How the Resurrection of Jesus Can Change My Life — Sandeep Poonen

God’s Promise to Do Something New

I pray that the Lord will bless our hearts through what the Lord has given me to share. I wanted to start with this verse that has been a great encouragement to me, Isaiah chapter 43 verse 19. Some of you may know it.

We may have memorized it too. Isaiah chapter 43 verse 19, Behold, I will do something new and that's a good verse for us to hear again. It was a good verse for me to hear again. I'm gonna do something new in you and there's that verse in 2nd Corinthians which says now is the day of salvation.

Today is the appointed time. Now is the appointed time. Now is the day of salvation. The new is now. The new is not yesterday. The new is not what happened ten years ago. God wants to do something new.

He wants to do something fresh. He wants to bake something fresh in the oven and He wants to make roadways where there's wildernesses. He wants to make rivers where there's deserts and this verse has meant things to me in the past, but I was reminded by the Lord that this is ever fresh, ever new.

And I want to encourage all of you and as the Lord encouraged me as well. God wants to do something fresh in your life, even if the Christianity that we've had has become stale or has become you know, just the usual.

That's not God's desire for us. God wants to do something new. He wants to bring greater rivers where maybe there have been rivers in the past or maybe the rivers are drying up and He wants to make roadways where it has become a wilderness or where there's always been a wilderness.

God wants to do something new and I think that is the meaning also of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus was raised from the dead, it wasn't a one-time event. It's a living, throbbing reality, which is a life that Jesus was raised to.

He was raised so that we might have life, that we may have something new, an always new kind of life. So that's what I wanted to share with you from 1 Corinthians chapter 15. If you want to turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians 15 is a chapter almost entirely, it's a long chapter devoted to talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Resurrection’s Practical Meaning: Victory Over Sin

And I mean historically, almost 2 ,000 years ago around this time, Jesus died and rose from the dead. If Jesus rose from the dead, so what? And suppose a non-christian would ask you, okay, Jesus rose from the dead.

You say Jesus rose from the dead, so what? What is our so what? If Jesus rose from the dead, is it that I'll go to heaven when I die? This passage has helped me. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 56 through 58. The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is in the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain. At verse 56, the sting of death is sin. That tells me that even if the death is like a snake, but there's no poison in the snake if there's no sin.

And the poison that the death is like a snake that will bite all of us if the Lord tarries. But there's no poison in the snake if sin has been removed. That's what this tells me. The sting of death is sin.

So we don't have to be afraid of death. What we do need to be afraid of is the sting of death, which is sin. That is why we've heard over and over again. Jesus did not come to take us to heaven. Jesus came to save us from the sting of death.

The sting, the poison that is in death is sin. And the power of sin, the rest of that verse comes from this law, the law of sin and death and the law that eating of doing the commandments, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, just living a life of routine, just the do's and don'ts, thou shalt and thou shalt not.

That's where that power of sin is. It comes from just an empty life of rules, whether it's obeying another holy book or how to according to the world of atheism or whether it's the Bible. The power of that sin is in a list of do's and don'ts.

It doesn't matter what holy book we're reading, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory. I praise God that he says who gives us. He doesn't say who gave us because he's doing something new and I want to keep asking myself, Lord Jesus, are you someone who gave me the victory or you're someone who's giving me, who gives me the victory?

Because if you rose from the dead, it's so that you may be giving me the victory. It's a present, continuous fact that God is giving me the victory. Thanks be to God who gives me the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the big things that maybe attracted us to the messages that we hear here is the message of victory over sin. I know that was something that was very important to me. Very, very important. Lord, I want to have victory over sin.

But this verse is interesting because it says, thanks be to God who gives us the victory. Well, has he given us the victory? It's a simple question. Do we have victory over sin? Has God given us that victory?

If not, we need to get the victory that comes from God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He wants to give it to us. It's not something that we work up by our own strength. It's something that he's going to give us, the victory.

So I want to share with you what I see in verse 58 as the victory that God gives us. If you want to think about getting victory over sin, dear brothers and sisters, if you were to tell your 18 year old child, here's how you get victory over sin.

