Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Please be seated.
[00:00:02] Good morning, everybody.
[00:00:04] My name is Craig Jarvis. I'm the lead pastor here at Village Church east. And it's my privilege to be able to bring God's word to you this morning as we continue to worship.
[00:00:16] If you haven't heard yet, this week has been heck of a week for our church.
[00:00:21] We began this week praying for God to do some work in the lives of those who are sick among us. And this week we had one of our own that had to go to the hospital. And some of you have been praying for Shari Amato. I'm sure not everybody has heard yet. And I just wanted to let you know that Sherry went to be with the Lord on Wednesday evening. And so we are gathered here with a.
[00:01:01] With a little bit of a heavy heart.
[00:01:14] I don't remember a time that I didn't know the Amato family. Most of my life, I haven't known the Amato family. But if you know them, they kind of make an impact on you that is indelible and hard to ignore. And so Sherry and Brent and the family have been in our lives for many years now and have just meant the world to us. Anyone who knows Sherry knows that, you know, she's physically not huge in stature. She's just this tiny, gracious lady. Her heart was bigger than most people that I know. And you could not get into her atmosphere without being blessed. And that's the same with the entire motto. Family. Many are here with us today. Brent, we're praying for you. Jason, family.
[00:02:09] So what we want to do this morning is we're going to take a little detour from Nehemiah, because, quite frankly, I don't want to do that. Don't want to do Nehemiah today. So we're going to take a little detour and we're going to talk like a family today as we work through this time of loss. Many of you didn't know Sherry's mom and dad, Jim and Dorothy. They were amazing people as well. She came from good stock. Some of you remember Christmas. We have this Christmas tree up here, and you're probably thinking to yourself, when are you guys going to get a new Christmas tree? Well, most likely not for quite some time, because the Christmas tree we use up here was actually Dorothy and Jim's. And so when we put it up here, we just try and breathe new life into that thing because we want to keep it up here as a testimony to their impact that they have had on our church as well. Dorothy and Jim have both gone to know The Lord and now Sherry and Dan and others in their family. And it's been a ride. And so I just want to. I just want to acknowledge that this morning. And so we're going to take a little detour. We're going to talk about some things I think that are necessary at this time to talk about as we continue to do life together and pay attention to these moments in the ways that we need to, in a healthy and in a godly way.
[00:03:34] So as I was spending time on this and thinking through the impact that Sherry and the Amatos have had on all of our lives, I could not get my mind off John 11.
[00:03:48] Now, if you know the Gospels, you know John chapter 11 deals with this one individual that everybody seems to know his name. Some of us know the story, but his name is Lazarus. We don't know what happened to Lazarus parents, but we do know that Lazarus lived with his two sisters, Mary and Martha. And that's really all we know about their family life. We know that they were somewhat well off because they had a home, most likely handed down to them by their parents, wherever they were at the time. And Jesus knew these folks. They were very, very dear to his heart. Every time he would travel through town, he would stop at Lazarus Place and he would like stay there because Jesus, he didn't own a lot of stuff.
[00:04:29] So he would just kind of like make his way into people's homes and kind of make his way into their lives at the same time. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were very dear and near to Jesus heart.
[00:04:44] As I was talking, as I was working through like what we needed to talk about today, and my heart was drawn to John chapter 11. I started looking through some of the things that I had worked through with Dorothy and Jim and the services that I had done with Dorothy actually went to be with the Lord on June 21, 2018, about 9pm and as I was looking at her, the services that we put together for her, I was amazed that I had actually talked through John chapter 11 at her service.
[00:05:18] And so I want to talk about John 11, but more than that, I want to talk about like what Lazarus and Mary and Martha meant to Jesus, what what this family meant by reaching out into Jesus life and bringing him into their own family. Sherry loved family.
[00:05:40] She loved to be around people.
[00:05:43] And people like Sherry who love family, I think they mirror God's heart this way. When God created human beings, it was because he wanted a family. He wanted a family that would include him as father. You ever realize, like we call God Father There's a reason for that. God has this affinity toward family and what family is. If you look through scripture, Isaiah 54, God talks about himself as a husband for his people in Psalm 91. In Isaiah 66, he comforts and protects his people like a mother. In Hebrews 2, Jesus is called our brother. In the New Testament, the language for us is that we are adopted into the family of God. And God is called abba, a very intimate term for a father. And in the end, when Jesus presents us to the father, he presents us as a bride. It's very interesting all the way through Scripture that family seems to be this pronounced.
