Christ Session: Place and Purpose | Tyrone P Jones | We Believe

you may be seated. And so I want to talk about the ascension and this message is titled, Christ's Session, Place, and Purpose. And it does focus in on that line, he ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, that's part of the Apostles' Creed. And, you know, we know, all of us know, all of you know, that's been in the house of God at any length of time, you know the significance of the resurrection, you know why Christ came, why he died, the significance of him being buried and raised again. And oftentimes, sometimes that kind of is where we celebrate that, and we do, we celebrate it, of course, on Resurrection Weekend, but we celebrate it every week. The reason we have these gatherings is we're celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. But there are some significant things that happened after the resurrection that is absolutely critical to our life. A couple of things, as you may recall from the scripture, after Jesus rose from the dead, he did not immediately ascend. He actually stayed on the earth for 40 days in the resurrected body. They could see him as they saw him before the resurrection. He presented himself, he gave proofs, he gave evidence, they could touch his body. He walked with him, he ate with him. For 40 days, he stayed in the community so that people would know this same Jesus is the Jesus that made you the promises, that taught you the way of life, that revealed to you who the Father is, what the desire of the Father is for all of us. He did all that over a period of 40 days. He reminded them of what the scripture said about him. And then, though, after that 40 days, the scripture tells us, then he ascended. Then he ascended. Now, some churches, they'll have what's called Ascension Day, and it's 40 days after the resurrection of Jesus. So it's always on a Thursday. This year is May 14th, and they come together for that. Or they'll call it Ascension Sunday. But 40 days after he ascended, because they realized the significance of that, 10 days after that, of course, you know, is Pentecost. But it does bring some questions that the scripture does answer. And a lot of what I'm going to do, honestly, is just teach,

just like I'm teaching you if you were in the Bible college. And here's some questions that the Bible answers. Where did Jesus go? What is he doing now? Does he look any different in heaven than he does on earth? And so I'm going to give you three things that are sure things from the scripture. I could do more, but three, and then apply what this means for us. The first thing that you need to know is that Christ did ascend to a place. When he ascended, after those 40 days, he went somewhere. Now, here's Luke chapter 24, verses 50 through 51. And it says, then Jesus led them to Bethany. And lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. And so the scripture clearly tells us while Jesus is talking to his disciples, this is after the 40 days, he's wrapping it up. He's explained so much to them over that period of time in their gatherings. And here they are in Bethany, which is two miles outside of Jerusalem. They're gathered there, Jesus blesses them. And while they're looking at him, Jesus just starts to ascend into heaven. Star Wars ain't got nothing on Jesus, just so you know. Jesus just starts ascending. Star Trek didn't start that, Jesus did. There he goes, right up into the heavens. Acts 1, 9 through 11 tells us the same thing. Now, you know, Luke is the writer of the Gospel of Luke. Luke also wrote the Book of Acts. And so he tells it also, not a different perspective, but just a little bit more detail, verses 9 through 11. After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. So he's just ascending. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two robed men suddenly stood among them, men of Galilee. They said, why are you standing here, staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way that you saw him go. And so here we get the indication, and there's several verses that share this, but we get the indication that, again, Jesus will be recognized when he returns. He's coming back in the same way that he went. What you see going up is the same Jesus coming down. So you're not going to miss who Jesus is, or he's telling them,

