Sermon Title: The Risen Lord; The Resurrected Life
“Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Risen Savior, Jesus Christ!
The Christian Life is categorically unrivalled to any in this world - because it is simply not of this world; that Christ is Risen and Alive today - having conquered sin and death, and bestowing upon every believer the Power of Resurrection which is, the gift of the Holy Spirit – makes our existence truly eminent and eternal.
Because our Lord Jesus Christ lives, our reality must be the Resurrected Life; in spite of our present existence in a world that consistently defies and rejects Him.
This rejection of the Lord Jesus is documented in a recent article: ‘Canadians consider certain religions damaging to society: survey’:
“Many Canadians now believe... evangelical Christianity (along with two other religions) ... are more damaging to society than beneficial, a new survey shows, as people across the country continue to turn their backs on religion.”
“The survey reveals that all religious groups surveyed viewed evangelical Christianity as more damaging to society than beneficial... ...Respondents from both religions were also more likely to feel that Canada doesn’t make room for their beliefs in society.”
(Ref: https://globalnews.ca/news/8759564/canada-religion-society-perceptions/)
However, this is certainly not new; nor is it news.
This worldview of Christ and the Salvific Love of God has always been the same in the days of the Apostles.
In fact, the defiance and rejection of God existed from the moment Adam and the woman consumed the forbidden fruit.
To be consecrated and set apart for God – our reality must too, be set apart from the world. Regardless of what the world thinks, we must live for Christ alone – and to do that, is to live in the Power of the Holy Spirit – the same Resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead.
To be consecrated unto God; never look for the living among the dead!
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
6 He is not here; he has risen!
Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:
7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”
8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.” (Luke 24:2-9)
The four components to the Resurrected Life:
Seeking (Luke 24:1-2);
Waiting (Luke 24:4);
Remembering (Luke 24:8);
Telling (Luke 24:9).
The three Marys at the Resurrection event of Christ demonstrated the four components of the Resurrected Life – in which, regardless of any obvious impediment such as a giant stone, they sought to be with the Lord the first moment they could; and when they did not find His body, they wondered, yet waited, in marked contemplation with absolutely no hurry to move on to the next agenda.
When told that He has risen and reminded of what the Lord Jesus told them, “they remembered His Words”, and consequently told the Apostles and all the others.
The Resurrection Power of God – as empowered by the Holy Spirit - was upon their lives; just as Christ had said in John 14:15-20, who also forewarned us of how the world was sure to reject the very Presence of God:
““If you love me, keep my commands.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.
Because I live, you also will live.
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Jesus lives, and that is why we live.
Through our utter reception of the Holy Spirit, is His Resurrection Power truly upon us.
Such is the evidence of Christ’s Resurrection Power in our lives – that our brand of love, faith and hope is resurrected, divine, and supernatural; empowered wholly by the Holy Spirit.
Love
What kind of love do you have?
Is your love conditional - based on whether or not the person is loveable, or if you are loved in return? Is your love a ‘quid pro quo’ love? Transactional love? Convenient love? Easy love?
Be very mindful how, and who, you love.
The evidence of the Resurrected life is foremost established in the deepest love for Christ – resulting in the utter obedience to His Commands to be filled with the Power of the Holy Spirit for the sole purpose of loving one another, building one another in His love and thereby, becoming His witnesses to the world.
The love that results from the Holy Spirit’s Power of Resurrection upon the believer is the kind that not only advocates God’s Love, the Gospel Truth and His Kingdom, it is the love that manifests in our love for one another – within the church family - with the divine purpose of establishing God’s Kingdom here on earth.
1 John 4:7-21 elucidates precisely to this divine love – empowered by the Holy Spirit - that must exist in our church family.
“7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love among us:
He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.
18 There is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.
For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
Faith
What kind of faith do you have?
Do you know what faith is?
Pay attention.
Faith in Jesus is unrequired, and thus, forgotten, when life traverses smoothly.
The Apostle Paul instructs us in Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Regardless of the circumstances of life, we must fully acknowledge that we are alive only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Without faith in Christ, we are as good as dead.
Only with faith in Christ do we live with purpose – which is to please God!
