He Still Lives
by Raymond Sloan
April 21, 2019 · Cornerstone Apostolic Church
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Matthew 28:1, Matthew 28:2-3, Matthew 28:5-7, Acts 1:1-3, Acts 1:4-8

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/raymond-sloan--he-still-lives
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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would you pray with me right now Jesus thank you Lord for your spirit and for truth that is in this room thank you Lord Jesus for our worship that's gone up before you Lord it is a sacrifice of praise God you're worthy of all of it and we're thankful that you let us worship you today Lord we go to your word on this Easter Sunday and we're thankful Lord that everything about you is right and perfect even today I pray God your anointing wouldn't move in this house I make myself available again to you Lord I desperately need you in the name of Jesus be glorified Lord I pray in Jesus name can you say man can we give him one more praise together I love you Lord I bless your name and worship You hallelujah thank you singers and musicians you can be seated thank you so much for your worship for your worship to the Lord amen he is worthy of it again to our guest we're glad you're here to our home folk we're glad you made it back he made me the Lord bless you worry and fear apprehension and anger uncertainty and quiet these were all feelings and the effects of the previous day's activities as the women walked in the solitude of the early pre-dawn morning they knew the task at hand would not be an easy one there was a dead corpse of a human that it would be very difficult to maneuver and to roll around as they prepared that body for its involvement if you will he had laid there days and now it was their time because the holy day had passed they could now begin their work rigor mortis had already set in by now which would mean that the corpse would be stiff and unforgiving also depending on the action of the some sixty-five pounds of spices that had been used to wipe onto the body as it was placed into the tomb because there would be a stench of dead flesh if it had not been there quite honestly the grave was not a fun place to visit yet the women continued their pace the job had to be done when a body dies there are things that have to be accomplished with that body the blood and the exposed flesh has to be dealt with to keep the varmints away to make sure that everything was done according to law and according to the culture of that day and the scripture we read about this story in the book of Matthew chapter 28 verse number one in the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week Came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre Mary Magdalene she would be called now she had helped in so many ways and the day-to-day activities of those followers of the man Jesus she was noted in all of the Gospels if you read in Matthew Mark Luke and John she was hard-working she was very affluent Oh in her time and in that particular area she had been worried actually that Jesus had come had come face to face with and cast out Seven Devils the Bible tells us but here also in this story is mentioned the other Mary at this account we we know that Mary of course would have been a very common name at that day and to understand the details of what was happening we have to understand that these ladies were on a mission to accomplish what needed to be done with the body of Jesus most likely this Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James they they would be there to do work and to do a task that not many wanted to do to care for the lifeless body of one who had changed everything in their life a purpose to which the job had to be done and quite honestly it would simply be called a labor of love but still in the darkness the uncertainty of what they would encounter was thick in the air they knew by witnesses that Pilate had placed a stone over the tomb with his seal there was no way that this group of women could ever move that huge stone from the door of the grave there would there would certainly then be an issue with the military guards that had been posted at the tomb to protect it from the overzealous ones or looters that perhaps would come and try to steal the body but yet the ladies continued to walk and then notice that something happens in the events Matthew 28 verse 2 says and behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it his countenance verse 3 says was like lightning and his raiment white as snow these women there they're out in the pre-dawn before the Sun even came up and in the darkness their concern their worried their fretful how are they going to do what they're supposed to do and and in the midst if that wasn't bad enough the earth begins to shake in the darkness the the rocks began to rattle the trees begin to sway and as the earth is moving they'll no doubt these ladies simply wanted to run away and get away from it and run for cover but as they approached the place where the body of Jesus would be laying something miraculous had happened the stone had been rolled away an angel of the Lord the scripture says was sitting upon that stone and it even says that things that happen in such a great magnitude that the guards were watching the tomb fell down as if dead not at all what Mary or Mary or the others expected to find not at all what they thought had transpired and what they were going to encounter once they got to the tomb but again in Matthew 28 verse 5 the angel answered and said unto the women fear not ye for I know that you seek Jesus which was crucified he is not here for He