Resurrection Life — Gary Wilkerson

Thank you Pastor Teresa. We appreciate you and all the labor of love that you have poured out to make this conference possible. You and your staff here at summit have done such a wonderful job of making us feel at home mowing the lawns giving us great meals providing these great sessions for us bringing in some some halfway decent speakers and it's been it's been a joy and After hearing Greg and the team lead worship who needs coffee.

I mean that that'll that. If that doesn't wake you up you need to hear this message, I'm about to preach called resurrection life a Couple items just before I pray and go to the word of the Lord and the message that God's laid on my heart is.

Well, I'll explain this way. There's a comic strip called Calvin and Hobbes. Anybody ever read Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin Hobbes are fun. So there's this one where Calvin Calvin's a little boy and Hobbes is his imaginary tiger big big tiger three times the sizes of Calvin and and one day Calvin has his Football and he tells Hobbes that tiger go he says go deep.

He's gonna throw him a long pass. And so so Hobbes the tiger says In the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. What is the significance of the place of evil on the earth today? And And Hobbes look at him and Hobbes a little Calvin little boy looks at him says like I didn't mean that deep.

So I and I say that to say I'm the not that deep guy here at the conference, okay. Because what we've been hearing has been blowing me away. I am sitting on the edge of my seat like seeing things like how many times have I read Luke about the the wineskins and Heard it, you know just transcribed said this way and I go like that doesn't seem right and then this way and that doesn't seem right and I'm just like I want to just to keep passing over that passage of scripture because it doesn't make any sense and then it came alive to me Last night and so many things like that have been deep to my soul not just deep intellectually Right, but deep to the spirit in our souls that are crying out.

Just to hear words from God and that's been been really significant and wonderful for me. So So that's kind of just where I come from just want to share a little bit more of my heart with you. So, let's pray let's pray and ask God to bless his word here today father.

We are delighted to be in your presence. Once again, we're we're looking for more of you today. We thank you that your grace is sufficient. We thank you God for the Living Word. It is it is powerful. It is sharp.

It is a two-edged sword. We've come here today to do business with God. We've come here today to see you accomplish great things in our life. We've come here today because we are Desirous of our ministries never being the same our hearts being transformed our minds being renewed our vision being Enlivened once again God clarity coming into our heart soul mind healing and forgiveness and letting go of things.

Thank you Jesus for your goodness. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in Jesus name. Everybody said together. Amen Amen turn me to Luke chapter 7, please Luke chapter 7 and Says in verse 11 soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the villages of the village of Nain and a large crowd Follow him.

Jesus Meets the Funeral Procession at Nain

So here you picture Jesus. He'd been out in the In the metal places where thousands would gather to him and he would heal the sick and he would preach the good news and sometimes he would multiply bread and fishes and.

And so where he went them the twelve that he had chosen would come with them that we know there's also The women in ministry that helped support his ministry and serve and and bless him. We're with him.

We know that Most likely the 70 that he later on sent out were probably with him and then a large crowd of people. So so you get this caravan feel and they're coming into the city of Nain and in the city of Nain the scripture Tells us there was gates and so a large crowd followed him in the verse 12 and a funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate.

And it was coming out of the village a young man who had died Was the widow's only son and a large crowd from the village was with her when the Lord saw her his heart was Overflowing with compassion. Don't cry he said.

Okay, so let's just instead of just reading this. Let's picture it in our minds. Let's get an understanding of this. Here's Jesus and a large crowd. They're excited. They're what would what would you be like following Jesus?

He had just healed you or your little boy or or he had you were hungry and he just fed you or you heard words like The Beatitudes and he said blessed are you when you're a poor or blessed when you when you're mourning and you felt this Overwhelming sense of joy and life and victory.

So you're coming into the city almost with a celebratory spirit and now coming out of the city. Out of the gates is a funeral procession and and and in there there's this mourning life is hard we We're we're met with all kinds of difficulties.

Life is pain and suffering. I Asked God to heal my son and here he is. We're we're we're conducting his funeral now. We're taking him out of the city to his burial place and the and the mourners were crying and there were weeping and there was sorrow.

There were the things that people face on earth today. We live in a broken world, don't we? There's hurt there's pain. We're ministering to people in our churches who are suffering from marriages that are falling apart children that are Getting addicted to drugs even overdosing on the opiate epidemic in our country today.

