So happy Resurrection Sunday, amen? What a glorious day! It's a glorious day to be in the house of God, for God is with us. For God is alive; for God is here in our midst, and when we praise Him, and when we meet together, He shows up because we don't serve a God that is still in the grave— we serve a resurrected God that is with us! Amen!

So if you guys have your Bibles, I’m going to be reading from Luke 24. Pastor Jerry had read it before, and that’s where I’m going to be going today. You know, it was funny because as I was reading this story, which I’ll get into in a minute— and if you don’t have your Bibles it’ll be up on the board behind me— as I was preparing and I was reading this story, it reminded me of something that recently happened to me.

For you guys that— most of you guys know, but for those that don't, I recently started a job as a police officer here in Barnegat, and I've quickly learned that often what you expect is not what you get. Right? I would walk in. Sometimes you walk in with preconceived notions of what's going to happen, and I’ve been sorely disappointed multiple times. There's one thing my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law have kind of been making fun of me about. They’ve been saying that I beat up an old guy, which is not true, just starting off, alright? I was very gentle. But what happened was we had a situation where somebody called in a driver that was driving a little erratically on Route 72. So that’s pretty common. I went out there and I was talking to my partner in the car, and as I'm going to the call, I look and on 72 there are headlights coming towards me. And I'm like, ‘Oh my goodness.’

I said to my partner, like, ‘Hey, are those coming towards us?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, get off the road!’ So I had to quickly get off the road, and he wasn’t going fast, but he was going on the opposite side of the road. So I get behind him and what do you think my expectation is, right? Like, ‘Oh, he must be pretty heavily intoxicated. He doesn't even know where he’s driving.’ So I’m like, ‘Okay.’ So I get behind him, and I pull him over, and I flick my lights on, and I walk up to the car. And as I was walking up to the car I kind of see him look behind...and he was like— and gone, right? He took off! Right? So now, I’m like… you know, it’s my second week on the job... I’m like, ‘Ah, you picked the wrong town!’ you know? So I’m all amped up, I’m at like an eight, you know?

And I run back to the car, and I get in the car, and we’re driving behind him and eventually, he pulls into a campground, right? But he’s not stopping! So in my head I'm thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s gonna be, like, a tent full of kids and he’s gonna run over them or something,’ you know, my luck. So we run out to the car, me and my partner, saying, ‘Open the door, open the door’ and he’s not opening. And my partner ends up having to break the window to get in, right? So the door opens up, and I'm expecting what? A felon that’s intoxicated with weapons that’s, you know, just robbed a bank or something, I don't know…

But I’m at, like, a 10 and I open up the door, and what do I see, but the sweetest old guy you’ve ever seen in your life, you know? Like, the nicest old guy in the world… and I could tell right away it wasn't what I had expected, but it was just somebody a little confused and having a hard day, you know? So, you know, I was gentle, took him out of the car you know, and got him the help he needed. But I found that my expectations didn't meet what I found, right? All of a sudden, I'm expecting this felon or this intoxicated person and I’m expecting a fight, and what do I find but this sweet old guy asking me if I think the Yankees are gonna take it this season, right?

It was a big change from what I expected, and as I read Luke 24 this week it was so funny because I actually started laughing when I was reading this verse, because it reminded me so much of that scenario. And we’re gonna open up and we’re gonna read from verse one right down to verse six. And these women found out quickly, that what they expect is not always what they got. So, Luke 24:

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He is risen!’” Amen?

The stone rolled away!

And I love that, and that’s going to be the theme of our day. Our sermon today is ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?’ You see, the women? They went to the graveyard expecting to find Jesus. They went to where the dead things are, expecting to just tend to Jesus and do what they had to do and leave. And the angels look at them, and kind of funnily, say, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? Of course He's not here! Don't you remember when He used to preach? Don’t you remember when He used to say to you that He was gonna rise on the third day? Why are you in the graveyard looking for the living when you're only going to find the dead?’ Today I tell you that Christ is not found among the dead. He is alive and He is risen. He is seated at the right hand of God.

We do not serve a dead God, but we serve the living God that could not be held down by death. Amen. You see, the grave was not too deep to keep Him in. The stone was not too heavy to be rolled away. The guards were not enough to keep Him in. The seal did not have enough authority to keep Him bound. He is alive and He is risen, and we served a resurrected God! Amen.