is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay the scripture tells us here that something the angel said spoke to the heart and the minds of these women he has risen from the dead behold he goeth before you into Galilee there shall you seek Him lo I have told you the angel interacted with the ladies they spoke and they had an interaction one with another but I've come to declare to somebody today even in this room on a 2019 beautiful sunny afternoon that what Mary was concerned about was how to get the rock moved and what they were worried about was how to take care of the body but the angel that sat upon that door that day simply told them what they were not even maybe expecting but they were hoping for he's not here you're not gonna find him in the rock you're not gonna see him buried in there he said on the third day he'll come alive Mary you need to understand something if it ever came out of the mouth of Jesus you could take it to the bank there's no way to doubt it there's no way to scratch your head and say no but if Jesus said it it's gonna happen the angel looking at him they're standing there with their bad clothes or the the grave clothes to put him there but true to the word of Jesus he's nowhere not able to be found he's no longer there in the tomb something amazing had transpired people people in the city they they begin to see him there's two men that are walking on a road they're just trying to figure out where life is gonna take him and lo and behold the Bible says that Jim the Spirit of Jesus this man comes up to them and he's walking with them and you know how the account goes they're wandering their rooms they're complaining they're talking and all of a sudden Jesus comes up to them and they realize you know what I feel something that I have felt before but I thought here's somebody here what I'm saying I thought he was dead I thought it was in the ground and it was buried but I can feel the anointing I can feel the glory it must be you Jesus and the Bible even said they ran going telling people I just saw Jesus he's not dead he's not in the tomb he's alive and well his followers the Bible gives the account they're locked up in a room somewhere trying to hide themselves and Jesus just simply appears to them pushes through the wall you got to know something when Jesus wants to get to you Jesus can get to you Jesus walked into the room and they're looking at him and they're wondering about it why even one of them done even he's not even there and they tell him after and he starts to doubt it can't be I know that he got put in the tomb I know that his body got pulled down from that cross I know that all the bloody had his shed there's no way that he could be alive but yet the stories unfold here and says that when Jesus came to them again he looked at him and he said why are you doubting Thomas go ahead touch the nail prints in my hand go ahead run your hand in Masada you're gonna know I'm five and well that drain couldn't hold me back - could lock me down that boss was not the end that brain was not the end of it was simply the starting place we know that after the book of Matthew Mark and Luke and John after those disciples had written the best that they could their encounters with Jesus their time with all the courts and all the things walking up and down the street the good news of what Jesus did we get to the birth of the church and Acts chapter 1 somebody got to hear this today Acts chapter 1 verse number one the former treaties what I presently or what I have written to you what I wrote to you before both the awful is he he according to theologian he was an educated man that was taking care of the writings of all that Jesus began both to do and teach verse 2 until the day in which he was taken up after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandment under the apostles whom he had chosen verse 3 to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God I declare even from this podium today that when Jesus went to the cross of Calvary he simply became the sacrifice for all of humanity but when they took him off the cross and they put him in a grave it was the past that he had to take to get out of the grave why because one day he's coming back to free those who have died those who are in the grave he's come to set him free and what the rider in acts is saying I've tried to explain it but if for forty days he was talking about the kingdom of God and how that things would happen why because Jesus himself overcame death undeniable proofs that he was alive you could not question you could not wonder about it you simply had to realize that he had risen from the grave just like he said he would he was triumphant over death his final words he spoke now from a glorified body acts four acts one and four and being a symbol together with him commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which saith he you have heard of me for John verse five truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence when they therefore were come together they asked of him saying Lord will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel and he said unto them it is all listen somebody it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father had put in his own power but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth listen friend what Jesus told him before he went into heaven was simply yes there's a power that's coming to you that I have yet to empower you with but it's gonna happen in just a few days and when it happens there'll be no more denying I have been in the presence of Jesus Christ power to be a witness power of the almighty all-knowing all-powerful Jesus as he had changed humanity