[00:06:46] This pronounced theme from beginning to end, that God loves family. If you think about it, God gave Adam, Eve. When a father brings the daughter down the aisle, and I've done this, and it's very difficult to do. And as he brings this daughter down the aisle, and he sees this man in front of him, and he takes this little hand that he has invested in this little life that he's invested in, and he puts that hand in the hand of this. This guy that somebody else has brought up and has his own, you know, his own idiosyncrasies. And he puts his. And then what he's doing is he's saying, I made this, and now this is yours.
[00:07:35] And then they make a family. This comes from the Garden of Eden, where God walks Eve down to Adam and he says, I made this for you.
[00:07:45] Now go and make more. Make more families.
[00:07:49] God loves the idea of two people becoming one and making families. In Genesis 2. 22, the rib that. I think it's funny that it's 222, the rib that the Lord, that God had taken from the man, he made into a woman, and then he brought her to the man.
[00:08:05] Now, some families don't turn out so good. Some families turn out really good. But it's kind of like this idea, this theme of family is near and dear to the heart of the God who made us. The story of the Bible is a story of God building a family.
[00:08:25] This is a very theme of scripture from beginning to end. And he wants us to be brought into the family that he has created. You've probably heard this very silly statement, death is a part of love life.
[00:08:40] I think that's the dumbest statement I've ever known.
[00:08:43] And we've all heard it, right? Have you heard this statement? Death is a part of life. Death is the opposite of life. I don't even know why we made this up. It's just such A It's such a phrase that is not true, but maybe with an idea that maybe we can accept death if we call it something good. Death is the opposite of life.
[00:09:03] Jesus came to bring us life and life eternal. Jesus and the Father has done everything possible so that families would never be separated. Death separates families.
[00:09:16] Death is the opposite of life. It has nothing to do with life. It is our enemy. It is the enemy Jesus came to conquer for us.
[00:09:27] We don't embrace death. We don't. We reject it because he has conquered it.
[00:09:34] Death is the foe of the family, the opposite of life. Death tears families apart. It is the enemy because we live in a sinful world.
[00:09:42] Romans 5:12. Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, death came through sin. So death spread to all men because all have sinned. But listen, Church, death is not meant to be the victor.
[00:09:56] Our sin may have broken it, but Jesus came to fix it.
[00:10:01] Jesus came for the very purpose of doing away with this enemy, this foe, this thing that tears families apart. You know this because you know John 3:16, the most popular verse in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes in him should. Should not what? Should not perish but have everlasting life?
[00:10:30] The foe is death. And we broke it with our sin. But Jesus has come to fix it. Jesus came to bring together families on a permanent level. He wanted a permanent family. And he's not going to let a silly thing like death ruin that.
[00:10:46] First Corinthians 15:21. For as a man came, death by a man has come also the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.
[00:11:00] Now we go to the story of Lazarus and Mary and Martha. They lived in Bethany, which is only a few miles from Jerusalem. But 20 miles outside of Jerusalem, not far.
[00:11:11] This is an extended part of Jesus family. He would stay with him whenever he came through town.
[00:11:17] This one particular time, Lazarus got sick. And his disciples told him. And they said, lazarus is sick. You should really go see him.
[00:11:24] Jesus doesn't go see him.
[00:11:26] They said, lazarus, he doesn't look good. You should really get over there. Now. He doesn't.
[00:11:32] And eventually Lazarus passes away. He dies. And they tell Lazarus, listen, the one you love, this Lazarus, has died. Four days he waited before he came to see Lazarus. He missed the funeral. He missed the beginning of the funeral. He took his time going until he finally showed up.
[00:11:54] That's why this story confuses people. And it confuses me sometimes. Because the story is more than just what it seems on the surface.
[00:12:05] Look at the pain these people are going through as they lose their brother. John 11:21. Martha said to Jesus, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Aren't those terrible words to say? Like, you think to yourself, like, of course this is true. She has seen Jesus heal in the past. She knows he does miracles for total strangers. Surely he can do something for people that he really knows. Like, he owes us. We cook him dinner all the time. He owes us.
