Between the Cross and the Grave

are you thankful for the grace come on thank him for right now all that's right thank you for your grace hallelujah would you pray with me please all over this room Lord Jesus we love you Lord and we are thankful to be in your service today thankful for the power of the Cross Lord that changes our lives thank you for that Lord one more time Jesus we call upon you we need you we believe you we trust you Lord we honor you Lord I make myself available to you one more time Jesus I desperately desperately need you today Lord Jesus without you we are nothing we need your Lord in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus sealable Roshan death Roberto high in the name of Jesus hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah somebody say in Jesus name thank you to our singers and musicians thank you so much every service for leading us in worship again to our Sunday School teachers for teaching Sunday School for spending time in the word with students thank you so much the Lord will bless you you may be seated if you feel like you need to thank you Jesus with with much much anticipation it happened a prophet of great esteem would make statements that would be undeniable that the words did come from God could not deny it at times the phrases were so distant that it would be a stretch for any imagination to hear but as time would pass the inevitable would transpire a true prophet would speak words from God and those words would be revealed that they would indeed hold true and the Old Testament days it was common for the prophets to hear from the Lord it was God's Way of communicating with humanity mankind humans needed help there was no way that flesh of man could be spotless and sinless so a prophet chosen by God would be the seer would be the one that would look into the future a prophet would be one that would look to the past and understand it and then speak a word and only to find out years later maybe past his lifetime it would come to pass a gaze into the future with the direction from God of what was to come oftentimes people did not believe the statements that prophets made but to the thing we have to understand today is that the words of a prophet did not depend on the ears of a listener it was the way that God had established he would communicate with man so today I bring to you one of the major prophets his name was Isaiah he was the son of a Moz in the days of Uzziah and Jotham and a has in Hezekiah they were all kings of Judah and Isiah was a prophet that began his ministry to the people of God he started if you will in one of the toughest times for the children of Israel Israel had left the basis if you will of their existence in being people of God God himself had promised to the man AB Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and yet at the point in history when Isaiah came on the scene we find out that Israel had decided to follow other gods and so it was that while Isaiah was in the courts of the kings of Judah he began his ministry he was ever reaching and ever attempting to follow the voice of God efforts were to try to return the people of God to their rightful place yet the sin of man separated them the sin and the decisions that men had made kept them from being what God fully intended for them to be therefore it was Isaiah that stood in the presence of God and heard his voice and established it with the people today I pause to stand here and to remind you that when God wants to he wants to and he will bless his people he will move heaven and earth to establish a connection between himself and his people therefore Isaiah the prophet came upon the scene and if I may today read to you the beginning of his life as a prophet Isaiah his book chapter number one his beginnings verse number two says it like this hear o heavens and give ear o earth for the Lord hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me the ox knoweth his owner the ass his mother his master's crib but Israel does not know my people does not consider a sinful nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evildoers children that are corrupters they have forsaken the Lord they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger they are gone away backward verse 5 says this why should you be stricken anymore he will revolt more and more the whole head is sick the whole heart faint verse 6 from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and purifying sores they have not been closed neither bound up neither mollified with ointment I stand today and I simply reread to you the words of Isaiah rough words tough words a description if you will that leaves no room for question or the thoughts of God toward the people they were laden with sins they had provoked God to a place where they simply did not consider him to be their God but God friend of mine has a path and he has a plan to bring people back to himself if people will listen to God as we continue through the Book of Isaiah we find in this particular book that there is something very definite that God is trying to establish with his people but I stand here today and as I have read through this book and I am perhaps you have as well and you see all of the things that God is dealing with his people about I wonder sometimes how the Prophet felt to hear what God wanted him to reveal to the people what would it have felt like or sounded like or seemed like to the Prophet how can the Prophet truly understand what is written what he's speaking what is establishing from God using him to voice his plan with humanity Isaiah 53 verse 1 is one of these chapters that are written that I scanned and scratched my head and I wonder what I say have thought about it who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant verse 2 says and as a root out of dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness and when you shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with His stripes we were healed how is it that a prophet of God a man of God could paint a picture of things to come concerning a man he would grow up with no real root system he was not a person of great beauty to be hope when people looked at him there was nothing there that was stunning in appearance he was in fact despised and rejected of anybody that even knew anything about him he was full of sorrows and he knows what it's about to suffer and when you look at him you hide your face because you're not sure how to take him but he carried our sorrows and our pain we considered him bled and we ourselves we felt like he was worse than us but he went on to say it this way but he was wounded for our sins in our unrighteousness he was beaten and bruised because we were sinners