Revive: Help is on the Way

Good morning. Those of you with us in person can we welcome those who are joining us by live broadcast today. We are so thankful to all of you all that watch online every week. As I said last week we would love to see you here live. So come join us.

So this is week three of our revive series. It is a series in which we take a look at some bible stories in which people actually took the trip from death to life. While this may not be true that you are physically dead, there is a spiritual death that all of us face. We also i believe go through times of emotional and mental death. In which we just get so stressed out, so overwhelmed that we just cannot function any more. I know Jesus does not want His followers that way.

So let’s look at our next story. It is a story in which a man is only mentioned one time. This story is only found in the book of John. So open up with me to

John 11:1–44 NKJV

Now 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, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” Jesus answered, “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.” These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 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 concerning their brother. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 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.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “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?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are 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 had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

John 11:1

I want to speak to you all who feel like you are on your last leg. You feel like you are holding on the last branch by your last little finger. It is in your worhsip guide as the title but also a blank. Because I want you to read it, hear it, we are gonna say it, and you’re gonna write it.

HELP is on the way!

Anyone else in here hate not being able to control something. You hate feeling helpless. Are there any control freaks out there. I mean you just hate not feeling in control. Anyone married to a control freak. Don’t raise your hand. Are you crazy? I love going on missions trips but also hate to go on missions trips for this reason. You get in some of these countries in which people don’t drive like us. They don’t drive on the same street as us. Typically the person driving us barely speaks any English and the missionary translator is in another car. But he is zipping in front of this car, then in front of this semi. Then beside the semi. I mean here is one thing it does when you are out of control. Expose anything hiding. You got some words that shouldn’t be down there, they will come out. lol It will also increase your prayer life lol.

So true story, I was in Bolivia. First mistake or let me say flag of caution, we had 20 people in 3 trucks. Each truck would hold 2 or maybe 3 people. Plus we had the luggage. Which included tools, and food, clothes, tents and sleeping bags. Becuse we were building a church. So we loa all the luggage up and I am like, ok where are we going to sit. Then the words, climb in. I am all about rididng in the back of atruck. Been doing that sinc ei was a kid. But in the back of the truck was the bed. Not piles of luggage taller than the cab. But there we were climbing into the back of the little pick ups. Just for the record it was a 4 hour ride from the airport…on back non paved full of ruts roads. There were a few times we had to all hop out and get the truck past. I felt like we were riding on the axels because the ruts were so deep. Then came the day we were leaving and going into town to stay at a hotel. I kid you not, I know I almost lost my life 5 times. I mean we were weaving, jerking, hollering out the window. I mean it was crazy.

You realize that was the position of Lazarus. He was completely out of control of his situation. But here is the thing about Lazarus. What you may not know.

Lazarus is the Greek form for Eleazar which is Hebrew for God is my help.

You understand what that means. I know it is platitude of Christian speak. But really what does that means? It means money is not your help. It means that I am not your help. It means that a new job or a new position or a new marriage or a new relationship, or a new child, or your parents are not your help. It means that a doctor isn’t your help. It means that a lawyer isn’t your help. It means that all the things you turning to get help aren’t working. Only one is your help. It is God.

They had done everything they knew to do and it was to no avail. There was no change in the situation. So they reached out to Jesus. Hey Jesus we need your help. Which is exactly the right thing to do. But Jesus didn’t come when they thought that He should. So Lazarus dies. I mean stone cold dead. No life. Here is why you can’t look to anything else to help.

Because with Jesus HOPE is always ALIVE!

It is always alive. Always. There is never a moment in which hope does not exist or cannot come through. There is always hope that tomorrow will be better. There is always hope that tomorrow the answer will come. I mean think about Mary and Martha who wrote Jesus. Day one they sent the letter. It wasn’t email and it wasn’t driven. It was walked or it was put on the back of an animal to be delivered. So they put that letter in the mail, and they waited.

The letter was the first prayer.

It was the initial reach out to Jesus to come and do something. Its that prayer you give just one the bring of all hope being gone. You know that moment I am talking about. Everything is going along smooth and then that one thing hits. So you say a quick prayer. Can you do something about this Lord? Then you go about your business as though you know everything is handle. But then the Lord doesn’t show. I mean the amount of time from the writing of the letter until it was delivered was torturous for them. The same with you. The stress of waiting. The anxiety of wondering. It appeared to them though that Jesus didn’t care about what was going on in their lives. It seemed as though they were getting no answer. But what they didn’t know is this.

Jesus was working BEHIND the scenes.