We see this This horror in the people's lives that are coming to us. Let alone those who are outside of our church as well. Who we meet in the city streets who we meet in the malls who we meet at the restaurants and we don't even sometimes stop To hear their story, but their story is one many times of having been Having gone through something horrible or going through something horrible right now and some of you live in places of poverty where you're where you're ministering to the people who are constantly under the the weight of Can I feed my children today one out of four?

I think pastor Carter is telling me in New York City children are eating one meal a day going to bed hungry. We are ministering in a generation, even though America is a prosperous nation. I've been in 60 plus nations and America is I believe the greatest nation of all that I've ever been to and it's prosperous but yet they're still Suffering in the city and so people are mourning their sorrow.

They're wondering where to turn. What am I going to do and they're coming out of this gate? With with a sense of of this is my future. I'm coming out of the city with with all this Horrible stuff to deal with in my life and and then all sudden there's this contrast because you picture that they meet at the city gate.

Name is name is about to be Come into almost a conflict. There's there's there's there's gonna be a clash at the gate. There's something's getting out. And something's trying to get in. And and and what's trying to get in is is in conflict with what's trying to get out and it's almost like The Lincoln Tunnel if you ever been there, it's like, you know.

You're moving along pretty good until you get all sudden. It's two lanes and then you have to it gets congested and and people get irritated and stuff. So you wonder what's happening as all these people are coming out and say we we have first right as this is a funeral respect.

Let's move out of our way and all these happy people are singing and dancing and they're like that's so disrespectful. It's oh, sorry we didn't know it was a funeral and there's this clash at the gates and so Jesus sees what's going on and and Sees what's coming out of this city, you know, I think it's important that we see what's coming out of our city.

We see I think it's important. We see what's coming out of the people's lives the stories the the processions of their life proceeding through sickness proceeding through the diagnosis of cancer proceeding through Processing on and through loss of loved ones.

People suffering in the hospital all kinds of horrible things that are people are facing them and we need to realize that's the city that We're living and ministering in and then we need to have this.

This is what I love and it says when the Lord saw her that's so important. He here he was in this mindset. We're coming into the city. We're coming in with joy and we're coming in with with with love and we're coming in with unity and we're coming in with with Anticipation of God being with us and yet he is sensitive enough to know wait a minute.

Let's stop this for a moment because there's a need among us and I believe with all my heart. We need in our churches to celebrate like never before. We need the joy of the Lord to be our strength we need to laugh and dance and and pray and and and delight in the Lord and have the greatest time of all.

I Believe it's not a great theological word, but I think church should be fun. And and people ask me how you doing. I say I am having fun and they look at me like is that a Christian word. I Don't know if it's a Christian word or not, but it's my word.

I love to have fun. But we also have to be very careful. Here's what I want to want to bring our attention to today is that as we're enjoying? Church as we're enjoying being taught as we're enjoying New Covenant as we're enjoying the word coming to us in powerful ways.

Let's make sure that we have a sensitivity to the Spirit to stop and say wait a minute. There's somebody right at the gate who needs us to to Turn our attention away from our joy and our delight and our laughter and our songs and our dance and our sermons and and put it On somebody who is not there right now.

Somebody who's struggling right now somebody's hurting right now someone who's in pain right now someone who feels like it's over right now. It's all over. It's the end. We we might somebody who might have even prayed God help me and the prayers didn't seem the answer so they're coming out of the city.

With this sense of defeat, and I love Jesus that they saw her. And that good news that he saw her pastors. It's so important that we see people. We don't see crowds, but we see people Amen that it's so easy to see crowds.

But but as I was sharing with you yesterday as the Lord is just transitioning my heart into a place where just love people everywhere. It's not just only love my congregation or only love to preach sermons or only love to Drive into my church on Sunday morning, and we have a big parking lot and say like look.

There's a lot of cars there today. It's gonna be a good good crowd today and not just to delight in that but to delight in people. I Went to our grocery store. It's called King supers a weird name for a grocery.

That's our gross local grocery store. And I drove in there on a on a Saturday afternoon, and I looked at all the cars there. And I said to myself oh, it's gonna be a great crowd today. You know what I mean.