you're not... going to miss who Jesus is. So these narratives describe this event of the ascension. Again, the angel's saying again, he's going to come back the same way. And he ascended somewhere. He's not just in some ethereal space. He's not just out in the internet world out there, somewhere out there. No, Jesus is in the space-time according to how we know space and time. But we don't see him because we don't have the eyes to see into the spiritual world. As we sit here, there's things going on in the spirit world that we don't see. There's angels. The Scripture tells us in Hebrews and in Psalms that angels gather with the people of God as we're singing songs unto our great God and Savior in the heavens. Angels are gathered with us. So you don't see them. Now, some of y'all believe that you got guardian angels with you all the time. Maybe you do. The Bible doesn't necessarily say that. I think I need one. As bad as I am sometimes, I need somebody watching. But the point is there's angels that are gathered in the community of believers. But there's also demons. I don't know which one of y'all brought it in, but there's demons too. But in the spirit world, if your eyes could open, you could see that there's things happening in the spirit world. There are times when the Lord will open our eyes to see these things. We can read it in 2 Kings 6. You might remember the story, Elisha was gathered and the Syrian armies had came around to attack the nation, but also, of course, him. And Elisha was pretty chilled about it. The servant, though, saw all of the Syrian army gathered around and basically was saying to Elisha, man, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? And Elisha was saying, don't worry, there's more of us than it is them. He said, there can't be more of us. It's only me and you here. And Elisha prayed and says, Lord, open his eyes so that he might see. And when his eyes opened, he saw a myriad of angels that were surrounding the Syrian army. So there's times when the Lord will open our eyes and let us see into the spirit realm. When Stephen was being killed in

Acts chapter 7, same thing, the Lord opened his eyes and as he was dying, he said, behold, I see the heavens are open and the Son of Man is standing on the right hand of God. So the Lord let him see in the spirit realm. And so the scripture oftentimes pictures heaven being above when Elijah was taken up, when Jesus ascended, when the angels came down, when Jacob was praying in Genesis chapter 2, it talks about them descending from heaven. And so we don't know where heaven is, we just know it's up. Now, you know, of course, that the earth rotates, right? For those of you that went to Yuma High School, it's not the sun, it's the earth that's rotating, the earth. But it doesn't matter where you are, up is up. If you're in Antarctica, up is up. If you're in North America, up is up. South America, up is up. So we don't know particularly where heaven is, but we know it's up above us. Y'all doing all right so far? Now, so the second thing, though, about this Christ ascending to a place is also that he's seated in a place of authority. He's seated in a place of authority. That's where we get this word, session, just a translation of the meaning of Christ being sitting in authority. It translates out to our English word, session. There, Christ is sitting, overseeing. The Scripture says that he's received glory and honor. He's in a place of authority. Because of what he accomplished through the death, burial, and the resurrection, he now has received authority. You remember Matthew 28, 19? All authority of heaven and earth is now given unto me. And so he's glorified, and there he sits in this place of authority, the highest authority that can be received. Now, remember, knowing clearly that Jesus is God, he came down, Christ incarnate, on earth to reveal to us the love of the Father, the way of the Father, to reveal the living word, the way of the law, the fulfillment of the law. But he was God in the flesh. And so after the resurrection, now all the authority... that proves that he is the God that he is, now rest upon him as he's sitting in this place of high honor.

Acts chapter two verse 33 says this. Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven at God's right hand. That's where Christ sits. He has all authority. He has the highest authority. That's why we worship him. That's why we call him king. That's why we sing the songs that we sing to him. That's why we lift our hands. That's why we lift our voices. That's why we fall on our knees and pray to him. Why? Because he is the highest authority. He has been exalted and he has been exalted because he's accomplished what he was sent here to do to prove to all mankind that all authority in heaven and earth is in him. Can you say amen to that? And so we have a glimpse of the angels in Revelation 5.12. The scripture says, and they sing in a mighty chorus, worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. That's what he has done. That's what he has accomplished. So he's sitting now indicating that the work of redemption has been done. Now, there's still more things he's gonna do and I'll talk about that,

but the work of redemption has been done. When Christ sat, he was saying the work is finished. Now, I don't want you to miss this. You gotta understand this. The work for your redemption has been fulfilled and accomplished in Jesus Christ. You are not tasked to do work to save you. Are you following me? That's not your assignment. The work of redemption is in the hands of Christ and done by Christ. The things we do is because of what Christ has done and our faith in him. Are you following me on this? The work has, and there's a lot of things we do because of that, what Jesus has done. We get baptized, but don't miss this point. Don't think that baptism alone saves you. You can get baptized to every doggone tadpole in the creek knows your name, but that don't save you. It's you trusting and believing in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Am I talking to the right church? The finished work of Jesus. So he sits. Now, again, so much we do because of that, which proves that we have a faith in him. So we don't miss what James says or anybody else says, but understand the reason Christ could sit is because he said it's finished.

