THE POWER OF GOD THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD
By Ernest O'Neill
THE POWER THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD
by Rev. Ernest O'Neill
The record of Jesus' resurrection is one of the surest facts in the whole of the world's history because not only does this manuscript tell of it but also there are thousands of manuscripts. There are thousands of ancient manuscripts that tell the same record of Jesus' resurrection. In fact, loved ones, to get rid of the fact of Jesus' resurrection, you would have to destroy thousands upon thousands of ancient history books that make reference to the resurrection of Christ. You would have to destroy not only books that are included in the Bible but also books that are written by people who are antagonistic to Christianity. But not only that, you would have to wipe out ceremonies and memorials that have been practiced and observed down through the centuries from the year 30 A.D.
The power that enabled Jesus to live without a heart transplant, or without a kidney transplant, or without blood transfusions, the power that enabled Him to live again, remained in our world and continued to be used to transcend the laws of nature. That's right.
That power is still alive in our world. There is a power of life that enables you to live despite the weaknesses of physical nature and that power still exists today. It is still here.
Do you believe in Easter? That's not the real question. The real question is do you speak Easter? I'll give you the verse now, and then I'll explain it. It's Romans 10:9-10, "because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved."
When you get a cold, do you say like me, (or like I used to), "This cold is killing me! This cold is killing me, it's just wearing me out!" If you say that, you're proclaiming that you don't believe in Easter. Because when God raised Jesus from the dead, he destroyed the power of sickness to incapacitate us for the things that God has given us to do.
For all of you who have lived under discouragement and depression for years, it's more than that. The Bible says that the world was crucified with Christ. When God destroyed our sickness and our sin in Jesus, he destroyed the principalities and powers that work in our world. All the strange spirits that work in the financial realm to bring all kinds of twists and turns to our national economy, all the principalities and powers that work underneath the people that you work with in your day-to-day jobs, that make them critical, that make them antagonistic to you, all the principalities and powers in the spirits that lie behind the things that operate Murphy's law, that make the thing always fall on the wrong way, that make the thing always work the wrong way, all the principalities and powers and spirits that work in your life to make things go so wrong, the things where you sense there's no control and no one in control, God destroyed that world in His Son Jesus.
Every one of us who believe that truly believe in Easter and believe that in Easter there is an Easter power, a resurrection power that can overcome the weaknesses of the physical body and can change circumstances and can change financial problems and personal problems, every one of us who live that way and speak that way, begin to experience that power operating in us.
Oh brothers and sisters, will you think about it? Think about those situations that we find ourselves in. You've just discovered the overdraft and you're just about to say to her, "Why did you not send that last check in?" or you're just about to say, "We'll never pay that other bill." At that moment believe Easter. Stop getting all worried about what will happen. "Well, what will happen? Will the washer just start going?" That's not your problem. That's not your responsibility.
Just begin. Think about it. If it doesn't work this week, you have another wonderful 40 to 60 years to be miserable. So why not try it for a week and then you can get back into misery on your own. It appeals, doesn't it? It just seems right. The problem is that you think it's too good to be true. But actually it is true, loved ones. That's what Easter is about, that's what Easter is.
So, I am not going to ask, do you believe in Easter? I am going to ask, will you live Easter? Will you start living Easter in your home, by the words that you speak? Speak life, not death and God's life will begin to move into the situation. Oh yes, it works. The situation will be changed. The situation will be solved. Let's pray.