Jesus spoke on two different enemies he had to overcome in order to be victorious. 1. Death. 2. The grave.
The Grave
You need to understand “ the greater the power, the greater the artillery that comes against you!!!! There is an equation between your potential and the attack! The greater the attack-the greater the anointing! The greater the anointing-the greater the attack!!
Satan understood Christ’s anointing, therefore he sent forth special securities to make sure that once he had him down, he held him down!!!
They put him in the grave, but then they rolled a stone over the top of the grave. The stone represents those things that the enemy puts in front of you to limit you.
Jesus is dead and they are still afraid of him!!
Nobody is afraid of anything that is dead —a rabbit will jump on a dead lion’s back-buzzards are real brave when things are dead. But Jesus had spoken so much in life that even in death they were afraid he would move!!!!!
When the enemy recognizes you as a potential danger to the building of his kingdom, he puts up extra security, he strengthens the guard. He wants to keep you in deadness and separation because he knows that all that power, persuasion, and strength is going to be used to tear his kingdom apart!!!
You say, “how can God use such a sinner?” You don’t realize that Satan saw the potential way before you were saved and he strengthened the watch. He knows that if you ever get loose, hell is in trouble! If that Spirit dwells in you!
Purpose of the Stone
Destroy faith-anytime there is a sense that something big is blocking us, the first temptation is to feel a sense of hopelessness-
Satan will use any kind of stone to render you helpless. Sickness, debt, just when you’ve made a commitment to start bringing people to church -you’re car breaks down-no further activity! A stone rolled into your life!!!!
Lose your job-stone-no further activity. He wants to render you helpless and impotent. He wants you to go back into the cave and shut up, go into depression, feel sorry for yourself because he’s afraid that you just might get loose!!!
See they didn’t mind the disciples worshipping where Jesus was, they just didn’t want any new miracles. The devil doesn’t mind you worshipping something that use to be, doesn’t mind you worshipping dead religion! The devil doesn’t mind you coming to the tomb and bringing frankincense and myrrh, or talking about what God use to do in your life!
He doesn’t mind you going to church as long as nothing happens when you get there! Doesn’t mind you giving money as long as you don’t believe God will turn around your finances with what you give
Satan is not afraid of dead religion-he doesn’t care how many people build shrines to what Jesus use to be—but he did however put a stone between death and life and he doesn’t want you to cross over to a real experience with God.
You see, the Pharisees put Jesus behind a stone, left him by himself, but what they failed to realize was that the help he needed wasn’t on the outside, it was on the inside!!
You’ve got to understand, when you have God in your life, when nobody comes to rescue you from the outside, you’ve got more than enough power on the inside to take you through the storm.
They messed up when they put “The Rock” inside a rock, and left a rock to hold “The Rock”. They didn’t know that “The Rock” was behind a rock!!! How can a rock stop “The Rock”?
If you will not panic but rather have faith in God, He will turn your stone into a stage! He’ll give you the victory in spite of yourself!!
You see, people don’t judge Jesus by his death; they judge His word by His resurrection.
People don’t judge you because you fall down, they judge your character by whether or not you get up! So get up!
Perseverance always outlasts persecution!
Call upon Him and He will answer! It’s the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead!
Come see us at Powerhouse Church for Easter.