That because that's really just as important crowd as the crowd that comes into the parking lot of your church. All right, and so so so see every person as a Opportunity for you to have this this this this conflict so to speak.

They're coming out one way. But you're coming into them in another way. And Jesus looks at him and and says he sees her and then he has a look at that. He has compassion on her and that beautiful his heart Overflowed with compassion don't cry.

Compassion and Authority in Ministry

He said then he walked over to the coffin and he touched it and the bearers stopped. When a man or woman of God comes to his or her city with the power of the Holy Spirit when a man or woman comes into their Congregation into their city into their neighborhood with a sense of I have God's authority lives in me the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me.

When there's a confidence in the Lord that nothing's impossible for God when you look at the most fearful Situations and you believe that God has sent you there things are going to stop things things that are are moving towards a Negative end or they're gonna stop dead in their tracks and then Jesus does the miraculous.

If you like a good funeral don't invite Jesus. Because he ruins funerals. He never ever in any scripture. Did he attend a funeral that ended up a funeral? He every every funeral look at it in Scripture every funeral Jesus went to he raised the person from the dead.

That is that it's amazing. You know, it's just if you want it if it was your enemy that died don't invite Jesus. As he'll just raise him back up there. There's power. Yeah, he so it wasn't just compassion.

We need a heart of compassion, but there has to be a power in us. There has to be an authority of the Holy Spirit in us there has to be the sense that Jesus said I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit and then because of that you're gonna do greater works than even that I've done.

You're going to be like you're going to to not only be a student who learns from his master. But but but but the student who learns from his master will become like the teacher Luke's tells us you're gonna become like your teacher.

That that is that is a call of God on our life. Not just to read about Jesus not just to understand about Jesus not just to study Jesus not just to get doctrines about Jesus. But to become like Jesus by his grace by his power freeing us to become a people that that that Literally operate in the Spirit of Christ.

That we do the things Jesus did that we talk the way Jesus talked that we preach with his authority. When when Jesus preached all the crowd said we've never heard preaching like this. We've never heard such authority.

And he didn't go to any of the rabbinical schools that we know of and he wasn't trained to be a rabbi. He was a carpenter and yet he spoke with authority more than Excuse me more far more than those who were educated in that way.

We need that power don't we in this generation? We and we need a holy boldness. We need a confidence we need. This is so not New Covenant what I'm about to say, but I'm gonna say it anyway. If you're dealing with lack of confidence get over it really quick, okay?

Deal with it today get it done and get confident because we need confident men and women in the ministry. We need men and women who are standing up and saying not of me not of myself. But there's got to be a power in me.

I'm not gonna stand up here with a milly mouse wishy-washy. To time and divide it in mind. I'm gonna come here, and there's gonna be a word from heaven and when I'm gonna pray for people. They're gonna get healed.

It's not like my early ministry I I hated praying for sick people because if they had a cold not only would they not get healed I would catch their cold. And so so I just didn't want to pray for people and now now now.

I'm wanting God. I want to I want to see that power. I want to see that power us man. It's like I was raised in a Pentecostal Church and although all the preaching about the power and stuff and so so I got turned off by that and I just want you know I just want to be nice and like people and be normal and be friendly and.

But but as I got a little bit older I said that's good, but there has to be power. There has to be enough there has to be you have to have an authority. That as you're coming into the city, that's greater than what's coming out of the city.

You cannot be afraid of death you cannot be afraid of demons. You cannot be afraid of what's spewing out of the pit of hell. You can't be afraid of what's happening in our government. You can't fear these things and Jesus, and I love that Jesus was coming into the city with his mindset.

I'm gonna have compassion, and then I'm gonna ruin this funeral. I'm gonna lay hands on them. No, I'm gonna call this boy out. He's gonna come alive, and I love that because that's where Jesus mindset was in the city.

Spiritual Power Beyond Political Agendas

Forgive me if I'm off base where you come from and what your agenda is. But I thank God that Jesus wasn't coming to the city to say I'm coming to name because I heard they took the Ten Commandments down from the courthouse.

You know get out of my way funeral. We have a political agenda to deal with here. I'm glad Jesus didn't do that now. There could be a place for that. Please. Please don't hear me saying something. I'm not saying okay, and if that's your whole ministry I'll pray for you afterwards.