So today, let us examine what it means to serve this living God, and I’m going to open up today by saying that He is the living God. Now, that might seem obvious to most of us, right? We’re here on Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday. For someone to say, ‘He is the living God,’ you’re like, ‘Yeah, I know.’ But we have to really look at what this means.

The truth is that a lot of people come to church expecting something different. They expect to be like those women, who are walking with spices in their hand thinking they’re just gonna tend to the dead. They’re going to walk in and find Jesus in the graveyard and they’re just going to walk in, do what they have to do, pay their respects, and leave. People too often treat church like a funeral where they’re gonna come in, say their little respects, do their thing, you know, ‘It’s Easter, I’m going to be there, pay my respects, and I’m going to go.’ But you see, we don't serve a God that is in the grave. If your expectations today were to walk in and find just to meet with a dead God, let me tell you, we don't serve a dead God, we serve a living and resurrected God, amen! He is Jesus Christ in the flesh, the Son of God that came down and died for us, but did not stay dead. He resurrected. When we come, we come to meet with that living God! We come to encounter His holy presence, to receive a touch from the King of Kings— we come to worship Him because He is alive and seated in heaven.

But, we need to ask ourselves a really important question: Are we looking for a living God, or are we looking for that God that’s still in the grave? And that's a question that each one of us have to ask ourselves. The truth is, a dead God? He will never make demands over your life. A dead God will never challenge us. He never gets in the way of what you want to do. A dead God never asks for your time or your effort. A dead God will never get in the way of your relationships or your work. He won’t judge what you say, or how you say it. But a dead God is powerless. A dead God can never heal your heart. He can never free you from the stranglehold of sin. He can't grant your freedom or bring you joy. A dead God doesn’t have ears to hear; He can’t hear your prayers. And a dead God, most importantly, will never give you hope in death.

You see, people come looking for that God in the grave and are shocked to find not the Jesus in the tomb, but the Jesus seated at the throne of God. For me today, I don't want to just walk into church and try to meet with some God that’s still in the grave. No! I want to resurrect. I want to be with God and resurrect. I want to meet with the living God. I want to experience Him. I want to know His holiness. I want to know His goodness. I want to feel the power that breaks the back of sin. I want to be covered by His love! Amen.

We have to have the expectation to meet with the living God here. When we walk in, when we open up our Bibles, when we pray, we have to have the expectation to meet with the living God. Philippians 3:10– Paul said it. “I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of His resurrection and the participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, and somehow, attaining to the resurrection of the dead.” I want to know Jesus Christ in that way.

I know there are a reverent around the world that want to meet with Jesus in that way. They want to know the living God; they want to know the living King, and I tell you people even give up their lives. I was reading the news this morning and saw 207 Christians dead because of a bombing in India. You know, and I look and I see how horrible— that they were going to church, yet they know the persecution that they face, yet they walked in and said, ‘God, I come to meet with the living King this day.’ And I tell you, those are the saints, those are the ones that are gonna be in heaven, are the ones that say, ‘God, no matter what I'm surrounded with, no matter what pressure is around me, God I come to meet with the living King.” Amen!

This week, we went through the Holy Week and we met on Good Friday. We met together, and I look at that day and how important it is. Right? That Jesus Christ— He went to the cross and died for our sins, and Pastor Jeff began explaining what that was and what that means for us. But the problem is, you see, it doesn't stop there. A lot of people want to accept the sacrifice for their sins, but let me tell you that the story didn't end there. Three days later in the grave, He resurrected. There was life, there was power, there is power in the resurrection for me, and there is power in the resurrection for you! Amen? Amen!

You see, we live. We serve a living God that resurrected. Why? So that we could resurrect, so that we could be resurrected as well. It means we serve a living God who broke the power of sin, that we would no longer have to struggle. It means we can live a life not bound and held down by the stranglehold of sin. It means that we can be resurrected, and as He lives for eternity in Heaven, we too can live for eternity in heaven with Him.

