THE FAITH FACTOR
Part 2 : "Faith Knows Jesus is Alive!"
There is so much on my heart that I want to share with you, that I just couldn’t wait for later to send this next message out. With Easter just around the corner, it is most important to know, that for faith to work in JESUS, you must first KNOW that HE is indeed alive and not dead!
HE IS A RISEN SAVIOUR!
On the darkest day in history, JESUS CHRIST, the Son of GOD, was crucified. While hanging on that old rugged cross, JESUS drew HIS last breath, within HIS mortal body. Looking around at what all had happened, JESUS cried:
"It is finished!"
HIS precious head then slumped to HIS chest, HE looked once more towards Heaven as with HIS final words being:
"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:"
It was at that moment in time, that JESUS died . . . .
Those that loved JESUS dearly, removed HIS dead body from the cross and placed it in a lonely tomb.
Now get this . . . The Jewish leaders FEARED JESUS’S disciples!
They feared for one that these people would come and steal JESUS’S body from the tomb and start claiming that HE had arisen from the dead!
So what did these Jewish leader do?
FIRST: They put a seal across the stone that closed the tomb, so as the entrance would be completely secure!
SECOND: They were so afraid that these Jewish leaders even placed gaurds outside the tomb to keep anyone from doing anything!
JESUS CHRIST . . . the one whom made the blind to see . . . The deaf to hear . . . the lame to walk . . . and even the dead to arise . . . .HE was dead, and his followers were all deeply saddened and in utter heartache.
It was at this moment, that the devil was dancing and rejoicing!
He had successfully crucified and killed JESUS, the Son of GOD! His thinking was that he had silenced the Son of GOD forever!
Little did he know that the message of JESUS would soon be more amplified than ever before and carried through the entire world for centuries to come.
People all the time go to Jerusalem, to get that peak at JESUS tomb. At least this is where some of the historians, feel like where JESUS was buried, after HE was crucified.
But you know what?
YOU WILL NOT FIND HIS BODY THERE!
YOU WONT FIND HIS GARMENTS THERE!
YOU WONT FIND HIS BONES THERE!
YOU WONT FIND ANYONE OR ANYTHING THERE, FOR WHAT THE ANGEL SAID IN MATTHEW 28:5 & 6 IS VERY MUCH TRUE TODAY AS IT WAS BACK THEN:
". . . Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."
THE TOMB IS EMPTY!
To so many non believers, this is a hard fact to understand . . . but as a Christian, you accepted as a fact through the use of your faith, and knowing that the Bible is truth!
Faith tells you that JESUS has indeed risen from the dead and is alive today! Faith tells you that Romans 10:9 is 100% accurate:
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
THIS SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY YOU MIGHT BE SAVED . . .
THIS SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY YOU HAVE A POSSIBILITY OF BEING SAVED . . .
THIS SCRIPTURE DOESN’T EVEN SAY YOU HAVE A CHANCE AT BEING SAVED . . .
THIS SCRIPTURE PROVES THAT IF YOU CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THE LORD JESUS AND BELIEVE THAT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD . . .
YOU SHALL BE SAVED!
The unsaved person sees and hears these words of complete truth, and wonders how could JESUS actually help HIM now?
Have you ever run into someone that tells you that GOD just could not accept them?
Or maybe they tell you that they are just to far gone for GOD to receive?
My friends . . . if that were in any way true, then GOD’S love for us would be considered as "conditional".
"What do you mean, Reverend Sam?"
Think of it this way . . . as humans, we all tend to base our love for others on performance. How well they either did a job or did something else for us. If they did a great job, everyone is happy, and love is spread abroad. If the job was done lousy, then there comes an uproar of complaining and bickering as to why the job was not done right the first time.
Some Christians tend to love others ONLY when things are going there way . . .and if it is not, then they have NO love to give.
Not only that . . . so many Christians tend to be some of the rudest and cruelest people in the world, simply by the way they treat people they come in contact with.
In some churches, there are some Christians that will see fellow members and give the plastic smiles, the unemotional ‘how are you?’. . . and once they leave church and go to say a restaurant, they treat their server harshly.
It’s gotten to be no real big surprise that some of our churches are faltering in membership . . .
IS THIS A CHRIST-LIKE EXAMPLE?
My guess is that these Christians are possibly upset because the Pastor stepped on their toes with the convicting message he preached . . .
and if that is the way they are acting towards others after the Pastor’s message . . . perhaps the Pastor did not step on their toes hard enough . . .
There is no doubt in my mind that GOD loves me! GOD loved me enough to give HIS son JESUS . . . as a sacrifice to pay my sin debt!
NOT ONLY did GOD give JESUS to pay my sin debt, HE gave JESUS to pay yours as well!
Through GOD’s wonderful grace and mercy . . . we are forgiven . . . should not we be showing it through our actions?
Today . . . JESUS is at the right hand of the FATHER, as HE is consistently making intercession for us to the FATHER.
