Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. Hey, turn to somebody right
now, give them a high five, tell them it's good
to see you on a Sunday. Good to see you on a
Sunday. Yeah. Excited about what God's doing,
what he's doing. Hey, if you would, sometime
today, if you would just breathe a prayer for
the youth team, the youth group. They're actually
in Tennessee now at Winterfest. They raised funds
for that. Some of you supported that just a little
while back, and they are down at that conference.
There's about 20 kids from LifeHouse that went.
There's about 300 from the state of Pennsylvania
out of the Church of Gods that went, and there's
12 ,000 students together in Tennessee. Come
on, they're down there worshiping God. Yeah,
it's awesome. I don't know if you've ever been
where 12 ,000 students are praising God, but
it's an amazing, amazing thing. I've had the
opportunity to do that. So just be in prayer.
They're going to have service this morning, and
they'll be traveling back in that long drive
back home, and they'll come home tired, weary,
hoarse, you name it. But it'll be a great weekend
for them. So we're excited about what God's doing.
Well, listen, we've been hanging out in the book
of John now for some time, and we've been leading
up to chapter 11, which is where we're going
today. And just to give you a little backstory
leading up to that, in chapters 9 and 10, Jesus
heals a blind man. We've heard about him several
times over the last few weeks. And when that
takes place, there are many people in that area
that believe in Jesus. They believe he's the
Messiah. They believe that he's the son of God.
But there's a group of people who don't. believe.
There's Pharisees and some of the Jews who begin
to argue with Jesus, and they publicly get into
these discussions and arguments, one after the
other, with this same group of people. And as
Jesus interacts with these group of unbelievers,
they just simply refuse to believe the indisputable
proof that Jesus is Lord, that He is Savior,
and that He's the Son of God. And this particular
group gets so angry They get so frustrated as
they talk with Jesus that they want to take him
out. They want to kill him. They want to stone
him to death. That's what they did back then.
They'd either stone you to death or take you
up on a cliff and throw you off. They were super
gentle about the whole thing, right? They were
angry. And when Jesus finally gets to the last
discussion with them, and it's about to end,
something happened, and I call it the Holy Ghost
whammy. How many of you ever heard of the Holy
Ghost whammy? Good. I just made that up. But
he did, he put the Holy Ghost by me. And this
happened a lot because at different times Jesus
would be speaking, people would get angry, people
would get saved. Some people were following God,
others were getting angry with them and they
wanted to stone them or throw them off a cliff
or do something crazy like that. And all of a
sudden the Holy Spirit would move and they wouldn't
be able to see Jesus. He'd be right in front
of them and he would just walk right out of the
crowd. He walks through the crowd. I call it
the Holy Ghost whammy. And that's what took place.
Jesus walks away and him and his disciples, meet
up again and they decide they're done all together
ministering in this place with this group of
people. And they finally make the decision to
move on to minister somewhere else. And they
head to the area where John the Baptist was originally
seen in scripture. When Jesus actually came to
John the Baptist to be water baptized, they go
to this area that's called Beth Tadbarah. I probably
pronounced that wrong. For all of you that are
about pronunciation, you can look it up and correct
me later. Send me an email. But this was located
just on the other side of the Jordan River, and
it was likely on the eastern bank opposite Jericho.
And it identified as the place of crossing. And
this is where the disciples in Jesus end up.
And the scriptures say that they begin to minister
there, and many people believe. Many people believe
that he's the Messiah. Many people believe in
Jesus. He does miracles. And while they're ministering
in this place, in this particular place where
John the Baptist had been baptizing, word comes
to Jesus from a town that's nearby called Bethany.
It's about a day's journey away. And the news
is this, your friend Lazarus is sick. He is ill.
He's very sick. And that's what we're going to
pick up in John chapter 11. So if you've got
your Bibles, turn to John chapter 11. While you're
turning there, we're going to start at verse
1. I'm going to pray over the reading of God's
word. And actually, I'm going to pray over your
hearing, your listening, and our hearts. Amen.
Father, thank you for this day. I thank you for
the opportunity, Lord, to come into your word.
God, to read and to learn. And God, most of all,
to see you. So Lord, as we go into your word,
write it on our hearts, speak it into our minds
and our spirit. Holy Spirit, we ask right now,
you just stir it up within us. And Lord, we just
give you praise. and glory in Jesus' name. Everybody
say it together. Amen. Amen. John chapter 11
verse 1 says this, Now that a certain man was
sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and
her sister Martha, it was that Mary who anointed
the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet
with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
Therefore the sisters sent to him. Right? They
send word to Jesus. This is a family. It's Lazarus.