You're 14, 12, 14. I'm sure that's old enough. 10, 12, whatever that age is. You want to get victory over sin? Victory over whether it's a loose tongue or disobedience or getting angry at your siblings, brothers and sisters.

How do you get victory over sin? Children. This is applicable for any age up from that. What I see in verse 58 is a very important first step or the steps that I would not have put if I were thinking about it normally.

Being Seated in Christ as the First Step to Victory

Therefore, my beloved brethren, first word in there is be steadfast. Now, when I read that word steadfast, it helped me when I read that that word is actually the word which means to be seated. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be seated.

That helped me a lot because the first step to victory, dear brothers and sisters, in your fight in victory over sin, this is what the Lord has often shown me the path and reminded me of. The very first step to victory over sin is to be seated.

That doesn't sound like the very first step in getting victory over sin, but that is the way of God. I want to show you this verse in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11 and 12 and 13. The very first step, dear brothers and sisters, to getting victory over sin is to be seated.

Here's what I mean by this. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11 through 12 and 13. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, but he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstep for his feet.

In verse 11 and 12, there's a contrast, dear brothers and sisters. Priests standing. That's what it says in verse 11. That's the picture in the Old Testament. All these priests were standing, ministering, standing, ministering, all the time standing and time after time standing and ministering.

But here comes Jesus in verse 12 and he sits down and it's a position of rest that he completed the work and that's the contrast. Standing time after time, sitting once and for all. Picture of the Old Testament, Old Covenant, picture of the New Covenant and Jesus once and for all sat down and what is my position?

Am I standing, ministering, again trying to do something for God, worried about so many things or am I seated, having found that the first step to victory over sin is Christ who was seated, who sat down, who rested and our first step, Jesus who died was raised and then was seated and then if we go to Ephesians chapter 2, God tells us, well, not only did Jesus die and was raised, we were dead in our sins, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4, 5, 6, 7.

We were dead in our transgressions, verse 5. He made us alive, the resurrection of Jesus, so what? Well, the so what is this? That he made us alive too and raised us up with him. We also experienced the resurrection when the Lord opened our eyes to the truth of who he was and then make us stand ministering for him.

He seated us. That's the first thing he did. He raised us up and he said, you sit down in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden and God told them, for six days you shall work and on the seventh day you should rest.

But we know when Adam and Eve were created, they were created on the sixth day. So what did God tell Adam and Eve to do after they were created? He said, you come up and you sit down with me and rest.

That was the first day of Adam and Eve. It was as we've heard, a day of fellowship, a day of rest. After that, go and labor for six days in the Garden of Eden. There's a work you need to do. There's labor you'll need to do.

But when you're first created, Adam and Eve come and sit down with me. Dear brother and sister, when we were born again, the first thing he gets us to do is we were dead in our transgressions. He raises up and he says, you sit down.

Don't grab your priestly garments and your priestly vessels of incense and pray to me and read your word. No, your first step is to sit down, seated with Christ. The first step to victory over sin is to be seated.

Seated with God, seated with Christ, so that for the ages to come, it says in verse 7, we may show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. That's the first. That's a beautiful verse.

Our Eternal Legacy in God’s Kindness

If we want to know what our legacy is, you know, I don't know at some time in our ages, teenagers go through this. Maybe during COVID time, when they're shut down, they're like, well, what am I gonna do after I got my college degree?

Or what am I gonna do? I'm still stuck at home. We're always thinking about, I want to do something. I want to make something of my life. And then at some point in our lives, when our children are growing up or when we hit certain points in our career or whatever it is, we have what people call a midlife crisis.

And we're thinking, what's our legacy gonna be? What am I doing all this? Making all this money for it. What am I doing? Where am I going with my life? And this is such a beautiful verse, verse 7. So that in the ages to come, this is our legacy.

For the ages to come, forget for this generation. For the ages to come, God may show God's great kindness through your life. God will unveil the history of time. And so for the ages to come, God says, here's your legacy, Sandeep.

