Easter Sunday Morning Service — Michael Koulianos

The Early Church’s Prayers for the Resurrection

I've never done this before, but I want to read to you some prayers from the worship services of the early church. And I just feel such authority on these. Do you feel the Lord in the room right now? Today a tomb holds Him who holds the creation and the hollow of His hand.

A stone covered Him who covered the heavens with glory. Life sleeps, but hell trembles, and Adam is set free from his bonds. Glory to Thy dispensation, whereby Thou hast accomplished all things, granting us an eternal Sabbath, Thy most holy resurrection from the dead.

He, Christ, gave Himself as a ransom to death, in which we were held captive, sold as slaves under sin. And He descended into Hades through the cross. He loosed the bonds of death. Come let us see our life who lieth in a tomb, that He might give life to those that in their tombs lie dead.

Come let us look today on the Son of Judah, as He sleepeth in the tomb. And with the prophet let us cry aloud,. Thou hast lain down, but Thou hast slept as a lion. Who shall awaken Thee, O King? But of Thine own free will Thou shalt rise up.

Who willingly dost give Thyself for us, O Lord, glory to Thee. O happy tomb! It received within itself the Creator as one asleep, and it was made a divine treasury of life. For our salvation we sing, O God, great Deliverer, blessed art Thou.

The life of all submits to be laid in a tomb according to the law of the dead, and He makes it a source of awakening. For our salvation we sing, O God, our Deliverer, blessed art Thou. Listen to this.

Today Hades sighs, crying aloud,. Would that I not had received Mary's son! For he has come to me, destroying my dominion. He has broken in pieces the gates of hell, and walk around Zion, all nations.

Go around it, give glory to the one risen from the dead. For he is our God, who has delivered us from our sins. For great is his mercy toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. I said the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Today Hades screams in fear,. My dominion has been swallowed up. The shepherd who has been crucified, yes, but he has also raised Adam in the grave. I am deprived of those I once ruled in the tombs, and those whom I swallowed up in the grave of my strength, I throw them up now.

He who is crucified has emptied my tombs, and death has no more dominion. O Lord, glory to Thy cross and to Thy resurrection. Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, the Immortal One.

He has closed the abyss. He is seen dead, wrapped in a linen cloth, with spices laid in a tomb as a mortal. The women, yes, they come to anoint him with ointment. Weeping bitterly, they cry aloud,. This is the Sabbath, which is blessed above all.

For Christ, yes, he has fallen asleep. He shall rise on the third day. He who rules over all things was lifted on a cross, and the whole creation weeps to see him hanging naked on the tree. The sun hid its rays.

The stars lost their brightness. The earth shook in great fear. The sea fled, the rocks were torn, and the graves were opened. And the bodies of the saints rose, I said the bodies of the saints rose. And Hades groaned below, and the Jews spread false tidings against Christ's resurrection.

But the women cried aloud, This is the Sabbath, which blesses us all. For Christ, having fallen asleep, shall rise on the third day. When thou, O mortal life, Jesus, went down to death, you did destroy death with the dazzling of your divinity.

And when thou raised up from the dead and from the underworld, all the powers of heaven cried aloud, O Christ and giver of life, glory to thee. Who is like Jesus? No one. The Eastern Church will celebrate resurrection Sunday next week.

I celebrate both, double lamb. But I grew up, as I told you on Good Friday, which was what, two days ago? That we grew up greeting one another with these words, Christ is risen. You've got it. So I'm going to say it again, and I'm going to say it three times, and I want you to shout it back in response to me.

Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Amen. You have no idea how powerful that exchange is. That causes angels to exalt Him and demons to flee. Amen. I want to talk to you today about Jesus, our resurrection.

Jesus as the Eternal Resurrection and Life

I'm actually writing a book on the resurrection right now, and I have writer's block for the last chapter. Maybe the Lord will just follow me today and we can transcribe this sermon. But I'm not sure we realize the wonder of the resurrection.

What it means to us, but more importantly, how it glorifies the Lord. It's important to have a Savior who will never die again. I said it's important to have a Savior who will never die again. It's important to trust your eternity with the one who harbors eternity.