I stand here on this Easter Sunday and I declare he still lives he still lives now I realize this is just a little bee indication or symbol and I know all the young has them come up here and checked out the lights in there it's just paper with a little paint and bad creativity now I realize these are two by sixes they have a stain on them and screws put together and this looks really crooked I was reminded by somebody but I'm standing here today in 2019 and I declare the whole counsel of the Lord to this church this morning when I climbed out of the bed that I was sleeping in and I simply breathed the name Jesus there was an unction and an anointing that begins to move I didn't have to rev it up I didn't have to get it out of a box I didn't have to call somebody and ask him to flip the switch I didn't have to roll over and say honey is it still here I didn't have to get up go look in the mirror and do a self-evaluation I simply breathe the name Jesus and when I breathe the name Jesus I'm talking to an old living God who said I'm right here I was watching you as you slept up and everything through the night I've been with you but today is another day and if you'll simply crawl out of bed and begin to magnify my name I'm gonna show you without any data with infallible proof I'm alive I can deliver watch and set free I can heal I can put back together I can restore I can make whole it doesn't matter what the enemy has done my gods alive well now stay with me for another moment that I'm done I'm trying not to mess up he's jaehun brother drunk come on let's give him some false hope for me Jesus had all power he came with specific purpose there's not a person alive that even denies there is a God that would not tell you you know what I'm not sure I understand Jesus it's not sure but I think he was a cool guy or it appears that the calendar and how its set up is because of this guy who died on a cross however you want to look at it if you choose today to consider him to be simply a name of a man that lived a long time ago is not relevant today in your life that's completely up to you but I need you to understand something if that is you I need you to listen very carefully if you choose not to believe in the power of an empty tomb because a man named Jesus was once buried there and came out and if you so choose to say there's nothing to that it's just simply hype it's just simply a bunch of yelling and screaming if you simply if you want to say you know what it's all emotion is goosebumps and it has no power nor authority in it I just simply believe he was a man that came lived and died and it's over that's completely up to you but for me don't you dare be mad at me when you're driving down the road in your car and you got nobody to talk to but your radio or your CD player or your mp3 player or your cell phone trying to get some kind of consolation for the junk and the junk that your life is made and all the dumb decisions you made all the stuff running through your veins all the voidness and the emptiness and the losses that you're a cup don't you be mad at pastor if I Drive by your car and I'm singing the songs of Zion and I'm declaring the Word of God to be true and right don't you be mad at this preacher if I stand in your grave I wonder and I call on the name of Jesus but you didn't make the choice you decided God wasn't for you you might have decided Jesus there was nothing in it but somebody is going to call a preacher to come and stand at your graveside and I'm gonna see the rock put over top of it and I'm gonna stand there and say they're gone nothing else is happening but as for those who will say I believe in the name of Jesus my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life then one day somebody will stand in your grave and pray that prayer but when the trumpet sounds the grave is not gonna hold you the tomb is not gonna hold you oh it's Easter and I'm simply talking you can stand with me if you want to that there is power in the name of Jesus there is anointing in the name of Jesus the Spirit of the Lord God still works forgiveness of sins is still possible I sat in my class this morning talking about the repentance baptism in the name of Jesus the infilling of the Holy Ghost and I don't know if the others felt did the Spirit of the Lord began to confirm and I said Lord I've got the whole ego half I've had the Holy Ghost over 30 years I've been trying to preach this message over almost 30 years and every time I breathe the name it still illuminates itself there is still a glory in an anointing when I'm in my worst time and I don't know what else to do I can still breathe the name Jesus and things change death begins to rattle I can't hold you know the grain begins to quake I can't keep you down if you'll get in the spirit of Jesus then the death and inhale in the grave already knows what happened when Jesus came into that place I've come to declare to somebody it might be that today you're strung out you don't know what's going on you could be high as a kite or low as a snail I don't know but one thing I do know if you'll get Jesus in your life you already understand that the tomb is empty there is still a power and an anointing and a spirit of the Almighty God hey you try it on your own you already know what a mess you can make but if you get Jesus in it life will come into your situation and your life can be changed because of a cross because of a tomb because of an empty grave I'm gonna pray right now want you to lift your hands to the Lord let's pray together in the name of Jesus come on lift your voice to him right now Jesus I believe in you you're alive and well you're alive and well you're alive