2023 Easter Special If You Are Risen in Christ

Welcome and thank you for joining us for Carter Conlon's 2023 Easter special, If You Are Risen with Christ. There's something about who you are in Jesus Christ that you need to see. There's something about Christ being raised from the dead and promising that those who turn to him will also be raised from the power of death that you need to see. Carter encourages us that if we be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God. In other words, Christ is higher than your inability, higher than your depression, higher than your self-image, higher than the limitations that you or others have put upon your life. Let's join Carter in studio now for this year's 2023 Easter special, If You Are Risen with Christ.

This is Carter Conlon and I want to welcome you today to this Easter special. It really is special to me because we're living in a generation where you and I have to discover again what it means to be risen with Christ. Because to be risen with Christ brings us into a place of strength and stability that God promises can be ours. But there needs to be an understanding of what does this involve?

How do I find this strength? And I'm speaking specifically to people today that you're facing all of the issues that are in our society today and maybe the fears of this present world that we're living in. And you're saying in your heart, where am I going to find the strength to get through this?

And how is my life ever going to hit the full potential of what God wants it to be? So this is what this program is about today. It's about being risen with Christ and what that looks like. So Father, I do pray, God, for an anointing of the Holy Spirit to be able to touch the persons that are listening right now.

Everyone, every man, every woman, every young person, every older person. God, there's something about being risen with Christ that we need to know or perhaps relearn if we've forgotten it. So I pray, God, as I speak today and as we open the scriptures that this would be not just an accumulation of more knowledge for some out there, but an absolute transformation of our perspective of who we have become because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how it affects our everyday lives. Father, thank you for this, God. Let there be an anointing that goes way beyond just our hearing and into our hearts. And we thank you for it in Jesus' name. I want to start in Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, where Paul says these words. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

That phenomenal statement. If you have been raised, if you have come to Christ for your salvation, if you have believed that he took your place on a cross and you've invited him to be the Lord of your life, you've confessed your need of him and you've received him into the center core, as it is, of your very life, the Bible does promise that we are raised out of death and into life because as he was raised by the power of God, so we too become raised by the power of God. In Colossians chapter 2, verse 12 and 13 says, buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised in him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. So, in essence, when we went into the waters of baptism, for those who have done this, we were making a public and a spiritual declaration to our own hearts that we are believing that as Christ was raised from the dead, so too, when we came out of the waters of baptism, we are now raised with him into the newness of life that he has and promises to give to us as co-inheritors of his victory. Verse 13 says, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, in other words, you were living according to the prince of the darkness of this world.

You and I were powerless to be anything other than what we were and were progressively becoming. But because of Christ, because of his sacrifice, because of the power of God raising him from the dead, we are now in him also raised from the dead and we've been made alive together with him, according to Colossians 2, 13, and all of our offenses against God have been forgiven. So we're now alive in Christ, which brings us back to chapter 3, verse 1. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. So what are these things that Christ is? What are these things that are where Christ is sitting?

What are these things that we're supposed to be seeking? Now, first of all, Colossians 2, 10, we find an understanding of we have a new standing in Christ. And Colossians 2, 10 says, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. I think we need to rediscover this because the devil is always pointing his finger at us and talking about you've failed here and you've come short there and look at your character over here. And so we're always living under the voice of the Condemner.

Many, many people are. But the Word of God says that because Christ sits at the right hand of victory and we are in him at that right hand, we are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Seek those things which are above, which means if it weren't written in the Scriptures, it would be almost blasphemous to say we are as clean as God is because of Christ. There is no flaw in us. There is no fault because we are now in Christ. We are seated with him at the right hand of God. We are complete in him. Thus, the Condemner cannot condemn us anymore.

Now that should make you shout in your kitchen right now or in your car. We can't be condemned. Let the devil point at us all he wants. He's got to put his finger through Christ to get to us. And because of Jesus Christ and because we are where he is, we sit in total victory because of him.

And he is the head of all principality and power. Now also in the Scriptures, in the book of 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17, Pollock says again, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new.

So here we are. We are complete in Christ. We cannot be condemned by the devil himself or any other voice for that matter, even the condemnation of our own heart. Remember the script says if our own hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart. And so being complete in Christ, we now have a covering to move forward to that which he has destined each of our lives to be. If we are in Christ, we are a new creation. Seek those things above. Seek those things where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

I mean, he's won an incredible victory for us. And the Scripture tells us that when he was raised from the dead, he took our captivity captive, thank God, and gave gifts unto men. So there are things that God has for each one of our lives that are far beyond our understanding or even our thinking. And so part of that seeking is saying, because I am in you, Jesus, and you sit at the right hand of all victory, and you tell me that being in you means I'm a new creation.

So, God, I want that new creation. Whatever it is you've created me to be, you see, that's part of seeking the things which are above. I don't want to live by what I think I am. I don't want to live anymore by what others say I am.

I don't want to live by the voice of the Condemner that tells me what I'm not. But, Lord, you tell me I'm a new creation. You tell me the old things in my life have lost their power. They've died. They've passed away. That's what it means. They've passed away.