[00:12:38] But these words are not just spoken by Martha. They're spoken twice. As Jesus goes a little further in John 11:32, he gets a little closer and Mary runs out to him. Martha has already said it. Now listen to what Mary says. Mary came to where Jesus was. She saw him. She fell at his feet, saying to him again, same words, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Our family is devastated, Jesus. We're torn apart. Death has taken us, taken our family, has taken our family member away. You could have made this better. We've seen you do it. Where have you been?
[00:13:18] Mary and Martha knew what they were capable of.
[00:13:23] Those who follow Jesus, like these sisters, know that Jesus can heal the broken things of life. And they know that death is the end of all things. So now it is too late. I don't know if you know this, but the Jewish people, they couldn't even be around a dead body. If they were around in this situation, they would have to go through cleansing that would last for seven days afterwards. They knew what death brought. Separation, pollution, anxiety. It is the enemy of our lives.
[00:13:57] So Mary and Martha both know, however, that there was eternal life.
[00:14:05] They know this to be true. Go look. In verse 23, Jesus said to her, after they say, if you had been here, Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again at the resurrection, on the last day. I know about that. That is my great hope. But even in that hope, I am now still full of pain because there is a breakage in our relationship. There's a breakage in our family. I know where Lazarus is. I know someday I'll be with him again.
[00:14:39] Jesus doesn't let Martha down.
[00:14:41] He reiterates this hope for her to hear one more time. In verse 25, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.
[00:14:54] And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
[00:14:59] She said to him, yes, Lord, I Believe that you are the Christ. That's Messiah, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.
[00:15:07] Now. This could have been the end of it. John 11 could have stopped at verse 27, and it would have been a great passage, just stopping there.
[00:15:19] They could have sung these wonderful songs about resurrection and the fact that they'll see one another someday. Jesus could have reminded her of this amazing truth and the promise that we will be in heaven. We will be together one day. We will be in this new kingdom, and families will be restored. He could have pulled out the Old Testament passages about what life would be like when. When the wine will flow from the mountains and the foes will be conquered forever. And there will be honey, and there will be food, all the food you can eat. And you know, all the Old Testament passages that they were very familiar with.
[00:15:55] And he could have stopped it right there. It would have been a great gospel story used at every service to remind us that our hope is in heaven.
[00:16:07] But he didn't.
[00:16:09] The passage goes on, and Jesus does something that would impact history forever.
[00:16:16] Here's what happens. Verse 41.
[00:16:20] So they took away the stone, 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 I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe you sent me.
[00:16:35] When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, lazarus, come out. And the man who had died came out. His hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped in a cloth. He was mummified. In other words, he looked like a mummy coming out of there. And he's not walking. It's not like he's. Like he's hopping out. He's in this wrap that they've wrapped him with. Even his face is covered, and he just wants to get out of that tomb.
[00:17:06] The man who had come out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, untie him and let him go.
[00:17:16] Church. I'm going to ask you a question.
[00:17:19] Why did Jesus bring Lazarus back from the dead?
[00:17:24] Before you answer that, why did he wait four days?
[00:17:30] Typically, you want to wait. And a funeral service in these days lasts likely a week long, usually. And so there's this time of mourning and loss, and Jesus comes into the middle of it.
[00:17:43] Let me ask you another way.
[00:17:47] Now. Careful how you answer this. Let me ask you this question. Do you think Lazarus wanted to come back?
[00:17:55] Think of what he's coming back to. First century Living, alright. No toilets, no freezers, no refrigeration, no ice cubes. He's coming back to first century, living a time of pain, losing loved ones, sorrow, loss, Roman occupation. He didn't have a lot to come back to.
[00:18:20] I don't know how he died, but if he came back to life, he's going to have to die again. Nobody comes back to life and never dies again except for one person. And who's that? Jesus Christ.
[00:18:32] Why interrupt heaven and bring this guy back?
[00:18:38] And by the way, the wonders of heaven, Paul the Apostle tells us, are so wonderful. He didn't have words to express it. God brought him into this place and gave him just a glimpse. And he comes back and writes to the church, writes to us and says, I got no words. I can't even begin to tell you what I saw.
[00:18:58] Why would Jesus do this to Lazarus and church? The answer is simply Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead for you and for me.
[00:19:12] He did this so that we could see something with our eyes.
[00:19:17] He did this so that our faith could be made sight.
[00:19:23] Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to give us a visual that death does not win. He did this because he wants us to know he has the keys to death and the grave.