It's Mary. It's Martha. They live in the same
household. They're siblings. And Laz gets sick,
and they send word to Jesus, who's about a day's
journey away. And it's saying, Lord, behold,
he whom you love is sick. Your friend, your good
friend is sick. They send a message to Jesus.
And when Mary and Martha send this message to
Jesus, it isn't just informational in nature.
It's an invitation for Jesus to come because
they know that the power of God works through
him. They know that if Jesus comes, Lazarus is
going to get better because Jesus can heal him.
Verse 4 says, then when Jesus heard that, he
said, this sickness is not unto death, but for
the glory. Say glory. Glory. Now, I grew up in
a Pentecostal church. We are a Pentecostal denomination.
And we used to have these individuals when you
were preaching, they'd say amen. And there was
this one guy in particular, he would say glory.
But he wouldn't just say glory. He had one of
those nice, deep, bass voices. And he'd go, glory.
Turn to your neighbor and do that one time. Come
on, just give it a shot. Just give them a glory.
All right? If it was something he liked in Scripture,
he'd just go, glory, right? Well, this sickness
is not unto death, but it is for the glory of
God, that the Son of God might be glorified through
it. And when Jesus heard this, right, when Jesus
hears the news, He tells his disciples, this
sickness isn't for death. It doesn't have the
purpose of death. This is not a sickness that's
going to lead to death. And he just says this
specifically to them. Now, this is an interesting
statement to make because how many know death
is kind of a final thing, right? If you know
anything about death, when death comes, it kind
of means that you're done. You're finished. I
say it finito, right? You could be humorous and
say you're headed for the dirt nap. Okay, some
of you will catch up with that later. All right,
when you die, it's a final thing. And it's interesting
that Jesus says this isn't unto death because
I'm going to give you a little spoiler alert.
Lazarus dies. He says this very thing. And the
statement that Jesus make is super interesting
because we know the rest of the story. If you're
familiar with the scripture, I know the rest
of the story. You may not, but four days, Lazarus
dies and he's four days dead before Jesus even
gets there. And Jesus says, this sickness isn't
unto death. Even though Jesus knows that Lazarus
is going to die. Why did he say that? I mean,
did Jesus lie here? I don't think so. Jesus never
sinned. Was he just trying to think positive
and wanted his 12 disciples not to get worried,
so he just said something positive, right? Did
he not just want to be a downer in the whole
discussion? Why would Jesus say this? It's because
of this. Death is a chronic condition. Death
is a final thing. When you're dead, it's over.
It's done. It's finito. Say finito. Yeah, you're
done. It's like done, done. You don't recover
from death. You don't die and then you go to
the doctor or somebody goes to the doctor for
you because you can't and they get you a prescription.
They come in and dump it into your mouth and
all of a sudden you come back alive. That's not
how it works. We all know that. You don't bounce
back. You don't recuperate from death. It's a
final thing. And death had to this point in time
from the beginning of time when sin first got
introduced and death came on the scene. Up until
this time, death was a chronic condition. It
was irreversible condition until Jesus, until
Jesus came. That would have been a great place
for you to go like glory, all right? Seriously,
until Jesus. When Jesus showed up on the earth,
death shifted from chronic to acute. It is not
chronic with Jesus. When death is around and
Jesus shows up, death has to flee. Life begins
to take over. We're heading into Easter season.
It's what it's all about. Jesus came out of the
grave, and Jesus knew this. He knew this about
himself. So he said, this sickness is not unto
death, but for the glory of God, that the Son
of God might be glorified through it. The disciples
didn't know that Lazarus was dead. They're thinking
he's just sick and he's going to recover. But
Jesus is thinking, I'm about to reverse the curse.
I'm about to change what took place in the garden.
I'm about to overcome death in the grave. It
is no longer going to be an acute, a chronic
thing. It's going to be acute thing. And when
I show up, right, there's going to be life. Going
to be life. That's another great spot. You can
say glory. I'm going to get you in this yet.