They're dead. When I went down into those waters of baptism, the old things that govern my life died when Christ became the Lord of my life, and everything has become new. So I need to start seeking this newness of life. I need to start asking God, what do you want my life to be? I began to do that as a young believer in Christ when I started hearing these words. I began to realize, God, you have so much from my life more than what I think my life has amounted to up to this point, or the parameters maybe I've put on myself or others have put on me.

Lord, you have so much more. You tell me I'm a new creation. You tell me that all things with God are still possible. You tell me that I can be made more, into more than I could ever hope to be in my own strength, and I can be given more than I could ever hope to possess with my own ingenuities. I can be taken farther than any ticket I could ever buy with my own resources. God, you can take me places. You can make me into what I could never hope to be. If you are risen in Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. There's an incredible life available for you. Now, don't put this truth away.

Don't just write it down on an index card and stick it in a drawer. Let it get into your heart. God has more for you than you can even think or ask.

He's willing to take you places that you could never ever hope to go in your own strength and give you the abilities that you and I both will need to do what needs to be done to glorify Him when we get there. You see, in order for this to happen, we have to set our mind on things above, not on things of the earth. In other words, we have to put away our own plans, our own thoughts about what life should be or what kind of goals we have before us. Do you realize how mediocre that our goals are in comparison to what God has for us?

I just think I almost live as a dread. If I had followed my own thoughts from my own life, I never would have gone where God has taken me. I never would have lived to see the number of souls that have come to Christ.

I wouldn't have known the reality of what I'm speaking to you today, that there is something in Christ for every life, but we've got to seek it. We've got to go to the throne of God. There's got to be a daily prayer in a sense that's, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, in me, as it is in heaven. In heaven, everything moves in unison with you, God. You think about Isaiah when he confessed his unworthiness. Suddenly, one of these heavenly beings just moves to the altar and immediately takes the coal with the tongs and touches his lips. There's no indication that the seraphim was ever told to do that.

He did it because everything in heaven moves in unison with the heart of God. I want to be that kind of a person. I want to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I want to move. Paul, the apostle, said in the book of Acts, in him we live, we move, and we have our being. Every life that has found this new life that is in Christ makes a difference on this earth and is given stability in these incredibly unstable times. Another thing that we find when we seek Christ where he is above, sitting at the right hand of God, is his victory, which is now ours.

I mean, it's amazing. It's as if we're, I used the illustration one time speaking to a men's group, I'm speaking to a men's group in Texas, that it's as if we're all in a football game but we're already in the end zone and all that's left to do is spike the ball. We don't have to fight to get there. We've already become more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us. Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that you're more than a conqueror?

Do you really believe that every weapon formed against you can't prosper? When you are seeking the will of God, when God has set before you an open door. Do you remember the book of Revelation talks about the Church of Philadelphia? And he says to this church group, he said, you have a little strength, you've kept my word and you've not denied my name.

Well, that defines probably a lot of people that are listening today. You have a little strength, you've kept the word of God as best as you can and you do identify as a follower of Jesus Christ. Then he says this incredible thing. He says, behold, I have set before you an open door that no one can shut.

Now, do you actually believe that? For your life, when you are in Christ and you're seeking his will, he sets before you an open door. You don't have to find this door. A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to find what they think is going to be the will of God, not realizing you don't have to find it.

Just go where he is. And the will of God, we used to have Christmas productions at Times Square Church and the scenes would change sometimes when windows and doors would literally drop from the rafters, the rigging up top and come down and there's a new scene. Well, that's what God does. The door comes down. He sets before you an open door. You don't have to find the open door.

He sets it before you. All he asks you to do is go through the door that no man can close. The door of, you know, you'll face criticism. People will call you arrogant if you start to believe that God's going to use your life in a certain way. And if you believe, like Joseph, that you've found favor with God and certain things are going to happen in the future, and they'll try to close the door, but they can't close the door. That's the beauty of it all. If you're risen in Christ, he's already in heaven, already at the right hand of God.

You don't get any more victorious than that. You are in him. The Bible says he's the head, you're the body. You're already seated, Paul says in Ephesians, in heavenly places in Christ. You're already there.

Not going there, you're already there. Yet on planet earth, God says, I'm going to glorify my name and proclaim my victory through you to this generation. And I'm going to set before you an open door. All I'm asking you to do is walk through that door because you are already more than a conqueror. Listen to the words of Paul in Romans chapter 8, and we're going to begin reading at verse 31.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Let that thought get so deep into your heart today. God is for you. God is for you. God has a wonderful plan for your life. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. He has a plan to glorify his name through you that's not based on, you don't have to reason it, you don't have to find it.