[00:19:40] Jesus raised Lazarus for the same reason. He healed the sick.
[00:19:46] Typically in Jesus day, you avoided sick people. Because in this day, in Jesus day, when you went around somebody who's sick and they touched you, you would be diseased. Even if you didn't feel sick, you would be declared unclean. So you stayed away from sick people.
[00:20:04] Death was the worst. It was the worst of the worst.
[00:20:07] If any sickness touched you, you would be unclean if the sick person came near you. So what you would do is when somebody was sick, you would run away from them. Lepers, they were sent right outside of the city. They weren't even allowed in the city.
[00:20:24] If a person had leprosy, we know this in scripture, they had to live with other lepers in camps outside of the city. And if anyone ever came close to them, they had to put their hand over their face and scream out unclean, unclean. So that you wouldn't come near them. Because if you came near them, that disease would rub off on you. Even if you didn't feel sick, the priest would declare that you are possibly sick and you would have to be quarantined for a while until we find out.
[00:20:54] It was a very dangerous time in which to live because that sickness would rub off on other people.
[00:21:02] When Jesus showed up, however, Jesus didn't run Away from sick people.
[00:21:08] He ran toward them.
[00:21:11] This is very, very key because the sickness doesn't overcome Jesus. Jesus overcomes the sickness.
[00:21:21] In Luke 4:40, there's a little passage that says what was going on in the ministry of Jesus. Now, when the sun was setting, all those who had and any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him. And he laid hands on every one of them and he healed them. Jesus did what was not normal in his culture. He ran to those who were sick. He touched them, and he did so because the sickness doesn't run off on him. He conquered the sickness.
[00:21:58] Jesus righteousness rubbed off on the uncleanliness and made it flee. And Lazarus, Jesus with him. Jesus proves he doesn't just have the power over sicknesses or he doesn't just have the power over diseases, he has the power over death.
[00:22:17] Lazarus had to come back to life because Jesus wanted us to know Church. Lazarus came back to life because Jesus wants us to know that his ability to heal the sick is only the tip of the iceberg.
[00:22:33] Just as sickness flees before Jesus, so also does death.
[00:22:38] Death doesn't rub off on Jesus. He rubs off on it and it is no more.
[00:22:45] Jesus ran into the world of trouble where death seems to win. And he caused death to run. He ran into our hopeless state. He ran into our brokenness. He ran into our world where we are constantly having families ripped apart by this thing.
[00:23:04] And he came into our world. He ran into our world to run after it, to kill it. He killed death once and for all.
[00:23:16] A guy named Ray Bags said it this the difference between Christianity and other faiths is that other faiths are humanity's best attempts to reach out to God. But Christianity is fundamentally about God's attempt to reach out to us.
[00:23:36] Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to show that he has power over sickness and over death. Can you imagine what it would have been like to see Jesus walk around with Lazarus after he rose up from the dead? How can you compete against that? We just went through a political season where people are picking on each other and they are still doing it to try and find anything that would make their opponent look terrible. Terrible, right. How can you compete? What can you say about a guy that raises a dead man to life and now they're sitting there eating macaroni and cheese in front of you. How can you compete with that? You can't.
[00:24:18] That is why after Lazarus was raised from the dead, the gas was hit and people had to kill Jesus. Because you can't argue with a dead man walking.
[00:24:30] Jesus brought Lazarus back so that we could solidify his message in our mind. We could see it with our eyes. And we could believe in our hearts that God raises promises but also raises people from the dead. Seeing it, we would believe.
[00:24:50] Verse 45.
[00:24:52] Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him. Don't you think that passage is weird? I think it should say, all of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and see what he did, believed in him. But they didn't.
[00:25:10] They didn't. Even when they saw a dead man come back to life, they still refused to believe. Some of them, Lazarus comes back to this world so that we could be assured faith in Jesus will carry us into life eternal.
[00:25:31] Let me ask you this.
[00:25:33] What do you think Lazarus thought when it came time for him to die again?
[00:25:39] How do you think he went into that?
[00:25:43] I don't know. We don't know how he died the first time. We don't know anything about the sickness. All we know is that he went through it. He died. He came back to life, but he had to die again. And I often think to myself, like, what must this guy have been like?
