Resurrections cost

Philippians Chapter 3, verses 13 to 11. Read it with me somehow, I think it's on. Well listen to it or read it in your Bible. It says the word of the Lord, and these are the words of the Apostle Paul speaking to his readers in the city of Philippi. The Apostle Paul says:

“... But as many things were gain to me, I have estimated them –in other words, I have considered them- as loss for Christ's sake. And indeed I still count all things as loss because of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For the love of which I have lost everything and have everything as rubbish to win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is by law, but that which is by faith in Christ. The righteousness that is from God through faith....”

now turn your attention to this verse 10, it says, “... (all this he just explained), .... in order to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, if by any means he should come to the resurrection from the dead....”

May the Lord bless his holy word. Amen. Brothers, today we celebrate, as we have already said in so many ways, the resurrection of Christ, an event of great importance in all of Christianity. On this day there have been, and will be, celebrations of the most transformative and powerful event that has occurred in the entire history of humanity: in Asia, in Africa, in Australia, in New Zealand, in the Pacific, in the Atlantic, in North America, in South America, in all the countries and continents of the world there are people right now like us, celebrating the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

That's a wonderful thing. It is one of the holiest events on the Christian calendar, along with his birth, along with his crucifixion. The resurrection occupies an absolutely essential place.

Now, there are at least 3 dimensions that flow from the fact of the resurrection. There are at least 3 very big theological and practical consequences that flow from the fact that Christ is risen.

Firstly, the fact that Christ is risen is a promise to us of eternal life. How many understand what I am saying? This means that since Christ was raised, we too are going to be raised. Glory to the Lord. This is what the Apostle Paul says in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, that he is made the first fruit from the dead. Many have followed him in his resurrection since he rose and we, if he does not come before, will follow him too.

For the Son of God there is no death but simply passing from a lower life to an eternal and perfect life in Christ Jesus because he opened the way, he rose again and guarantees to us also our own resurrection, first consequence.

Second consequence: the resurrection of Christ validates the character, the messianic, divine nature of Jesus. The Apostles in their first sermons recorded in the Book of Acts, used the resurrection of Christ as a validation card of his character as Messiah, as the Son of God. They said, since God raised him from the dead, that is proof that he is the one that God has sent to mediate between him and humanity.

The resurrection of Christ is unique. No other religion bases its beliefs on a resurrected founder. The other founders of the great religions, we know where their tomb is or we know the day they died, but they don't talk about resurrection, they talk about other things, but bodily risen from the dead, historically, as we saw him there in a small moment of one of the presentations, resurrected in body, when he told Thomas 'put your hand into my side and look at the wounds in my hands', eating fish with his disciples at the end of one of the Gospels, no one claims that another religion.

Our founder, Jesus Christ, is the Son of God and that is why God raised him from the dead. Very important, second consequence. And there is still a third very practical consequence and that is that because Christ rose from the dead, each of us can live in resurrection power now in this life. Glory to the Lord.

That means that God has unleashed a power, by resurrecting Christ and defeating death, he also defeated everything that death represents in this world: illness, poverty, sadness, depression, defeat, ties spiritual and mental; all of this Christ broke the ties, and by resurrecting he delegated to us the power to live victorious lives. The most important thing is that, I can live a victorious life over sickness, depression, poverty, problems, sin in this life through the power that resurrected Christ Jesus.

I get to live a resurrected life, in other words, here on earth while I await my final and eternal resurrection. And that is a very important consequence and I am going to clarify it a little more because of how important it is. Because many Christians do not realize when entering the Christian life that we are entering a dimension of power, of victory, of promise, of luminosity, of hope, of breaking ties through the one who defeated everything, on the cross and in the resurrection.

I'll give you two examples of this. We have already seen one of them here with these two sisters who sang that precious hymn and who dramatically elaborated the encounter of the two Marys with the risen Christ.

You see these two women faithfully going to anoint the body of their Master, who they think is dead. For them there is no hope that he has risen, they think that he has been defeated, but they still have a healthy desire to bless and honor the body of their Master.

