In this Book of Matthew, a book concerning Christ versus religion, it is indeed impressive and meaningful that the ascension of Jesus is never mentioned. There is not one verse or word in this book telling us that He ascended to the heavens. This book is a book of Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23). How could He ascend to the heavens? He is with us! It is this book which also says, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (18:20). "Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the completion of the age." The church needs a present Christ. We believe that the Lord is undoubtedly in the heavens—Hallelujah! But today, He as the resurrected and living Christ is continually in the church with us. He is so wonderfully and really present. When we come together we do have the sense that while we are meeting He is here. We need this realization in all our meetings. We do not look to Him only as the ascended One, but as the present One. Hallelujah! Jesus is here!

Whenever I hear people speaking about Easter and saying that they will have a sunrise service, I always remark that every day to me is Easter and all our meetings are sunrise meetings. Every meeting is a celebration of the resurrected Christ. What day is it today? If it is Tuesday, then it must be Easter Tuesday. Every day should be Easter to us. Every meeting, whether it is in the morning or in the evening, must be a sunrise meeting. We should never have anything as a sunset, for we have the presence of the resurrected Christ!

Christians, especially in this country, are always asking where our headquarters are located. I would tell them now that if we have any headquarters, they are on the mountain top of Galilee. Our headquarters are with the resurrected Christ on the mountain top. We have nothing religious. All we have is the resurrected Christ. How much we all need to be delivered from the concept of religion! How much we have been poisoned with religious concepts, and how many religious concepts there are still in our blood! If you will pray-read all these verses, bring all these points to the Lord and put them into practical application, you will see how much you still need the deliverance of the Lord.

In conclusion what we have today is just the resurrected Christ. His authority is our power, and His presence is everything to us. His presence is our regulation, His presence is our creed, His presence is our teaching and our preaching. As long as we have His presence, we need nothing more and we want nothing more. Praise the Lord we have it. Hallelujah!