listen to the bookends of Genesis 10:1 & 32,
Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood. . . . These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.
The timeline of all these generations and their separations and the events of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 can be unclear, but what is very clear is God’s faithfulness to keep His promise to Noah. Did you see how many people are listed in these chapters? Wow! God is faithful and He brings the increase!
God not only preserved a small remnant through the one man Noah, but he quickly multiplied them on the face of the earth and not as a nameless mass of people, but as individuals with names because each person represents the promise of God.
God loves you and knows your name. Jesus said in Luke 12:7, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
Seize the moment and know that Jesus knows your name and He finds great value in you. You are precious in His sight. Find your worth in God today.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
YOUTUBE:
Read more...
Live Like a Champion – Week 15
The Promise of a New Beginning!
2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (NAS95)
In this sermon series, we are learning how to live like a champion by learning how to live according to the victory of the promises of God. Our guiding image for this series is being a member of an NFL team who wins the Superbowl. We live like champions so that others will come to know the One who gave us His Victory—Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again!
He is risen! My savior lives!
The play of the week is “The Promise of a New Beginning!” The memory verse for this promise is 2 Corinthians 5:17, when Paul victoriously proclaims,
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
This is the promise of spring! Even after the worst of winters, the spring brings new life! As the saying goes, “April showers. May flowers.” The same is true for even the worst of sinners! When God’s grace rains down on you and your respond in faith, then the Lord Jesus Christ will reign in you and He will bring new life because Jesus’ kingdom is about resurrection power—making all things new (Revelation 21:5).
As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, this promise is the good fruit of those who are “in Christ”!
Are you “in Christ”? Are you walking in a personal relationship with Him?
As you heard from the scripture reading this morning, this memory verse is a part of larger passage about how and why we have received the promise of a new beginning. Let’s find our answers from God’s Word.
“For the love of Christ compels us…”
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”
Are you abiding in Christ or abiding in death? The simple test is always found in one word: LOVE!
Who or what directs your path? What compels you to act and constrains you to not act? What sets your agenda and what gives you the motivation to get it done? How do you make decisions?
“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
This is the mystery of the resurrection—life comes from death! As Jesus said in John 12:24-26,
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
We are unwilling to begin a new life when we remain codependent with the old man—you can’t keep the old man on life support just in case Jesus doesn’t work for you! Paul knew this intimately as a former religious leader. He had to die to religion in order to be born again to a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
You can’t live the old life and experience the promise of a new beginning at the same time. Beauty comes from ashes—that’s a promise!
Maybe you are hanging on to some hurt, habit, or hang up, an addiction or secret sin, or maybe you are not willing to die to religion in order to be born again through personal relationship…
Are you living a co-dependent life with your old self? You don’t need the old anymore. You can experience satisfaction and joy in your new life; you can feel accomplished and successful in Christ alone; you can know who you are and have a unique identity in your life.
What must you crucify so that you are living as the new creation Jesus Christ says you are?
“Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.”
“the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
We live by faith in the Son of God who loved me! This faith becomes our power source because of God’s Holy Spirit living in us—given to us by the Father and Son to fulfill God’s purposes for our lives.
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
How do we become the righteousness of God in Christ?
You have been regenerated (born again!) by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God has given you the gift of His righteousness—His presence in you. Holiness is Christ in you! What comes out of you is determined by who lives in you. The tree is known by its fruit! You are already a new creation, a new person, as Paul says, the old has gone, behold, the new has come. This is the new beginning of being “in Christ”!
Jesus took your sin upon Himself and filled you with His right standing with God so you can live in Him. Listen to Romans 6:4-11 explains this as he teaches us about the ancient practice of baptism:
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Why has God done this?
There is a reason God has commanded us to walk in this way, in the promise of a new beginning!
For God’s glory, we are created in Christ Jesus to be signposts of His new creation! We are not yet in the New Heaven and New Earth, that is at the end of all things when Christs makes all things new (Revelation 21:5), but we are to point people to the new creation!
“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
As a part of His new creation, Jesus has invited you into the mission of Jesus. Listen to our last two verses of our scripture lesson, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20,
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
If you are in Christ, you are on mission!
No additional call to ministry required because you are immediately a “minister of reconciliation.” When God calls you to Himself, He calls you to His plans and purposes for creating you (Ephesians 2:10).
You are a signpost of the New Heaven and New Earth! You are already a new creation, reconciled to God through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ! This is the reality of your baptism of the Holy Spirit—you are infused with the Light of God, His Holy Spirit, immersed in God for the world to see!
“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Now, as a new creation, chosen by God, reconciled by the Son and empowered by the Holy Spirit, compelled by His love go in grace as ambassadors for Christ—signposts of the new creation!
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 389
Today’s hymn focus will be “The Old Rugged Cross”
1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live
to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Eight years after beginning his Christian ministry in the ranks of the Salvation Army, George Bennard was ordained by the Methodist Episcopal Church and was highly esteemed as an evangelist.
