Walking in Resurrection Power · Part 3
Reflection · April 26, 2026
Sunday’s Service · 10:00 AM
Stay Out of the Grave Living Resurrection as a Lifestyle
Citizens of HEAVEN · Living on Earth
Stay Out of the Grave is the urgent, living challenge Pastor Hector Boucet brought to The Gathering Church on April 26, 2026 — Part 3 of the series Walking in Resurrection Power — a call to move beyond a one-day Easter feeling and embrace resurrection as the rhythm of everyday life.
Pastor Hector Boucet
What happens after the celebration? You came out of the grave — but are you still wearing the grave clothes? And more importantly: are you willing to stay out?
“GOD didn’t raise you for a moment. HE raised you for a lifestyle.”
Easter comes with a rush of feeling — tears, worship, the weight of HIS resurrection settling into your chest. But what about Monday? What about the Tuesday after that? Pastor Hector Boucet had one pressing question for The Gathering on April 26: Are you living it? Not just celebrating it. Not just marking the date. Living it — as a lifestyle, as a daily decision, as a posture of the soul.
The crowd had felt GOD move. They had been shaken by HOLY SPIRIT fire. And then — for many — Monday came and the grave clothes went right back on. Old habits. Old thinking. Old identity. If that sounds familiar, this sermon was for you.
“We were therefore buried with HIM through baptism into death in order that, just as CHRIST was raised from the dead through the glory of THE FATHER, we too may live a new life.”Romans 6:4 · NIV
You Were Raised for a New Life — Not a New Day
Romans 6:4 does not say we were buried with HIM so we could feel something on Easter Sunday. It says we were raised so that we may live a new life. That is an ongoing, present-tense, daily reality. Pastor Boucet drew a clear line: resurrection is not proven by what you shout — it is proven by how you live.
Many people have a moment with GOD but never build a life with GOD. The moment is real — but a moment is not a lifestyle. CHRIST was not raised so you could have one extraordinary Sunday. HE was raised so that every ordinary Tuesday, every hard Wednesday, every tempted Friday could carry the same resurrection power. The question is whether you are choosing to walk in it.
“So I say, walk by the SPIRIT, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:16 · NIV“If HE raised me, I have to live like HIM. If HE got up, I don’t have to stay down.”— Pastor Hector Boucet
Take Off the Grave Clothes and Let HIM Go
In John 11:44, Lazarus walks out of the tomb — but he is still wrapped head to toe in burial linen. JESUS does not leave him that way. HE commands those standing nearby: Take off the grave clothes and let him go. Pastor Boucet made it personal: some of you came out of the grave, but you are still wearing what belonged in it. Old habits. Old identity. Old ways of thinking. You are free — but you are not living free.
Being alive is not the same as being free. JESUS said loose him and let him go — and many times, THE LORD wants to do exactly that for you. But we are the ones holding ourselves back. We cling to the familiar wrapping even when it suffocates. We blame HIM for our misery when HE has already called us out of the tomb. The choice to let go belongs to you. The determination has to come from your heart.
“The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. JESUS said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'”
John 11:44 · NIVStay Out of the Grave — Renew Your Mind Every Single Day
Colossians 3:2 commands us to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. Pastor Boucet put it plainly: you cannot live a resurrected life with a burial mindset. Where your mind goes, your life follows. The enemy will tempt you — JESUS HIMself was tempted in the desert, so do not think you are exempt. But it is not about whether you are tempted. It is what you do in that moment. When the HOLY SPIRIT says go this way and you drift the other way, you have not just made a mistake — you have paused GOD. And that pause, left unchecked, leads you right back into the grave.
The remedy is daily. Pray when you wake. Invite THE HOLY SPIRIT to guide each step. As you draw closer to HIM, HE draws closer to you — and the things that once pulled you under will begin to lose their grip. Stop going back to old habits and old places. Change. Renew your mind. Try to be better every single day. I am not fighting for victory — I am fighting from victory. Say it to your neighbor, say it to yourself, and then live like you mean it.
“I am not fighting for victory. I am fighting from victory.”Colossians 3:2 · Sunday’s Service · April 26, 2026
HE called you out. HE expects you to stay out. If you are struggling, if you feel stuck, if there is something you have not been able to let go — this is your moment. Declare in JESUS’ name that you come out free. Trust HIM to handle what you cannot. When THE LORD draws the line and says your part is here, let ME handle the rest — you hold that line and let HIM work. Stop trying to make things easier for GOD. Surrender completely, and watch HIM show off.
Watch the Full Sermon
Hear Pastor Hector Boucet preach Stay Out of the Grave live at The Gathering Church · April 26, 2026.
What grave clothes are you still wearing — and what would it look like to let THE LORD remove them today?