the disciplines that he we should make to others he took upon himself the beatings that he lived through were so that he could heal people you and I are very fortunate today to have the New Testament to refer to but the prophet Isaiah no doubt lament and lay on the floor in his own room if you will simply trying to get a word from God and through the voice of God through him he's talking about something that's way out in the distance no way to truly understand it but I stand here today as a man myself trying to comprehend brother Gibson how could it be that he would talk about something to come and not truly understand what it was about how does a prophet speak such words is it even possible that man could see that far in the future with such detail in looking at the prophecies we know full well but what Isaiah was looking at was the Messiah Jesus salvation but how will it ever come to pass is there a way that every detail of an Old Testament seer could get it right is there any way at all that a man trying his best to turn a nation around is there any way possible that he could get it right somebody listen to pastor for a moment because in the book of John we read in chapter 18 verse 28 then led they Jesus from Caiaphas under the whole of judgment and it was early they themselves went not into the judgment Hall lest they should be defiled but they that might eat the Passover Pilate then went out unto them and said what accusation bring you against this man verse 30 they answered and said unto Him if if we were not a if we were not a mal Factor we would not have delivered him up unto thee then said Pilate unto them taking him judge him according to your law the Jews therefore said unto Him it is not lawful for us to put any man to death verse 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake signifying his death what death he should die verse 33 then Pilate entered into the judgment Hall again and called jesus said unto Him art thou the King of the Jews jesus answered him in verse 34 saith now this thing of thyself or did others tell of thee of me Pilate answered am I a Jew thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me what hast thou done jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered into the Jews but now is my kingdom not from hence first there seven stay with me Church Pilate therefore said unto Him art thou a king then jesus answered thou say us that I am a king to this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth every one that is of the truth heareth my voice Pilate saith unto him what is truth and when he had said this he went out again to the Jews saith unto them I find in him no fault at all Jesus is now in the presence of the very religious folk of that day he's in the presence of the ruler of that day and the fact of the matter is as they had brought him to Pilate because they wanted him dead there was no bones about it there was no question it was death that was the only thing that was going to do anything at all with their appetite so they brought up liars they brought up people if you will in this courtroom and they made all kinds of accusations against him and all that Jesus could do was know and understand that prophecy had to be fulfilled again looking at from the past and looking to the point of view and how things lined up Isiah didn't know he was saying something about what was coming but he truly could not comprehend it he was pointing to the day in which humanity would stand and say is there anybody that will stand in the gap for us I'd stand at this podium again and I declare out of the book of John chapter 19 verse 16 then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified and they took Jesus led him away and he bearing his cross went forth into the place called the place of a skull which is called in Hebrew Golgotha where they crucified him and other and two other with him one either either side one and Jesus in the midst and Pilate wrote a title put it on the cross and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews this title the read many of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was neither the city and it was written in Hebrew Greek and Latin then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate right not the king of the Jews but that he said I am King of the Jews Pilate answered what I've written I have written understand friend of mine crucifixion was not a pretty thing crucifixion was not a pretty sight to die a death of this former was one of the vilest ways a human could die there was such pain and suffering in anguish I'm telling you friend if you have a problem holding your breath for five hours you would have died in 30 seconds hanging across please understand the representation today as he was nailed to the cross his arms stretched wide his feet nailed solid what his job was simply to do to survive was to push up and somehow get a breath that would come into his blood field nose and his blood field mouth and somehow be able to breathe only to figure out the pain was too heavy and he would have to lay back down again but only the catch his breath in moments and in minutes and push up again you and I cannot understand nor comprehend it but again it was fulfillment of a word spoken by a prophetic voice that said there's one that's gonna take a bruising there's one that's gonna take strikes there's one that's gonna be put down but it is going to be for your salvation and so that you can be made whole nothing about this was beautiful nothing about this was pretty nothing at all about him I stand here today and I even declare Mel Gibson cannot do injustice and as much as you and I in 2019 would simply want to pull the shade down and say I don't want to see all the gore and all the blood and all the stuff and all the bodily fluids and all the skin rip to sighs and you would say to yourself surely there's a better way to paint a savior I stand here today and I say no I am thankful for the blood of Jesus John 1928 after this Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled saith I thirst now there was a set of vessel full of vinegar and they filled a spunge with vinegar put it upon hyssop put it to his mouth and when Jesus therefore I'd received the vinegar he said it is finished about his head gave up the ghost interesting is it intriguing to me how that Jesus the man I need somebody listen a pastor today I'm reaching for you right now some of you your fear and your doubt has settled into you that surely can God complete what he has promised and said to me or is it going to die and go by the wayside I stand here today and I tell you Jesus after all the beating and all the scourging and all the laughing and all the mockery and all the skin