BELIEVERS IN JESUS NEVER DIE!

Christ is risen! He arose! He lives! Death did something terrible to Jesus; Jesus did something wonderful to death. Death is overcome. Jesus is the resurrection and life (11:25, 26). Believers in Jesus never die! What a statement! What a faith! Death is separation, alienation, and isolation. A Christian believer never loses consciousness with God. In death believers simply move! In death Christians are promoted! God is the God of the living! God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since there is no power in death, we need not fear death.

The disciples had a hard time accepting the resurrection! Peter decided to return to his former profession of fishing. Scholars say seven of the twelve apostles were fishermen. Peter was still their leader; they all went fishing. Without Jesus you do not catch fish. Without Jesus, one is empty. So Jesus came again to assure His disciples about His resurrection and have assurance of the love for Him and the Gospel. He asked Peter, “Do you love me more than this?” We must alive in God through our love for Him and His people. We are victors, not victims. For Jesus had conquered all our battles and fears. He demonstrated this to His disciples when the seven perplexed and failed men went a fishing but caught nothing.

When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ, and raised up with him because of our faith in God's power. God's power was shown when he raised Christ from death. We were spiritually dead because of our sins and because we were not free from the power of our sinful self. But God gave us new life together with Christ. He forgave all our sins. Because we broke God's laws, we owed a debt—a debt that listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us of that debt. He took it away and nailed it to the cross. He defeated the rulers and powers of the spiritual world. With the cross he won the victory over them and led them away, as defeated and powerless prisoners for the whole world to see. As a child of God, whether in life or in death, you gain so much because of your love for Him; therefore, stay with Him to the end.

Word Affirmation: “ Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." - Colossians 2:14 – 15 (Don't just say it, mean it!)

“ In Christ, We are victors, not victims. "

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