Here's your legacy, dear brother and sister. You'll have a legacy for the ages to come. I don't know how many years or century or decades Steve Jobs will be remembered for. Well, because he created the iPhone or created the Apple computers.

There are different famous people. Well, this is far more than any fame that Steve Jobs will have or anybody else. For the ages to come, for all eternity, you will have a significant part in the story.

Because you will be part of that story that says, look at God's kindness. You won't be looking at, look at Sandeep, but look at God's kindness. And I was part of that. It's like a big puzzle that God is putting together.

I was at Santosh's house and I saw this puzzle that they had built. May have been thousand pieces. You know what I noticed about the puzzle? I actually don't even remember what the picture was, but you know what I remembered?

One piece was missing. Isn't that sad? They spent so much time for a thousand piece puzzle and they put 99, 999 pieces together. I don't even know what the picture was. I forgot. But all I do remember is there was one piece missing.

That's what stood out to me. All the years of labor, hours of labor for 999 pieces, but my eyes took on the one piece that was missing. I'm sure there are a lot of messages that can come out of the one thing.

But here's what I was thinking about. Here's what I was thinking about. That one piece was so valuable. It thought it was just another puzzle piece. You look at it and be like, I don't know how to put this together.

It's all the sky. It's all part of the sky. I don't know why my piece is valuable. It's all blue. It's just 50 pieces of blue, a hundred pieces of blue. I'm not that meaningful. I can go for a walk. I can do whatever I want.

I don't think anybody will miss me. When the puzzle is put together, that piece stands out as missing. That's what the Lord was telling me, is you're that piece. And dear brothers and sisters, you're that piece.

Yes, one out of a thousand, one out of a billion, but God's putting together a beautiful puzzle of God's great kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. You're valuable. You're invaluable. You have a part to play.

You're not son of so-and-so. You're not wife of so-and-so. You're not child of so-and-so on this earth. You're not inventor of this machine or that machine or builder of this house or owner of that property.

No, you're part of the puzzle piece of God that is meant to demonstrate God's kindness. Every single brother and sister in the church and child, you have a part to play. So when God says you're a member of the body of Christ, it's invaluable.

And it's gonna be for the ages to come, for all eternity. God is telling me in His Word, you've got a part to play, to show God's kindness. Do we want to show God's kindness? He says first, be seated.

Seated in Christ as Our Inheritance

Be seated on the throne of God with Christ, where Christ was seated. Dear brothers and sisters, is this a habitual act that we do? More often than we read our Bibles, more often than we memorize scripture, have we gotten good at being seated with Christ?

I speak also from experience that this is what the Lord has shown me to, not from scripture alone, but also from the Word becoming flesh in my own life, that that was the secret to victory over sin in the areas that I'm battling.

God says first, sit down. Sit down in my completed work. You don't deserve to be standing ministering before me. You don't even deserve to be in the kingdom. So let's not talk about whether you deserve to be seated in Christ.

We're many layers away from being deserving of that. We don't even deserve to be in the outhouse, let alone in His courts. We sing that song, better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.

That was David. But it's a tragedy, dear brothers and sisters, if you're sitting in the courts of God. That's not your place. Well, I don't deserve any better. No, you don't deserve that at all. But God, by the authority of His Word, says go and sit in Christ.

That's where you deserve. So we don't. No, better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. Yeah, that's fine. But that's not where you belong. Where you and I belong is seated in Christ. No other place.

And I need to see that that's my inheritance, that's my birthright, to be seated in Christ. Not because I deserve it, but because that's what God purchased for me. Seated in Christ so that for all the ages God could show, what is Sandeep doing seated?

God's great kindness. That's the testament to all the angels and everybody and the devil and all of his hosts of demons. God's great kindness as they see broken human walking right up to the front of throne and sitting with Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters, there's a tremendous slap in the face to the devil when we sit on the throne with Christ. Because that's what Christ has bought for us. He's purchased us for that. Thanks be to God who has given us, who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Remaining Immovable by Returning to Our Home in Christ

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, be seated. Be seated. And the next word is immovable. 1 Corinthians 15 58 says be immovable. What is immovable? That means to me, I thought of that as that's our home base.