How many Christians are there who love God and have a healthy desire to honor God? But since these women do not know that God has already released a power through the risen Christ, Jesus Christ is not dead, he is alive as a song says over there. So, they are scared and worried saying 'who will roll away the stone for us?' Because there is a stone that covers the tomb of Jesus. A large stone was placed, it was a cave and they placed a stone, they rolled it to cover it. There were no doors in those times as we know them.

They are worried, they want to anoint the body of their Master and they are walking by faith but they worry because they do not have the strength. What's going on? The Bible says that when they arrive there a powerful angel descends from heaven, there is tremendous light, the angel removes the stone and sits on it, as a sign of victory, of resurrection, over death and over every obstacle that stands stands between us and the risen Christ.

And the Lord comes out and tells them, 'I have risen, go and testify of my resurrection.' The obstacles of life no longer stood between these women and the glorious resurrection of Jesus. And so we, brothers, can know that every problem in our life, every difficulty in our life is overcome by the glory of the resurrection.

Another text that affirms this, I find it in Ephesians, Chapter 1, verse 17 to 21, where the Apostle Paul prays, he says:

"... so that May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, of understanding in other words, so that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us, and what is the richness of the glory of the inheritance that God has given us, and what is the exceeding greatness, that is, here are repetitive words, the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe....”

Look, hope, riches , power, all those things, according to the operation of the power of his force. What is it that makes wealth, hope, power possible? The operation of the power of his force. Says;

“...who worked in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenlies....”

In other words, God wants you to know , my brother, my sister that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is within you now, and that you can confront every situation in your life because the power of Christ's resurrection moves in you now, here and forever . Remember that. This third consequence of the resurrection of Christ is very important.

This morning, brothers, I summarize, we have to remember that God wants us to live victorious lives through the power that raised Christ from the dead. His victory over death today guarantees us victory over life. This imperfect life where death rears its head everywhere in suffering, in illness, in sin, in conflicts, in economic and family problems. Brother, I want to tell you that all those stones have been removed through the Christ of the resurrection.

Now we could end here, I could close this sermon, make a call, and you could go eat ham back at your Easter house and celebrate the rest of the day, but you are out of luck. I'm going to tell them. There's still a little more to go. Actually the most important part of this sermon is missing, what I would call the prophetic part of this sermon is missing.

So buckle up there, get comfortable. Brothers, God has told me, I am going to put it that way, to tell you the following this afternoon, listen well, and this is the title of this sermon: 'Resurrections Cost'.

And God gave me that text from Philippians 3:7 to 11 to support this statement and this teaching that I want to leave with you. And in the life of the Apostle Paul, in the words of the Apostle Paul, we have that call to give one of us this afternoon to consider the price of living in resurrection power. Because I can't just declare, 'oh, we do have resurrection power,' how do we access that power? How do we learn to use it? How do we become instruments of that power? How can I learn to use the glory of the resurrection? And what do I have to do so that this power can fit inside of me and run freely through me?

Paul teaches us both in his words and in his life. the Apostle Paul was a man who knew how to live in the power of the resurrection. Paul shows this by his victorious conduct in his imprisonment. Do you know that Paul writes this letter to the Philippians while he is in a Roman jail? Some historians say that he was bound 24 hours a day by a long chain, always to a Roman soldier. And if he went to the bathroom he had to go with that soldier. If he ate he had to eat with that soldier. If he slept, they took over, there was always a soldier attached to him. He was in a Roman dungeon and from his writings we know that he didn't know if he was going to come out with his head on his shoulders when he finished his test, he wasn't sure about his life. He was there waiting to be seen by the emperor and they could give him a yes or no ruling. And incidentally his life did end up being executed, we don't know when. Possibly not this time, but at some point in his life Paul did end up being executed for his faith.

Most of us would have been depressed under similar circumstances, but out of Paul's imprisonment comes one of the most beautiful, joy-filled, and gracious letters ever written in the Bible, and I believe in all human literature, the Epistle to the Philippians, which I am reading from. That it has been called the epistle of joy, because Paul says over and over again 'rejoice, again I tell you rejoice, be anxious for nothing...' says the Apostle Paul, the Lord is near.

