Not Everyone is excited! (John 11:45-56)

Sometimes in life we get exciting news, we want to run out and tell everyone, then after telling some people you find out not everyone is happy about it?  Imagine that you had a very sick friend on the brink of death, for days you and your friends prayed for a miracle.  Then after a few days of prayer your friend who was all but dead sits up and says I feel great. The doctors come in and look at him run some test and say he no longer sick.  You run out into streets and begin to tell people all about it, than you hear that some people are upset, in fact they are plotting to kill your friend.  They are worried because all of a sudden they realize that people may come and follow God, and then you realize that your life is in danger as well.  This is what happened when Christ raised Lazarus from the grave.   We read in John 11:49-55; “Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, ^50 ^enor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” ^51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ^52 and  not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.^53 Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. ^54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called ^jEphraim, and there remained with His disciples.” 

You would think that of all things everyone would be happy to see a man that was once dead, be alive again?  But that is not the case here at all, no in fact the main reason they are concerned and upset is that more people are coming to believe in Christ as the Messiah.  This is not all that different today, many people do want to hear about God and how His Son came to earth to save us.  They believe that by coming to accept Christ means that they are no longer able to do what they want to do, that people are going to mock them, or they just do not want to admit that they are living in sin and need a God to save them from Hell.  They do not want us to tell them about Gods love for them and how He has a plan of salvation for their lives.  God sent Christ to earth knowing before He ever was born that He would die on a Cross.  This was all part of Gods plan, He knew that not everyone would be happy about Lazarus, He knew that this would be the one miracle that pushed the religious leaders over the top.

When we come against people that just hate us because we are followers of Christ it is best not to push them away.  God has placed them in front of us so that we can continue to show them the love God has for them.  We can so easily forget about God’s love for them, and want to curse those that make life hard for us, that are ready to put us down when good things come our way.  But we must push forward in love and show them who God is and how much He loves them.  Let us look at Acts 16:16-38, Paul and Silas are imprisoned for preaching the word of God.  While in prison they are singing and praising God.  While all of this is going on there is a earthquake, the jailer thinking that the prisoners escaped prepares to commit suicide when Paul yells out stop we are here.  The Jailer and his family come to know Christ.  Are we truly able to sing and praises to God during the tough times in life?

True Life comes through Christ: John 11:25-26 (September 23 morning service)

We live in a society that wants us to tell them that there are multiple ways to believe in God, and that many roads will lead to Heaven.  Yet as we look through scripture, the Old and New Testament continually points to Christ as the road to eternal life.  We are reminded of that once again in the conversation that Martha is having with Christ in John chapter 11.  Christ tells Martha; “I am the resurrection and the 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?”(25-26)  Notice He did yet tell her that He is going to go to the tomb and rise her brother from the dead.  What encouraging words for all of us who have accepted Christ into our lives.  We no longer have to fear death, that doesn’t mean we are going to go out try some death defying feat.  But it does mean that we know when the time comes what is on the other side of death.  This is also comforting news to all of us who have lost loved ones that had accepted Christ into their lives before death; we understand that we are going to see to them again. 

It is easy to want to believe that all that is required to enter into heaven is a simple belief in Christ, that all one has to do is say a prayer get up and go on living their life.  Never having to change a thing about how they live.  But we have to understand that there’s so much more than that.  When we truly accept Christ it is a life changing event, Peter talks about this in the first chapter of 1^st Peter, in verses 13- 15 he tells us; “ So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the special blessings that will come to you at the return of Jesus Christ. Obey God because you are his children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn’t know any better then.  But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God—who chose you to be his children—is holy. For he himself has said, “You must be holy because I am holy.”  We are no longer to live for ourselves, our lives are to revolve around God.  The word holy means to set apart, to be dedicated to God.   We who accepts the love of Christ are to allow God to transform us in into a person who is no longer concerned with how the world views us but with how God views us.

But why should we come to God and give our lives to Him does He really care about us. The answer is yes He loves us more then we can ever understand.  Notice that when Christ goes to the tomb before He instructs them to remove the stone, we read that “He wept.”  He just didn’t walk over and show no emotions for the loss of Martha and Mary’s brother, no He wept he mourned with them.  God is not just sitting up in heaven looking down at us not caring about us, He cares deeply and wants to see us come to Him and love Him as He loves us.  This also means that as we come to know God we are to become like God, His Holy Spirit enters into us and we read and study His word, pray to Him, then we too begin to care about people.  We begin to understand that the world and universe, is not about what we desire in this life, but what God desires for us.  God loves us so much that He sent His own son to come and die on a cross.  He didn’t give it a second thought, Christ did not give it a second thought, They willing gave us life through the cross.  Are we going to willing give our lives to God to change and mold us into who He wants us to be?