That is the power of the resurrection. That is the power that's meant for this world. You see, I deal with a lot of people and I see and, you know, people are always looking to cope with their lives. Things are tough, right? This world can be tough. This world throws different stuff out at us, and people look to cope with it. They take medication to make themselves, you know, feel better and to make their minds quiet down. They start new careers and start new jobs in the hope of being happy. They work themselves to the bone, in an effort to get that perfect lifestyle to fill that hole in their soul. And we’re taught in this world that, ‘Look, you're dealt the cards that you're dealt, and you just have to deal with it, and cope with it, and just try to make it better.’ But let me tell you, that is not the message of the Gospel; that is not the message of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the message of the resurrection says that you do not have to be held down, but that you can be resurrected, that we don't serve a dead God, we serve a living God.

I know I’ve told a lot of you guys this before about the difference between change and transformation. You see, the world? They promise change. You know, ‘Do enough things, go down to therapy, take enough drugs and you can change.’ But let me tell you, change forward means that you can change back to who you were. God is not a God of change, God is a God of transformation. God is a God that you come in and He touches your heart, and you can’t go back to who you once were. You see, Jesus— He resurrected. He can never go back into the grave, for that had no hold over Him. He was resurrected and powerful and glorified. We, as God’s people, are meant to be glorified as well, meant to be resurrected as well, that we would be transformed and no longer be those men in the grave, but come out of the grave and be different, be a new creation.

And I love how the angels turn to the women and they say, ‘Of course Jesus isn’t here.’ That they kind of said it like, ‘Why would you look for Him here? Why would you look for the living among the dead? Of course He's not here!’ And they were so shocked. And these poor women ran and were so shocked, and the angels kind of looked at them like they were crazy, like, ‘Why would you look for Jesus here?’ And they’re like, ‘I don't know.’ So they run and they go, and they go to the disciples, and they’re like, ‘You won't believe it! This is what happened!’ And the disciples, what did they do? They’re like, ‘Ah, you’re crazy what are you saying?’ And these poor women went to the angels and they looked at them like they were crazy, then they went to the disciples, and they looked like that — like they were crazy— and they were stuck in such a hard place. But as crazy as that is, you know, it's even crazier that people are still looking for Jesus Christ in the graveyard. Let me tell you, you won't find Jesus Christ in the dead things of this world. You won’t find Him when you go out into this world and look for Him, because God’s not to be found among the graveyard, He is found among the living. You won't find Him in motivational sayings. Jesus Christ— He is not hidden in a statue or in a candle. You won't find Him in a horoscope or with a psychic. You will not find Him in positive thinking. You see these things are all about the mind and about you, and they cost us nothing. Jesus Christ is not to be found there.

I was talking to somebody this week, and I don't know— it was my partner and I don’t know how we got on the conversation, but I said, ‘Yeah, it’s really sad. The world we live in today is like, you know, the Gospel is more about positive thinking than it is about Jesus Christ.’ And he was like, ‘Ah, that’s great!’ And I forgot who I was talking to, right? And I was like, ‘What do you mean? Of course it’s not great!’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, you know, people should think positively and they should, you know, really have their minds good.’ And I said, ‘No, you don't get it. You see, that's not the God in the Bible.’ The world looks for Jesus in positive thinking and making things the best that you can and trying to get by, but that is not the message of God, and I tell you God is not going to be found in the graveyard. God is found and is holy. He exampled it for us where He died and resurrected into a new creation, and we are called to die and resurrect as well.

All the things of the world— they don't cost us anything. People still think that God is a God of the mind, but I tell you God is a God of the heart. Jesus Christ is found among those who come to this throne seeking the living God. He is found near the broken and contrite heart. He is found in the presence of those who seek to worship Him. He is found in the humble, and He is found in the bold. He is found on those who knocked on the door, looking for Him and found it open to them. He is found with those who have an expectation to meet with the living God. Today we need to know that we serve a living God. We don’t come to church, we don’t come to meet with Him, and think we’re going to pay our respects and leave, because God’s not a God still in the grave. He is not still there! If you look, you'll find it empty. God resurrected this day to the living and we must be ones of the living that come and say, ‘God I'm here to find You. God I'm here to meet with You. God I want to feel Your power. God I want to know Your voice. God I want to feel You surrounding me. God I want to know Your love. God I want to know how Your power breaks the sin over my life. God I want to know You and the power of Your resurrection.’

