“If you are then risen with Christ…” You can ONLY have this experience IF you have died with Him! Being dead to the old life is the theme that runs throughout the Gospels and the Letters! Water baptism is the symbol of this! When a Christian dies, your body dies, but YOU are not dead! And when the Day of Resurrection comes, we shall rise with Christ with new Resurrection bodies! Where Christ is, there we shall be. With Him!
The treasures of God are hidden in Christ
The treasures of God are hidden in Christ. ONLY when we understand the person of Christ can we begin to understand fully what the blessings of God are. The blessings of God come to us, not from the Father alone, but through Christ. This is the importance of Jesus Christ to us! Yes, Scripture tells us, Jesus tells us to ask God the Father, but He said this: Whatsoever you ask God the Father IN MY NAME, I – Jesus – will do it. John 14.13,14. It is He who has the ability, the right to mediate and pass on the blessings of God to us. Although God is our Father, we still come in the Name of His Son in order to receive the blessing. All my life I have had a very close and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I talk to Him all the time – this is not formal prayer – I’m asking Him questions, I’m listening to Him and He’s explaining things to me. It’s an on-going relationship.
How you can have Power in your life
I want to show how you can have Holy Ghost Power in your life. Writing in Ephesians 1v11, the Apostle Paul speaks of the ‘inheritance’ we have received in Christ, being predestinated according to the Purpose of Him who works all things according to His Will! Paul writes in vv12‐13, God has chosen us to be the ‘praise of His Glory’, we who first trusted – IN CHRIST! All of this is coming about because of our trust IN CHRIST!
The Hope of Glory
'...give joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.' (Colossians 1.12-13, NIV.)
We receive an inheritance when somebody dies: Jesus died, and we inherit everything He had! Everything God had in Jesus – we inherit! If I were to die right now, my family gets everything I possess. And literally that’s what happens to us in Christ. We don’t have to die to inherit it, it’s something we enjoy in life
Our hope is in heaven
For all believers there is the wonderful hope of heaven; from this assurance springs the faith and love we express in this life. Whatever we are going through today, our hope is not down here, OUR HOPE IS IN HEAVEN. We’re not expected to be wealthy down here, we’re not expected to be living necessarily in comfort. My real home and your real home is the FUTURE. I feel that somehow the Church has lost sight of the key element of our faith. OUR HOPE IS IN HEAVEN – NOT HERE!
Amazing Miracles - The Power and Authority of God
I have seen the incredible Power of God! Not just my own personal healings from cancer, and my release from a communist prison in answer to prayer. But I've seen miracles right from the start of my ministry. The Bible teaches us that God put all power into the Name of Jesus and gave Him power and authority over sickness, to heal and work miracles – unlimited power. If you want an answer to prayer, Jesus told us, ask the Father in His Name and God will give what we ask!
A miracle happened!
One of the first people that I saw healed was when I was a very young pastor and evangelist in England. Shortly after finishing college, I left the church I had pastored as a student, in Dorking, Surrey, and I was called to take over a church in Harrogate, North England, and prepare for an evangelistic crusade. I was only twenty years old. Soon after arriving, Mr Corker, one of the men in the church, 73 years old, became ill. He refused to go to the doctor until it was too late – they had to rush him into hospital where they diagnosed terminal cancer. He was so sick, they took away most of his stomach, gave him a catheter to pass the water, and a colostomy – and sent him home to die. A miracle happened!
Only the Gospel can change the world
The only thing that can change the world is the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Asked to pastor a church at 18, just three months after starting Bible College, and holding my first Tent Mission a few months later, I have seen the Power of God and miracles of healing from the very beginning of my ministry. After 72 years of ministry, why do I carry on with such passion? It is because I believe that all the Power of God is in the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! (Romans 1.16).
Stand firm in the Lord
We have lowly bodies, subject to weakness, sickness, hunger, thirst, and temptation – of course we do! Who is not subject to temptation? But when we receive our heavenly body, it will be a resurrection body – absolutely free of all these limitations! “Therefore,” Paul continues in Phil 4:1, “my brethren whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, STAND FAST in the Lord!” This question of ‘standing fast’ is a reminder that despite our weaknesses, we must remain true to our faith.
Knowing Christ and the Power of His Resurrection
“My heart’s desire is that I might KNOW CHRIST, AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death – that I might attain to the Resurrection of the Dead!” Phil 3:10 has always been marked in my Bible. It’s one of my favourite parts of the New Testament! Ultimately, this life is nothing, length of life is nothing (I’m 90!) – because I will live forever with Christ!