He'll drop it right down before you and just simply ask you to go through the door and nothing can stop you. If God is for us, who can be against us? Now listen to verse 32. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So Paul's making the argument, he says, what more can God do to prove to you and I that all things we need to be the people we're called to be he's willing to give us through his son Jesus Christ? He said if he didn't spare his son, but gave his son up on a cross for our sakes, how shall he not with him, now who sits, I'm going to add this in, but who sits now at the right hand of all authority and all power, at the right hand of God, how shall he not because of him also freely give us all things that we need to be the people of God that we are called to be?

Oh God, if you be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Verse 33 says, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who dares raise their voice against you as a child of God if God has commissioned your life to do certain things to bring glory to his name?

Who can stop you? Who is he who condemns? Verse 34, it is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

Which of course, you know, a lot of folks are facing a lot of these things all over the world right now who are believers in Christ. But verse 36, he says, as it is written, for your sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Verse 37, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We are already living in victory.

My brother, my sister, you're not heading for victory. You live in victory. You live because of Christ. He is your head.

You are the body. His life fills you. The fullness, the scripture says, that fills all in all. Paul goes on to say, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I wish today that you could understand how deeply you are loved by God, how deeply he has given you all things that pertain, as the scripture says, to life and godliness.

How deeply, how deeply. Listen to what Paul says in the book of Ephesians chapter 1 beginning at verse 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. So Paul is saying there's something about Jesus Christ that you need to see. There's something about who you are in Jesus Christ that you need to see. There's something about Christ being raised from the dead and promising that those who turn to him will also be raised from the power of death that you need to see. He goes on in Ephesians 1 18. He says, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened or opened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

I mean these are incredible words. I think Paul was at a loss to describe what he knew and what he had actually seen with his eyes that you would see Paul saying what I know. That you may know that he's given you this incredible calling and he's given you all the riches in a sense, all the strength, all the power, all the giftings, all the protection, the ability to do what you're called to do. And this whole victory of the cross is available to those who belong to him because we've trusted him for our salvation. In verse 19 he says, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power that you would see God as loving you. You would see God as generous. You would see the longing, may I put it this way, in the heart of God to have you and I walk in agreement with him, to be partakers of his victory, to have a confidence in our voices, to have a bounce in our step, to have a new depth in our song, to have words that have weight. They don't just fall to the ground as we speak to the hearers, but they find a lodging place in the heart and especially now when we're living with such despair in our societies. Verse 20 goes on, he says, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him in his right hand in heavenly places.

Are you starting to get the theme that was at the center of a lot of Paul's theology, the center of the things that Paul was writing, the center of what Paul had come to know experientially? He keeps mentioning about the fact that he is raised from the dead, he's sitting in victory and we are in him and he's got a plan for us and nobody can stop him and he's exceedingly filled with love for us and nobody can condemn us and the voice of the condemner is gone. Nobody can shut the door that God opens. Somewhere along the line, some of us have got to get this truth. You might want to pause this and just shout hallelujah.

Maybe unless you're on the radio you can't but at some point you just got to shout and say, God, I never saw this. I had a perception of what it means to be raised in Christ but it was so limited in comparison to what it really is according to the word of God. Which he wrought in Christ, verse 20, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places. Now Paul goes on in verse 21 and says, far above all principality, power, might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, in this age, but in that which is to come. I think Paul was shouting.

He probably had a scribe writing this and I think he was shouting at this point and maybe even saying to the helper with the pen, do you see it? Do you see what I see? Do you understand what I understand? Do you know who you are in Christ? Do you understand that God can do exceedingly above all we even ask or think? Do you know yet that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose? Do you understand, my friend, that even writing these words has a deeper purpose than you and I can even understand?

And here we are 2,000 years later reading the words that I've given comfort and direction to hundreds if not thousands of millions of people throughout time. And he says he's far above all principality, power, might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but that which is to come. So, in other words, Christ is higher than your inability, higher than your depression, higher than your self-image, higher than the limitations that you or others have put upon your life.

And he put all things under his feet and gave them to be head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So, Father God, in Jesus' name, Lord, this has to be given by revelation. I could shout my head off on this program today, but God, it's got to be given by revelation. Lord, it really truly is time for your church to get a hold of these truths.

It's time for your bride to rise again. It's time, my God, for us to begin to communicate with you. Open your word and say, God, unlock these mysteries to my heart and take me out of the box that I've built for myself or others have built for me and take me into this place of incredible victory because so many people need to know this in this generation. Even for the sake of our own families, our own children, our spouses, our grandchildren, our cousins, our aunts and uncles, my God, our brothers and sisters, Lord, they need to know this victory. God, would you help me to show it to them, not just to talk about it, but to live a life that actually shows them what this victory looks like. Father, thank you, God, that today we've spoken about what it means to be risen with Christ. Help us to lay hold of it, God. Don't let us live in a lower place than you've assigned to us in your kingdom. Thank you, Jesus, for making your word simple, for making it plain and for giving us the heart to pray again and to believe for this incredible victory in our time. In Jesus' name, amen. You've been listening to Carter Conlon's 2023 Easter special, If You Are Risen with Christ. For more specials like this one, visit www.carterconlon.com and click on the radio tab. God bless.