He began writing the hymn in 1912 after returning home following a revival. His favorite verse was John 3:16, and he said he felt the words leave the printed page and act out the meaning of redemption, realizing that the cross was more than just a religious symbol, but rather the very heart of the gospel.
The words and the melody began to flow from his heart. He sent the manuscript to Charles Gabriel who finished composing the rest of the harmonies, and it was sang as a duet on January 12, 1913 with Bennard and his revival partner, Ed E. Mieras, to close out the revival services.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies as last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown
Wake up and realize the significance of the cross and what it means in not only cleansing us of our sins, but also providing the promise of healing through His sacrifice.
YOUTUBE:
The Old Rugged Cross
the emblem of suffering and shame;
and I love that old cross where the dearest and best
for a world of lost sinners was slain.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.
has a wondrous attraction for me;
for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above
to bear it to dark Calvary. [Refrain]
a wondrous beauty I see,
for ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
to pardon and sanctify me. [Refrain]
its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he’ll call me some day to my home far away,
where his glory forever I’ll share. [Refrain]
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 388
The Promise of Covenant!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 9.
After the flood receded and Noah had worshipped God, God did something unexpected. He established an unconditional covenant with Noah. God not only started over with Noah, but God promised to persevere with Noah’s descendants! That’s us!
Genesis 9:9-13 emphasizes the promise of the unconditional covenant that God gave Noah and all living creatures:
“Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.”
This unconditional covenant to not flood the earth again doesn’t mean there isn’t a judgment of sin! There must be because God is righteous and just!
This is the importance of Jesus Christ! We all deserve the same fate as those who lived in the days of Noah; therefore, we each are in need of a savior.
Paul said in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Amen! Praise God for the promise of covenant!
Seize the moment and receive the free gift of God by putting your faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and life.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
YOUTUBE:
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 387
Gratitude is the Right Response to God’s Blessings!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, April 8.
Does it matter how you respond to God’s blessings in your life?
Let’s think about that question from a simple perspective: How do you feel when you give someone a gift or you do something nice for them and they take it for granted and don’t say thank you or show any gratitude in word or deed?
Genesis 8:20-22 captures the scene of Noah’s first activity after leaving the ark. Noah could have been wrapped up with lots of concerns and thoughts about what had just happened because of the world-wide flood or about what should happen next now that they had to start life and civilization all over again, but instead Noah does this:
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
God’s blessings come in many forms, shapes, and sizes. We are invited to praise God for all of His gracious gifts. Gratitude in word or deed goes a long way to offering God a right response to His blessings in your life.
Seize the moment and say thank you to God! And remember that often God uses people to give you His many blessings. Be sure to say thanks to the people God uses to bless you along the way.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
YOUTUBE:
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 386
In the Days of Noah!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 7.
Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to experience the flood in the days of Noah?
Genesis 7:21-23 describes the horrifying judgment that was the world-wide flood:
All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.
I believe this was a real historic event—the judgment of God upon humanity’s rebellion against His rightful rule. I hold this conviction because of Jesus’ words. Jesus referenced Noah and the flood as a historical reality and used it to describe His second coming in Matthew 24:37-39,
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Jesus not only referenced it; He was there for it as the sovereign God and the reason Jesus came from Heaven to earth was to create an ark by which all can be saved from God’s righteous judgment of sin. He made the way!
Seize the moment and get in the ark of faith in Jesus Christ today! You don’t have to face a world-wide flood to know that you are in need of a savior! Do you?
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
YOUTUBE:
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 385
One Person Does Make a Difference!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 6.
The beautiful thing about reading through the Old Testament together is that we find the classic Sunday School lessons. Sorry no flannel graph. Today, we start one of the most famous Bible stories: The flood and Noah’s ark found in Genesis 6 – 10.
Can one person truly make a difference in today’s world?
The story of the world-wide flood and Noah’s ark is the story of the second rebellion of humanity against God’s rightful rule. As usual, God’s response to our sin is found in a person. This template of response is ultimately fulfilled thousands of years later in Jesus Christ!
Genesis 6:7-8 gives God’s response to man’s universal rebellion against Him: “The Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
All have rebelled, but one! How would this one person named Noah respond to God’s covenant to choose him and use him to rescue all of humanity and all of God’s living creatures? Genesis 6:22 explains Noah’s response: “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.”
In the New Testament, written thousands of years later, Noah is remembered this way. Listen to Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Seize the moment and live by faith and like Noah you will make a difference in your generation. God always has used just one person to make a difference in the world.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
YOUTUBE:
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 384
Created in the Image of God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 5.
How do you view people? How do you view yourself?
Genesis gives us a strong foundation of understanding the reality of humanity. Listen to Genesis 5:1-2 as it begins a genealogy of the descendants of Adam and Eve: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.”
We are created in the Image of God and we are blessed by God. Our origins are holy, even if our history is marked by sin. The Bible does not run from either reality. We can’t oversimplify our view of people and simply categorize them. We must see people as God created us to be!