In another place it says, 'your kindness be known to all men, glory to the Lord...' And in another place it says, '...instead of being anxious, let your petitions be known before the Father, says, and the God of peace will keep your mind and heart in Christ Jesus our Lord..” Glory to God.

Paul wrote a letter full of encouragement, joy, peace, while he was in a Roman prison. That is, brothers, the triumph of the resurrection, that is the power of the resurrection. Most of us would have gotten depressed and thrown in the towel and said, well, I didn't sign up for this. I did not sign up for this kind of suffering.

The power of God was also eloquently manifested in the life of Paul through a glorious and powerful ministry, a luminous word, a revelation like no other man received revelation in all of history, healings. Paul would walk, the Bible says, sometimes in the street and his shadow would fall on someone and that person would be healed, cloths.

She knows that Yiye Ávila did not invent those cloths, of praying for the cloths so that people heal. The first one who did it was Pablo, if someone else had done it we would have said, oh, that's crazy, that's obscurantism. No, Paul did it, he prayed and handkerchiefs that he had used touched the people and they were healed. A mighty man, resurrection power, a tremendous evangelist.

Prophecy came out of his mouth, gifts were manifested in all dimensions. Paul said, 'I speak languages more than all of you...' and he didn't mean it in an arrogant way. The power of the resurrection was manifested in the Apostle Paul, both in his victory over the adversities and problems of life, and sufferings, as well as in a very powerful life over evil, and over death and demons, and diseases .

But guess what? brothers, power did not come to Paul easily, he had to suffer a lot. And here I am getting ahead of the matter that I am presenting to you. Paul paid a heavy price in suffering, adversity, and all kinds of trials that he had to go through throughout his life and ministry.

There we have it in Second Corinthians, Chapter 11, verses 23 and 29, a long count, 7 long verses it took Paul to list all the things he had to endure in his ministry:

“... lashes, persecution of the Jews, shipwrecks, imprisonment, they stoned him several times and left him for death...”

they throw a single stone at me and I say, “I quit, I'm going home.” Pablo was stoned several times. A man who suffered in his own flesh what the fight of the Gospel is. He had to pay a high price. I imagine that people will have seen, 'oh the sick are healed by the shadow of Pablo and they will have said, oh, I want that'. oh, Paul lays on hands and people receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit like Simon the magician, who wanted to pay money, and Paul said, 'your money perishes with you, you don't know what you're asking for'.

Many times we see the power of God run through a life, we see people filled with the Holy Spirit, we see people living victorious lives, we see people reflecting the joy of the Lord in the midst of suffering and suffering and we say, 'wow, I want that', but sometimes behind that there is a price that has been paid. There is a lot of suffering, there is a lot of suffering, there is a lot of trial, there is a lot of pain that has been passed, there is a lot of treatment from God, there is a lot of cutting on the operating table for that person to reach freedom, to lightness of spirit, to the lightness that allows you to walk the Christian life victoriously.

There is much to suffer in faith, brothers. Do you know what cost Pablo the most? What cost him the most was having to get rid of himself, his illustrious past, his personal baggage, everything he considered valuable and important in life. In Philippians 3:4-6, verses prior to the ones we read, Paul speaks of his pedigree, his achievements and credentials according to the flesh, humanly speaking.

Pablo could have said, 'I graduated from the best university in the US, I earned a 6-figure salary, I taught in the best seminary in the US. I was known as a person of authority and the presidents consulted my wisdom.

Pablo could have said, 'I was born into an illustrious family, the best family in my city and I belong to a family lineage of noble people with great titles to their names.' All these things Paul could say because they were a reality in his life. he studied with the best teacher of his time. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, it is believed, the most select group of Jewish rabbis who had civil authority as well as spiritual authority. He was a man of great authority and he had cards to persecute the church and put people in jail, because he had power and he had authority.

And in Philippians 3:7 to 8, those verses that we just read, he says, brothers, that he has had to leave everything and consider all that for him was his credentials of greatness, he has had You have to consider all of that as rubbish to win Christ. Dung is the word in the original Greek, all that which gives a man so much pleasure, Paul had to get rid of all that and consider it as if it were nothing and worse than nothing, as if it were something to flee from because it was disgusting.