And He is the only one who can say, I am the Amen. That's a pretty amazing title. I don't know if you've ever been asked what your name is, but hopefully you've never responded with I am the Amen, because there's only one who can say that.

There's only one who can say I'm the first and the last. There's only one who can say I'm Alpha and Omega. Just one. And as the coming of the Lord approaches, as the end of the age approaches, this will increasingly become the great revealer.

Who is Jesus to you? And the end of the age will continually reveal the source of our satisfaction. There will be a people who emerge called the Bride of Christ who are not a side issue, but they are the Father's obsession for His worthy Son.

Are you hearing me? For His worthy Son who has accomplished what no other has accomplished. On Good Friday, I told you to lift your eyes. When Kathryn Kuhlman would get letters that were beyond her capacity to pray for, maybe you've never gotten one like that, but just go into the ministry for a month and you'll get plenty.

People are in need at such a rapid rate. I'm sure you're experiencing that in your family at some point. I know Jesse and I have and are. There's always a challenge. I wasn't sure if I'd ever speak again.

Well, when you're a preacher, that's an issue. It's what I do. So when Miss Kuhlman would get these letters and didn't know what to write, she would just write this, look up, comma, Kathryn Kuhlman. And on Good Friday, what I basically, I believe by the Holy Spirit, encouraged you to do was to look up.

Your redemption draweth nigh. Unfortunately, much of the church right now is distracted. That distraction not only depletes the love of the bride, but reveals the lack of love in those who are called to be the bride.

The Bride’s Growing Love for Jesus

How many of you are married here? How many of you wish you weren't? No, no, don't, don't. When you first met your spouse, do any of you remember those late night calls? I do, and I was living in Las Vegas at the time, coaching golf, and my brother called me.

He was at ORU, and he said, I met my wife, and she has a cousin, and she looks good. Perfect. In case you're wondering how deep and spiritual my mind was back then, how good does she look? And he texted me a picture of Jess.

I said, cool. And he goes, well, just a quick side note, that's Pastor Benny's daughter. And I'm like, not really my, my vibe, you know, I'm a golfer, and I love to fish. None require people. Something tells me if I say yes to this, I'm going to end up being around a lot of people.

I love you all. But it wasn't my natural desire. My parents would tell you I recharged by catching fish, kissing them, throwing them back, or hitting them, hitting a great golf shot with just me there and the Trinity watching.

So Jess and I started talking. She came to Las Vegas where I was living, and I would take a little short Southwest flight from Vegas to Orange County, 30 minutes. And when my mom found out it was Pastor Benny's daughter, she's like, I'm paying for that first flight.

All those other girls, of the devil, I'm paying for this flight. So we would hang out, and I'd sense the Lord calling me to the ministry, and I'd pray crazy prayers. One of them was, if I'm called to the ministry, have Pastor Benny offer me a job.

So I walked in the house, and he said to me, where have you been? He remembered me as a little boy, so I got saved here in the city. And when he said, where have you been? It was like reading the scripture.

Adam, where have you been? It shot through me because I knew I was called to preach the gospel, and I didn't want to because of people. It's my greatest fear to speak before people. At the University of Florida, where I went and played golf there, I had worked so hard one semester to have an A in this class, and the final exam was an oral exam.

And I walked into the class and saw about 400 or 500 students, and I ran out and took an F, and my grade went from an A to a C. That's how petrified I was of doing this. How many of you know that he's made strong on our weakness?

It's not about our skill. It's not about our resume. It's not about years in seminary, though I do have to say, after hearing much preaching these days, Bible school is a good idea. It's good to submit to good Bible teaching.

And so Jess and I started talking on the phone back then, and oh, I discovered that the amount of words that come out of a female compared to a male is pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall they speak into your eardrums.

Exceedingly and abundantly, men, above all you could ever ask, think, or imagine, will they talk to you? You know, 30 minutes in, I would say, uh-huh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the numbing would begin, uh-huh.