So, we know that God is a living God. He is the living God and also, secondly, He is the God of the living. I love when the women go to that tomb and look for Jesus, and they turn and they say, ‘Why do you look for God of the living among the dead?’ You see, they thought they were going to go to the graveyard and find Jesus, but let me tell you that when Jesus comes looking for His children, when Jesus returns and is looking for His people, He will not be making the same mistake. He will not be looking among the dead. He will not be looking in the graveyard. Jesus Christ, when He returns, He will be looking among the living, because not only is He a living God, but He is a God of the living, amen.

You see, He's not going to come and look among the dead. He’s not going to look among the liars and the deceivers. He is not going to be looking among those who have chosen to live their life separate than Him their entire lives. He’s not going to be looking among those who have refused to submit to Him. He's not going to be looking for those who are still dead inside of their hearts and haven't taken up the life of Christ. He will be looking among the living. He will be looking among those who have submitted themselves and thrown themselves down at the throne of grace. He’ll be looking at those who are not empty inside, but have been filled with the living God. When He comes back to look for His children, He will look among the living, not among the dead.

You see, God's people are a people who are filled with the Holy Spirit. They are filled with the Spirit of God because God is a God who resurrected, and He came to give His Spirit to all those who seek Him. We have to ask ourselves: has God breathed life inside of us? As I was reading my Word this week, I got really touched by this verse in John 20, and if you could put it up. Jesus at this point is looking, and He comes and He, at this point, has resurrected. And He comes to meet with His disciples. So, He appears to His disciples, and He looks at them, and says, “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me so, I am sending you.’ And with that He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” You see, He breathed on them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” At that point, I thought about where the disciples were at this point. Right? At this point, the only Jesus they had known was the Rabbi, was the Teacher. They had walked with Him. They learned from Him. They heard His teachings. They witnessed His healing power. They heard His truth. They saw Him go up on the cross and die, and now, in this moment, they saw that He was resurrected and meeting with them. But at this point, you see, they hadn’t had the life breathed into them.

"There is a universal Church of God, a people who have been filled with the presence of God..."

Let me tell you something: God does not send out the dead to the dead. God does not send out the ones without life to the dead to go rescue them. No, God sends out the living. God sends out ones who have received His Holy Spirit, and the life has been breathed into them to go out into the world and speak truth and speak life, that they might rescue those in darkness. I was reading a sermon this week by this guy named Charles Spurgeon. I know a lot of you guys know him, and he’s from the 1800s, and I was reading it. And he said, you know, “The Spirit of God is not found at the dusty desk of a theologian, it’s found in the heart of a simple woman in the street that is moving in faith.” And what he meant there— and I realize that we’re dealing with the same thing again that we’re dealing with today—is that God is not found in the teaching. It’s not found in the mind. It's found in the heart of those who have decided to follow and honor Him. You see, this world is filled with people that know Jesus up here, but very few can say that they know Jesus in their hearts. Very few can say that they have received the life of God. Very few can say that, ‘I am filled with the Spirit of God, and I am walking out into this world to make a difference and to bring life.’ And I tell you today that there is a universal Church of God, a people who have been filled with the presence of God, and when God comes back and calls His people, we will be meeting with people who— what?— who have been filled with the presence of God.

In Genesis 2:7, it talks about when man was formed and it said, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust and breathed life into his nostrils.” We need to know today that without the breath of life, we are dead. We are dead in our transgressions, dead in our sins, dead inside. But God came and resurrected, that you would not remain dead, but that you would be resurrected into a new creation. God came to breathe life into His people, that they would go into the world and bring life. Amen.

I tell you today, if you're still stuck in sin is sin— if sin still has mastery over your life, if there there is deadness surrounding your marriages, your relationships, if your soul has no feeling and no movement, if there’s no conviction being brought inside of your hearts— I have good news for you today! The Gospel message didn't stop in the grave; it went on, and Jesus Christ resurrected, amen.

God is not a God of the dead. He's a God of the living. That's why any man can come to God, for all men are dead in their transgressions. Any men can come to Him and walk into church and look for Him, but let me tell you that they cannot stay dead. Let me tell you that God is not a God of the dead. He didn’t stay dead, so we can't stay dead. When we walk into His presence, we must have an expectation of transformation, to know that God resurrected, so we must resurrect as well. Amen?