[00:25:57] As he was going the second time, he had to have incredible, like, don't give me any medicine. I'm good. I'm fine. I love you all and all this, but I am going to the place that I can only have a word to express to you. I've been there before. Jesus brought me back. I don't blame him for it. I understand he brought me back. I kind of don't like him for it, but okay, I understand it. But I'm going back to where I need to be. I want to be. I think Mary and Martha might have handled it a bit differently too, right? No. If you had only been their sentences. In their vernacular, when you believe in Jesus, you handle death a little differently.
[00:26:45] Verse 25.
[00:26:47] Jesus said to her, we read this before.
[00:26:51] I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall live, never die.
[00:27:04] I love how he finishes this, because he already knows if she believes it or not. He's God, so he knows that. But yet he looks at her and she has to hear the words.
[00:27:16] Do you believe this?
[00:27:20] Does this truth not only appeal to you? Does it make your life different?
[00:27:27] Does it make your purpose different? Do you face challenges a little differently?
[00:27:33] Does this truth make you into a different person?
[00:27:37] If you didn't believe this truth, would you be a Different person.
[00:27:41] And I have to tell you, Sherry lived her life differently because she believed this.
[00:27:52] If you've been impacted by this lady, this wonderful woman, if you've been impacted by her and you think to yourself, how can one person have such an impact on so many people around you? It is because of this.
[00:28:06] There's no other reason. It's not because she went to all of these conferences and figured out how to have a great self esteem. It's not because, although, I don't know, maybe Brent sent her to some, I don't know, or maybe she sent Brent to some, I don't know. But it's not because she dug deep and figured out how to be a better person. It's not because she was great in stature. It wasn't because she had money in the bank, although I don't know where they're at. But I'm assuming that it's not because she had anything like that. It is because she believed something at the depth of her core that made her life seem different than those around her live different than those around her. If you believe that nothing can conquer you. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Neither height nor depth, nor angels, nor things to come, nor things present, nor things to come, nor anything else in all creation shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If that is your mantra, you're going to live life different.
[00:29:05] If you're fearful of death, you're going to live life different.
[00:29:10] But if you believe that the Jesus we love conquered death, went out of his way to bring some guy named Lazarus back to show us he's got the keys to death in the grave. You're going to live your life a little bit differently than those around you.
[00:29:23] We are more than overcomers.
[00:29:27] If God is for us church, who can be? What?
[00:29:32] If God is for us, who can? If he who did not spare his own son, but graciously gave him to us, how much more will he not also give us? All things.
[00:29:45] This is the power of a life lived with a boldness that goes beyond anything we can maneuver out of ourselves.
[00:29:54] This is a life that is lived from the core of who we are. A belief that Jesus is king over this life and king over the next.
[00:30:07] The whole scenario with Lazarus was to get this one point across.
[00:30:14] And Jesus knew this.
[00:30:17] He knew what he was going to do. He let Lazarus die on purpose. You wonder why I know that? Because the Bible tells us actually before the whole thing happens in verse four of chapter 11, right at the beginning, listen to what Jesus said. When Jesus heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death. Was he right or wrong?
[00:30:43] Lazarus died, didn't he?
[00:30:45] Was he right or wrong?
[00:30:48] Well, you can't say Jesus was wrong, okay? You can't say that. So he's going to be right. And here's why he's right. Because Jesus knows death is just a sham.
[00:31:02] People gathered there, they were mourning, they were weeping. They were thinking, death has beat us again. It is the unconquerable foe. And Jesus said, death never wins for those who follow me, who have given their lives to me. When Jesus heard it, he said, this illness doesn't lead to death. This is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. He let Lazarus die so that he could show his power to us, that he is king of life. And he is king of life eternal.
[00:31:41] By the way, this is the end of Jesus earthly ministry. Did you know that Jesus likely only has weeks to live after this before he's crucified on the cross? And when he raises Lazarus from the dead, all of his ministry, Lazarus being raised from the dead was exclamation point.
[00:32:02] Everything Jesus says is right and true. And you can take it to the bank. Jesus is the promised one of God. And for those who trust in him, they can have eternal life. And to prove it, weeks before he's crucified, he brings a dead man back to life. And then he walks around with him day and night, ticking all of his enemies off. Because you can't argue with a dead man. Come back to life. Life.
[00:32:30] Jesus has the power to do a lot of things. People couldn't argue with it, but now Jesus is demonstrating he has the power over death too.