All right. There it is. All right. Verse 5 says
this. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister
Mary and Lazarus. They were close friends. They
were family friends. So when he heard that Laz,
right, he was sick, he, Jesus, stayed two more
days in the place where he was. Jesus is a day's
journey from where Lazarus is. Jesus gets the
news. with the disciples that Lazarus is sick,
and Jesus doesn't rush off to see Lazarus. He
doesn't head that direction, even though he got
word. He stays where he's at two days longer
on purpose. He and the Father have a plan. He,
the Father, and the Holy Spirit are about to
show the world that Jesus not only has the power
over nature, he does not only have power over
the demonic, he doesn't only have power to speak
things into existence, but he has power Over
death as well. Death, hell, and the grave. Verse
7 said this. Then after this, he said to his
disciples, let's go to Judea again. That's where
Bethany's at. Let's head there. Two days go by.
The disciples said to him, Rabbi, lately the
Jews, now they just think Lazarus is still sick,
lately the Jews sought to stone you, and you're
going there again? Jesus answered, are there
not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the
day, he does not stumble, because he sees the
light of this world. But if one walks in the
night, he stumbles, because the light is not
in him. These things he said, and after this
he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but
I go that I may wake him up. The disciples still
don't know, right? Lazarus is dead at this point,
long dead. And they just think he's sick. And
Jesus doesn't, he doesn't fill him in on everything.
In fact, at this point, he's just kind of underplaying
the whole thing. Lazarus is sleeping, and I'm
going to go wake him up. And I can see the disciples,
they're probably confused. They're probably thinking,
well, Jesus, you know, he's got two sisters.
If he's taking a nap, I'm pretty sure they could
shake him, right? They can wake him up. Why do
we got to go there? What's that got to do with
anything? So the disciples, I can see them in
their confusion. They give their best response
in verse 12. Then his disciples said, Lord, if
he sleeps, he'll get well, right? How many know
if you sleep, you get better, right? First thing
you do, go sleep. However, Jesus spoke of his
death, but they thought that he was speaking
about taking rest in his sleep. And then Jesus
drops the bomb on the disciples. He just tells
them plainly. Verse 14 says, then Jesus said
to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I'm glad
for your sakes that I was not there that you
might believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.
They're stunned. They're confused. They're thinking
Lazarus is just sick and sleeping. Jesus said
this isn't unto death. Lazarus is now dead. Jesus
just told them they're dead. They're thinking
in their minds, wait a minute. You said he was
sleeping. You said he wasn't going to die. Now
he's dead. You're telling us he's dead. How many
know sometimes you don't even know what to say,
right, in a conversation? I can see the disciples
just standing there like. I don't even know what
to say. Have you ever been in a conversation,
and it went somewhere, and you're just like,
you don't even know what to say next? Anybody
else other than me just stand there with this
confused look on your face in a conversation,
right? And then Thomas, and when you have that,
sometimes you say whatever comes to your mind.
And I think that's what happens with Thomas here,
because in verse 16 it says, then Thomas, who's
one of the 12 disciples, who's called the twins,
said to the fellow disciples, let us go, that
we may die with them. What? Right? What? I can
see the other 11 like, huh? You know, he says
this thing. And maybe, I don't know, maybe Thomas
was like, you know, this must be a whole Jesus
metaphor. You know, maybe there's some deep spiritual
thing that we're going to learn. So let's just
go. Let's go die with them. You know, maybe he
thought it was a metaphor of some kind. Maybe
he thought it was like a parable kind of thing.
I'm not sure what was happening. But let's go
die. Woo -hoo! That's what happened. And I wonder,
I think these things, I'm reading the shares,
I'm thinking, did the other 11 just stand there
with this weird, awkward silence for a long period
of time after this whole interaction? I don't
know. Maybe they just stood there and shook their
heads. They were confused. More than likely.
17 says this. So when Jesus came, came to Bethany,
he found that he had already been, Lazarus had
already been in the tomb four days. Say four
days. That's dead, all right? Now, Bethany was
near Jerusalem, about two miles away, and many
of the Jews had joined the women around Martha
and Mary to comfort them and their brother. Now,
Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming,
went and met him, but Mary was still sitting
in the house. Jesus gets close to where they
live. He's late. He missed the funeral. Lazarus
is already in the grave, and Martha comes out
to meet Jesus, and Mary stays in the house. And
I feel like you need a little backstory here
to truly understand the family dynamic with Mary,
Martha, and Lazarus, because they're mentioned
in another place in Scripture. At another point
in time, Jesus was actually at their house ministering,
and the house was full of people as Jesus ministered.