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
7 For we live by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-10)
Do you live only by your faith in Christ – fully embracing the eternal life in His Kingdom that is already here; and abandoning any and all faith in the body and this world?
The Apostle Paul expresses it succinctly, yet ever so seriously:
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
If to live is Christ, the Christian faith must be generationally established through the uncompromised and persistent tasks of encouraging and edifying one another up in Christ by our constant and mutual fellowship, prayer, and ministry – by the Power of the Holy Spirit - with the divine purpose of establishing God’s Kingdom here on earth.
Do we have such radical faith?
Do we dare have such radical faith?
Our Lord Jesus reveals in John 14:11-20 just what might happen if we did.
“11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Whoever believes in Christ will do the works that He did; “and they will do even greater things than these” as the result of being empowered by the Holy Spirit (Ref: John 14:12b - Note: Which is the meaning behind our Lord “going to the Father”)
That we may ask our Lord Jesus anything in His Name and He will do it stems only from an utter faith in Him for the sole purposes of inbreaking His Eternal Kingdom.
Church, is our faith in Christ energizing us to do the works that Christ did, and “even greater things than these”?
Our Lord Jesus “welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” (Luke 9:11)
Are we willing and prepared to manifest divine faith to do all these and more?
Hope
What kind of hope do you have?
Is your hope earthly? Or is it Heavenly?
Do you “store up for yourselves treasures on earth” where it is doomed for destruction? (Ref: Matthew 6:19)
Or do you “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” where it is bound for His eternal Kingdom? (Ref: Matthew 6:20)
Our Lord Jesus teaches us explicitly:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
Where is your heart?
Where is your hope?
To this, the Apostle Paul prayed:
“17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:17-21)
We need the Holy Spirit – “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” – to know Christ better, and to experience Him clearer, and deeper; that we may know the hope to which God has called us – which is, “the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
In Christ, we have been made holy!
In Christ, we have received this glorious inheritance!
In Christ, we have been empowered by the Spirit’s great Power – “the same as the mighty strength (God) exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come”!
Have you set your hope in Christ alone?
Do you live utterly in the Power of the Holy Spirit?
RESURRECTED LOVE; FAITH; HOPE
Church, our Resurrected Life must manifest in the resurrected love, faith and hope that comes by the Resurrection Power of the Holy Spirit – for such is the evidence that we remain in Christ.
Our existential purpose is to participate with the Lord in establishing His Kingdom here on earth – and that can only happen when as a church family, we are committed to building one another up through mutual love, faith and hope that comes by the Power of the Holy Spirit; for that same power allows us to live as God’s holy, resurrected and eternally living people.
Our old faiths, hopes and loves must die; with only our faith, hope and love in Christ be resurrected by the Holy Spirit.
Regardless of how the world feels about Jesus, may you always be a true disciple of the Risen Lord; living each day in the resurrected life of Jesus Christ, and fulfilling your divine purpose in this world as His glorious witness by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Indeed, Lord Jesus, because You live, we are alive and well – by the Resurrection Power of the Holy Spirit upon us!
Holy Spirit, bring me fully into Your Power to live; that I may be consecrated for Your Holy purposes alone – and never be found looking “for the living among the dead!”
Help me daily seek You, wait upon You, remember You and tell the world about the love of God through the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ – that I may live in the resurrected life.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill my life! Saturate my heart; and wholly empower me with the resurrected faith, hope and love that comes from living in the Lord Jesus now and forevermore.
May I put to death my old self – especially my old faiths, hopes and loves – and live only for Christ; allowing only the resurrected faith, hope and love in the Lord Jesus to define and substantiate my existence and endeavors.
Help and empower our church family to live fully in the resurrected life – supernaturally manifesting the divine love, faith and hope that comes by the Resurrection Power of the Holy Spirit; for such is the evidence that we remain in Christ.
May we – as Your Holy People – utterly commit to building one another up through mutual and radical love, faith and hope that comes with the Presence, Purpose and Power of the Holy Spirit upon us.
Convict me, Holy Spirit.
May I be Your true disciple, Lord Jesus – becoming Your “imitator” (Ref: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-7) - by living each day in the Power of Your Resurrection, and fulfilling Your Holy Will in my life to be Your Spirit-empowered example and witness to the world around me.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Risen Savior, Jesus Christ!
