Games of Life Day 4

Faith Trivia Questions

person of peace/friend of Jesus

faith beginnings: parents divorce/CJ/Church/Pastor Max

John 11:1–6 NRSV

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Lazarus is a friend of Jesus, just like in many ways I was a friend of Jesus as a young person.

Told I would become a pastor

something happened. Just like Lazarus, I got sick.

incurable/fatal disease. Camp —> bad decisions

I was spiraling down a really dark path. And the people around me were really scared. They prayed that Jesus would rescue me. But the days, weeks, months, and years passed by.

And that’s kind of how it was for Mary and Martha. They watched their brother get sicker and sicker as they waited for Jesus to come.

John 11:17–22 NRSV

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

There was one particular time that ended up in the hospital and I was really bad off. I woke up and I could see the anguish in my mom’s face.

She followed Jesus, but I could tell her faith was wearing thin. Prayers going unanswered.

God’s timing not ours

John 11:23–33 NRSV

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

I really love this particular little interaction between Jesus and Martha. Jesus is like, everything is going to be ok in time. And Martha is like well yeah eventually everything will be fine… at the end of time. But Jesus brings it back.

Then there is this scene where the community is rallying around these grieving sisters. Which I just love, because that’s what we do when someone is hurting.

My Dad’s family —> rallied around him

A few years later I almost died again.

This was right around the time that my dad came to faith. When will you save my son lord?

John 11:34–36 NRSV

He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

Most important words. Jesus wept. Jesus loved Lazarus.

Jesus Wept. Jesus loved me.

Jesus doesn’t just see our pain. Jesus experiences our pain with us.

John 11:38–44 NRSV

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Unbind him. Let him go.

I had spent 12 years bound up. Chained to something that was killing me and destroying the hearts of my family.

and then one day, 11.5 years ago I finally had enough. I went to a place to get help. That place took me on Easter Sunday to a little place called Wellspring United Methodist church, and when I left that place I felt the love of Jesus that I had felt so strongly as a child.

Why did I become a pastor? Because I knew that I wanted to make sure that people like me knew that there was another way.

You see, the world is hurting. People are hurting. People of peace don’t always get there before the hurting starts.

Jesus is called the prince of peace. He didn’t get to Lazarus or to me before the hurting started. But he sure was there to bring comfort and healing in the midst of the hurt.

I became a pastor because because some very important people in my life told me that I was called to be a person of peace for those who are hurting.

I became a pastor because Jesus met me at my most broken moments through the hugs and love and encouragement of people of peace.

We’ve gone on a journey this week of recovering our identity as God’s special masterpieces. And every masterpiece is created with a purpose — to communicate something to the world.

You’re created for a purpose too.

Where can you be a person of peace that transforms the world?