Because we need more than that. Okay, some of the people that are advocating get the Ten Commandments back in the courthouse ask them ask them. Do you even know the Ten Commandments someone will say like I know three or five or seven no.

It's not just it's not just political power that we need it's a spiritual power that this nation needs there is a hunger in this nation for someone to stand up and There's such power and so Jesus comes to this funeral and all of a sudden the funeral is no longer there.

Remember when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead have you heard that old preacher said that that he had to call his name Lazarus come forth because there was such power and authority in Jesus. He just said come forth there have been hundreds coming out of the grave, so he had to actually name him just Lazarus.

Rest you guys wait hold on we'll be back for you, but right now. I just need Lazarus that's. That's the power of our Savior. The power the miracle working the wonderful working power in the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus is powerful. Jesus is amazing. Jesus is wonderful, and he wants to do this kind of stuff in our society today. He wants the the pain the sorrow the suffering that's coming out of the city to be to be confronted with a power.

That's greater than that a Power that is it is it is of God and so so in in this message here today I come and stand before you and I'm a gentle soul, but I want to come here. I want to pick a fight today.

Confronting Suffering Through Spiritual Warfare

I I do I do I want to. I want to pick a fight today because far too long. Even those of us who say we have the Spirit of God living in us we have the power of the Holy Ghost. We're Pentecostal charismatics who who we believe we have gifts of the Holy Spirit and yet the enemies coming out of the gate.

And we're moving out of the side saying life is rough. Like so sorry for your loss. I don't know how to deal with this you see it's. There comes a time in our ministry. We say no more we got to pick a fight with this thing now.

We got to pick a fight with this thing and as for some of us It's even in our own lives and in our own families. We're tolerating and allowing things and we're saying sovereignty of God. Lords teaching me like he's teaching me how to he's teaching me how to suffer well.

Maybe because God I believe God can do that right how many believe that you've got God can take us through difficult times. To teach us patience to train us and righteousness. But sometimes you need discernment to have power.

And and sometimes we don't have discernment and therefore we Bypass the power that we could have because we're not employing the discernment that he's given us. So discernment in itself is a power, but then the follow-up of to that discernment.

So the discernment is wait a minute my marriage is falling apart. Maybe there should be discernment there. Maybe this isn't a sovereign lesson from God. Maybe I need to pick a fight. Not with my wife or my husband my husband but with the devil.

To To say there's a reason Ephesians tells us to put on their armor of God. And it's not to show it off at a Sunday school class to show which parts of the armor are. Here's a shield it's it's that's not why that lesson was taught that lesson was taught because Christians are meant to put their armor on and.

And and not to march in a parade. But but they're gonna go pick a fight and. And there's going to be a spirit of gumption and unction within us. We're gonna say this is a fight. This is a battle this needs spiritual authority in my life.

I have to come against this with the sword of the Spirit with the armor of God. I have to defend myself. But I have to also be an aggressor in this and I have to claim for my marriage healing. I have to claim for.

There there are sicknesses. Right now in this in your bodies in this place here and in spouses and family members that that that. If your theology is well, maybe God's just allowing me to go through this to teach me something that again.

There could be a time for that. But I think we're we're allowing a whole lot more under that guise. Under that label label of sovereignty of God learning lessons. We're putting we're lumping almost every work of Satan.

Well sovereignty of God. God doesn't do the same thing Satan does. They're different, okay. God is good. God is loving. God is powerful. God is a healer. God is a transformer. God is God is. God is a change agent.

God comes into the city with life and love and joy and power and strength and if we come in and say Well, there's a dead boy. It's sovereignty of God. We won't act and so I'm getting to the place where there's this kind of Holy roller unction within me now.

There's that saying like no, let's confront. What's at the gate? Let's let's confront sickness. Let's confront death. Let's confront sorrow. Let's confront ache. Let's confront pain. Let's believe let's pray.

Let's trust let's move. Let's fight. Let's go on and the things God has for us and Just just as I was beginning to learn this lesson. I was I was driving. It was a afternoon after church Sunday afternoon, and I was driving to from the church to a restaurant.