The Christian Life is categorically unrivalled to any in this world - because it is simply not of this world; that Christ is Risen and Alive today - having conquered sin and death, and bestowing upon every believer the Power of Resurrection which is, the gift of the Holy Spirit – makes our existence truly eminent and eternal.
Because our Lord Jesus Christ lives, our reality must be the Resurrected Life; in spite of our present existence in a world that consistently defies and rejects Him.
This rejection of the Lord Jesus is documented in a recent article: ‘Canadians consider certain religions damaging to society: survey’:
“Many Canadians now believe... evangelical Christianity (along with two other religions) ... are more damaging to society than beneficial, a new survey shows, as people across the country continue to turn their backs on religion.”
“The survey reveals that all religious groups surveyed viewed evangelical Christianity as more damaging to society than beneficial... ...Respondents from both religions were also more likely to feel that Canada doesn’t make room for their beliefs in society.”
(Ref: https://globalnews.ca/news/8759564/canada-religion-society-perceptions/)
However, this is certainly not new; nor is it news.
This worldview of Christ and the Salvific Love of God has always been the same in the days of the Apostles.
In fact, the defiance and rejection of God existed from the moment Adam and the woman consumed the forbidden fruit.
To be consecrated and set apart for God – our reality must too, be set apart from the world. Regardless of what the world thinks, we must live for Christ alone – and to do that, is to live in the Power of the Holy Spirit – the same Resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead.
To be consecrated unto God; never look for the living among the dead!
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
6 He is not here; he has risen!
Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:
7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”
8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.” (Luke 24:2-9)
The four components to the Resurrected Life:
Seeking (Luke 24:1-2);
Waiting (Luke 24:4);
Remembering (Luke 24:8);
Telling (Luke 24:9).
The three Marys at the Resurrection event of Christ demonstrated the four components of the Resurrected Life – in which, regardless of any obvious impediment such as a giant stone, they sought to be with the Lord the first moment they could; and when they did not find His body, they wondered, yet waited, in marked contemplation with absolutely no hurry to move on to the next agenda.
When told that He has risen and reminded of what the Lord Jesus told them, “they remembered His Words”, and consequently told the Apostles and all the others.
The Resurrection Power of God – as empowered by the Holy Spirit - was upon their lives; just as Christ had said in John 14:15-20, who also forewarned us of how the world was sure to reject the very Presence of God:
““If you love me, keep my commands.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.
Because I live, you also will live.
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Jesus lives, and that is why we live.
Through our utter reception of the Holy Spirit, is His Resurrection Power truly upon us.
Such is the evidence of Christ’s Resurrection Power in our lives – that our brand of love, faith and hope is resurrected, divine, and supernatural; empowered wholly by the Holy Spirit.
Love
What kind of love do you have?
Is your love conditional - based on whether or not the person is loveable, or if you are loved in return? Is your love a ‘quid pro quo’ love? Transactional love? Convenient love? Easy love?
Be very mindful how, and who, you love.
The evidence of the Resurrected life is foremost established in the deepest love for Christ – resulting in the utter obedience to His Commands to be filled with the Power of the Holy Spirit for the sole purpose of loving one another, building one another in His love and thereby, becoming His witnesses to the world.
The love that results from the Holy Spirit’s Power of Resurrection upon the believer is the kind that not only advocates God’s Love, the Gospel Truth and His Kingdom, it is the love that manifests in our love for one another – within the church family - with the divine purpose of establishing God’s Kingdom here on earth.
1 John 4:7-21 elucidates precisely to this divine love – empowered by the Holy Spirit - that must exist in our church family.
“7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love among us:
He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.
18 There is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.
For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
Faith
What kind of faith do you have?
Do you know what faith is?
Pay attention.
Faith in Jesus is unrequired, and thus, forgotten, when life traverses smoothly.
The Apostle Paul instructs us in Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Regardless of the circumstances of life, we must fully acknowledge that we are alive only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Without faith in Christ, we are as good as dead.
Only with faith in Christ do we live with purpose – which is to please God!
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
7 For we live by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-10)
Do you live only by your faith in Christ – fully embracing the eternal life in His Kingdom that is already here; and abandoning any and all faith in the body and this world?