hanging off and all the gross things that was happening all the blood that was flowing all the things that had happened he in his right mind I knew at this point everything has accomplished all of the prophecies of older had been fulfilled therefore I'm thirsty I'm ready to finish it up I'm ready to be done with it and from an old rugged cross our Savior hung there even to the end of his life he was speaking words that were mentioned by prophets of hold and every thing was fulfilled I stand today and I declare to somebody God has made promises and God has given you words even in the darkest and grossest of places in your life you need to understand something if God made a promise God remembers the promise and if God made a commitment he remembers the commitment you can't think for one moment that the king of glory would somehow forget about you and think that you're all of that and you're able to set yourself aside no friend I don't think of your Sok that highly but you need to understand as long as God has a plan you're in it and as long as you're in it God's gonna fulfill it he knew exactly what was going on he died gave up the ghost they came according to the story they took him off of the cross and they put him in a tomb that was borrowed and the time between that and that there were three days that he had promised you destroy this temple and in three days I'll bring it back there's no way that can happen yeah you had watch they laid his body there but his job was far from over Paul wrote it this way to the church at Ephesus wherefore he saith in chapter 4 verse 8 when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive gave gifts unto men parenthesis now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth he that descended is also that he that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things I'm telling you friend when he came off of the cross and he went into the tomb there was a job that he knew he had to do and he was never gonna leave anything to chance I wish somebody could understand that when the word of prophecy from the prophet Isaiah were spoken years and hundreds of years prior he knew exactly there will be a day when we need a healing they'll come a day when we need salvation they'll come a day when we need somebody to step into our lives they'll come a day when we need help they'll come a day when we'll have to know that something out there is bigger than us I stand here today and I tell you there was a day that I made my way to an old rugged cross and I bowed my face on the ground and I began to repent of my sins I'm looking up at you as a savior I'm looking up at you and one that can complete everything I did not go to the tomb and pray why because it was empty I only went to the cross as a representation my God had a plan for my life and he has a plan for you I'm telling you friend what the scripture reveals to us even today is simply this I'm not going to a sander until I descend first and when I get down you need to know something enemy you need to know something accuser of the Brethren you need to know something old slewfoot you need to know something old Fox I've got power above anything I am going to walk out of this grave and when I get up out of this grave everything with serenity will be changed oh the cross of Calvary I am thankful today for a cross that was a place where a sacrifice could be made for you and for me I am so thankful today that before the foundation of the world was ever put into place there was a plan in the heart and mind of God to say salvation is going to be needed by a generation to come and that generation they're not gonna esteem it beautiful there am I gonna look for it that's something they can put on the front of a magazine cover as something that they can launch as something that's beautiful and beautiful eye for eye of a man but instead there's something or to happen to my word that's made flesh and it's gonna die and Oh ugly death or a cross but when it does devil you better back up I'm going to prepare a place and when I make a place that's where I want people to be time I'm with you today and I'm trying to hit my landing gear down brother drawing come give him some false hope I don't mind telling you I can only imagine Isaiah this is this is this is how I will do it brother Lorenzo if this I'd be pacing the floor so then Lord they gonna shoot me sure enough I mean surely Messiah is something beautiful surely salvation is something to behold Oh certainly it can be a king setting way up high in a Cathedral up on this great big o throne surely it could be all of that but no he's going to be beaten how is it possible that a king could be beaten he's going to be bruised doesn't even make sense that royalty would take lashings the chastisement of sin it's gonna be on me now has it even possible that the king would take on all sin the fact of the matter is before anything was ever said let there be there already was there already was today I introduce you to Jesus every time you breathe that name all of heaven stands in awe you can breathe that name in the presence of the vilest sin on earth and the sin will have to stop and pause and wait for instructions somebody needs to understand today and I'm gonna help you if you'll let me see it doesn't really matter how long or how much or how much you you know about God or how long you've known him if you can't trust him and his word it is nothing to you but there are many sitting here today under the sound of my voice and for whatever reason the Lord has given me an eye to see there are several of you walking in such darkness right now because he's the enemy has blinded you for whatever reason you have chosen to remove your eyes from the cross because it was cross that made the difference the enemy knows that and so the enemy comes in and he tries to discourage and distract and hurt and harm and you got to always remember if you're a child of God it's got to come through God first but yet because of the generation we're living in and the culture and the society that we're in there's a really bad picture being painted not am I telling you my heart is being broken just like some of you for the things that our world is in right now and again I I don't mind saying that I have had to repent multiple times for Humanity god I'm so sorry for what we have done but then all the while the breath of God breathes and says do you think I'm surprised at this do you think that I didn't know this was gonna happen you're not the first generation to do this there have been multiple generations in times past that have rebelled against God and I believe wholeheartedly that God was still there they simply did not recognize him so beginning Wednesday night of