You know on the phones, a lot of the phones have a home button. What does that home button do? It gets you back to your starting point. You know, what is the what is the button most used on the phone?

It's the home button. It's going back home. Well, whenever you pick up your phone, you first go back home. Let me reset my life to home. Then I'll go on that app, put this other app, put this other app.

Be immovable. Keep going back home. Keep hitting the home button spiritually seated in Christ. Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 3, we know this passage. We've been taught on this passage. Again, if Christ has been raised from the dead, so what?

So what? Colossians chapter 3 verse 1. Well, if Christ has been raised from the dead, you have been raised with Christ. That's for sure. And then it says in Colossians 3, 1, therefore if you've been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is.

Set your minds on the things above, not on the things of the earth. Keep making seated with Christ your home base. And as we've heard that analogy, like the rubber band that is fixed on Christ and is extended out to do the things of this earth.

What do I do when I have a conflict at work? That is when I have to hit the home button. And I tell you, it's very difficult to hit the home button when I have a conflict at work. When somebody plays politics or having different agendas and says something over email and this and that, or I get some email, this and that.

It's very difficult, dear brothers and sisters, to hit the home button and to say, go home. Immovable. That is your immovable home base, seated with Christ. Where he says, you are enough. You are enough.

Because you're in me, you are enough. It's a beautiful word, dear brothers and sisters, especially young people, as you're growing up. It's a very important word. It's just another word to say, you're complete in Him.

In this world that constantly is telling you, you need to be more. You need to do more. You need to have more. There's the word more that is a huge weight. More in your retirement account, more car, better car, more house, more yardage, more yard space, more square footage, more degrees.

I don't know, more something. So important for us is to be seated in Christ where He says, you are enough. I am enough. You are enough because I am enough. And to have that word enough over every area of our lives.

Dear brothers and sisters, it's a it's a very difficult word to embrace when you get that difficult email. To go and be seated, immovable in Christ. Immovable, dear brothers and sisters, away from all the oppressions of why am I not married even though I'm this age?

Why I don't have a proper job? Why am I not at this level in my job even though I'm this age? Why am I and my children not this competent even though they're this age? So many more, more than. You should be more.

You should be doing more at homeschooling or career or college. More is such an oppressive word that hangs over all of us. And it's into those words God says be immovable into the voice of Christ that says you are enough if you have me.

Whomever I in heaven but thee. There is no one else I desire besides in Christ saying if you say that well then I am enough. You are enough. You have enough. Sit, be immovable in this place. And the more is a voice from the world that will has hurt us often enough and has has crippled us for too long.

Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that we will be immovable, set our minds on the things above. Where Christ says I completed the work for you. You're not, you don't need to minister anymore for me. You can sit down.

Abounding in the Work of the Lord

It's a beautiful word for me to say set your minds on the things above. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58. Therefore be seated steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. I thank God that it doesn't say that always abounding working for the Lord, abounding in the work of the Lord.

Isn't there a difference in there? I want to show you though, I want to contrast this so that it's a deep warning for us as it is a warning for me. Some of you may know this, all of you may not know it.

Sodom’s Warning About Abundance and Careless Ease

What is the great sin of Sodom? What was the sins of Sodom? It's not in Genesis, it's in Ezekiel chapter 16. This was the guilt of Sodom. Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 49. I'm trying to give you my heart on abounding in the work of the Lord and I'm saying God's telling us to abound in the work of the Lord because that's the whole reason Jesus was raised from the dead so that we can be seated, immovable and abounding in the work of the Lord.

Well, the opposite abounding of the work of the Lord is where I see a city like Sodom, Ezekiel 16 verse 49, where he said, look here's the guilt of Sodom. She was arrogant. She and her daughters were arrogant.

Abundant food and careless ease. Abundant in the work of the Lord or abundance of food. I found that as our cultures have become richer and richer, I grew up in India and we didn't have a lot of money growing up.