When we Pray to God we can Pray in Confidence! (John 11)

If you remember when we began  talking about John chapter 11 I told you this really starts out as a prayer.  The sisters of Lazarus send a message to Christ saying your friend is sick come quickly.  This may not sound like a prayer but it is, you see they unlike us today, had Christ the person walking with them, all the people that asked Christ to heal, were asking  God in the flesh.  We don’t have that same type of ability because Christ is alive but He is living with God the Father in Heaven.  In essence we speak to God through the Holy Sprite.  Paul tells us in Romans 8, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes^{ } with sighs too deep for words.(vs26)  Is that not great to know that when we pray to God not only does he hear it but His spirit knows what we need in our weakness when we do not even know how to pray.  We see this in Chapter eleven of John.

We see Martha going out to greet Christ as He comes, her first words to Him are, “Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. ^ But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”(21-22)  I love Martha’s immediate response, if you had been here only sooner.  If you had acted sooner, if you would only done this, had you acted when I came to you.  Are these not the same reactions we have sometimes when we pray?  We look and see the physical world around and forget that God created it all, we forget that there is a spiritual world out there.  We pray with little confidence, because we fail to understand that our God is bigger than what are eyes can see.  We begin to listen to the voices around that say, your God is not strong enough.  It reminds me of a King that ruled Judah named Hezekiah.  Hezekiah was a Godly King and he loved God, one day the Assyrians came by and they wanted to take over Judah.  So the commander of the Assyrian troops sent messages to the people of Judah saying you cannot put faith in your God for no one can deliver you from us, give up.  To make a long story short God defeated the Assyrian Army, you can read all about it in 2^nd Chronicles chapter 32.

Do you notice the second phrase that Martha says to Christ, “But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”  We who have been in the church for our whole lives and have heard hundreds of messages on this chapter may have forgotten those words. They are words of encouragement though.  So many times we pray to God, and in the back of our minds if we are truly being honest with ourselves we are saying, what if God can’t do it?  We have to stop praying that way, we need to begin to think what happens when God answers this prayer with a yes.  How much is going to change when God begins to work in our lives because instead of praying small weak prayers we are praying for God to do mighty miracles in our churches.  All of the sudden that person you have been praying for to come to Church shows up and accepts Christ, and now you are worried because you realize they know some really embarrassing stories about you, and you are praying for something else in their life.

Heaven is it really that important?

I grew up in the church, and went to church for as long as I can remember, I even went to lots of chapel services as a student at Bible College and sat through many revivals yet I cannot recall hearing one sermon on Heaven.  We are called to live for the Kingdom of God so that we don’t go to hell and go to heaven.  I have been told more of what hell is going to be like then heaven.  I have heard streets of Gold, rivers of milk and honey, and all that.  I remember being told that in heaven we are going to be praising God all the time.  I often have had this misguided notion that we are going to be in a church service for eternity.  Truth be told when I first thought of doing this series I thought 4 weeks tops on heaven, after all the bible doesn’t have that much to tell us about it after all.  I was wrong the bible has a lot to tell us about heaven, the truth is if we want to live for the kingdom of God we need to understand what heaven is.   I remember the summer before my senior year in college I was able to take a trip to England and visit the sights that John Wesley and other great theologians came from.  For about a month before going I studied up on England, watch what the weather was doing so I knew what to pack.  I would assume that many of you do the same before taking a trip somewhere.  Yet we don’t really look at studying Heaven as those that Serve God we know it is where we are going spend eternity.  But for some reason we never look at it.

This has not always been true in the past, the early Christians often spoke of Heaven.   In fact in the catacombs where the bodies of many martyred Christians where buried contain tombs with inscriptions such as these: “In Christ, Alexander is not dead, but lives. One who lives with God.  He was taken up into his eternal Home.  One historian writes, “Pictures on the catacomb walls portray Heaven with beautiful landscapes, children playing, and people feasting at banquets.”  In AD 125, a Greek named Aristides wrote to a friend about Christianity, explaining why this “new religion” what so successful: “If any righteous man among the Christians passes this world rejoice and offer thanks to God, and they escort his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out form one place to another nearby.”   Why shouldn’t they have been excited for all this, after all Paul wrote “^ For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ^ But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. ^For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” (Philippians1:21-23)  He also wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 “As long as we are at home in the body we are away from the lord… We… would to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (I suggest reading verses 1-8)

The place of Heaven is a very real place it is not like some may think of as a place that spirits just float around and look like a spirit from Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol.  No Heaven and the new earth is going to be what this earth was meant to be.  We must begin to put our focus on Heaven, living for the Kingdom God because we understand what it is, not because of what we think it is but because we are to dig into the bible and learn and begin to understand Heaven.  We read in Revaluation 21:1-8, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. ^ Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ^And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ^And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

^ Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

^And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. ^ He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. ^ But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

I believe that these verses alone tell us two things, first that Heaven is a physical place where we are going to be able to spend eternity, with the Holy and an all-powerful God.  Second that we need to not only make sure we are living for God but we making sure that others come to know God.  Christ said in John 14:2-4 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  ^In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ^ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ^And where I go you know, and the way you know.”   Many people probably get a picture in there head of Christ up in Heaven with overhauls on and a carpenters belt on looking at blue prints and building a home for them.  But what Christ is saying hear I am on my way to the cross so that you may entire into Heaven.  The price for you get into Heaven is going to be paid for.  All you have to do is follow me join my Kingdom and leave this earth behind.  Come and allow me to show you something better than this earth.  As Paul tells us in 1^st Corinthians 15: 50-56,  “What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These perishable bodies of ours are not able to live forever.