That's what makes a Christian a Christian. A lot of people say, ‘Well, what’s a Christian? What makes you Christian?’ And there’s a lot of different answers out there. And there's a verse in 1 John. You can put it up. It said, “This is how we know we live in Him and He in us: He has given us His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.” What makes a Christian a Christian? The Bible answers it very clearly: He has given us His Spirit, His life. There is life breathed into His children, there is life in the hearts and the souls of those who honor and worship Him, there is life inside of the Christian that walks around not dead, but resurrected and transformed. I know that people tell you all different sorts of stuff about what makes a Christian— that you believe in God or that you do good deeds and that makes you a Christian, or maybe your parents are Christians and it’s like a lineage type of thing. But let me tell you, that is not true. What makes a Christian a Christian is being filled with the Spirit of God— that you have been resurrected as He has been resurrected, and that Spirit is what testifies to the Father. That Spirit is what testifies to God. Let me tell you, life testifies to life, and death testifies to death. If you are walking around still dead in your transgressions, where your heart is not stirred and your soul is not moved, and there's no conviction inside of your heart, then I tell you, all look at you and say, ‘Well, he must serve a dead God,’ because death testifies to death, because anybody can do that. That’s still serving the God in the grave.

But for those who have been made alive, for those who have been resurrected in this world, they walk out and overcome this world! They live differently than the world, they are sanctified from the world, they are walking in power against the world. You see, the life testifies to life, and when somebody looks at your life they should say, ‘That person has to be a Christian. There is no way they can live that different. There's no way they can live that different than everyone else. There must be something more that is powering them...there must be something more that is changing them. They must live for a higher purpose because no man could live like that unless they were empowered and resurrected by the Spirit of God.’

God— that Spirit— is what testifies to our souls. It is what makes us say no to ungodliness, to live differently than the world, to raise your children differently from everyone else. It’s what doesn't allow sin to live, doesn't excuse it, but makes you eradicate it. People treat evangelism like it's a thing about words. You know, ‘Are you a good speaker? Are you good at spreading the Word, are you good at talking?’ But let me tell you, evangelism doesn't start with words, it starts with a transformed life. It starts with a life that has been made alive in the Spirit of God. Amen. And that spirit is the spirit of sonship that cries out to Abba Father.

Pastor Janeth— I know it from you guys who have received the message— has been talking this week, and I know she's been hitting your heart and it's been hitting mine as well, to say that the world must know that we love the Father. That this Spirit… God making you alive, God resurrecting you from the grave, God taking you from that old person and transforming you into something new... You see, that is what testifies to the Spirit of God. That is what testifies to being a son of God. That Spirit of God is what cries out ‘Abba Father,’ and calls you to Heaven, and calls you to the Father, and calls you back to where you belong. Pastor Janeth said, ‘The world must know that we love the Father,’ and it comes from those who have been resurrected, amen!

So we know that God is a living God, that God is a God of the living, and finally, Jesus Christ— He appears to the living. Luke 24:10, it talks about the three women that went to the grave. Now, if I asked you, ‘Who went to the grave?’ most of you guys — and I shouldn’t have put it up, because you’re cheating now — but you guys would probably say who? The two Mary's and some other lady, right? Like, nobody knows, and I was reading this and I was like, ‘Who is this?’ Right? I didn't know who Joanna was. And it really piqued my interest, and I started to read about Joanna, and it was super interesting.

Joanna in the Bible, if you read Luke 8 I think it's in, it talks about her, and it says that she was one that God had healed. She had some impure spirits and Jesus had come, and healed her and made her clean, and she had been made alive in God, and from that point on, she was a disciple of Jesus and would follow Jesus around and tend to Jesus Christ. She was described as the wife of Cuza. Now, Cuza was an official in Herod’s court. Now, for you guys that remember Herod, he’s a bad guy, right? He would go, and he beheaded John, and he played a big part in the crucifixion. So, Herod was against God's people. So, Joanna's husband was one of the main guys in Herod's court. Not only that, but she's described as one who managed Herod's household. So, she managed Herod’s whole household, and her husband was in there, and you know what I found the most interesting? It said that she tended to Jesus from her own pocket. And I love that because this woman, Joanna, went and served God, and served Jesus Christ, and went around. And this enemy of God thinks he's getting Jesus and thinks he’s getting God's people, and he's making a dent, but the truth is that his money’s being funneled down and paying to tend to Jesus. Out of the pocket of the enemy, out of the pocket of what Satan thought he was going to do, it was actually supporting Jesus and His ministry.

