FUNERAL OF LARRY SMITH

PARAPHRASE OF JOHN 11

Jesus and his disciples heard that Lazarus, who lived in a town called Bethany, was very sick. Now Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. And after two days, Jesus told his disciples: ‘Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.

By the time that Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead in his tomb for four days. Lazarus’s sister Martha ran out to meet Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘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 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 coming into the world.’

Then Lazarus’s other sister, Mary, came out to meet Jesus.

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?’

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Then, Jesus prayed to His Father and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

1- TAKE TIME TO GRIEVE

Ecclesiastes 3:4 ESV

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

WHEN JESUS SAW THE TOMB OF HIS FRIEND HE WEPT. HE REFLECTED,

2- REALIZE THAT JESUS UNDERSTANDS

JESUS CAN SYMPATHIZE WITH YOUR PAIN.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

3- GOD HAS A PURPOSE

4- JESUS IS THE LORD OF LIFE AND DEATH