this week this past week and today and Wednesday and next week I stand between the cross and the grave and I tell you anything and everything in your life that could ever happen or has happened or will happen in the future Jesus took care of it when he descended and he left nothing to chance the cross is still the image of him dying but the grave is still the image that he's alive and well and if Jesus is alive it only stands to reason that you would call on him Jesus I need Jesus I need Jesus I need you Jesus I need you no I want you to cover me today sorry if I've doubted you sorry Lord if I let my fear override you I'm sorry if unbelief and doubt overshadowed what was going on in my life but I believe even in my pain you're Jesus even in my bruising you've already done it for me evening and all the affliction that I went through I'm going through are the questions right now you're worthy because you're alive and well today I feel like in the Holy Ghost that there are some here that desperately need an altar to repentant fear and doubt is overshadowed you and if God wanted to give you the victory right now over it you would have a hard time to recognize that's what it is faster you need to understand my situation is different no really are you that special maybe in your mind but not in God's see when that cross was taken up by him he knew every one of you he knew your name he knew how many hairs he would number on your head he knew every path you would ever take and he still said I'll die for you I'll die for you I'll die for you I'll give it up for you all the prophecies talked about before they wondered how it would ever happen and Jesus was establishing I'll show you how now it would be one thing if we simply stop there don't you agree but from here to there we're gonna find out in a couple of weeks what happens but I think we already know the tomb is empty he overcame all of the wicked and all of the darkness and all of the grave and all the stuff that death wanted to bring and he's alive and well today if you're here under the sound of my voice you need to know something victory is yours but it comes in the name of Jesus forgiveness is yours but it comes in the name of Jesus would you stand with me all over this place if you know how to speak that name you need to throw your hands to heaven right now and begin to breathe that name come on say it say it as loud as you can Jesus come on say it don't be ashamed of it screaming out Jesus come on Jesus come on you know all about where I am today but Jesus I come to love you come on that's right somebody call on that name Jesus I worship you come on that's right somebody call on that name the prophets talked about it you and I can experience him let's ride the men of old they looked for it but you and I can see it today he's alive and well he's alive and well come on this altars open for somebody who wants to come and bow their knee before a holy God come on this altar is open somebody needs to come and yield themselves to the power of the Holy Ghost to the power of the Cross come on let it work in your life forgiveness is real forgiveness is real completeness is real you can be made whole you can be put back together your brokenness can be put together under the power of a holy God let's ride come on it's prayer time in the house of the Lord call upon the name of the Lord right now come on this altar is open somebody needs to bring your life to the Lord somebody needs to bring all your brokenness take this is why you're alive you were bruised test heisman was on you stripes you took but you did it for me try and call upon the name of the Lord this franchise come on call upon the name of the lord call upon the name of the Lord that's right in the name of Jesus I love you come on that's right in the name of Jesus I believe in you right now come on praying pray pray talk to the Lord I'm believing you Jesus for everything I'm trusting you Lord right now I'm honoring you Jesus right now you are perfect you are pure come Oh pray somebody hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah that's right come our ship the Lord there is healing power in this place there is deliverance in this house there is truth in this place right now she another boater collaboratory come on that's right come on you wanna pray praise that's right Jesus thank you Jesus oh the cross oh the cross hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah Jesus I love you lord i love you lord come on that try pray Jesus I need you Jesus I serve you with joy Lord I walk into your presence you can wash over me you can cleanse me you can make me whole today let's ride reach over pray for somebody close to them pray with somebody close by you pray for them Lord anoint of God strengthen them Jesus encouraged them and the Holy Ghost let them find Lord what you're doing in this that your hand Lord be working in there let the power of the Holy Ghost move in there I pray in the name of Jesus come on let's ride god bless my brother today Lord anoint my sister today then the Word of God Lord Jesus working them power forgiveness Jesus the power of forgiveness that's right in the name of Jesus oh the crops the clothes oh yes yes yes Krauss makes the difference' be Jesus Krauss thank you for the call yes Jesus come on let the Lord use your right now go pray for somebody else come on let the power of the Holy Ghost work in your life right now oh I'm go believe with somebody else come on God's doing a work in you God is doing a work in you come on go pray for somebody's power the Holy Ghost is working in your life come on don't be selfish go pray for somebody come on you can help them today you can encourage them today I love you Jesus I believe in you Jesus I trust in You Jesus oh that's right come on pray for somebody god anoint my brother today out of heaven anoint my sister today bless this family Lord bless the church family Lord you can make away Jesus yes you can the name of Jesus the name of Jesus that's right that's right that's right come on God's due to work I know you're a big-shot the cross makes the difference yes she's escaped Krauss makes the difference you Krauss makes the difference oh by your stripes by your bruising by everything you went through the pain through all of that Lord Jesus he did it for us you did it for us you did it for us so that we could live victorious by overcoming minds yeah yeah there's power oh yeah yeah yeah yeah come on that's right Spirit of the Lord is moving I love you Jesus I love you Jesus I believe in you save she's mine I know this old song it's an oldie but a goodie sing it are you thankful for the blood I'm thankful for the love come on say it Jesus for the blood I am thankful for the blood