Paul had to throw away his entire education, his theology, his social position, his family in order to be a Christian and enter into an apostolic calling. If Paul had clung to all that, he would have lived a quote-unquote, normal life, but he would have missed out on the glory of his apostolate.

Brothers, how many of you like to live a normal life? I would love to live a normal life. I was telling the brethren this morning that sometimes when I see these people nonchalantly reading a good magazine at Starbucks on a Sunday morning while I am driving to church to preach and to serve the Lord during the day, I confess to them that sometimes I would like to live a normal life, from time to time, even 8 Sundays a year, to be able to get up in the morning with slippers and read the entire New York Times, from the first to the last page, and enjoy of a life, in quotes, normal. And when I see you sitting there so pretty, with your wife, or your brother, or your daughter or whatever, so relaxed while I'm here sweating it out preaching to you, I would like to live a normal life. also.

But guess what? I have understood very clearly that the one who wants a high bun has to endure pulls, they say over there. He who wants glory in God has to pay the price. He who wants to be used by God has to abandon the idea of living a normal and comfortable life, brothers. He who wants the power of Christ to run through his life has to be willing to bleed, has to be willing to sweat, has to be willing to shed tears, has to be willing to spend sleepless nights, has to be willing to seek God's anointing, you have to be willing to give up things you love and that are not bad in themselves but are an obstacle to God's glory running through your life.

The way to power, to victory, to moral greatness that allows him to write the luminous letter to the Philippians in jail, is to have stripped himself of attractive things that were an impediment to entering power of the risen Christ.

If Paul, when Christ revealed himself to him, had said, 'no Lord, if I accept you my colleagues are going to leave me, my family is going to disinherit me, my Jewish brothers are going to persecute me , I'm going to be a nobody, I'm going to lose my titles, I'm going to lose my credentials, I'm going to lose my salary, I'm going to lose my social position', Christ would have said, 'OK, Pablo, don't worry, keep going. we'll see each other over there somewhere, I don't think it's going to be good but we'll see you anyway in a bit.'

And Pablo could have lived his life normally but he would have missed that glorious victory of to be a man used in an extraordinary way by the power of God. Look, the Pharisees, the Jews in general, preferred the comfort of their religion and their culture to the glory of knowing and receiving the Messiah.

But what happened? They were left sterile. Their religion had no power and in fact came the great Roman persecution that destroyed all of Jerusalem and the Jews wandered the world for almost 2000 years before they could return to their homeland because when you cling to life illegitimately and you prefer your life to the life that Christ gives, paradoxically you lose your life.

That is why Christ says, 'whoever loses his life will gain it and whoever wins his life will lose it.' The one who wants to preserve his life, the one who wants to preserve his normality, the one who wants to preserve himself as he is and is not willing to give up his life and the things that he values to Christ, will never come to know the value of the resurrection.

Christ says that if the grain of wheat does not fall to the ground and dies, it remains alone, a single grain, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. That is the mystery of the Christian life, brothers, and I would like to have the tongue of a poet or the tongue of an angel to tell you over and over again, brothers, that is the heart of the Christian life. The act of leaving things that we love and that are important and putting them on the altar so that we can experience the power of the resurrection in our lives. What we love, what we value, what matters to us, we have to be willing to give it to the Lord so that the glory of God can move in us.

When God asked Abraham to give his son, his only son to a man a hundred and some years old, who has only one son who has waited all his life and God has given him , and at the end of his life God tells him, 'Give me that son and sacrifice it to me.' Abraham could have told him, 'No, Lord, thank you, I love my son too much, you gave him to me, now I'm going to enjoy him until the last day,' and he could have done it. But Abraham didn't deny God his only son, and you know what? God told him 'Abraham, it's okay. When Abraham was about to dagger his son, God sends an angel to tell him 'No, Abraham, now, and since I was not willing to deny me your son, as you were willing to give it to me, I am going to bless you again. so that your offspring will be so numerous that if the sea with its sand cannot be counted, its grains of sand, so neither can your offspring be counted.'

