" How do you know Jesus is still alive "

Matthew 27:62–66 (ESV)

62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

Matthew 28:1–15 (ESV)

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” 11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

“ How do you know Jesus is still alive “

“ Let’s look at the evidence that Jesus is alive “

Matthew 27:62-66, Matthew 28:1-15

What’s sad

About the church today

The Body of Christ

is that

We Believe things

About God / Jesus / The Holy Spirit

That we can’t defeat or find it in the bible

STUDY OUR BIBLE so we can defend it !!!!!!!!!

1 Peter 3:15 KJV 1900

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

It's Friday

Jesus has been crucified

He's hanging on the cross for 9 hours

And after saying

Father into thy hands

I commend my Spirit

The Bible says

He breathed out His last

And He dies

Now the clock is ticking

Because Sabbath will begin

And those followers of Jesus

Will be restrained

From taking care of the

Dead body of the Savior

They have to get Jesus off the cross

And into the grave

Because If they don't get Jesus

Off the Cross by sundown

His body will be burned By the Romans

Joseph of Arimathea

Goes to Pilate

And ask for permission

To take down the body of Jesus

And they are in a hurry

Because time is running out

And the sun is going down

And they are not able

To go through all the proper

Rituals of burial

They don't have time

Because the sun is going down

So they take him

And wrap Him

And put Him in the tomb

So they don't have time to anoint the body

Something that's critical

To delay the decay

Of the body of Jesus

In a culture

That did not have embalming services

So they laid Him to rest on Friday

Saturday

The chief priests goes to Pilate

And this is what they say

Pilate,

This man who was a deceiver

Prophesied that he would rise

In three days

And the only way

That's going to happen

If his disciples

Go to the graveyard

And steal his body

And if they steal his body

They are going to start a rumor

Saying he's risen from the dead

So they said to Pilate

We need you to do

Us a favor

We need to lock down that tomb

To be certain

That body does not get out

So Pilate says

Here’s what you do

I know how to

Lock it down

Put a stone in front of it

Then put the governor’s seal on the stone

Then put a soldier outside the stone

If there's A STONE — A SEAL — AND A SOLDIER

That body is not going nowhere

They lock the tomb down

With A STONE — A SEAL — AND A SOLDIER

That’s Saturday

And the Bible says

On the first day of the week

At dawn ( Early Sunday Morning )

Mary of Magdalene

And a few other Mary’s

Decided to go to the tomb

To finish what could not

Be done on Friday

And anoint the body of Jesus

And while they are making their way there

They realize we don't have

One problem

We don’t have

Two problems

We got three problems

There’s a STONE — SEAL — SOLDIER

The stone is a problem

That got to be control

The seal is a power

That has to be change

And the soldier is a person

That has to be confronted

We don't know how we are going to deal with

The stone that need to be control

The seal that has to be changed

And the soldier that has to be confronted

And they go anyway

And when they get there

They find out

That God has already beat them there

They found out

That everything they was worried about

God has already handled it

Note: I believe that EVERYTHING that Mary Magdalene & the other Mary’s were worried about what they was going to have to be FACING at the tomb was already taken care of by God because

1st So they think Jesus is dead but they still have the mindset to WORK FOR JESUS

2nd So they think Jesus is dead but they still have the mindset to WORSHIP JESUS

3rd So they think Jesus is dead but they still have the mindset to WALK WITH JESUS

4th So they think Jesus is dead but they still have the mindset to get THE WORD OUT ABOUT JESUS

The stone has been rolled away

The soldier has been restrained

And the seal has been removed

The seal which symbolizes

Pilate Power has been removed

The Soldier has been restrained

The stone has been rolled away

When God is about to do

Something miraculous in your life

There is no POWER

There's no PERSON

There's no PROBLEM

That can stand in God’s way

Quote: NOBODY has arms long enough to box with God

How do you know Jesus is still alive

1st He is Able to handle the POWERS against you

The powers that stand against you

The Rules that says

It shouldn't be you

Stereotypes that deny you

From your Blessing

Structures that are in place

Systems that says NO

Dilemmas you cannot handle

But we serve an awesome God

Who is able to remove powers

That stand against you

Note: As a Child of God when you are sincere about the work of God, God will handle the powers that stand against you

How do you know Jesus is still alive

1st He is able to handle the POWERS against you

2nd He is able to handle the PEOPLE against you

You and I got to deal with

Jealous people — envious people — bitter people — negative people — hateful people — manipulating people — unforgiving people — demonic people — people having a FORM of godliness

Quote: You ever found out through life that your friends was FAKE,PHONY & FEW but your enemies was REAL

God is able

To restrain folks

God is able

To take care of some people

That's doing you harm

Psalm 3:1-3 (KJV)

1 LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.

2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.