 But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die.  For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die.

 When this happens—when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die—then at last the Scriptures will come true:

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

*qoutes from Randy Alcorn book Heaven*

We Need Not Live in Fear! (John Chapter 11)

So many people who claim to be Christians are living lives as if they are fearful of what others may think of them.  They walk around with their heads down, and a not looking very cheerful at all.  They do not look like someone who is walking in the light but like someone walking in the dark.  Christ told His disciples, “Are there not twelve 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.”(John11:9-10)  You may say, that is easy to say, so what does that mean for us?  When Christ said this, His disciples had just warned Him that where He wanted to go people wanted to kill Him.  What Christ is saying, He saying I am walking in complete obedience to God and doing His will for my life.  What that means for us as believers is that we have nothing to fear not even death, for there is nothing that can stop God’s plan for our lives, as long as we are following Him. 

Chronicles 25

It is easy for us to get caught up in what is going on in the world around us, then all of sudden before we know it we are drowning in all the problems we have.  During those times we can easily forget about taking time out with God, taking that half an hour or hour with God.  We think we have to get things done and figure out where to get the money to pay the bills, and kids are screaming so on and so on.  We begin to forget that God is there waiting for us to turn to Him, but the longer we don’t go to Him the closer we are walking into the darkness.  Before we know it we are coming to Church on Sundays but that’s it, we aren’t praying we aren’t reading our bible.  We begin to live in fear, walking around with our heads down, and seeing the world in a view of  there is nothing we can do to fix our lives, and wondering how did we get here?  There is great news, we serve a God that wants us to come to Him and pray to Him, allow Him to take over our lives and Guide us into the light.

Paul says in Romans 8:31-39, “ What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?

 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.

 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death?  (Even the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”^*)  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. ³⁹ Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

As we see we need no longer live in fear, we no longer need to worry about the world around us.  We only need to live in Christ, we need to allow God to come in and understand that with God on our side we need not fear even death.  I like what Thomas says after Christ tells them live in the light. “ Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”(John 11:16)  Are we willing to live our lives for God without fear, understanding that we do not have to fear death?  Are you able to say I will go with Christ and die with Him?  

Sometimes We are Told to Wait (John 11:1-7)

We live in a society today where we do not like to wait, in fact many companies work on it so we don’t have wait.  Little Caesars Pizza slogan is Hot and Ready, you walk in and a minute later you walk out with your hot and ready Pizza.  We have come to believe that this is how God should work in our lives as well, we ask and we get instantly or are told no right away so we can move on with our lives.  But many times we are told to wait, sometimes we get so frustrated with waiting we decide that God has actually told us no and we stop praying for that need.  Here in chapter eleven of John we read about the two sisters sending word to Christ, telling Him that His friend Lazarus is very sick.  But instead of quickly packing up and leaving to go see Him or even Just saying a word to heal to him, Christ waits two days before going to Lazarus.  He tells this to His disciples, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”(John 11:4)

We have talked about this idea that we are to glorify God in all we do, but have you ever thought that in the delaying of a yes would come to glorify God.   Many times as humans we want things here and now not later and some where else.  We think it doesn’t matter when the yes comes it is going to glorify God just the same.  But what if Christ went down to see His friend right away, Chapter eleven of John would look much different wouldn’t it.  Lazarus would have been just another healing and John may have never put it his gospel.  But because God waited we see an incredible miracle performed we learn that with God timing doesn’t matter. We may think that it is too late for God to do something and wonder why we are still feeling prompted to continue to pray, but with God nothing is impossible He can open what has been closed and closed what has been open. 

Christ also waited not just to bring glory to Him and His father but to help the faith of His disciples grow.  This is the last of the public miracles before Christ goes to the cross.  He wanted His disciples grow in faith in Him.  Many times when we are praying and waiting, God is building up our faith in Him.  This is tough for us to understand and accept sometimes.  But we must continue to grow in our faith and relationship with God.  As 2^nd Peter 3 through 11 tells us, “³ As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness!  And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature.

  So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. ⁷ Godliness leads to love for other Christians,^* and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind or, at least, very shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their old life of sin.  So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away.  And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”