And when this particular scenario took place,
Martha, who I think is the firstborn, I can't
confirm that, but I'm thinking she has to be
the firstborn. She's running around the house,
and she's getting everybody iced tea. She's making
sure everybody's got water. She's making sure
the ice bucket's completely full. She's got snacks
on the table. She's running here. She's running
there. taking care of everybody. Mary has to
be the baby of the family, right? She's sitting
at Jesus' feet just listening. And Martha keeps
running around and running around, and Mary just
keeps listening to Jesus teach. And finally,
Martha gets so frustrated with her sister that
she tells Jesus, now I'm paraphrasing, Jesus,
please tell my sister to get some enthusiasm
and get up and help me. Help me take care of
all these people. And Jesus looks at Martha and
says, Martha, you are busy about many things,
but you're missing the one thing, the one important
thing, and that's listening to me. That's what
happens in this story. And if you read that story,
Martha kind of gets a bad rap, right? She seems
like the spiritually shallow one. And Mary's
the one who's sitting at Jesus' feet, just listening.
And Martha's just concerned about all this stuff.
But as you read these different scenarios, and
as I read about Martha, I realize something about
Martha. Martha's kind of large and in charge.
I think she was the firstborn. I think she took
care of business. And even at this particular
scenario, when Jesus is coming near Bethany,
she's the first one out. of the house, and she
comes to meet Jesus one -on -one, right? Mary's
just in there with the mourners. She's sad. She's
in there, and she comes out of the house. I think
she was taking up business. Her brother has died.
You know, somebody has to be in charge. Somebody's
got to take care. And she comes out and meets
Jesus, who's their good friend, and is four days
late. Funeral was over. Lazarus is already sealed
up in the grave. And verse 21 says, now Martha
said, and I think this is a great scripture,
one of the most amazing verses in the Bible.
Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you would
have been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now, I know that whatever you ask of
God, God will give it to you. This is Martha
talking. I think it's one of the most amazing
verses because I think it's one of the most authentic
verses of how somebody feels. I think Martha,
I don't know, again, I wasn't there, but I think
Martha was half mad at Jesus. I think she was
half ticked off that he didn't get there, right?
He didn't get there to heal her brother. Her
brother's in the grave because Jesus didn't show
up in time and he didn't come right away at their
word. And I think she's half mad at Jesus and
in her grief and in her pain and her frustration
and in Jesus' tardiness, right? She feels the
cost of her brother passing away. But she follows
up that statement with a complete statement of
faith in Jesus. She says, but even now, I know
whatever you ask of God, God will give it to
you. Right? Even now, whatever you ask of God
the Father, God will give it. I don't know what
you're going to do, Jesus. I don't know what
it's going to look like at this point because
it all seems too late. But whatever you ask,
whatever you say, it's going to happen. This
is deep, deep faith. She had faith that if Jesus
would have showed up before Lazarus died, that
Lazarus would still be alive. She also had faith
that after Lazarus did die and it's four days
late, that whatever Jesus says is going to happen
is going to happen. She's talking faith. All
the way in her hurt, in her frustration, right?
In her pain. And you can hear it. You can hear
it in her. If we want to witness the glory of
God in our lives, we got to start making great
statements of faith in Jesus. Can I say it again?
That would have been another good place for glory.
All right? I got glory myself. All right? If
we want to witness the glory of God in our lives,
start making great statements of faith in Jesus.
I've already given you the spoiler alert. Lazarus'
death, right, is not chronic. It's not. He's
about to come out of the grave. Martha doesn't
know it yet, but she's believing Jesus that anything
is possible. If we want the glory of God to show
up in our lives, in the difficult situation,
if we want the hand of God, the purpose of God,
the plan of God to unfold, I've got to start
making great statements of faith. I got to start
speaking it before I ever see it. I got to start
making statements of faith and releasing them
into the atmosphere around me. I got to make
statements of faith when it doesn't make any
sense, right? When it's already dead and gone,
right? When it seems like it's all over. I got
to make statements of faith that Jesus can do
anything. I got to make statements of faith when
I'm hurting and when I'm frustrated. I got to
make statements of faith when I feel it and when
I don't feel it. I got to make those statements
of faith. When I can't see my way forward, when
it's hard, when the pain of whatever you're walking
through is almost more than you can bear. And
even if I'm half mad at Jesus, like Martha was,
even if I'm half mad, she's making declarations
of faith in Jesus. Whatever you say, Jesus, is
going to happen. It's already done. It's already
done. She doesn't ask Jesus to raise her brother
from the dead. She just says, Jesus, whatever
your will and purpose is, I'm trusting in that.