The work is done. Now from that place, he rules sovereignly. He rules sovereignly. So he is our ruler. He is our king. He's the one that is sovereign over all of us. Psalm 110 verse one, interesting if you study the Bible, Psalm 110 or the New Testament, Psalm 110 is quoted in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament verse. And here's what it says. The Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet. So that's what he's doing. He's working to establish all authority, even here on earth, where not only we who acknowledge him as king, but the whole world knows that he's king. That's why the scripture says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. He's gonna establish the authority to all the world. There's not gonna be any questions and guesses about who the ruler is of the world, who the sovereign is. Not gonna be any guessing on that. Ephesians 1, 20 through 21, listen to this. Paul said this of Jesus. God's power raised Christ from the dead

and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Hear this. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. He's above all of them. There's not no one of authority on earth that's greater than him. No king, no prime minister, no president. It would serve them well if they would recognize this. Can I tell you the world would be less of a mess if rulers, leaders, kings, prime ministers, presidents would recognize that they are not the key authority, that all authority belongs to King Jesus. Can you say amen? And so we see a similar thing here in 1 Peter 3, 22. Now Christ. gone to heaven he is seated in the place of honor next to God and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority so everything in heaven accepts the authority of our Lord and Savior of our God everything in heaven again that's a real clue that if heaven got this right we ought to get it right we're not our own authority we don't own our life do you know when you gave your life to Christ you surrendered your rights to him now I'm not talking about your God-given rights that stays with you because you are created by God but your rights to be right based on your rightness oh that's I didn't do that first sir but I'm gonna use that second third sir but your rights to be right based on your right you gave that up you belong to him your authority is given to him and that's exercising everything we do we need his authority in our finances we need his authority in relationships we need his authority in

the businesses that we run we need his authority in our parenting we need his authority in our marriages I'm not talking to the right church we gave up our rights to be the authority and we surrendered it to him he's the one that rules and heaven accepts all authority so should we now the scripture tells us though his reign is not complete this is not finished yet this is not finished he hasn't brought this thing to an end and and and he's he's working on and honestly it's that's the kind of stuff that we wrestle with in everyday life because we we still we first we got our own flesh we got the world we got the flesh we got the devil and we got to wrestle through that but don't think that the Lord ain't gonna win this war I didn't read this book all the way through a number of times he gonna win this thing he and we are on the winning side he gonna wrap this thing up just like he promised because he is the king so now now let me just give you four things here on what this means for us based on the fact that that Christ has ascended to the to a place that Christ is in his session that he's seated on the throne and he's sovereign what does this mean for us Christ ascension means that my ascension is assured I'm gonna say that again because some of y'all missed that because Christ ascended I'm assured I'm gonna send also he paved the way for that he made sure of that because here it is we are united in Christ Jesus the Bible says already that we are seated in heavenly places with him have you read that and missed that in the Bible we are seated in heavenly places with him when you've read that what have you thought what does that mean that I'm seated in heaven because we're united in Christ Jesus and because we have surrendered our life to him he is our Lord he is our king he is our authority then all things subject to Christ is also subject to us if Christ is seated in heavenly places then our hearts our minds our soul are united with him that we already are citizens of heaven we're already united with him in the heavenly places but the scripture makes a promise that this body's got to get there body ain't there yet it's gonna get there here it is in first Thessalonians 4 16 through 18 for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout with the voice of an archangel and