[00:32:40] He used Lazarus to show his power to many people in church, he used Sherry to show his power to many people and and church. He uses us to show his power to many people.
[00:32:57] If you don't know Jesus, you are still dead in your sins. That is what the Bible says. You need to be brought back to life. You need to be given life in Jesus. And when that happens, you are a new creature. Old things are passed away. All things have become new. When that happens, God will take that life that you have lived for all the wrong reasons. And he will shape it into something that he can use so that when you walk in this dark world, people will look at you and they will say, you live for a different purpose. And they will be right.
[00:33:29] He brings our life to us so that he can show off his power through us.
[00:33:37] A life impacted by Jesus cannot be unnoticed. Look at verse. I got to read this for you because this is like that. This is like after you watch the credits of the Marvel movie, you know, there's always a scene at the end and you're sitting there and you're going, what's the scene going to be?
[00:33:55] They didn't come up with that. Jesus did. Look in John 12, the next chapter. Look at what it says. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well. Because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. Can you say that is so silly?
[00:34:16] Lazarus was dead. They knew Jesus raised him from the dead. They knew. They couldn't argue with that. So instead of believing in Jesus, they wanted to kill Lazarus.
[00:34:27] That's crazy talk, don't you think?
[00:34:31] But that's how a sinful world will handle the testimony of Christ.
[00:34:37] Us, a life that is redeemed by Jesus with the hope of life eternal. Can't be stopped. Cannot be stopped. It is pretty difficult to put a plug in the noise of someone whose life is continually testifying of the power of Jesus Christ every day. Lazarus breathed was a testimony to Jesus and a threat to the the lies of the evil 1.
[00:35:04] Revelation 1:17 says this. Fear not. Jesus says, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died. And behold, I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades. I don't know about you, but if I get thrown in prison and I know some guy in the vicinity has got keys, I'm going to make friends with the guy that has the keys.
[00:35:27] If you want to get out of death, I'd suggest you make friends with Jesus because he has keys to death in Hades.
[00:35:34] God has a power over death and the devil is hell bent on shutting that truth up.
[00:35:40] The truth of this life, the truth of Jesus life, the truth that Jesus offers us is this unstoppable power unleashed by faith at work in this world of death.
[00:35:53] I got a few. So what's for you? Number one.
[00:35:57] Jesus died to keep building his family. That's why he came in the very first place.
[00:36:02] He's not going to let a little thing like death win. There's no person on the planet who has ever raised somebody from the dead. Let me say that one more time. There's no person on this planet who has ever raised anybody from the dead except for Jesus Christ. And by the way, there's no person that has ever walked on this planet that has Also raised himself to life again.
[00:36:26] Jesus has the power over this life and the power over death. Jesus does these miracles so that we would believe in him alone. He raised Lazarus from the dead so that you and I might believe that Jesus alone has the power to heal and to raise us from the dead. And he's still building a great family.
[00:36:47] And there will still be a great reunion.
[00:36:50] He wants you to be included. How do I know he wants you to be included? Because you're still here.
[00:36:58] You're still here.
[00:37:01] You're still here.
[00:37:04] You have another chance. And if you've not given your life to Jesus Christ, I would suggest you make friends with the guy who holds the keys. It'll change your life in ways you never could imagine.
[00:37:16] There's no need for guessing where you stand with Jesus. It's not a wake up in the morning and hoping you're right with Him. It doesn't work that way.
[00:37:26] We all have our doubts.
[00:37:29] It's just a natural thing of life. But over and over and over, Scripture is given to us so that it can squelch our doubts and we can be sure where we stand in our relationship with Him. Where we will be if our next destination is death.
[00:37:46] First John 5:12 says this. Whoever has the Son has life. Church, would you say that with me? Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. What is the name of the Son of God? Church? Jesus. I write these things to you who believe in Jesus so that. And this is where you get to say it with me. Here we go. So that you may what?
[00:38:16] Know that you have eternal life.
[00:38:18] God is not about hiding things. He's about doing everything he can to make sure we know where we stand with Him.
[00:38:26] So that you may know that you have eternal life.
[00:38:30] There's new coins being sought out in America. 50,000 were printed wrong.
[00:38:38] They have a mistake on them. And each one of these coins is going for $5,000. So if you have one of these coins or two of them, you're in good shape. All right, here's what's misprinted on the coin. They forgot to add on or they left off. In God we Trust, that is a bad coin to have.