And for thousands of years an entire humanity has spiritually descended from that man of faith called Abraham. Because he was willing to strip himself of what he loved.

Philippians 3:7 to 9, the first 3 verses that I read are a preamble to verse 10, which is the most important of all. Verse 10 says here:

“...in order to know Christ, in order to know him, he says, and the power of his resurrection and the participation of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.'

Three or four important things: in order to know him, the power of his resurrection, the sharing of his sufferings, and to become like him in his death.

Look at this, in order to know Christ. To know Christ you have to walk the same path that he walked, says the word of the Lord. And what was the path that Christ walked? Read Philippians Chapter 2, verse 5 to 11, where it says there that Christ, being equal to God, did not cling to being equal to God but emptied himself, emptied himself in obedience to the Father, to save humanity. humanity and lived a life of humility, obedience, subjection to the will of the Father. And that is what we have to do, if we want to have the power, if we want to know Christ, we have to know him in what he walked, in the path that he walked and that means that we have to live in the same way, in humility, in subjection to the Father, in obedience, in holiness, in giving the Lord everything he wants from us.

Jesus said that he didn't speak anything unless he first heard it from his Father, and he did nothing if his Dad didn't tell him to. Oh that we can walk in that obedience in our own lives. Brothers, my desire and your desire must always be to give the Lord everything he asks of us, to give the Lord everything that stands between him and us. How many can say amen to that? Brother, may your life be a continuous bleeding, a continuous stripping, that your path and the trail that you leave in your life is simply letting go of things, that people can follow your path and know where you are because behind you, you are going leaving things that do not please the Lord, because you are committed to making your life a life of total surrender to the Lord, of continuous dispossession so that you can know Jesus. If we want to know Jesus we have to walk as he walked.

And then Paul adds, he says, “...and I want to know him and the power of his resurrection....

To know the power of the resurrection you have to put yourself off of many things that we love but that are obstacles. Resurrection power is attained only by submitting to the divine discipline and training of the Christian soldier. If you want resurrection power, brother, give the Lord things.

Many times we say 'oh yes, I want to know Christ', but we put up with it when we can do something in favor of the Kingdom of God. I see these beautiful brothers here adoring the Lord and blessing us with their music and their presentation, but did you know that behind this glorious moment there are hours and hours of rehearsal? There's a lot of work, it's literally gone into, if you add up the hours, I'd say, hundreds of hours in that glorious moment. People have had to prepare songs, musicians have had to come at night to rehearse, and money and time and many other things have had to be invested. Listen to me, but what glory comes from that investment. And I say, oh, if the people of God understood that, if the people of God understood that within you there is a deposit of grace, of power, of energy that God wants to use, but you are going to have to bleed to death, you are going to having to pay a price, you are going to have to make yourself uncomfortable, you are going to have to sacrifice your privacy, you are going to have to leave your delicious little house at a sub-freezing temperature to come to the house of the Lord.

You are going to have to go to your discipleship classes, you are going to have to get up half an hour early in the morning to read the word of God and have a devotional time. You are going to have to take your son, your daughter to the youth service when you would like to stay at home because it is Friday night, you have already paid the price all week working and that is what you want to do, but you you say, 'no, seek first the Kingdom of God and his justice, other things will come in addition. And I want my son, my daughter to receive the word of God, I am going to invest in that, that when your church has a financial need, you give because you know that your heavenly Father is more than faithful to replenish everything you you invest in the Kingdom of God, that instead of delighting yourself with things that do not please the Lord, in undue reading and in entertainment that impoverishes you spiritually, you say, 'no, I am going to fast from those things so that the anointing of God I can run with more power and more freedom through my life'. And you live a life of perpetual fasting because you are always handing things over to the Lord because you want to know Jesus and know him in the power of his resurrection.

I have learned that as I empty myself and give the Lord things I love, the Lord runs with more power and ease through my life, and I experience more joy. of the Lord, and I run the race of faith more swiftly, and God can use me more, and I enjoy more the power of God that runs through me. And I see the privilege of serving the Lord in lives that are saved.