I believe whatever you do, whatever you say.
There is no deeper faith in God than to make
this statement, I don't know what's happening,
Jesus. I don't know how this is all going to
work out. I don't know how this is all going
to go, but I trust you with everything that's
in me. And I lay it in your hands, and I know
that you can do whatever. Whether it seems impossible
or not, you can do it. That is the greatest statement
of faith. And Martha has faith in Jesus. Amen?
And this faith continues, continues. Listen,
John 11, 23, Jesus said to her. Your brother
will rise again. Martha said to him, I know he
will rise again in the resurrection at the last
day. Right? She's still wrestling. I know, Jesus.
I know. I'm sure I can believe it for now. But
I know one day he's going to rise, right? One
day we're all going to go to heaven. If you're
redeemed, I know my brother will rise. I know
he'll get there. You can hear it again. And it
reminds me of a story in Mark 9, verse 23, about
a guy who was in the same kind of position. Because
in Mark chapter 9, 23, there's a man who has
a son who has a condition where this son has
actually got a spirit that's plaguing him. A
spirit that begins to... urged this son to act
out. And this boy, he gnashes his teeth. He falls
on the ground. He throws himself in the fire
at times. He throws himself down on the ground
at times. He even, and this dad doesn't know
what to do. The word of God says that this boy
even, the demon that plagues him tries to throw
him in the fire and tries to throw him in the
water both. And they bring him to Jesus' disciples
and the disciples can't do anything. And this
desperate father comes to the disciples so that
this boy is healed. and it doesn't happen. So
they bring him to Jesus and look what Jesus says.
And Jesus said to him, if you can believe all
things are possible to him who believes. And
immediately the father of the child cried out
and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Then he
said, help my unbelief. Anybody ever feel that
way? Lord, I believe. Oh, help my unbelief. Do
you hear the struggle? That's what Martha was
in. This is us sometimes. It was Martha in the
middle of the emotion. It was this desperate
father. And sometimes it's us. I want to keep
making statements of faith, but man, I struggle
sometimes. The thought comes into my head. The
doubt starts to creep in there, right? Lord,
I believe, but help my own belief. And Jesus
says to Martha in 25, 11, 25, I am the resurrection
of life. He who believes in me, though he may
die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes
in me shall never die. Do you believe this? He's
challenging her again. He sees the faith in her.
She said, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the
Christ, the Son of God who has come into the
world. She just keeps making statement of faith
after statement of faith after statement of faith.
She's one after the other. You are the Christ.
You are the one. She keeps speaking it. She hasn't
seen it yet, but she's believing it. How many
know we tend to complain instead of making a
statement of faith when things are going crazy,
right? I don't know about you, but it is easy
for a complaint to roll off my mouth when things
aren't going well. I wish, and I'm going to start
checking myself, I need to stop and make a statement
of faith. When things are sideways, when things
are going awry, when things are a mess, you got
to stop and make a statement of faith. And you
hear it in her words. You hear it. And I know
whatever God's going to do, it's going to be
right. It's going to be good. It's going to be
God. Dixie said it this morning. She didn't look
at my message notes, by the way. Expecting God's
glory to show up in the middle of the mess is
faith in Jesus. Expectation. What is your expectation?
If you're not sure of the outcome, what are you
expecting God to do? Did you come in the house
this morning expecting God to do anything? Or
did you just walk in here and figure, ah, it's
Sunday. This is what I do on a Sunday. I get
up. I go to church. I hopefully hear something
that perks me up a little bit. I'm going to go
home, have a good lunch, take a nap, and get
back up Monday and start all over again. Right?
That's what we do. Or did you come in expecting
God to do something? Did you expect God to shake
heaven and earth, right? And I'm not telling
you it's your words are the only thing that moves
God. God's sovereign, man. He can move and do
anything He pleases anytime He wants. He is supreme.
That's what sovereign means. He is supreme. He
is all -powerful. He can move anytime He chooses.
But I can tell you that it is more likely that
God's glory is going to show up, that God's going
to move, that He's going to shake heaven and
earth when you're speaking statements of faith.