[00:39:02] You do not want your life to miss that phrase.
[00:39:07] You want to be the person that knows it is stamped on your heart. We belong to Him. We trust in Him.
[00:39:15] The irony is, without God, the coin is more desirable. But without God, a life is Doomed.
[00:39:25] There's salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Number two. Remember Jesus is always here.
[00:39:35] Jesus is always here. Don't believe the lies that are whispered in the dark.
[00:39:40] The Evil One. He's such a weasel.
[00:39:43] He'll come and he'll whisper to us in our weakest moments. You're all alone.
[00:39:50] John 11:21. Martha said to Jesus, lord, if you had been here.
[00:39:56] If you'd been here, my brother would not have died. If you'd been here, my life wouldn't have fallen apart. If you'd been here, I could have gone through this terrible time. If you'd been here, if you'd been here, if you'd been here.
[00:40:08] These are words born from a heart of pain. But they are a lie.
[00:40:14] This is precisely the reason Jesus came.
[00:40:17] This is why he was constantly reminding the disciples in their weakest moments that he was with them in the storm. He walked out to them on the water in their confusion. He said to them, let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me, in their fear. In the garden, he didn't leave them. They ran away from him.
[00:40:37] And in the pain in the upper room he visited them. And he said, peace be with you. He always ran to them in their pain. And the last thing he said to them was, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.
[00:40:55] If you had been here are words that are spoken in futility. Don't believe that lie. Jesus is very much with us. He's with us now.
[00:41:06] Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, said it out of his own lips. Where two or three are gathered in my name. Church. There I what?
[00:41:15] There I am among them.
[00:41:17] Jesus arrived to be with us in our pain. And this brings me to one of my favorite verses in the scripture. And it's right smack dab in the middle of John 11. And it is the shortest verse in the Bible. Do you know what it is?
[00:41:31] Jesus wept.
[00:41:33] It is here that we find these two words. John 11:35. Why in the world would the writer write to us that Jesus wept? What difference does that make if he knew what he was going to do? If he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead, why waste the tears?
[00:41:56] And here's why.
[00:41:58] Because he knows the enemy is not our friend.
[00:42:03] Death has no part in this life. Death is against everything that God is against. Death is a result of sin. It is passed on to all of us because all of us sin. Death is our enemy. And death Brings pain, suffering and sorrow like few other things.
[00:42:22] He knew the enemy took his friend. He knew the pain of death sting. He knows how it feels for us when we lay under the power of death.
[00:42:31] Listen. This is why he came. He came to defeat death. He came to remind us that even in this world of death, we are not alone. He is with us. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.
[00:42:49] Brings me to number three. Don't believe the lie. God planned for a family from the beginning of time. And he's still building a family today. And he'd love for you to be a part of it. You're welcome in. Doesn't matter who you are, where you've been, what you've done. If you're here, you've got another invitation from a God who loves you to join this family. History is about this family that God is building. He's not going to let a little thing like death take that away from him.
[00:43:18] Why should we talk about this today?
[00:43:21] Why bring this up on this day?
[00:43:24] Because this is exactly what the Bible tells us to do. One of my favorite passages. First, Thessalonians 4, 13.
[00:43:32] We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep.
[00:43:38] I also love that for those who know Jesus who die in this life, it doesn't say that they're dead. It just says that they're asleep. Isn't that cool? Because death is a lie.
[00:43:53] We do not want you to be informed, brothers, about those who are asleep.
[00:43:59] If you're asleep, you're going to wake up, right?
[00:44:02] That you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this, we declare to you by a word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of a command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always. Don't you love this? We will always be with the Lord.
[00:44:42] Why do we talk about this on this day? Is because of the next verse. Verse 18. Would you read this with me, please? Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
[00:44:56] Our times like this need to be pounded into our heads. This is real.
[00:45:04] This is not some fantasy. This is not something we do to make ourselves feel better. Faith is not an effort for us to climb out of our low self esteem to get a better self esteem. Jesus did not come into this world to give us an example to follow. He came into this world to defeat death, to defeat sin, so that we could have life. So we live eternally with him and the family that he's building lasts forever.
[00:45:29] This is the purpose of Jesus Christ.
[00:45:33] No other religion offers this church. None other. No other religion. This is the religion. This is the only truth. And the others are just whispers of lies.