We ate what was given to us and we ate what we could afford and even though we were non-vegetarian, we didn't eat a lot of fancy meats. My mom used to make chicken curry where there were few pieces of chicken and lots of potatoes.

So you'd see this beautiful dish and you see these things floating on the curry and you get really excited because I like chicken. But when my mom doled it out, it was a little bit of chicken and a lot of potatoes.

Because potatoes are cheaper than chicken. We ate what we could get and so my mom was like, well, I only got this much chicken, but I got lots of potatoes. So it was mostly potato curry, a little bit of chicken.

She would stretch out the chicken. In poor countries, you eat what you're given and you eat what you can afford. Usually it's a lot of, you know, vegetables that can grow on the ground for cheap. But in rich countries, we get more picky about the kind of foods we eat.

We get fancy with the way we make our chickens. And we get fancy in which the way we braise our vegetables or whatever the words they use for it. And it's 360 degrees versus 348 degrees. It makes a difference, you know.

And you get complicated in onions, the way it can be cut or chopped or diced or caramelized and so on. It gets so complicated. I'm not against it. I enjoy good food. But I see the warning here that food can take on such a strong obsession for us because we have nothing else to worry about.

Our bills are just being paid. We got enough money coming into our account because we're rich. I think Sodom and Gomorrah had said about it like it was like the Garden of Eden, a well-watered garden.

That's what it said about Sodom and Gomorrah. Imagine, it must have been like you just plant a seed and they sit at home and out comes a mango tree and they sell the mangoes to all the other countries and they're like, we're rich.

What did you do? I don't know. I just planted a seed and out comes the mangoes. It's a well-watered garden. So food came so easily and money came so easily. So we start to get into an abundance of food.

I've learned as a result, as a lesson for my own self, is watch how much your stomach dictates your mood. Watch how your lack of good food affects your mood. And if it does, take that as a warning sign and know that there's just an abundance because we live in a country that is very rich.

And along with that comes very careless ease. I've seen that in my own life. We've seen this in our own lives. Everything's become automated. I'm part of that technology. I work in the IT field where we're automating everything.

I don't even need to go and get up and turn on the lights. I've got my friends Alexa and Siri and Hey Google to turn on my lights for me. And this is just the start. I don't need to pay any of my bills because I've got automatic bill pay and my money just goes into the direct deposit and I just need to make sure there's more money coming in than money going out.

And now it's just careless ease. Don't even have to get up to go to put on clothes to go to work anymore for me. Just make sure my hair is okay and then turn on my zoom and I'm on work for eight hours a day.

We didn't choose this, but this has happened to us. But what can come in as a result? Careless ease. Nice little routine, nice little simple life and the comfort of this life can come in through that.

Jesus’ Warning Against Dissipation, Drunkenness, and Worry

I also want to connect this with Luke chapter 21 where Jesus gives us a very strong warning. Luke chapter 21 verse 34. I hope you can take these words in Jesus saying this, be on guard. What if I were to tell you dear brothers and sisters that there is a killer on the loose in Loveland.

Now you can understand Jesus's words when he says be on guard. That's what we would tell you. Hey, there's somebody on the loose, be on guard. What do you do when I tell you when you get a text? There's a killer on the loose in your neighborhood.

What do you do? Well, you go check the doors. You go check to make sure they're all locked. Make sure all your children are accounted for. Make sure everybody is safe. Well, be on guard so that your hearts will not be weighted down.

And he gives us three things here. Dissipation, drunkenness and worries of life. When I think of weighted down, I think about a person who is trying to float but then it's being weighted down and so it's gonna sink.

It's gonna drown and it tells me here be on guard. You're gonna drown. I'm warning you. You might drown now. Why? Because one of three things you might will pull you down. What are the three things? Dissipation, drunkenness and worries of life.

We all are clear about drunkenness. When we get physical, alcohol and there could be other things like that, other chemicals that weigh us down because they just numb our heart from all the problems in our life.

And we just use those to just forget about it for a while and there's a pleasure in that. These people won't be drinking. There's a pleasure in it. It makes us forget our troubles for a while and we get upset.