We all want to bear fruit, we all want to see God's blessing flow through our lives. There is a price to pay, you have to empty yourself, you have to strip yourself, you have to suffer, you have to confess, you have to abandon, you have to let yourself be cut on the operating table of the divine surgeon, you have to live like a living dead, you have to get rid of things The Christian life should be a life of perpetual stripping, of perpetual fasting, but you know what? But even while you exempt yourself from enjoying those things, there is a spiritual enjoyment that you feel in your heart and that you see yourself being a spiritual father, mother and you see the power of God manifest in your life, and you can say, 'I know Christ and I know him in the power of his resurrection, because I see his resurrection manifest through my life'. A life of fruit, of effectiveness, of victory, of power is not reached except through continuous dedication.

And Paul finally adds, “....and the sharing of his sufferings...”

We can say Amen to knowing Christ, we can say Amen to the power of resurrection, but how many of us can say amen to the participation of his sufferings? That's how quietly we separate ourselves from that statement. But Pablo says I want to know him in the participation of his sufferings. Because? Because to know the power of Christ of the resurrection, it is necessary to know the sufferings of the Christ of the crucifixion.

I end with an illustration from Romans, Chapter 6 verses 5 to 8. The same Apostle Paul who writes the other, says:

“...for if we were planted together with him in the likeness of his death, so also we will be in that of his resurrection....”

Do you see here, brother, united death with resurrection? Do you know that when we are baptized in the waters, and the pastor immerses us in the waters, and does so, we enter under the waters, and for an instant we are lost to the world.

In Christian theology, that moment of immersion in the waters is like dying and when the pastor takes it out again it is the moment of resurrection: death and resurrection are united in the Christian life.

And Paul adds, "... knowing this that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed so that we no longer serve sin..." >

Brothers, Paul says our old man, our old nature, our old prerequisites, and privileges and preferences, all of that has already been crucified, neutralized, killed, in other words, at least in spirit and in spirit. sin that bound us, we have to submit it more and more to the knife of God every day, everything that prevents the divine nature from manifesting itself in us.

It says, “...because he who died has been justified from sin and if we die with Christ we believe that we will also live with him....” Hallelujah! It says, "... so reckon yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

In other words, brothers, you have to die to live, you have to be crucified to be resurrected, you have to live the Friday of the crucifixion to participate in the Sunday of the resurrection.

I'm going to ask the musicians to come through here. Brothers, on a day like today, resurrection Sunday, many superficialities are preached in the churches, a lot of dust is raised, many declarations are made, many privileges of the resurrection are celebrated, but many times the principle behind is not clarified and that is why there are many believers who are not living in the power of the resurrection even though they continually tell us that this is our spiritual home. Because it is not clear to us that there is a path to the power of the resurrection and it is the path of self-dispossession, living a life consecrated to the Lord, no more cheap grace, no more wanting to be people of power and prosperity, if we are not people of crucifixion, if we are not people of holiness, if we are not people of consecration, if we are not people of service, if we are not people of devotion, if we are not people of reading the word, if we are not people of fasting, if we are not people to hand over to the Lord the habits that we love and the prerogatives and privileges that we love, if we are not people that when the Lord tells me, or tells you, 'look, I don't like that', we immediately say, 'Of course Lord, take it , take it, don't worry. What else, can I give you something else? It doesn't matter what we love the most, whoever lives like this lives a life of power and all of us have things that we have to give to the Lord.

Say amen. I am the first. You see me up here preaching this and I say, 'Lord, I am shocked by what I am saying' because the first one to be cut off by what I preach is me.

It scares me to preach this way many times because I say, 'Father, I've climbed very high, if I collapse from there they can't pick up the pieces. It is a high teaching, it is a great message that cuts us all.'

Brothers, I have a prophetic word and I am going to read it to you, a paragraph: today God tells us, the Lion of Judah congregation , listen to this well, listen to this well. This is God's word to you and me. Children, I want to release the power of the resurrection of my Son on you but I need you to give me your lives, to submit to my treatment, to let me operate on you and cut many things that are not to my liking. These things keep my power from running freely through you and from you experiencing the power, the fruit, the continued victory of a resurrected life. Walk the same path that my Son walked, the path of obedience, holiness, self-surrender, self-dispossession, total consecration to my will. If you are willing to do this then I will come in with all the power of the resurrection and make it possible for you to live in that same power for the rest of your lives.