But then I would fall asleep, and she would catch me on the phone. She'd go, she'd start praying, which was really precious and beautiful. She'd start praying on the phone, and I would doze off. And she caught me once, because I didn't say amen.

She said, are you sleeping? I go, what, no, no, not at all. But those early days of an earthly relationship, your mind is possessed with thoughts for another. So should our walk be with Jesus. For some reason, church culture wounds the fiery ones.

Modern day church planting makes little of the fiery ones. In the name of wisdom, in the name of balance, in the name of reaching the lost, we dial down the flame of the bride, and we end up franchising what is meant to be a living organism birthed by the Holy Spirit.

And love is depleted, and we spiritualize the iciness of our hearts. And rather than pouring oil on the flame so that it consumes the fiery ones, we tell them to calm down so they'll last. Never telling them that in the kingdom, everything increases.

The increase of His government shall increase and know no end, the Bible says. We go from glory to glory. We're to be more in love a month after we're born again than the day we were born again, and much more in love a decade after we were born again than we were on that first day.

This is the nature of Jesus. He is different than an earthly husband. We are limited. He is limitless. And your love for Jesus, listen carefully, is Calvary's reward to Him. What do you think He really wants out of it all?

Do you think He's after real estate? Do you think He's really burning for everything we burn for? I saw more fasting and prayer during election time than I saw combined in 20 years. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't do that.

Don't misunderstand me. But if you're going to fast and pray for the right person to be elected, fast and pray so that Jesus will walk into your room. I'm not throwing one out. But it's in moments like these where we start saying crazy stuff, like, the devil's going to take out the church, or this leader's going to snuff out the church.

I told you on Friday night, if the devil snuffs out the church, then the devil steals Jesus's only reward for dying, and the Father's not going to let that happen. I'm more in love with Jesus now than I was in November.

I don't know about you. My love for Jesus isn't impacted by anyone else, unless I hang out with the wrong people, or listen to the wrong voices. Jesus is alive. I said, Jesus is alive. By the way, we need faith just to get down these stairs.

It's like the preacher's worst nightmare. Can you hear me? I have to wear these in-ear monitors now, I'm getting used to them. Jesus is alive. He's wonderful. You ready for this? And available. Available.

The Availability and Indwelling Presence of Jesus

He's available every second of every day. Listen to me. Look at me. He is available every second of every day. That truth should keep you up at night. It did me. Here's another one. You can have as much of the risen Christ as you want.

Nobody will stand before the throne blaming God for his lack of availability. He's made himself so available, you ready, that he's in you, which I love hearing our first years come into Jesus school and they go, he seems so far away.

Where is he? I go, right here, which is pretty close. Which is the promise of the resurrection and the seal of the new covenant, that the Holy Ghost as the down payment would come to live inside of us.

We serve a Jesus who will never die again, crucified once and for all. If some sickness assaults your body, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead rests in you. And it's dangerous in the most beautiful way to start falling in love with Jesus this way.

Because he will mess you up. I'm just warning you. You'll start throwing out every other obsession and interest and ministry endeavor. I'm just warning you. He won't let you sleep certain nights because he'll want to talk to you.

And just when your little cozy flannel comforter starts feeling good, he'll knock on your heart's door before the sun is up. I'm warning you. And you'll have friends and you'll get 20 minutes into the small talk and then your heart will start panting.

Can we talk about him? And the ones who don't talk about him, you're going to discover don't feed your soul so your friend list will increasingly diminish. Because you discover something that he's the guest at every conversation.

And if you read Luke 24 and the Emmaus account, you discover that he'll show up while you're discussing him. As the disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus and he shows up and he literally asks them, what are you talking about?

It wasn't because he didn't know. Then you discover his sense of humor and his questions are meant to inform you, not him. And you discover in the most beautiful way, he will mess with you. If Jesus starts asking you questions, put your seatbelt on.

And then you discover your need for him. Because without the Holy Spirit, you'll reply to him in the most bonehead way. The Lord is in his temple, the prophet said, let all the earth be silent. When I lost my voice, I could hear him again.

And I discovered that my heart could burn and speak. And the conversation, not only did it not end, it deepened. Prayers were still answered. Answers still came from heaven and I could respond with the panting of my heart.