and well the tomb is empty you have risen you're alive and well right now in this room I declare your glory is in this place and I plead the blood of the Lamb over everyone that's here on this Easter Sunday Lord we've come to magnify and to glorify your name and to give you thanks for what you have done the great things that you've accomplished within us Lord I believe today you have answers for prayers that people have been praying and I'm believing today god you're gonna meet them in this room in Jesus name in Jesus name come on it's prayer time it's 12 minutes after 1 o'clock I want to invite everybody in this house that wants to pray I want you to come and I want you to know this front is called an altar it's a place where we can make sacrifice to the Lord with praise it's a place where we can bow our knee where we can lift our hands and our heads to him and bless his name this altar is open for somebody who wants to pray it could be that you don't know how to pray come on we'll help you it could be that you know that God is pulling and drawing you you just don't know how to respond I want you to know if you'll take a step he's already here ready to meet you he can forgive you of all those sins yes he can he can put him under the blood yes he can he can wash them away yes he can come on this altars open anybody and everybody who wants to pray I want to invite you to come lift your voice to him lift your hands to him and begin to call upon him on this Easter come on brother dramas gonna sing something we're gonna pray together come on that's right it's prayer time in the house of the Lord I love you Jesus I believe in your Savior I believe in you Savior you're alive you're alive you're alive you're alive yes Jesus come on they try come on pray lift your voice to the Lord and pray I need you Jesus I need you Jesus I need your truth I need hope in my life I need your word in my life I need the peace of Almighty God to work in my life I need the joy of the holy God of Israel to work in my lives I need you on my job I need you in my house I need you where I live come on that try this prayer time come on pray Jesus Jesus come on his prayer time would you pray yellow come on I try this prayer time pray that's right kids pray that's right young folk pray that's right mom and dad follow the name of the rules the name of Jesus he's alive and well he has risen from the grave thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus you are a human you are away bakery you are salvation yes you are Jesus let's ride let's ride let's ride call on the name of the Lord God I believe in you Jesus I believe in you and try come out church pray how in the name of the Lord come on be family found right now call on the name of come on pray pray come on let's ride come on come on the name of the Lord he ll ever corrida never done aha in the name of Jesus if the name of Jesus he's alive and well holy is your name reach over pray with somebody close to your what come on get a hold of somebody close by hey wouldn't God anoint my brother right now don't anoint my sister right now then the glory of the Lord touch their lives with the Word of God unfold itself within demise come on let's ride in Jesus oh Jesus the name of Jesus the name of Shiva the name of Jesus you are the Prairie God yes yes yes yes Jesus hallelujah thank you for your spirit that moves changes our lives thank you for an empty too demonstrating your power over death thank you for the promise of a place called how I need you oh the blood of Jesus it's a great day to know Jesus I mean really know him more than just a passing phrase more than a cool movie that could Hollywood could write but an actual life change because of that name because of that name because of that we're gonna pray together as we're dismissed well ask God to go with each one of us I don't know about you but I need him every day I gotta have him everyday get somebody's hand that's close to you lift it to heaven right now and let's pray one for another Jesus thank you for allowing us to come into your presence today in the house of God thank you for every hard in every home that's represented here thank you for Jesus thank you for old I pray right now that your goal would go with each one of us as we go our separate ways and on every home Lord that's here bring us back Lord together corporately as we praise and worship your name that the glory of the Lord filled this house and fill every house or the tripperz interview with glory and praise and adoration unto you keep us Lord lead us Jesus I pray in the name above every name Jesus somebody say man thank you so much for being in the house of the Lord I want to invite all of you next Sunday next Saturday actually at 6 o'clock that right Lauren next Saturday at 6 o'clock seven o'clock sorry here at the church in the Ark we have a missions banquet the missionaries to Haiti brother and sister Brian they will be with us we're going to bring food we're going to fellowship together we're going to listen to their stories yeah there's a sign-up sheet out on the Welcome Center if you want to bring something that's really cool to eat and then on Sunday next Sunday and our twelfth twelve o'clock service we're gonna have a missions presentation with the Brian's Laurens gonna have some other stuff for us we're gonna renew our faith promise giving to give to world missions God is going to help us but I want to invite all of you to come and be a part of that a man the Lord will bless you any time you reach past your four walls God will bless them amen shake hands and be friendly I love you all thanks for coming let's rejoice together as we leave in Jesus name I love you all