That is the word of the Lord for you and me this afternoon, word of the Lord, prophetic word from the heart of God. I want you to lower your head and pray with me. The first thing we have to do is confess to God that we are not living at that level, but we want to. So tell him:

“Father, although I haven't lived at that level, but I want to live at that level, help me. I recognize that it is there where you need me. No more cheap Christianity, no more religious Christianity, no more symbolic Christianity. I want to live an authentic Christianity, a Christianity of battle, of trenches. I want to live a Christianity like my founder, I want to live up to the supreme calling in Christ Jesus. I want to be a soldier who legitimately fights the battle with God's weapons, in God's style, in God's trenches, suffering like my founder, paying the price, walking as he walked.

Say this to the Lord and tell him 'I know I haven't lived up to it but I want to live up to it, and I declare my life submitted to Christ. I regret holding on to what I like, but that prevents me from entering into the full power of the resurrection. I repent and surrender it.'

And now Father, I ask you to help me live a victorious life, to be a man, a luminous woman, to be a person of integrity, ethics, who reflects the character of my founder, of my Master, my rabbi, my Lord, that I honor my Master with the life that I live. I surrender all my prerogatives to the Lord now.

And lastly, I want to invite anyone who has come on this day and who has not yet given their life to the Lord. This prayer that we just said is for all those who are in the faith, who need to go to a higher level. But there are some who are not yet in the faith and need to come into the faith of the Son of God and need to give their hearts to Jesus Christ and say, 'I too now join that Christian life.'

And I want to invite you to reflect for a moment. If you have not yet given your life to Jesus I want you to leave here having done so, because it is a great privilege and it is a great blessing and it is going to release an amazing life and power and transformation, you will never be the same or the same after that. So I want to invite you this afternoon, if you are young, if you are an adult, if you are old, man, woman, to consider giving your life to the Lord and as Paul did on the road to Damascus, when the Lord called him he said , 'what do you want me to do?' And the Lord said to him, 'Go to a certain place, there they will tell you what you have to do.'

And when you accept Jesus, the Lord will tell you, 'Look, I'm going to hide you for a while and I'm going to tell you what you have to do from now on. We are going to have deals, you and I, and I am going to teach you the way to walk, and I am going to bind you and I am going to take you where you might not want to go, but trust me because I am going to take you to a safe place and my dealings with you are going to be good and I am going to bless you more than you could be blessed without me.'

So I want to invite, I want to make a call this afternoon, yes there is someone in this place who has not received Christ as Lord and savior, I want to ask you to have the courage to raise your hand right now and offer your life to the Lord Jesus.

Will there be someone who wants to give up their life? I bless that hand that is raised here to my left. Will there be someone else? I know there are some more here and I want to invite them. God bless you, my sister, someone else. This is a precious time, what better day to remember that today I gave my life to the Lord, than on the day of resurrection. It will mark you for the rest of your life.

Raise your hand and surrender your life to the Lord. Have the courage. Many do not give their lives... this young man here too, many do not give their lives... back there too, to Christ because they say, 'I'm ashamed, I don't want to do this in front of so many strangers. Ah, that's for evangelicals,' but they want to do it, in their hearts they feel a touch of the Holy Spirit, they want to do it. There is a fight. There it begins, you have to sacrifice things. You have to surrender the dignity, the sense of elegance, privacy, authority that one has. All these things must be placed at the feet of the Lord.

Humble yourself, surrender to the Lord. Will there be someone else? Rise your hand. I bless you sister, here. Is there anyone else? I know that back too, I recognize that hand. Is there anyone here? Back there too, God bless you. Someone else? I know there are others here.

Brother, this is serious and this is a precious time, a precious opportunity, don't miss it. Don't miss out on that blessing. Someone here I think raised their hand. What a bless. I know that there are others who want to give their lives to the Lord. Glory to God.