And so Jesus shows up to these disciples on the road to Emmaus, he says, tell me what's going on. And they respond this way, where have you been? Have you not heard that Jesus, a mighty prophet, mighty in word, was crucified by the Jews?

I tell our students this all the time. Without the Holy Spirit, we become so dumb that we will ask Jesus if he's ever heard of himself, which has to be one of the highest heights of human stupidity. And he lets them do it.

The Cross, Repentance, and the True Gospel

Many of you will come to him today. Some of you think you have. I don't want to be pessimistic or judgmental, but I've been around this now since 1989. And I can tell you that much of the messages that people respond to are not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's more the gospel of Tinkerbell, who makes your wishes come true. Did you hear that early church prayer that he threw the cross, descended into the abyss to plunder death? This precious cross is not just a symbol, but a full blown portal into a resurrected life.

And may I say, it's the only window in. And then once you go in and are raised, that cross becomes your daily uniform. What we've told people is come to the cross to get your sins washed away, throw it out in the backyard, and then pursue the life you want to pursue and include Jesus into the plan that you have for you so that you become more happy.

And that's the source of the distraction. That's it right there. It's that we make Jesus part of, rather than all. He is all. I said He is all. I went to an event I got invited to speak at. Austin went with me, as he used to often, and it was a prophetic event.

And I was listening to the worship, and I didn't hear the Lord's name. I heard all of this spiritual language, but not the name of Jesus. And then I heard the transition and the speaking, and I didn't hear the name of Jesus.

And the child in me said, how can this be Christian if I'm not hearing of Christ? People are being equipped, supposedly. People are receiving words, personal words, but not the Word. People are celebrating the language is spiritual, but I don't hear the name of the Lord, burning for the desire for outpouring and revival.

But how many of you know Jesus is revival? So I sat there quietly, initially going, how did I end up here? I want to go home. And I felt the Lord say, this is why I sent you. And I preached Jesus to them.

And the simplicity of the message of Jesus does two things. I should say, prior to explaining these two things, it takes the scalpel of heaven and cuts a dividing line through the crowd, just as Moses did.

Moses and the Levites stood, they addressed the camp of Israel, and Moses makes a declaration. They that are with the Lord, let them stand with us. And they that are not, watch out, the Levites are coming.

I said, the Levites are coming. The Levites are coming. That was something that burst into Dom's heart before the worship movements really started. She woke up out of a dream, screaming, the Levites are coming, the Levites are coming.

And the Levites do have an inheritance. Yes, they do, but it's a different inheritance than the rest of Israel. Their inheritance, you ready, is the Lord. The Levites worship, so they have this vertical ministry, and they also have a sword on their hip, as I mentioned Friday night, and that sword cuts out mixture.

And that sword is fidelity for Jesus, birthed by the scriptures. Never has there been a more pivotal time in the body of Christ to know your Bible. Read it, eat it, pray it, meditate on it, until the words of scripture become part of your DNA.

If you don't, you too will build a golden calf and think it's a lamb. Are you hearing me? You'll start believing that you can build a golden calf and name that calf Jehovah, just like Israel did. Like any husband, Jesus wants all of our hearts.

That's the Christian message. Jesus himself wants all, because he himself has given all. What we tend to do on days like this, as we come into the Lord's house, we celebrate his resurrection and fail to realize that the living Christ wants me beyond my desire to answer an altar call.

Many of you will answer the call this morning, but I don't want you to marry an altar. I don't want you to marry this ministry. I want you to marry Jesus. It's a full-on matrimony, regardless of what life throws your way.

Worship as the Overflow of the Spirit’s River

Listen to me. Your greatest inheritance is that you can close your eyes in the middle of a traffic jam, which on eye four is quite demonic, and you can close your eyes and just start thinking about him.

And then you start worshiping him. And when you worship him, you discover something. You start drinking of a river you forgot you had. Now, Jesus said this. He who drinks of this water from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.

Do you know why the river doesn't flow in most people? Because they wait on God to stir it up. And they forget there's a river inside of them. God the whole time is saying, there's one way to turn this lake into a gushing stream.