the trumpet God and call of God listen there's gonna be a trumpet blow I don't know about you but man every time I hear a trumpet whoa whoa whoa wait wait whoa whoa what's happening here what's happening here because there's gonna be a trumpet sound and it says first believers who have died will rise from the graves so those who have followed Christ that's died before us they're in the grave they're gonna rise up at that trumpet call then together with them we who are still alive and remain on earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air what a glorious day this will be some folks have already died waiting to hear that trumpet call some of us gonna be walking around doing our thing some of us gonna be doing safety some of us gonna be sitting at a coffee shop some of us gonna be flying on an airplane some of us gonna be playing sports some of us are gonna be coaching some of us gonna be working but when that trumpet calls I'm telling you the Lord is taking his people up when that this the ascension of Christ assures that and that's part of our hope It's waiting for the day. I don't know about you. I don't want to stay here forever I'm breaking down already. I'm only 62. What why? Well, I mean what I want to call myself want to stay here forever Pulling weeds all the time. I mean cleaning up, you know, come on now. This ain't our home folks Our desire is to be with the Lord forever And he's made that promise because he has ascended So will we then together with them? Those are still alive and remain on earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet him in the air Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words That's the hope of people who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that we're going to be Ascended the author of Hebrews and and this won't be on the screen, but he tells us listen. That's why we can persevere on earth We can persevere here on earth with the various things that we have to deal with because we know that's not the end of our Story, we may be in the middle of a trial, but trust me. That's not the end of your story God's gonna get you through that because he's gonna take you to be to be with him. He's working to perfect us He's working to do his work in us. None of us are perfected yet But he's working to do it. I love the scripture when it says that he will present us faultless

He is perfecting us working on us all the stuff that you deal with on a daily basis your anxiety your fear Whatever that nonsense that you are doing in your life that you shouldn't you continue to surrender your life to the Lord and watch him Make you better and better and better. He will perfect us. I know it's hard for us to think about being perfect Sometimes I walk around my house like I am but I know it's hard to think of us as being perfect We never we don't know what that's like, but can I tell you something it's coming Perfection is coming. He said he's gonna present you Faultless. I'm telling you. Do you want to be better? Do you want to be better then surrender your life to the Lord and let him perfect you let him do it Here it is. First Corinthians 15. I love this 52 53 It will happen in a moment this time I when the Lord returns It will happen in a moment in the blink of an eye When the last trumpet is blown there it is that trumpet again for when the trumpet sounds those who have died will be raised to live forever and we who are living will be Transformed for our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die Our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies you you you're you're living forever if you know the Lord and You've embraced the life of Christ. You're living forever. And this this body he gonna fix it up Some of y'all need to say amen to that one he gonna fix it up He gonna fix this body up He gonna transform this body so that this body is able to be with the Lord forever. Can you say man? Let me stop messing with you. All right number two Our ascension is the sure but here's the second thing our final home will be heaven That's that's where we end up That's where we land. Listen, John 14 2 through 3. There is more than enough room in my father's home If this were not so What I've told you that I'm coming to prepare that I'm going to prepare a place for you when everything is ready I will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I am Now that's the promise That the Lord is preparing a place for us and he'll come get us now you know, I dropped the bomb on first service and I don't think they never recovered from it and

I'm not sure you will either and I'm prepared. I Only got two more points and we'll just get through it But people mess this passage up. I've seen them do it at funerals over and over again You hear people say like man. I know Jack is up in heaven driving his Jeep right now Or you'll hear people say man. I can just imagine they up there united with grandma and gran united with mama. No That's not that's not so Nowhere in the scripture Does it teach that people who die here on earth now are in heaven now? Nowhere as a matter of fact, didn't Jesus just say when I come get you in Line with when he comes back in first Thessalonians chapter 4 where he says then then you'll meet the Lord in the air Then we will be with the Lord forever. So, you know Go on with your cute stories It's okay now Understand this people who die are in the presence of the Lord, but they ain't walking around heaven yet He hasn't finished everything just like people aren't in the lake of fire yet So I don't know you may find some comfort saying well. I know uncle Billy's in hell now. No he ain't Not yet Not yet There will be a day When we will be with the Lord where we will walk around in heaven But not now when we die here on earth until the Lord returns, but don't let that throw you off Don't let it throw you off Just focus on this you're gonna get there and you're gonna have a place to live when you get there. Just focus in on that All right, let me get to number three our power and authority come from above our power and authority come from above because Christ is in Incession because of his ascension Every authority and power we got here on earth is what Christ has poured down to us We have the authority over demons