3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

Psalm 23:5 (KJV)

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

How do you know Jesus is still alive

1st He can deal with powers

2nd He can deal with people

3rd He is able to handle the PROBLEMS facing you

He can deal with SICKNESS you can't handle

He can deal with FAMILY you can control

He can deal with FINANCIAL situations out of your power

They are some problems

That’s coming your way

BUT GOD

Knows how to roll stones away

And God move the stone

By allowing the earth to shake

God will move the whole world

To move a problem out of your way

Note: No matter what THE PROBLEM IS — THE PERSON IS — THE POWER IS be like these women and go on anyway

You don't know how the meeting will go — Go Anyway

You don't know what the doctor will say — Go Anyway

You don't know what the job is going to do — Go Anyway

And now these women

Have found out

That God has handled everything

And when they get there

There's an angel

Who gives them some advice

Go tell the disciples

That Christ is risen

And while they are leaving

To go find the disciples

And the Bible says

The soldiers who was there

Ran to the priest

And the soldiers told the priest

Everything that had happened

That they had been restrain

The seal had been removed

The stone had been rolled away

And the priest came up with a plan

And this is what they said

Tell everybody that the disciples

Came and stole the body late last night

Note: Remember whenever you are doing the work of the Lord and OBEDIENCE TO GOD the enemy will ALWAYS have to change their PLAN / the Chief Priest had to change their plan

So on that first day of the week

Early that Sunday morning

There are 2 reports

Coming out of the graveyard

There’s the women — saying He is risen

There’s the Soldiers — saying the body was stolen

And when that word hits town

Men and women of that day

Are put in the same dilemma

That you and I are put in today

Whose report are you going to believe

Has He risen

Or is He still dead

Every woman and man

Have to make a decision

At some moment in their life

About the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Is He Risen

Or is He still dead

And if Christ be not risen

1 Corinthians 15:17-19 (KJV)

17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

If Christ is dead

Everything we do is in vain

Note: That is a question you must answer

Note: So let's see if Jesus is still alive

How do you know Jesus is still alive

1st Jesus body has not been found

Number one

When the women come

And tell the disciples

That Christ is risen

According to the Gospel of Mark

The disciples did not

Originally believe them

And in order to verify

Whether he was alive or dead

This is what John says

The disciples ran to the tomb

To look for themselves

Because in their minds

The easiest way to determine

Whether he's alive or dead

Is to see if the body is still there

Because if we can see

He's dead body

We know He's not risen

Quote: When it comes down to Jesus, sometimes you got to know without some evidence BUT there’s always evidence with Jesus

Song: My God Is Real

There are some things I may not know There are some places I cannot go But I am sure Of this one thing That God is real For I can feel Him in my soul Yes, God is real He's real in my soul Yes, God is real For He has washed And made me whole his love for me Is just like pure gold, My God is real For I can feel Him in my soul Yes, God is real Oh yes, God is real in my soul Yes, God is real For He has washed And made me whole his love for me You know it's just like pure gold, Yes, God is real For I can feel Him in my soul

Note: All the things that have been found in this world there's one thing/person that have never been found and that's the body of Christ

Muhammad ( Islam ) — died on June 8, 632 and remained dead

Confucius — died in 479BC and remained dead

Buddha — died about the year 483BC and remained dead

Joseph Smith ( Mormonism ) — He died in 1844 and remained dead

Charles Russell ( Jehovah’s witnesses ) — He died in 1916 and remained dead

Mary Baker Eddy ( Christian Science ) — She died in December, 1910 and remained dead

Note: The reason why no one have never found the body of Jesus is because Jesus is not dead He is ALIVE Jesus has risen from the dead.

How do you know Jesus is still alive

1st The body has not been found

2nd The Apostles saw Jesus and chose to die rather than change their story

The Bible says

After Jesus rose

From Easter to the day of ascension

When he ascended to heaven in Acts 1

Is 40 days

Pentecost comes 10 days later

But Easter to Ascension is 40 days

And in those 40 days

The Bible says that

All the Apostles saw him

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (KJV)

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Note: All the Apostles saw the resurrected Jesus

Note: And to be an Apostle even today you would have to had seen the resurrected Jesus Christ

And each one of them

Died a horrible death

When they could have saved themselves

By simply just stop preaching Jesus Christ is alive

Quote: And people and church people still today trying to stop you from doing the work of the Lord but don’t CHANGE your story

And rather than denying

The resurrected Jesus

They all suffered a horrible death

Because they would rather die

Then denied that they had saw Jesus

QUOTE : You can't convince a group of people to hold on to a lie when punishment is being threatened. Somebody is going to roll over, somebody is going to tell the truth.

Matthias — was burned to death

James the brother of John — was decapitated

Paul — was decapitated

Thomas & Matthew — was stabbed and bled to death

Phillip & Bartholomew — was beaten with sticks until they died

James — was stone until he died

John — was thrown into a pot of boiling oil

Andrew — was crucified

Peter — was crucified hanging upside down

Note: These men are not going to go through all of this for a lie

Note: Can I tell you that you’re not going thru what you’re thru for a lie / or nothing

How do you know Jesus is still alive

1st Jesus body has never been found

2nd The Apostles saw Jesus and chose to die rather than change their story

3rd Christ has made a change in our life

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Note: Someone that’s DEAD can’t change something that’s DEAD

Close : The Apostle Paul