They were only seeing what they could see. They couldn’t see behind the scenes. But Jesus when He recieved the letter, when the first prayer went up, He began working. First thing Jesus says when He hears the news is that the sickness is not unto death but for the Glory of God. Somehow Jesus already knew that. Somehow he had already known something. Or maybe it came right as soon as he heard the news. I don’t know but there was something at work when the first prayer went up. Then Jesus says Let us go to Judea again. Meaning it is time to go. The next step in the process. But this was two days later. Can you again wonder how the two sisters were feeling? I mean I know today how I feel when i am supposed to be meeting someone and I get tot he place and they aren’t there. I text and ask where are you? You say you are 5 minutes away but on your location it says, you still at the house. These friends just love making you wait. It is almost as though they don’t live in the same timezone as you. Jesus is that way. He is not on the same time frame as us. The problem we don’t realize is that his time is always perfect. That’s why I can say this and believe it to be true.

If God has you waiting, it is to PREPARE you not to PUNISH you.

He isn’t trying to punish you. He is trying to prepare you. You have to be ready for the blessing, the miracle, the anointing to show up. The foundation has to be settled. Mary and martha are just waiting. They are texting Jesus asking where He is. They have pulled him up on find my friends. They are getting frustrated. They even say Jesus if you had come earlier Lazarus wouldn’t have died. But I believe that the the greatest act of faith is just to wait. Wait on God. We know He is working. We know that His timing is perfect. BUt the problem is the wondering if he is going to show up. This is why

The believer’s battle is not faith but DOUBT!

RIght. I believe Jesus. I have faith he can do it. But we sometimes wonder if he will do it for us. When he doesn’t do it in the time that we think, we begin to doubt or even blame him. Mary and Martha blamed Jesus for Lazarus death. If you had come he would have died. God has given us faith. The bible makes that clear.

Romans 12:3 NKJV

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

I’ve got these verses that I want to show you. I won’t read them but I want to point them out to you and you just write down the reference.

1 Thessalonians 3:12–13 NKJV

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

1 Thessalonians 4:10 NKJV

and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;

2 Thessalonians 1:3 NKJV

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other,

1 Peter 2:1–3 NKJV

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

2 Peter 1:5–9 NKJV

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

2 Peter 3:18 NKJV

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

You have to be growing up. You have to make a choice.

Choose to TRUST!

Trust him. Make the decision today that I am going to trust Jesus. I am going to trust the Father. I am going to trust the Holy spirit. No matter what happens. I am going to believe that they have me and know what is best.

Jesus KNOWS your pain!

Jesus wept yall. When he saw their pain. When he hear their complaints and their crying. He wept. He is not a robot who doesn’t understand feelings. I don’t think that Jesus was weeping here for Lazarus. He already knew what He was going to do with him. I believe he was weeping for mary and martha because he saw in them that they didn’t know what He could do and the pain that was in them. I know that cannot be the savior because had I been, I would have told Mary and Martha, hey I am here. Get over it. He knows what you are feeling with your marriage. He knows what you are going through with your kids. He knows your pain of your finances. we have preached for long that Jesus is our savior. But He isn’t just the savior.

Christ is your SAVIOR and sends the COMFORTER!

Psalm 34:18 NKJV

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Psalm 34:

He loves your fight were you are and he sends the comfort to you. But he doesn’t just stop right there and feel with you.

Jesus is the SOLUTION!

The solution isn’t just your finances, your marriage, your kids. If your marriage is dead, you need life in it. If your finances are dead, you need life. The soution is Jesus.

The Resurrection is not an event, but a PERSON!

Take off your GRAVE clothes!!!

It is time to get out of those rags and put on the garments you were meant to wear. Ones of white and holiness. You keep putting on the old rags but you are new creature. How do we put on the old rags. By the way we speak about our lives. The way we think about our lives. The way we live our lives. You can’t be eyeore and a christian. Because you have the power inside of you named Jesus. You have Joy unspeakable and full of Glory. Your life even if that is all you have is enormously better than the person without him. So show that. Let people know. The more you complain about your life, the more you live your life as though you have to reason to be happy the less likely it is that you have a reason to be joyful. Joy is not dependent upon your circumstances but is solely dependent up your relationship with Jesus Christ. But pastor, i hurt, this broke, this needs to be fixed, I can’t get this that I need, I am out of money, I have these problems…But you already have the answer for all of them. Look up two blanks. Jesus is the… The thing is you want to live your life in that. When you could get around people that can help you get out of. See Lazarus couldn’t take his clothes off by himself. He needed help. Jesus knew that. So He had his sisters do it. I know that they started the process but as soon as he got a hand free. As soon as he got both hands free. He didn’t just stand there and let them do the whole thing. But you have to know this.

Change happens in COMMUNITY!!!

You trying to live the life you were meant to live all by yourself it doesn’t work. That is why I get so frustrated with people who talk of not needing the church. you a lie. You need the church and the church needs you. How are you going to have iron sharpening iron if you ain’t near any other iron. How you gonna have the eyes see and the hands move and you only a toe in the body. It doesn’t work like that.

Spiritual growth is a TEAM sport not a solo event.