The Apostle Paul expresses it succinctly, yet ever so seriously:
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
If to live is Christ, the Christian faith must be generationally established through the uncompromised and persistent tasks of encouraging and edifying one another up in Christ by our constant and mutual fellowship, prayer, and ministry – by the Power of the Holy Spirit - with the divine purpose of establishing God’s Kingdom here on earth.
Do we have such radical faith?
Do we dare have such radical faith?
Our Lord Jesus reveals in John 14:11-20 just what might happen if we did.
“11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Whoever believes in Christ will do the works that He did; “and they will do even greater things than these” as the result of being empowered by the Holy Spirit (Ref: John 14:12b - Note: Which is the meaning behind our Lord “going to the Father”)
That we may ask our Lord Jesus anything in His Name and He will do it stems only from an utter faith in Him for the sole purposes of inbreaking His Eternal Kingdom.
Church, is our faith in Christ energizing us to do the works that Christ did, and “even greater things than these”?
Our Lord Jesus “welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” (Luke 9:11)
Are we willing and prepared to manifest divine faith to do all these and more?
Hope
What kind of hope do you have?
Is your hope earthly? Or is it Heavenly?
Do you “store up for yourselves treasures on earth” where it is doomed for destruction? (Ref: Matthew 6:19)
Or do you “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” where it is bound for His eternal Kingdom? (Ref: Matthew 6:20)
Our Lord Jesus teaches us explicitly:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
Where is your heart?
Where is your hope?
To this, the Apostle Paul prayed:
“17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:17-21)
We need the Holy Spirit – “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” – to know Christ better, and to experience Him clearer, and deeper; that we may know the hope to which God has called us – which is, “the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
In Christ, we have been made holy!
In Christ, we have received this glorious inheritance!
In Christ, we have been empowered by the Spirit’s great Power – “the same as the mighty strength (God) exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come”!
Have you set your hope in Christ alone?
Do you live utterly in the Power of the Holy Spirit?
RESURRECTED LOVE; FAITH; HOPE
Church, our Resurrected Life must manifest in the resurrected love, faith and hope that comes by the Resurrection Power of the Holy Spirit – for such is the evidence that we remain in Christ.
Our existential purpose is to participate with the Lord in establishing His Kingdom here on earth – and that can only happen when as a church family, we are committed to building one another up through mutual love, faith and hope that comes by the Power of the Holy Spirit; for that same power allows us to live as God’s holy, resurrected and eternally living people.
Our old faiths, hopes and loves must die; with only our faith, hope and love in Christ be resurrected by the Holy Spirit.
Regardless of how the world feels about Jesus, may you always be a true disciple of the Risen Lord; living each day in the resurrected life of Jesus Christ, and fulfilling your divine purpose in this world as His glorious witness by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Indeed, Lord Jesus, because You live, we are alive and well – by the Resurrection Power of the Holy Spirit upon us!
Holy Spirit, bring me fully into Your Power to live; that I may be consecrated for Your Holy purposes alone – and never be found looking “for the living among the dead!”
Help me daily seek You, wait upon You, remember You and tell the world about the love of God through the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ – that I may live in the resurrected life.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill my life! Saturate my heart; and wholly empower me with the resurrected faith, hope and love that comes from living in the Lord Jesus now and forevermore.
May I put to death my old self – especially my old faiths, hopes and loves – and live only for Christ; allowing only the resurrected faith, hope and love in the Lord Jesus to define and substantiate my existence and endeavors.
Help and empower our church family to live fully in the resurrected life – supernaturally manifesting the divine love, faith and hope that comes by the Resurrection Power of the Holy Spirit; for such is the evidence that we remain in Christ.
May we – as Your Holy People – utterly commit to building one another up through mutual and radical love, faith and hope that comes with the Presence, Purpose and Power of the Holy Spirit upon us.
Convict me, Holy Spirit.
May I be Your true disciple, Lord Jesus – becoming Your “imitator” (Ref: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-7) - by living each day in the Power of Your Resurrection, and fulfilling Your Holy Will in my life to be Your Spirit-empowered example and witness to the world around me.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.