We get taken up with it. We get addicted to it. Beware. Be on guard that when you have troubles in your life, don't give in to alcohol. Now for some it's alcohol. For other people, it could be something else.

It could be some other drug. It could be food. Drunk with that. It could be addicted to video games. It could be many other things. Drunkenness is that just getting so numb by all the things of this world that I'm drunk.

Beware that you're going to get pulled down. I think we hear a lot about that. I think the Christian world will tell you well don't get drunk. But I've noticed that the other two things we don't as Christians pay as much attention to.

We don't think that they are killers. We don't think that we're going to drown by these other two. Yeah, don't get drunk. That'll kill you. That'll make you drown spiritually. Well, what about the other two?

Let's do the last one. Worries of life. Do I feel that worrying in this life is going to drown me? That's what the Bible is telling me. Be on guard. Jesus is telling me. Be on guard. For some people, it's drunkenness.

For the other thing is worrying. Be anxious for nothing. And I think if I'm not mistaken, Jesus used the word, you have little faith when you're anxious. Don't be anxious. Now all of a sudden, it starts to hit a little closer to home.

What if you heard on the news? What if you heard, you know what happened last night. Sandeep got drunk and he's in jail today. And we're like, what happened to him? How could he have not done such a foolish thing?

Well, we don't say the same thing to ourselves when we start getting worried. We're like, oh, yeah, you know, everybody goes through. Yeah, I know. It's okay to be worried. Well, Jesus is saying there's a killer.

He's gonna drown you. It's called worry. Be on guard. Drunkenness. Well, some of us are dealing with that maybe in real ways. Be on guard, dear brother and sister, if drunk, some chemical or something's bothering you.

But also be on guard if you've got worries of this life weighing you down. Future. The future of this or that or whatever it is. But the last one was what was reminded me of this passage when I read Sodom and Gomorrah and when I read abounding in the work of the Lord was because I saw this word dissipation and I was reminded of that word dissipation.

Dissipation is different from drunkenness. Dissipation is different from worried in the world, so we're paralyzed. This is like careless ease. Everything is just great. So it's like air in this big balloon, and it was tied really tight, but not completely tight.

So there's a small little hole in the balloon. And everything looks great because the balloon is there and it's full and everybody looks great. And I look at the balloon and I say, wow, what a beautiful thing, full of air.

There's a small little hole in it and it dissipates slowly. And this is the people who don't have troubles in this earth. They've got an abundance of food or an abundance of money or an abundance of everything.

And so it starts to dissipate slowly. Little air going out of the balloon. And you look at it, and it looks mostly full. Mostly full the next day, so we're full. Week after week goes by and it's not drunkenness.

We're not susceptible to that. It's not anxiety. Why? Because God maybe has blessed us. Maybe our children are well behaved. Maybe our children are doing well in school. Maybe we're doing well in our jobs and so on.

So it's not drunkenness that gets us. It's not worries of this life that gets us. It's just dissipation. Which comes with everything's going okay, actually. You know, life's kind of going pretty good.

And Jesus says, be on guard because you'll get weighted down. And that day will come upon you like a trap. How did that man fall into sin? Because of dissipation. Just a little air going out of his life.

A little bit of fervency in his love for God going out of it. Two months later, deflated balloon. What is the problem with that? Drunkenness? No. Worries of this life? No. Dissipation. Just a slow little let out.

Bearing Fruit Instead of Being Choked by Worldly Cares

The thorns of this earth. It says the soil, right? The thorns that prevent us from being fruitful. The deceitfulness of persecution? No. The deceitfulness of riches. And the worries of this earth and the desire for other things.

More, more, more. They are thorns that prevent us from being fruitful. You go to that tree and you say, why is this tree not bearing any fruit? You know, why? Because they're so rich. Why? Because they're so worried.

Or because they want, they have this attitude of, I want more. That's where 1 Corinthians 15 58 says, abounding in the work of the Lord. It's God's work, not my work. It's the fruit of the Spirit, not fruit by the Spirit.