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Pastor Greg
John 11
Valentines Day is tomorrow.
We all have our perception of
love. It is usually skewed by pop culture.
Romantic comedies set the
expectations for many.
A poll found that most Americans
want to be loved over all other things.
Every love is going to be
challenged.
God loves and chose us before he
even created the world. It is an intentional love.
John 11 is about a tight knit
family that lost one they loved.
John 11:1-3 (NIV)
Now a man named Lazarus was sick.
He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. [2] (This Mary,
whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the
Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) [3] So the sisters sent word to Jesus,
“Lord, the one you love is sick.”
1. This story confirms that life
is filled with pain and sorrow and the death of loved ones. No one gets a free
pass on human suffering.
1 Peter 4:12 (NIV)
Dear friends, do not be surprised
at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something
strange were happening to you.
It is inevitable that tragedies
happen around you.
2. God loves us. Therefore
whatever he does or allows to happen is motivated by Gods love for you.
We do not what He is doing, but we
can be sure it is for us.
Many pray when this happens, but
it is a good idea to include "but your will be done."
Keep asking, keep seeking, keep
knocking.
Exodus 15:25 (NIV)
Then Moses cried out to the Lord,
and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the
water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for
them and put them to the test.
Isaiah 37:14 (NIV)
Hezekiah received the letter from
the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and
spread it out before the Lord.
Psalm 46:1 (NIV)
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
John 11:3 (NIV)
So the sisters sent word to
Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
They pleaded with Jesus based on
his love, not their love.
John 11:6 (NIV)
So when he heard that Lazarus was
sick, he stayed where he was two more days,
Even though he loved Lazarus he
still stayed where he was, it sounds almost like a contradiction. Why didn't
Jesus automatically heal him.
Even though we can not see how
the situation will end, we know that it flows through Gods love for us.
His delays are not dismisses.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)
He has made everything beautiful
in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom
what God has done from beginning to end.
We think of the small picture and
god looks at the big picture. We think of the here and now and He think of the
by and by.
Jesus waited so long to go to
Lazarus that Lazarus had died for 4 days.
John 11:20-26 (NIV)
When Martha heard that Jesus was
coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. [21] “Lord,” Martha
said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. [22] But
I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” [23] Jesus said to
her, “Your brother will rise again.” [24] Martha answered, “I know he will rise
again in the resurrection at the last day.” [25] Jesus said to her, “I am the
resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though
they die; [26] and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you
believe this?”
Martha was extremely upset,
saying that Jesus basically blew it.
Like when we ask, where is Jesus
every time something goes wrong.
When you pray, be honest with God
because he already knows what is happening. On the cross even Jesus cried out.
"My God My God why have you forsaken me."
We may wonder why, there is
nothing wrong with asking why. Just don't think that God owes you an answer.
Even if He did it explain it, would it matter?
We live on promises, not on
expectations!
Mary was upset and aggressive
too. John 11:32-36 (NIV)
When Mary reached the place where
Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died.” [33] When Jesus saw her weeping, and the
Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit
and troubled. [34] “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,”
they replied. [35] Jesus wept. [36] Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
3. Jesus weeps with us in our
time of pain.
Most men hold back the tears.
Greg's response is: John 11:35 (NIV)
Jesus wept.
Jesus feels our pain. If it
touches us, then it touches him.
Job 34:28 (NIV)
They caused the cry of the poor
to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy.
When He sees us cry He cares
Isaiah 53:3-4 (NIV)
He was despised and rejected by
mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people
hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. [4] Surely he
took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
Psalm 56:8 (NIV)
Record my misery; list my tears
on your scroll---are they not in your record?
We are reminded he keeps our
tears in a bottle. Some day he will wipe them away.
John 11:43 (NIV)
When he had said this, Jesus
called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
Lazarus would of been in a place
of comfort, but Jesus brought him back.
4. God can be glorified through
human suffering and bring good out of bad.
When a Christian suffers and
still glorifies God is a testament to our faith to others.
Your faith gets stronger through
hardship. Muscles grow through strength training.
Death is not the end, it is only
the end of our human existence.
God will be with you, he will
never leave you or forsake you.
Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep
over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames
will not set you ablaze.
God is never late.
No matter what our feeling is, he
is not late. He comes through when He knows is right.
We have to just trust him!
God loves you the way you are,
BUT he does not want to leave you that way!
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