It is important to see how the author of Genesis echoes the earlier language of Genesis 1:26-28:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Seize the moment and worship God and in doing so, you will reflect the glory of God to the world He created.
Let’s recite this week’s memory verse from John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
YOUTUBE:
Read more...
Live Like a Champion – Week 14
“The Promise of Resurrection and Life!”
John 11:1-46 (NAS95)
Happy Easter ~ He is Risen!
In this sermon series, we are learning how to live like a champion by learning how to live according to the victory of the promises of God. Our guiding image for this series is being a member of an NFL team who wins the Superbowl. We live like champions so that others will come to know the One who gave us His Victory—Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again!
Easter is the perfect Sunday for a series about living a victorious life because this is the day we celebrate the greatest victory ever—Jesus’s victory over death and His promise to us that, we too, will join with Him in His resurrection.
The play of the week is the “Promise of Resurrection and Life!” The memory verse for this promise is John 11:25-26, when Jesus proclaims,
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
This is a precious and magnificent promise ~ He is Risen!
1. The Promise of Resurrection and Life is for You
Have you ever felt like you were in a pretty bad situation and could not see nor imagine what God was possibly doing to bring the promise of resurrection and life out of the situation?
Can you imagine how Jesus’ followers must have felt on the Friday of His crucifixion? Their expectations, hopes, and dreams were shattered—life was not working out the way they thought it was supposed to…
Have you ever been there: Expectations crushed under the weight of reality; Hopes shattered like a glass of milk knocked of the dinner table; and Dreams dashed against the rocks of life’s storms?
How could anything good come out of Jesus’ suffering and death?
This the promise of resurrection and life ~ He is Risen!
Jesus responded to Marth and Mary’s discouragement with these words in verse 40, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
They thought Jesus was late in His arrival, but here is the good news: God is never late! I’m not sure if you caught this when Katie read the story, but did you hear what Jesus said in verses 14-15 before He went to see Lazarus, three days after he was informed of Lazarus’ sickness: “Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”
No matter the circumstance or how pungent the smell of death and decay you may be experiencing in your life, if Jesus says it’s time to go and open up the tomb so that you can come out of that circumstance, then it is time to trust that God may have a better plan in mind than what you can imagine. As Jesus said in verse 40, then “you will see the glory of God!”
Can you imagine this truth in your circumstances and relationships, at work or at home, in our church or community, in our nation and the nations?
This is Jesus’ promise of resurrection and life ~ He is Risen!
Jesus calls Lazarus out and we see the reality of Jesus’ promise of resurrection and life, but by God’s providence the work for the community of God’s people is not done yet!
2. Jesus invites you to participate in the promise of resurrection and life!
Listen to what Jesus says in verse 44 to the community who witnessed His miracle: “The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”
Did you hear it? Jesus says to you, “Unbind them and let them go!”
When Jesus began His ministry that would lead Him to the Cross of Calvary, He did so by proclaiming that He was the One who would fulfill God’s promises. Listen to Jesus in Luke 4:17-21,
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to [Jesus]. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
On this Easter Sunday, I am proclaiming to you that Jesus has not only fulfilled the promise of resurrection and life through His atoning sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary and His victorious resurrection from the empty tomb, but that Jesus is now inviting each one of you to carry on His work of bringing resurrection and life to your family and neighborhood, school or workplace, church or civic group or club, community or state, nation, and the nations.
Jesus is inviting you to walk in His fulfillment of that ancient book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon [YOU], Because He anointed [you] to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent [you] to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
Jesus said from the beginning of this story in John 11:4, just as God has proclaimed from the very beginning of the story of this sin-sick world, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”
How are we to participate in the promise of resurrection and life?
Jesus says that this sin-sick world is not to end in death, but all things will be made new for the glory of God and by this the Son of God will be glorified by it! We, His Church, are to work for this glory by doing what Jesus told the first witnesses of the promise of resurrection and life: “unbind them and let them go!”
We are to believe our own Easter Story!
We are to unbind the captives, set free the oppressed, give sight to the blind, and preach the gospel to the poor in word and deed. We are to let them go!
How are you invited to live out this promise in the personal and public arenas of your life?
As our memory verse proclaims in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
This is the promise of Jesus Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life ~ He is Risen!
Right now, we are going to respond and this is a sacred moment, an altar call: “Do you believe this?”
That is not my question to you; this is God’s question to you. Jesus is asking you: “Do you believe [that I am the resurrection and the life]?”
“Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.”
Some believed…
God has brought you to the empty tomb of Jesus Christ on this Easter Sunday: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, crucified on the Cross of Calvary for the forgiveness of your sin, dead and buried for three days, resurrected from the dead and alive as “the first fruits” (1 Corinthians 15:20) for all who will inherit His eternal life?
This is the promise of the One how has defeated death once and for all ~ He is Risen!
“Do you believe this?”
This is the promise of the First Fruits of the Resurrection and the Life ~ He is Risen!
“Do you believe this?”
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the message by clicking HERE.
Read more...