I was going to gonna meet my wife and family there and There was a sawed way in the distance a lady on the street corner there and she had a little sign like, you know please help me with something I was gonna so I'm gonna pull over and stop my car and.

And I'm gonna pray for it. Now. This is not, you know, normally pastors like to give the success stories. Here's my failure story. Okay, and I was gonna pull the car over and pray for and It was really strange I just I kind of this is embarrassing to say but I looked at her and her face was severely deformed.

She had the only I could describe it as like a an inch around. Almost like a worm looking thing that came all across her face like a growth. It was a growth and and I felt like the Spirit said go and pray for her that that growth would be removed.

And I was just like no. And I blew it. I missed it now, I don't know if I would have stopped it that Lord would healed it. But I want to try. Why not try like and fail a thousand times and then thousand and one somebody goes like oh my gosh, this is God I'm healed.

I'm delivered. I'm set free. Don't worry, but we're so worried about how many times we fail. I Told somebody the other day. It's like hey, I fail and this please don't come after me afterwards and try to encourage me about this.

This is not a low self-esteem issue. Okay, this is. But this is honest assessment. From Sunday to Sunday in my pulpit. I fail probably 60 to 70 percent of the time I get down after my sermon guy I was a bomb and I was you know.

And you know people come up to you after it's a good sermon you say oh, yeah, which part did you like the best? They go. Ooh, I Wish I'd asked you ask you that. And then you get in the car you get in the car with your wife and normally she says man.

That was a great message and she's saying like is it too cool in the car here today. It's like turn the air-conditioned up. It's it's 20 degrees outside, honey. It's like what do you need air-conditioned for us?

Oh, yeah, he you know, and and so, you know 60 60 70 percent of the time. It's just you know, it's not a home run. It's not you know, you wish you were. But you keep getting you still preach, right? How many of your preachers do you still preach even if you blast even if he bombed last week or last four weeks?

You still you still get up there because there's a confidence that you're called right and and occasionally you you know. The bat connects with the ball at least and so you feel. You feel up next time I could could get a home run here.

But you keep at it. But sometimes when it comes to confronting the powers of darkness fighting the good fight of faith. Believing that God can do miracles on the streets believing that the the worst gang members the the the roughest-looking people the the the deformed the outcasts the homeless the The up-and-out that that have so much money you feel like they're not gonna need our message of hope.

Yeah, just. If we can fail occasionally in our pulpit we can fail occasionally in our ministry to people that are coming outside of our city outside the gates. And so don't be afraid. He has not like I said yesterday has not given you a spirit of fear.

So when you feel that. And so with this lady, I just said Lord, please we had to leave the next day to fly to Texas. Please Lord. I think she's gonna be back there. And when she gets back there, I'm coming out of my car.

I Will not I will refuse to pass her by one more time. Give me another opportunity. You know what and God will do that He's gonna give you chances to to believe him for great things and see see the supernatural take place in your life in your ministry we.

Faith for Healing and Deliverance

The supernatural God that saves a soul is the same and forgives sins. Jesus asked that question which is easier to forgive sins or to say your body's healed to be healed. We answer that question to forgive sins is easier right in our theology right in our in our in our ministry practice.

If we give an altar call and 50 people come forward to get saved. Don't you believe all 50 are saved or you know, you know. Unless some deceiver comes in the crowd or something like that or but but you know, you pretty much are good.

We had 50 people come to Christ day, but what if you people come forward for healing? We don't we don't we don't believe it. We don't believe it's as easy when I you know. If there's 50 people come forward for healing Lord, please give us one, you know this that's my ankle-deep faith, right?

Just one please Lord. But I think God wants us to have the kind of faith and it's not that weird kind of name it claim it just like. You know, you know, you're healed really, you know, it's like you're just.

You know, it's If you're if you're still like that, you know if If your arms like this and you can't move it after you're done praying you're not healed and you're gonna say well, I'm healed it's like and so.

When your arms like this and you pray and you can go like that then you're healed. All right. Now you can you can claim the authority of Christ and the cross the blood of Christ. But but but you want to see the reality that take place.

Just as when you want to see it when people came to the altar and they got saved. You want to see the fruit of that you want to see them change if they go back and they're still living with their girlfriend.

And doing drugs five years later. Maybe that didn't work too. Well at the altar. All right, maybe they need to come again. But same thing with prayer believe in God that that that that our sons and our daughters who are addicted to drugs can be set free.