And I love that! Because her heart, and the two Mary's hearts, were to serve and honor God. And when the time came— when the time came for the first person to find that Jesus Christ had been resurrected, when the time came to meet with the angel of God— who did he go to? He didn't go to one of the eleven disciples. He went to the three women who had spent their life tending to God. And I love that. They had been one to follow Him. And the heart, the heart that was there, was to serve and honor and tend to God. And as they tended to Him in life, they went to tend to Him and brought spices— even in death they went to go tend to Jesus Christ! And they walked in thinking, ‘I’m going to tend to God even though He’s not here. I’m going to walk in and serve Him.’ And in that moment, they were the first to find the tomb empty. They were the first to meet with the heralds of God that said, ‘Don't you remember? He is alive and He is risen.’

You see, Joanna, the Mary's, the disciples— they were all chosen to witness and testify to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Jesus was now appearing to each one of them, as we read in that last verse. He was coming and appearing among the living! You see, He was appearing and saying, ‘Here I am,’ and He was breathing life into them, and He was teaching them, and He was charging them to go and be sent out. Jesus Christ — you see, a dead God doesn't appear to His people. A dead God never shows up and speaks to your heart. A dead God never comes and speaks to your soul, but a living God comes and appears among His people. He empowers His people. He speaks to His people. He comes and talks to the deep parts of your heart, and He sends you out to a work. For you are those who have witnessed, those who have experienced the Lord Jesus Christ, and now go to testify and witness to the world of who He is.

The words in this Book, when we open up the Bible, they're not meant to be recited. They're not meant to be read and memorized and recited, they’re meant to be experienced. They’re meant to be experienced. Jesus Christ is meant to show up where you are. He’s meant to appear to you, all these years later, after He was dead in the grave. We don't serve a dead God. He is alive, and appearing to His people. Amen!

As you guys are here and walking in, there should be an expectation that God's going to be there. When you guys go and open up your Bible, there should be an expectation, ‘I’m about to meet with God.’ When you go, and you go to pray, there should be an expectation that says, ‘Oh, I’m about to talk to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.’ You see, because God is not dead, He is alive and He appears among His people. Amen!

You know, I was watching Sports Center like two weeks ago. You know, I was watching it and it was crazy because they were talking about this baseball player who was getting ready to move teams. And they were interviewing him, and they said, you know, ‘What made you want to move teams?’ and he said, ‘Look, I was really just praying about it, and I felt God tell me, you know, to go to this other team.’ And, you know, so it got done with the interview and went to the announcers— and if you ever watch Sports Center, they’re supercritical— and, you know, the guys are like, ‘Oh, apparently he hears from God,’ like it was a crazy thing. Like, ‘Ah, apparently he hears God's voice. I don't know… might be a little nuts.’ And I heard that, and I thought how sad is it that the world is still looking for that dead Jesus. If you ask the world and say, ‘Hey, do you believe in Jesus?’ ‘Sure! Yeah, I believe Him! Yeah, He’s God! Church is great! I go and I do my thing every once in a while. I walk in and I pay my respects, and I walk out.’ And people look and they say, ‘Well, you know, it's still that dead God,’ but when you talk about a God who appears among His people, when you talk about a God who speaks to His people, when you talk about how you open up the Word and God’s speaking to your heart, when people ask you, ‘How is it that you overcome the world? How is it that you get the promotion? How is it that you're always blessed?’ When you say, ‘Well, it’s because God is with me and He has appeared with me,’ people will look and say, ‘Ah, that doesn't sound right. The God I know is dead. The God I know is still in the grave.’ And you say, ‘No let me tell you. I serve a resurrected and living God.’ Amen?

We have to expect to meet with a living God. He appears to the living, those who are in pursuit in search of Him. Don't think that your heart goes unnoticed. Don’t think that if your heart is to meet with God— don't think if you walk in expecting to meet with Him— that God doesn't hear. Or when you open up your Bibles, and you cry out to Him, don't think He doesn't hear you. Or when you go into your closet and begin to pray, and say, ‘God, I need You,’ don't think He doesn't hear, because we serve a living God! This is Jesus Christ, resurrected! Amen!