Those people that feel like JESUS cannot accept them need to know this . . . JESUS is very much alive! And JESUS is very much on their side!
HE WANTS TO EXTEND TO THEM HIS GRACE!
HE WANTS TO EXTEND TO THEM HIS MERCY!
HE WANTS TO EXTEND TO THEM HIS LOVE!
BUT HE CANNOT EXTEND IT UNTIL THEY ACCEPT IT!
AND IF WE ARE NOT OUT THERE SHARING THE LOVE OF GOD WITH THE LOST . . . HOW ARE THEY GOING TO KNOW ABOUT IT?
We need to be out there telling people that the grave could NOT hold JESUS!
We need to be telling people that the devil only thought he won when JESUS died!
For the devil did NOT win as JESUS rose from the dead!
As a result, Satan suffered an eternal defeat . . . that shall be eventually bring Revelations 20:10 to pass, as it says:
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
GLORY TO GOD!
You know what else? Because JESUS lives today, we can face tomorrow with a confidence and a strength like none other.
Because the grave could not hold JESUS, you can have life and have it more abundantly!
Because JESUS ascended into Heaven after the Resurrection . . . YOU WERE NOT LEFT COMFORTLESS!
In John 14:16, JESUS told us:
". . .I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;"
Who is this Comforter?
THIS COMFORTER IS YOUR COUNSELOR!
THIS COMFORTER IS YOUR HELPER!
THIS COMFORTER IS YOUR INTERCESSOR!
THIS COMFORTER IS YOUR ADVOCATE!
THIS COMFORTER IS YOUR STRENGTHENER!
THIS COMFORTER IS YOUR STANDBY!
THIS COMFORTER IS NONE OTHER THAN THE HOLY SPIRIT!
Let me share this with you . . . you could go all around the world and visit all the graves of the most influential religious leaders.
BUT ONLY ONE GRAVE WILL BE EMPTY!
THERE IS ONLY ONE WHOM HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD AND ASCENDED ON HIGH!
THAT IS JESUS CHRIST!
OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR!
It’s a sad note to say, but many lost people, and even many Christians today, feel as if their plans and dreams of the future have crashed and burned.
The pressures of life seem to pile up . . . as bills need to get paid . . . cars repaired . . . groceries bought . . . the world is non stop! And that is the way the devil wants it, for he knows if he keeps the unsaved and the Christians busy with other things, they will not spend that time with GOD every day to get encouraged.
Through your personal faith . . . you know JESUS could not be held by that grave!
And through your faith, you also know, that same JESUS that died on Calvary’s Cross many years ago, and rose again . . . is the SAME JESUS TODAY!
Through that same faith . . . you should know that same Resurrection power is available to you to turn around those bad situations in life.
A big note to tell the lost about JESUS is this glorious fact!
Not only is the LORD JESUS risen and very much active on your behalf today, but HE is also planning to come back for you! Let the lost hear the wonderful promise of GOD when HE says in John 14: 1-3:
"ΒΆ Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PROMISE FROM JESUS OWN MOUTH!
Let them know you want them to come along and be there as well!
But how are they going to know if you don't tell them?
Let me close with this . . . in The Book of 1st Thessalonians 4:16 & 17, the Bible says:
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
If you look at the world around you today . . . you have got to see that our time on this earth is very short, because JESUS could return at any minute!
JESUS is coming again and coming again very soon!
All of us that are saved will be going with HIM when HE makes HIS triumphant return when the trumpet sounds . . .
When that trumpet sounds we will see HIM in that twinkling of an eye . . .
Do you know JESUS as your LORD and SAVIOUR?
Let me ask you . . . do you know that if you died right now, that with out a shadow of a doubt you would go to Heaven?
If you took more than a second to answer that question . . . you need to really be talking to GOD . . .
Suppose you did die today, and you find yourself standing before GOD in Heaven, and HE ask you:
WHY SHOULD I LET YOU INTO MY HEAVEN?
What are you going to tell HIM?
You were good?
You gave your tithe?
You went to church every Sunday?
All of that will NOT get you to Heaven . . . JESUS says in John 14:6:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
If you don’t know JESUS . . . and want to know HIM . . . I encourage you to email me right now and/ or pray to HIM.
No one here is going to downgrade you or insult you . . . they are only going to love you and help you at S & J Ministries.
If you want to talk to me or someone on the phone . . . email me and tell me, I will give you a number to call . . .
Maybe you are already saved and you have had faith challenges over and over again to the point where you feel like just giving up . . .
Remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 12 :2:
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Our faith seems to always get challenged . . . does it not?
It's at those times we need to have a really close relationship with JESUS CHRIST . . .
Praising GOD when things are good is so easy to do . . .
Praising GOD when things are bad can be hard to do . . .
GOD is our Heavenly FATHER . . . and HE wants us to come to HIM any time we have a problem . . .
Be it big . . . be it small . . . HE is there . . .
Remember above all other things . . .
JESUS IS ALIVE AND ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU!
I love you guys!
Reverend Sam