It is all through God's Word. You can go into
Matthew 13, 53, and it'll describe a scenario
where Jesus travels into his own country, to
his hometown, right? This isn't my hometown.
I could go back to my hometown of Wimber. Jesus
does that in Matthew 12, 53. He goes back to
his hometown. And do you know what happens when
he goes there? He preaches the word. He heals
a couple people. But the word of God says that
the people that are there, that know him, they're
like, Jesus, Jesus, I remember Jesus. I know
his brothers, right? His brothers. I know James
and Joseph and Simon and Judas. And his sisters
are actually right here with us right now. And
I remember this guy. His dad was a carpenter,
Joseph. And, oh, his mom. I remember his mom.
He was the one that doesn't look like all the
other kids because, well, yeah. Jesus goes to
his hometown, and they start talking. And the
word of God says that he did a few, only a few
miracles there because they were offended at
him. They weren't speaking statements of faith.
They were speaking doubt. They were complaining.
And he leaves his hometown and he's in very little
ministry there because the word of God says in
57, because of their unbelief. Unbelief. We don't
give Martha near enough credit, do we? We always
look at her as the busy bee that was running
around the house. She was a woman of faith. She
was a woman of great faith. I used to say I wanted
to be married. Not anymore. If I was going to
be somebody like somebody, I'd want to be more
like Martha. Martha was a woman of faith. She
spoke faith when it was hard. She spoke faith
when she needed to. Praise him if you'd come.
And as they're coming, I got to read you the
rest of the story because I know I already told
you what's going to happen, but I got to read
it anyway. John 11, 28 says this. When she had
said these things, she went her way and secretly
called Mary, her sister, saying, the teacher
has come and he's calling for you. Jesus comes
and now he's calling for Mary. As soon as she
heard that, she arose quickly and came to him.
Now Jesus had not yet come into town, but was
in the place where Martha met him. And when the
Jews who were with her in the house and comforting
her, and when they saw that Mary rose up quickly
and went out of the house, followed her saying,
she's going to the tomb to weep there. And when
Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, now
this is younger sister, right? Well, at least
I think she was younger. The one that was in
the house, she fell down at his feet saying to
him, Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother
would have not died. She says the exact same
thing Martha said to Jesus. Lord, if you'd have
been here, he wouldn't have died. She's half
ticked off too. They probably had a talk, right?
Now listen to 33. Therefore, when Jesus saw her
weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping,
he groaned in his spirit and was troubled. Do
you know the difference between Mary and Martha?
Martha came, said the exact same thing. Lord,
if you'd have been here, my brother would be
alive. Martha, Mary says the same thing, but
Martha followed up with a statement of faith
right after it. Lord, I know that you can do
anything, and if you say the word, it's going
to happen. Mary shows up, says the exact same
phrase, but no statement of faith afterward,
and Jesus groans in his spirit. Mary comes with
a bunch of mourners, and people are weeping,
and Jesus groans. And verse 34 says, and he,
Jesus said, where have you laid him? And they
said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept.
When the Jews said, now listen, Jesus did not
weep because of Lazarus' death. He was weeping
because of the lack of faith of those who were
following along. And then Jews said, see how
he loved him. And some of them said, could not
this man who opened his eyes to the blind also
kept this man from dying? Do you hear a statement
of faith there? That's doubt, right? Well, there
he is, that guy, if he'd have been here, right?
It would have happened. Then Jesus, again, groaning
in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave,
and the stone lay against it. Jesus said, take
away the stone, Martha. And Martha and sister
of him who was dead said to him, Lord, by this
time, there's a stench, for he's been dead for
four days. Martha can't help herself. She's always
about the details. Jesus says, roll the stone
away. Martha's like, Lord, it's going to stink.
He's been dead for four days in there, funeral's
over, right? But Jesus said to her, next verse,
Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that
if you would believe, you would see the glory
of God, right? And they took away the stone from
that place where the dead man was lying, and
Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I
thank you that you have heard me. I know that
you always hear me, but because of the people
who were standing by, I said this, that they
may believe that you sent me. Now, when he had
said these things, he cried with a loud voice,
Lazarus, come forth. And he who died came out
bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his
faith was wrapped in cloth. And Jesus said, lose
them and let them go. Come on, can I get you
to stand? to this message from Lifehouse Church.
We pray that you were impacted powerfully by
this message. If you have been personally affected
by our ministry and you would like to partner
with us as we love God, love people every day,
visit our website at