I Saw that in my own life. I probably I'm not gonna go to the whole testimony, but one of my sons got on drugs. Ran away from home was living homeless. And one day he called me. It's probably 2 in the morning.

He was in prison. He got put in prison. He was scared and But he said, you know dad I got in here. I was frightened. I'm a Good little kid from a Christian home. I don't these guys are big and tough and rough in here I don't know what to do.

But he said but I was laying on my bed last night and in the prison cell and totally dark lights were off. I was frightened. I was I was scared. I was addicted. I was withdrawing and he said but all sudden the light of Jesus came into that Literally said literally the light of G my room turned bright and and he said for the first time There's this warmth and this glow and the power of the Holy Spirit and he said dad You've been talking about that Pentecostal stuff that you know.

Stuff oh, you know, you've been I've been listening to all that all those sermons for years. And I thought it was the most foolish thing but all sudden in my prison cell I just started saying I started praying in tongues and If you're not from that school of thought it's okay.

You could let's let's your story would be he started glorifying God. Whatever whatever theology is that's fine. It's but but just God God came God came and and and and. And so my wife and I we have confidence we really believe we have faith to believe that that our Addicted sons and daughters are going to come home a prodigal children are going to return marriages are going to be restored.

We really believe that that's that's a fight. We need to pick that's coming out of it's coming out of the gate. We need to to go into and say God. I'm gonna stand for my marriage. I'm gonna stand for my children.

I'm gonna stand for I'm gonna I'm gonna stand for for our churches that are gonna come to life. I was with a pastor a week ago in Texas and and He asked me to come in his office for a few minutes, and he said so pastor Gary.

Yeah. This church is on life support. He said literally. I think it only has a few weeks left. Before it before it goes. It's church been in existence for Decades and it's about done, and you can see on his face.

Just Like like he's coming out of this. He's coming out of the gate with total defeat like this can't be done. It's it's it's too far gone. Put you know call for the coffin it's it's over and some of you have situations here today where you're saying that it's it's too late.

It's it's too difficult. It's the the coffins already closed. The the the the blow has already been dealt and you've lost faith you lost confidence. Not just and when we speak about confidence in this conference.

It's not just a confidence that is a good self-esteem or feeling better about yourself. This may not be correct, but I would rather feel bad about myself and have the power of God then feel good about myself.

That and and not do anything with my life. You know. Because because I you know I think when I stand before God he's not gonna ask how you feeling. It's like you know it's it's. It's do you know me? Do you walk in my steps?

We love Jesus we should walk in the scriptures tells walk even as he walked. Walk as he walked that is awesome. Ever since I was 19 years old I had this vision. I want to be like Jesus. I want to be like Jesus.

I almost thought they all go buy some sandals and a robe. That's how much I want to be like Jesus. You know, but it's not an outward imitation. It's it's the inward habitation of Christ. And he lives in you the same spirit that raised Lazarus the same spirit that raised Christ.

The same spirit raised this boy in the city of Nain from the dead dwells in you and. That spirit should today bring life to you that spirit today should bring life to your family your marriage that spirit.

And you should bring life to your body a physical healing if you need it that spirit. And you should bring life to a church that might seem almost dead almost lifeless that that there's this and and I want to say today.

The reason God had me had me preach this message because he wanted to pick a fight more than I did. He's wanting to pick a fight with what is that that's coming through your gate right now that that hardship that pain that sorrow that Suffering and God wants to deal with it today.

So if you need a physical healing in your body, would you stand right now wherever you are? Stand up if you need a physical healing in your body. In Jesus name right now. We're gonna pray Lord. We're gonna believe for healing.

We're gonna believe for healing Jesus let it flow right now Lord. Let it pour out right now Lord, there's there. There's some who are going through a situation and and they've put it under the label sovereignty of God.

I need to learn a lesson from this. If that's it, so be it. But Lord, we don't want by your Holy Spirit's power removed from that category. Which is of the devil and not of you and what is of the devil now?

We rebuke it now in the name of Jesus. We say go you have no place even in our physical bodies we Lord were not so advanced in our old-school Pentecost that we can't still pray for the sick and See the sick healed and Lord.