We got the authority over unclean spirits. We got the authority over enemies enemy forces Authorities that's in the heaven. We have the authority over that He did not go up to heaven and leave us to fight through this stuff on our own No, he has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us. He's given us power He's given us authority the authority that Christ has he's given unto us So that we can overcome the things that we overcome. It's not our own power look at Luke chapter 9 verses 1 and 2 one day Jesus called together as 12 disciples and gave them power and Authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the kingdom of God and to heal the sick he gave them a glimpse of what was coming and Luke chapter 9 and Then he poured out the Holy Spirit and the power upon the church Luke chapter 24 verse 40 49. And Now I will send the Holy Spirit Just as my father promised but stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes upon you with power from upon heaven The power that we have the authority that we have the fact that we are Believers that can overcome those things that come against us is because of the power the authority the gifts the grace that God gives us And even the power to witness acts 1 8 But you receive power when the Holy Spirit comes up on you watch this and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere The ability that we have to share the gospel The ability that we have a life that people can look upon and say man That person's life is different the ability that we have to go into the foreign countries that CTC goes into sending mission teams planning churches going in casting out demons and Planning churches and raising up pastors that power comes from the Holy Spirit. He poured that out from up on high We are filled with the Spirit of God to do his work That's what happens again from the Ascension. And here's the final thing The final thing is this Our salvation is completed Absolutely completed to the end He assures us that what he starts in us. He's gonna finish Romans 834. I love this Who then will condemn us? Think about that for a moment when you go through judgment of other people

When people want to classify you of who you are and who you're not Born again, not born again saved not saved Who is able to condemn us? The scripture says no one for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us And he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand Christ is the only one that took up on your sins The only one that went to the cross the only one that was buried and the only one rose again And he's the only one that can say it is finished you are who you are because of what Jesus has done Therefore nobody can condemn you am I talking to the right church? Nobody can condemn you and here it is in Hebrews 7 24 and 25 But because Jesus lives forever His priesthood lasts forever Therefore he is able hear this once and forever To save those who come to God through him Every one of you sitting here that my voice can say I've come to God Guess what the scripture says if you go to him He saved you once and forever You don't have to keep getting saved It's once and forever are you following me? You don't have to keep letting yourself go Be talked into well, maybe I'm not a Christian Well, it depends on what you trust it in if you trust it in your own self. No, you ain't a Christian If you trust it in your own works, no, you ain't a Christian if you trust it in your own beliefs and your own power and authority No, you are not But if you trust it in Jesus Christ and him alone and the work that he's done you are saved once and forever And the scripture says that he's the one that lives to make intercession before God for you once and forever Christ ascension means that I'm gonna sin Christ ascension means I got a heavenly home

Christ ascension means I got authority and power Christ ascension means I'm saved once and Forever, I'm done prayer team. You can come We'll pray and the worship team Lead us into worship. The altars will be open Whatever you need, they'll be here for you and Christ will be glorified. Do I got a prayer team this morning? Prayer team come on. I'm done. I'm finished What what y'all want me to go some more? I go some more you need more y'all ready. Everybody stand Father I want to thank you For being a great God a great Savior, I thank you for your truth. Thank you for your word Thank you Lord God for the power and authority that you've given us Thank you Lord for the truth of your ascension. I'm reminded because you ascended that I will ascend But I'm reminded because of your ascension I got a heavenly home I'm reminded because of your ascension power and authority The Holy Spirit is within us and I'm reminded because of the ascension Lord that you have completed the work of our salvation I thank you for being a great God and a great Savior in Christ's name. We pray. Amen. God bless you Have a great day