And God inhabits the praises and the prayers of His people. For those who are stirred by the words of God in their heart, for those who feel the Spirit moving and know He's there, God is among you. For those who come to His throne and say, ‘God I need You,’ He will be there. For those who knock on the door, it will be open to them. People who strive to know and please God, they will find God with them, every day of their lives.

Jesus Christ resurrected that you would know the living God. I started out the sermon today saying, you know, ‘He is a living God,’ and that might sound pretty obvious to people on an Easter Sunday message, but let me tell you the world doesn't know the living God. You are meant to be the feet that carries the Spirit of the living God, going to the world, and showing them the living God, going and living a life that people might know the living God. Every time you read your Bible, expect to meet with Him. Every time you begin to pray, expect to meet with Him. Every time you lift your arms and worship, expect to meet with the living God. Because that is the life we’re meant to lead: we’re meant to lead a life in His presence. I know the world says that you just show up to church on Sunday and go live your life the rest of the week, but let me tell you, God is meant to be carried with you every minute of every day because He is a living God. God is meant to be in your presence and I tell you, for those who are not so caught up in sin, for the humble that go to His throne, for those that go to the feet of His cross, and say, ‘God I'm a sinful man, but through You I can be resurrected; through You, You can be made known in my life. Through You, You can fill me and breathe life into me,’ — let me tell you, those men and women are those who carry the Spirit of God every day of their lives.

We are meant to be living in victory. We are meant to be living overcoming the world, not subject to the world— overcoming the world. We are meant to be living above! This message is not a message of talk, but it's a message of living with the Spirit of God, for God has resurrected. You see, Christ chose those women, and the eleven disciples, and so many others to come and witness and experience Him and His message. But they didn't just experience it, they replicated it. You guys need to know that this whole Holy Week— everything that’s happened this week and everything we’ve been learning— you are meant to replicate that. You are meant to replicate washing each other's feet. You are meant to replicate going and living and speaking truth. You are meant to replicate going out into the world. You are meant to replicate going to the cross and dying to your sins. You are meant to replicate the resurrection, where you are made into a new creation and the old man, the old person, stays inside of the grave, and you are raised up as a spiritual man or woman of God! And we are meant to replicate living with Him every single day, and one day being with Him in Heaven for all of eternity.

God didn't just do it; He laid the example for us to do it as well. It's time that we walk into the church expecting to meet with this living God, to know that God laid it out for us. He didn't just die for our sins. He died for our sins that you might die— that your old man might be put away, that you no longer live under the power of sin! He didn’t just resurrect for us. He resurrected so that we might resurrect— that we might be made into a new creation, that God might raise us up, that we would no longer be the same!

He is the God of resurrection. He is the living God. He is a new creation. When He came out of that tomb, He was new. He was transformed. He was glorified, and I tell you we are meant to be the same— no longer the old man, no longer the old woman, no longer just going through life dead inside, no longer just living a life of ‘our souls are weak and broken’ where we have no feeling! We can’t connect with our wives; we can’t connect with our children. We can’t connect with those around us. Our heart is dead. We have no feeling; it's not moved. Nothing’s moving inside of us…

God came that you might be resurrected this day. It is Resurrection Day, not only for Jesus Christ, but for us as well, that we might be resurrected. He went to the cross and did it! He went to the grave, and He rose again.

I tell you the grave was not too deep to hold Him in. The guards weren't enough! The stone being rolled in front — it wasn't enough. The seal over the stone — it wasn't enough to keep Him in, and I tell you the things of this world are not enough to hold the Christian down. For God's Spirit is a Spirit of power, and it is a Spirit of life, and it is meant to come inside of a man that they might shed the old man, that they might shed who they used to be, and be raised up as a spiritual man or woman of God.

So, God, I just give You honor this day, Lord. I give You glory this day, Father. For You went and died for me that I might die. But, God, You didn't stay in the grave. Three days later, God, You rose out of that grave. You rose up, God, and came out of that grave. Father, it's been longer than three days. God, let today be the day that we resurrect. God, let our souls resurrect this day! As You resurrected, may we resurrect. May You breathe life inside of us God. God, we open up our arms today, and say, ‘Lord, breathe life this day! Breathe life into this dead body! Breathe life into this dead soul!’