Drinking. The key is drinking. The key is worship. So no matter where I'm at, my dad and I were at Heathrow Airport in the UK. I don't know if you've ever connected there, but it's like the United Nations.

The lines are long. Sorry, that's for you. That was to bless you. Get the demon out of you. The lines are long. I also discovered some people wear deodorant and some do not. After 26 days on the road, you just want to get home.

You ever been there? So jet lagged, you just want to get home and everyone bothers you. Everyone. Little kids bother you. The worst is flying back to Orlando after a long trip. And all these weird adults have Mickey ears on.

You're like, you're 60. You have a Mickey tattoo on your calf. What is wrong with you? That's when I was just like, I got to get home. And there we were in the line waiting. And I was whining to God. I preached 26 days in Greece from island to island.

Some meetings were big. Some were small. Some were just 10 people. I had my honorarium stolen by a pastor and I had to pay my way there to replace the honorarium. One of them gave me a magnet of the Acropolis and a Greek gift shop bag.

I said, dude, I grew up in Greek gift shops. This magnet of the Parthenon is not going to help pay the flight, but thank you so much. And I was just whining. And finally the Lord waited for me to get it all out.

And he asked me a question, which as I said earlier, is sometimes a bad thing that you need. He said, what are you doing? I said, uh, I'm mad. He said, why? This line is long and the people smell and I'm tired.

And then I remembered Rex Humbart's words that he used to say while he was still alive. When you're really going through it, extend your arms and look down at your palms. If there are no holes in them, you're doing okay.

So I was like, you know, I saw my roller bag. I'm like, I'm okay. And then I heard the Holy Spirit say, you know what to do. And I just sat there and closed my eyes. Help me, buddy. Closed my eyes and started to worship Jesus.

And that hellish line turned into the garden of Eden. And I began to think about Paul's words. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? That the great resurrected risen Christ broke a hole through the heaven as he ascended.

And he said in John chapter seven, I should say the scripture said that the Holy Spirit hadn't been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. That tells me that when he got to the throne, he sent the Spirit.

And the Spirit's coming is the sign that Jesus made it to the right hand of the Father. I don't know what's pressing in on you today. I don't know what life has become for you. I don't know what you've been giving your thoughts to, your heart to.

I don't know if you believe the lie that if you just ran to an altar when you were eight, you could just run back out of the church and pursue your own dream. And leave Jesus in the dust and then eventually ask him to help the dream you birthed.

I don't know if the message you heard included a bloody wooden tree. That is much more than a mere sin eraser. As I say all the time, quoting Madame Gouyon, she said, the cross gives me God and then God hands me the cross daily.

The Resurrection’s Benefits: New Birth, Forgiveness, and the Spirit

Oh yes, Jesus is alive. I said, oh yes, Jesus is alive. I'm going to preach on the resurrection for the next month. The resurrection is proof that he'll never die again. The resurrection is to lead us to repentance.

Acts 5, 30 and 31. The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his right hand as leader and Savior to give repentance, repentance to Israel. Repentance is not saying, Lord, I'm sorry.

That's confession. That's the front door to repentance. No, repentance is turning from all to turn to Jesus. From all, from that relationship you're in that holds you down and risks your eternity. How stupid can we be from assuming God can't see our hidden life?

It's repenting from vague, lifeless, dead church attendance rather than burning for him while you're grocery shopping. The resurrection ensures your new birth this morning. First Peter 1, 3. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again.

Listen, to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The resurrection offers you the forgiveness of sin. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

But since Jesus has been raised, look at me in the eye. All of those sins, which are fruit of sin itself, sin itself is a bigger issue. It's a root issue. The sins are symptoms like a running nose is a symptom of a deeper virus.

Sin in and of itself at the end of the day, if you trace it to its roots is this. I can do this on my own. You can leave today. Look at me in the eyes. Free from the shame, the lifeless repetition, the condemnation.

You can leave today without the weight of sin on your back. Because Jesus carried the weight of the cross and its penalty on his back. The resurrection offers me the Holy Spirit. Acts 2, 32 and 33. This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses.

Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from God the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. You say, what's that mean for me?

I want to ask you a question. Is life beating you down? Are you tired of trying to accomplish what God has called you to accomplish? Jesus made a statement. Come unto me. All you who are weary, that's tired, heavy laden.

That means you're carrying it all. I have wonderful news for you this morning. Jesus promised another comforter. And that word another doesn't mean he's different than Jesus. The Greek word just means he's just like him.

Another name for the Holy Spirit is the parakletos, the paraclete, the one who stands parallel to me at my right hand or at my side, I should say. He's not only in me, but he stands next to me. To lead me through this life.

Walking in the presence of God is not about generating it. Listen, the presence of the Holy Spirit is a river that flows. You join it. You don't generate it. Lastly, I mentioned this earlier, but I want to drill this into your soul.

Freedom from Condemnation and the Call to Choose Christ

The resurrection, listen to this, destroys condemnation. If you're tired of walking into this room guilty, feeling guilty, not feeling like a son or daughter who's welcomed into the presence of God, you can approach the throne of grace boldly.

That's the promise of God for you. The resurrection has purchased this for you. Listen, listen very carefully. Who is to condemn? Romans 8, 34. Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Who is to condemn? When you yield to Jesus fully, a real and living Jesus, who by the way, yes, is seated at the right hand of the Father, but is also present in this room. Listen to me, please. I'm pleading on behalf of your soul, your life, the fire that's meant to be in your heart.

This Jesus is not merely at the right hand of the Father, but by his spirit is present among us. If two or three gather in my name, I will be there even in the midst of you. He is closer to us right now than the person to your right and to your left.

And I want to talk to two groups of people right now. Number one, those who are condemned with sin. The Bible says the soul that sins must die. It just takes one and it doesn't even have to be an action.

It just needs to be a thought that displeases the Lord. There's no one in this room who hasn't committed that. Just one. The wage for that is death, the Bible says. The wage of sin is death. You have to earn it.

You have to live on your own. You have to try to please God in your own ability. Friend, you cannot do it. I don't care how often you attend this church, though it's good for you. You can sit in these seats and not be born again.

I want your soul this morning. God wants your soul. I'm not interested in your attendance alone. For too long, churches have focused on getting people in the room rather than Jesus in the room so that Jesus can rip sinners out of the clutches of hell.

You don't have to leave with that addiction. That's the first group. You want to be free from sin. Secondly, those who once burned, I've been there. Those who once couldn't put their Bible down, I've been there.

Those who couldn't make it past one page for a week, I've been there. Those who put the same songs on repeat when you were first born again, and over and over and over, you'd sing that song because it ministered to your heart, and tears would flow in the car.

They'd flow when you were out on your walk. Those who were bold for Jesus, who couldn't help but tell everyone about Him. Those who loved talking about Him and talking to Him. Those who used to love going into their room and closing the door as He said, and praying to their Father in secret so that their Father in secret would reward them and open.

You remember those days. And then at some point, it wasn't a fall. No, it's never a fall. Not as we see it. It's a gradual decline. Those hours turn into one hour, and then that one hour became 20 minutes, and then you settled for reading a devotional, and then it went from a devotional to watching a few YouTube videos.

And the tears are gone, and they've dried up. And the addiction isn't there anymore. So you've replaced it with stuff. You've replaced it with conferences. You've replaced it with buying records. You've replaced it with politics.

You've replaced it with relationships that grieve the Holy Spirit, never remembering that Jesus Himself is right there watching. You remember those days, and you want Him back. I'm here to tell you, on the authority of the Word of God, listen to me, that the risen Christ saw you on the tree, and He wants you back today.

The Final Choice: Bride or Enemy

I want everyone to stand at their feet. If what I'm saying is for anyone in this room, listen to me, the day is coming where the sky will crack open, and Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead.

Listen to me. Don't get distracted right now. The day will come where Jesus will return, or you will close your eyes, and you will face Him as one of two groups of people. First group, a bride. Second group, an enemy.

You choose this morning.