Resurrection Service 2020

Resurrection Service Overview

In this powerful Resurrection Sunday message recorded on April 13, 2020, Dr. William Holman of New Testament Church (NTC Ministries) leads a full Easter service complete with praise and worship, communion, and a life-changing sermon on the meaning of Christ’s resurrection. Drawing from Hebrews 12:2, Philippians 2:8-11, Ephesians 2:4-7, and Romans 10:9-13, Dr. Holman unpacks what the resurrection of Jesus Christ truly means for every believer today. He explores the joy that compelled Christ to endure the cross, the New Covenant sealed by His blood, and the resurrection power available to all who call upon His name. The message is anchored by a remarkable personal testimony of healing at a farmhouse prayer meeting, where a woman bedridden with advanced cancer rose and walked overnight, her cancerous sores completely gone. Dr. Holman draws from three biblical accounts of Jesus raising the dead and applies each one to the real struggles his listeners face, whether in health, finances, or fear. This is a clarion call to stop listening to bad reports and to step fully into the resurrection life of Jesus Christ.

Resurrection Service Outline

• 0:00 – Opening Worship and Welcome: The service opens with praise declaring Christ is risen, followed by congregational worship including the song Living Hope by Phil Wickham, setting the tone for Resurrection Sunday.
• 12:00 – Communion Service from 1 Corinthians 11: The New Covenant is explained through 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. The congregation is led in communion, celebrating the body and blood of Christ with prayer over health, healing, and freedom from sickness.
• 22:00 – Introduction to the Resurrection Message: Dr. William Holman opens the sermon by contrasting Christmas and Easter as two births: Christ entering the world and then birthing from the world into eternity as the foundation of new creation life.
• 28:00 – The Joy Set Before Jesus (Hebrews 12:2): An exploration of what motivated Christ to endure the cross. His voluntary sacrifice and authority over death are examined through Hebrews 12:2, John 10:18, Philippians 2:8-11, and 1 Peter 3:22.
• 38:00 – Seated with Christ in Heavenly Places (Ephesians 2): The sermon moves into Ephesians 2:4-7 and 3:17-19, showing that believers are raised up and seated with Christ, sharing in His triumph and being filled with the fullness of God through faith.
• 46:00 – A Personal Testimony of Resurrection Power: Dr. Holman recounts a defining moment in ministry where he prayed for a terminally ill woman with advanced cancer. The next morning she was standing, walking, and every sore on her body had completely disappeared.
• 55:00 – Three Biblical Resurrections and What They Mean for You: Jesus raising Jairus’s daughter, the widow’s son at Nain, and Lazarus are each examined with a direct application: do not be afraid, come out of the funeral procession of self-pity, and be loosed from grave-cloth thinking.
• 1:03:00 – The Sufficiency of Christ’s One Sacrifice (Hebrews 10:11-12): From Hebrews 10:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 15:17, Dr. Holman establishes that Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice is the only thing that permanently removes sin and makes resurrection life possible.
• 1:07:00 – Salvation Invitation and Prayer for Healing: A salvation prayer is led for all listening, followed by a corporate prayer commanding healing from the top of the head to the toes, cursing disease, and declaring breakthroughs in finances and open doors.
• 1:09:00 – Closing Blessing and Prophetic Declaration: Dr. Holman closes with a prophetic word about open doors and vindication coming within the next week or two, and blesses every listener with joy, healing, and the fullness of God’s resurrection power.

Scripture References

Hebrews 12:2, John 10:18, Philippians 2:8-11, 1 Peter 3:22, Colossians 2:15, Ephesians 2:4-7, Ephesians 3:17-19, John 15:11, Hebrews 10:11-12, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, 1 Corinthians 15:17, Romans 10:9-13, Acts 26, Psalm 103

Key Takeaways

• Jesus voluntarily laid down His life and took it back up again, holding the keys of death, hell, and the grave, and no power could take His life without His consent.
• The resurrection of Christ is not merely a past historical event but a present living power that flows into every believer who places their faith in Him.
• Because Christ sat down at the right hand of God after one eternal sacrifice, the work of redemption is completely finished and nothing needs to be added or repeated.
• Believers are not merely forgiven sinners but new creations raised up and seated together with Christ in heavenly places, sharing in His triumph over every principality and power.
• Fear, sorrow, and grave-cloth thinking are spiritual hindrances that resurrection faith dismantles, calling every believer to rise and walk in the freedom Christ purchased.
• The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in every believer and is actively making their mortal body alive, including healing from sickness and disease.
• Our greatest need was never education, technology, or money but the forgiveness of sins, which is why God sent a Savior whose resurrection life meets every other need as well.

Resurrection Service Notes

The Joy That Drove Christ to the Cross

Hebrews 12:2 reveals something stunning about the crucifixion: Jesus endured it for a joy set before Him. Dr. Holman teaches that this joy was not abstract but relational. It was the joy of obtaining a redeemed people, of seeing humanity restored to God. Love floated Him down the stream of sacrifice like a leaf carried by a current, not reluctantly but willingly. This is the foundation of Resurrection Sunday. Christ was not a victim of circumstance. He was a voluntary Savior who knew the outcome and gave Himself freely because the joy of your redemption was worth everything He paid.

A Healing That Defied Every Medical Report

One of the most gripping moments of this message is Dr. Holman’s personal account of praying for a woman dying of advanced cancer at a rural farmhouse. The smell of death filled the room. Her body bore large black sores where flesh had been eaten away. He prayed, declared scripture, and commanded the cancer to die. Nothing visible happened that evening. But the next morning her husband called shouting: she was standing, walking, and every sore was gone. Her skin was completely normal. Dr. Holman declares plainly that this is resurrection power, the same power available to every believer who receives Jesus Christ.

Loosing Yourself from Grave-Cloth Thinking

Drawing from the account of Lazarus in John 11, Dr. Holman highlights a detail often overlooked. After Lazarus came out of the tomb, Jesus told the people around him to loose him from his grave cloths and let him go free. This becomes a direct word to the listener. Many people are technically alive in Christ but still wrapped in old mindsets of doom, defeat, and limitation. The woman in the wheelchair who had not walked in twenty years was suddenly loosed when resurrection faith broke through her doubt. Jesus is speaking the same word today: come out, be loosed, and be free.

One Sacrifice That Finished It All

Hebrews 10:11-12 forms a theological backbone of the message. The repeated daily sacrifices of the Old Testament priests demonstrated by their very repetition that they were insufficient. They could manage sin but never remove it. Then came Jesus, who offered one sacrifice for sins forever and sat down. The sitting is significant. A priest never sat down in the tabernacle because the work was never done. Jesus sat down because it was finished. This once-for-all reality means believers approach God not through ongoing performance but through a completed and eternal redemption.

Resurrection Life Is for Right Now

Dr. Holman is emphatic that resurrection benefits are not reserved for heaven alone. Citing Ephesians 2:4-7 and Romans 10:9-13, he calls listeners to receive salvation, healing, deliverance, and empowerment as present realities. In heaven, he notes, you will be so overwhelmed by the presence of God that you will not be thinking about earthly needs. The time to receive resurrection power is now. Whether facing sickness, financial pressure, job loss, or fear surrounding the 2020 pandemic, the risen Christ is actively interceding and His Spirit is actively working in every life that opens the door of faith to Him.

Frequently Asked Questions