I AM Alive: The Witness of the Risen Christ

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What things challenge you?
I tell you what challenges me - parenting, phonics, you might be challenged by finances. You might be challenged by phonics
Unquestionably the most challenging thing I have ever attempted is following Jesus.

Following Jesus in a world that rejected Him is difficult.

Revelation 1:9 ESV
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Revelation 1:9–10 ESV
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

Followers of Christ struggle with apathy and indifference.

Revelation 2:4–5 ESV
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
"Can we be casual in the work of God -- casual when the house is on fire, and people in danger of being burned?"
- Duncan Campbell

Followers of Christ face seduction by materialism and creature comforts.

Revelation 3:17 ESV
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Perhaps the saddest observation of all is that the spending habits of people in the church differ little from those of the world. The lifestyles of most professing Christians are not substantially different from anyone else’s.
Too many in the church have adopted the world’s indulgent attitude toward money. Almost every form of materialistic extravagance and excess has found its way into the fellowship of believers. It is as if the church has forgotten Jesus’ mandate to invest in eternity.
These things anesthetize our spiritual fervor.

Followers of Jesus face spiritual and moral compromise.

Revelation 2:14 ESV
14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
Frank Page, the Southern Baptist Convention’s CEO of the Executive Committee, resigned from his position on March 27, 2018 over “a morally inappropriate relationship in the recent past.”
"I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church."
- Charles Spurgeon
Read more: https://www.christianquotes.info/quotes-by-topic/quotes-about-compromise/#ixzz5ArmpRh00
All this makes my point - the most challenging thing. The most difficult of all tasks is living for Jesus in a world that loathes him.
Mummy at the Louver - He just laid there. - What impressed me was the science behind preserving this body.

It is incredibly challenging to live for Jesus in a world that doesn’t love Him.

It was challenging in the first century to live for Jesus. People were being stoned. Fed to the lions. They had peaces of the skull removed and hot lead poured in - because of their commitment to Christ.

The greatness of our challenge melts at the feet of our glorious savior.

Why is John struggling? Because He is living for Jesus in a non-Jesus world!
Revelation 1:9–10 ESV
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
Revelation 1:9 ESV
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

The greatest need in your life is to see Christ as He is.

Revelation 1:12–16 ESV
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

You need to see Jesus as the real superman.

Dead men are unimpressive.
Mummy at the Louver - He just laid there. - What impressed me was the scince behind preserving this body.

Easter reminds us that Jesus is far greater than most of us have begun to imagine.

Revelation 1:17 ESV
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,
John was so impressed with Jesus that all the blood rushes out of his brain and he passes out on his face!
“Because the face of God is so lovely, my brothers and sisters, so beautiful, once you have seen it, nothing else can give you pleasure. It will give insatiable satisfaction of which we will never tire.”
The view of the risen Christ changes everything!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

The greatest need in your life is to hear what He says.

Revelation 1:17–20 ESV
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Jesus is not claiming to be a great man but the God man.

Isaiah 41:4 ESV
4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Jesus claims to have passed from death to life.

Revelation 1:18 ESV
18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Jesus is the only one who can unlock the grave!

Christ holds the keys which means he is the singular access point for death and life.
Every hope, every confidence, every ache in our soul demands Jesus as He claims to be. Joseph Stowell
Stowell, Joseph M.. The Trouble with Jesus (Kindle Locations 153-154). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
What are we going to do with Jesus in a world that either doesn’t want Him as He claims to be or wants to put its spin on Him to yield a harmless, sedate Jesus who threatens no one? Joseph Stowell

Every hope, every confidence, every ache in our soul demands Jesus as He claims to be. Joseph Stowell

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