The Lord sees them, I may not see them but the Lord is seeing them, don't worry. If there is someone I want to start inviting them, come forward here and I want someone who is close to them, a Christian already dedicated to come and accompany them. come this way All those hands that went up, come over here for a little while. That's part dying, part surrendering, part bleeding, part daring. Brothers, and in that there is blessing. There you begin to die now, there you begin the path of obedience, there you begin the path of knowing what it is to get rid of things that you love.

Come here to the altar. Many come here to the altar of God. Come here now and give your life to the Lord. And I want you, brothers, to pray with them. Brothers and sisters in faith, come and pray with them, pray with them and declare them members of the Kingdom of God. Hallelujah!

If there's anyone else, come running here and give your life to the Lord. And I want this to be a precious moment of solidarity with those who give their lives to the Lord. Don't let someone be left without spiritual coverage right now.

Praise the Lord. Glory to the Lord. Come over here quickly. Come here and pray for your brother, or come and receive Christ and give your life to the Lord Jesus. God's anointing is here to save, to heal, to liberate and to do transforming things, so there is time. Come over here.

Let the spirit touch your life. Commit your life to the Lord. Let him walk with you and you walk with him and let him do his work. Don't try to do his work for him. Let him do the work. You may have too many doubts in your mind as to what's going to happen, how it's going to take place. Don't worry about that. Just come and yield your life before Jesus.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Surrender your life to the Lord. And I want you, brothers and sisters, to pray this prayer with me. Listen and repeat after me quietly. Say with me:

Lord Jesus, I surrender my life to you and open my heart and receive you as my Lord, my owner, and my savior. I acknowledge that you are the Son of God and that you have the power to save me. And I recognize that you rose on the third day and that you are seated at the right hand of God and today I declare that my life belongs to you and I repent of my sins and ask forgiveness for them. I want to walk with you and that you walk with me. Enter my heart, enter my heart and sit on the throne of my life.

Hallelujah! Brother, Christ says that if someone opens the door for him, he enters and he will dine with you and you with him. Remember that. and I want to ask you one more thing now, listen. Invite the Holy Spirit to enter your life, because when Christ enters, the Holy Spirit also wants to enter. Christ wants to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, says the word. He wants to install within you the power of resurrection. He wants his Holy Spirit to run through you so that you can live a victorious life.

He doesn't want you to live on the defensive, eating from a spoon. He wants you to serve yourself with the big spoon. He wants to kill the fattened calf and party with you. He wants your Christian walk to be an abundant walk, and therefore ask the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Spirit right now. Say, Holy Spirit, say, Holy Spirit, baptize me. Say, Holy Spirit fill me. Holy Spirit enters my life and flows through me like rivers of living water.

Now I say, receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And say with me, I receive it. Say with me, I receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Give with me, I receive the filling of the Holy Spirit. And you pray for them that they receive that filling of the Holy Spirit.

I declare that as you say it, declare it and receive it, it becomes a reality right now, in the name of Jesus, I declare victorious Christians, powerful Christians, transformed Christians, electrified Christians by the power of the Spirit Holy.

So you have two people inside of you: you have the Son and you have the Holy Spirit and the Father also gets in there with you. You have the complete Trinity. Remember that, the Holy Spirit is within you so that rivers of living water spring from within you, so that there is understanding of the word of God, so that there is power to serve the Lord. I declare the filling and baptism of the Holy Spirit. Receive it and worship the Lord now. Say thank you and prophesy and adore him. Say thank the Lord, you have authority now to do it. You are no longer a novice, you are not a person who is approaching, you are a bona fide member of the Kingdom of God so you can worship him. Begin to adore him, launch your new weapons now and tell him, I adore you, Lord, I bless you and I thank you. I declare myself free, I declare myself healthy, I declare myself filled with the spirit. Glory, glorify the name of the Lord. Hallelujah! Glory to the name of Jesus. God is good and forever his mercy, they are filled with the Holy Spirit and they are filled with the spirit of Jesus Christ. Brothers, be blessed on this day and be filled with the glory of God this afternoon. Amen and amen.