[00:45:43] Comfort one another with these truths.
[00:45:49] Number four, last one. My encouragement to you is join the reunion role.
[00:45:54] My parents would take us to reunions and we would show up at these things. We would drive to the middle of nowhere. I didn't know one person there. They're all farmers. I got nothing in common with these people.
[00:46:05] We literally drive to the edge of the earth. We stop, we get out of the car and I'm meeting people. Their first statement is, I used to change your diapers.
[00:46:14] I don't know these people.
[00:46:17] I've never met these people before. And my parents would tell me, oh, this person used to watch you. This person used to care for you. And they meant something to my parents, but they really didn't mean much to me.
[00:46:30] They had all kinds of personal stories, I had none. We were so bored.
[00:46:35] Listen, church, there will come a day when there will be a final roll call.
[00:46:42] And we will meet our family. Those who have gone before, those who have yet to be born, we will meet them all. We will be a family of God. There will not be a stranger among us. Nobody's going to come up to you. And their first statement is going to be, I change your diapers. Because that's not the thing that makes us one. The thing that makes us one, when the great roll call is called, is that every one of us loves and follows and serves our Savior, Jesus Christ. Every one of us bows our knee to the God who gave us this great gift. Every one of us loves God because He loved us first. And while our, while our eternity is going to be meeting all kinds of people we never knew. It is going to be an awesome re establishing of relationships from people long ago, centuries ago, and people who have yet to be born. About how this family of God has been gathered through the blood of Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice on the cross, through his resurrection from the dead, and because he raised, so will we. And, and we will be gathered into this Place where words cannot express.
[00:47:54] And there we will live for eternity.
[00:47:57] There will be no more sorrow, no more mourning, no more pain. For the old order has passed away. All things will be made new.
[00:48:06] You will meet family.
[00:48:09] You will not know many of them, but they will all be family.
[00:48:14] That bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise and the glory and the glory of his resurrection share when his chosen one shall gather to their home beyond the skies the world is called up yonder.
[00:48:34] I'll be there.
[00:48:35] Will you?
[00:48:37] Will you?
[00:48:40] The message of the cross is simply this.
[00:48:46] You must understand what God has done to get your attention, and you must respond.
[00:48:55] You can reject him, you have that privilege.
[00:49:00] But you do so at your own peril.
[00:49:03] For me, I'm going to get to see Sherry again.
[00:49:08] And Dorothy, Jim and Dan and my dad.
[00:49:21] And that causes me to live life a little differently. You wonder why I'm a pastor now? You know why. I just don't see spending my time doing anything else more important than this church.
[00:49:34] We got a job to do.
[00:49:37] The lies of the devil, the evil one, are whispered into the ears of those who are perishing on a daily basis.
[00:49:45] But today might be their or your day of salvation.
[00:49:49] You should really decide today if you'd like to do that. That's why we have this prayer booth right over here. You can come after the service. You can meet with somebody and they can help you understand how you can know, not guess, not hope, but know that yout have life eternal. Let's pray, Father. God, I am grateful for the promises that yout've given us in Scripture over and over again. The way youy've gone so far to your way to make sure that we understand this life isn't all that there is, but there is life to come.
[00:50:32] We do our best to help those around us prepare for that day.
[00:50:37] I pray, Father, if you're working on Nanny Hearts here this morning, that they would respond well.
[00:50:42] That they would listen to your tiny little voice, the heavy hand of your. Your grace and your love on their heart. That they would listen to it. That they would respond that today would be their day of salvation. I thank you for Sherry, for her life that was well lived. Not perfect, not perfect, but a life that was well lived because of her faith in you.
[00:51:11] And the spring in her step wasn't because she felt good and everything was all falling into place.
[00:51:17] It was because she knew that you called her to a greater mission. And now her faith has made sight.
[00:51:25] We look forward to that day when we will see those we love. And we thank you. Thank you, thank you for the promises that we stand on, that to be absent from the body is to be immediately present with you. And we so look forward to the day that resurrection day when we get our bodies back and we do family stuff for all eternity.
[00:51:47] Thank you, Father, for all of your blessings. And thank you for blessing us with people that have impacted us like few others.
[00:51:59] I'm grateful for your love. I'm grateful for your grace. I'm grateful for your sacrifice. And I'm grateful for your spirit who seals us until our day of redemption. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
