WEBVTT - The Lazarus Factor (God Of The Outcome) 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.480 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:06.960 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:10.319 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:12.360 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.160 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:20.680 We're so excited about our new single Never Lost that 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:26.840 we were just singing and pray that you'll get that song. 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:28.640 And what I want to do today is I actually 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:31.320 want to take something that was in that song that 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.519 you were just singing and bring it to your life 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.560 at a really practical level today. And the song says 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:44.080 that God still shows up at the tomb of every Lazarus. 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.120 And I want to show you the scripture that that 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.200 line came from today, and then I want to speak 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:56.160 to the Lazarus in your life. Everybody in here has 0:00:56.200 --> 0:01:01.200 a Lazarus, and everybody in here has a God, and 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:03.680 today we just want to bring these things into God's 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:07.200 presence for a few moments. John Chapter eleven is the scripture. 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.360 Welcome to our EPAM around the world. There are tens 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.039 of thousands of people right now who are joining us 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:15.640 on their devices and less thank God for them as well, 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:22.720 that this word would be received in your life. I 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.600 got smart to beat up, brought my iPad today, my Bible. 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.280 I'm preaching from John eleven, and I'm covering quite a 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.720 few verses of scripture. And my Bible yesterday kept blowing, 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.480 the pages kept blowing. It wasn't the Holy Spirit, it 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.039 was the air vent and it just kept blowing to 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.360 different scriptures. And so I brought it on the iPad today. 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:41.160 I hadn't preached from it in a long time. And 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.840 it's locked and loaded and charged, and I want to 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.320 preach to you. Well, it's not locked, it's going horizontal. 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:52.480 There's some old men stuff right here. You know, every 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.680 preacher gets persecuted. Paul had shipwrecks, and I have iPads 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.440 that go horizontal. It's kind of on the same level, 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.040 don't you think. But we're gonna look at something today together. 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.400 From John chapter eleven, Verse one. Now, a man named 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.200 Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:13.520 Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.520 now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.200 on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.280 So the sister sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:27.520 you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.680 the sickness will not end in death. No, it is 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.679 for God's glory, so that God's son may be glorified 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:38.399 through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.160 Everything up until this point, by the way, makes total 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:44.960 sense to me. We're given the name of this man, Lazarus. 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:49.600 His name literally means the one who God helps. Have 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.160 you ever had God just help you out of a 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.800 mess that you got yourself into, or a mess that 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.480 you couldn't get yourself out of. His name means the 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.360 one that God helps. And his sister was Martha. She's 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.600 the one who made the mortgage payment. His other sister 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.240 was Mary. She was a good listener. And Jesus liked 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.440 going by and visiting because Martha made these incredible lemon 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.320 pepper wings. He liked to eat her food. And then 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:19.960 Mary would sit at his feet and be discipled. And 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:23.200 there's nothing better than somebody. Well, I was going to say, 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.080 there's nothing better than a good listener, But a good 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.960 cook is better than a good listener. And if you 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.880 ever find a good cook and a good listener, marry him, 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.440 marry her. Okay, and Jesus loved to go to this 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.400 little place two miles outside of Jerusalem, and he would 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.040 often be refreshed there in his ministry travels. But now 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.680 they need his help. And it says that he loved them. 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:45.640 He loved all of them, He loved Lazarus, he loved Mary, 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:49.160 he loved Martha. And as lazarus sickness begins to overtake 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:54.640 the affairs of the family, Martha issues not necessarily an 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:59.240 invitation to Jesus, but a request for help. Lord. The 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.000 one you love is sick. I love how she phrased it. 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.280 You know, send him a message, say Lazarus, no, no, 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:09.160 say the one you love is sick, because he's very 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:10.760 busy and we need to get him here. So let's 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.760 just remind him of how much he loves Lazarus and 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:15.880 get him here real quick so he can do that 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:19.200 healing thing that he does for us. And everything makes sense. 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.400 You know that he loves them, so he would come 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:23.360 to them, and he would visit them, and he would 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.279 help them because lazarus name means help, so it's in 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.440 his very nature to expect the help that his name identifies, 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:31.440 just like as a child of God, you call on 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.680 your father and you expect him to help you. And 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:38.679 everything up until here makes sense. But the next verse 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:40.520 is something that I want us to talk about for 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:42.719 a few moments today, because some of you are at 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.960 a place in your life that doesn't make sense anymore, 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:48.039 and it's that I want to speak to. It says 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.560 that he loved them, that Jesus loved them. He really 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:56.479 loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Verse six. So when 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:00.160 he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed with where 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:06.360 he was two more days. And that's what I wanted 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.360 to work on together today, because it would be one 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.280 thing if the Bible said he loved them, but he 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.440 stayed where he was two more days, because that would 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.080 mean that he couldn't come. He had other people to help. 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:25.800 But it says this interesting word, So so he stayed 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.160 where he was two more days, and that means that 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:33.920 verse six flows directly from verse five. He loved them, 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:38.960 so he did not come when they wanted him. And 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:40.760 I want to talk about this today from my heart. 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:45.279 I'm going to title this message the Lazarus Factor. The 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.760 Lazarus factor. And Lord, I just pray that you would 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.680 enable me to preach this word beyond my human understanding 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.599 or my oratorical abilities. God, I pray that something would 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.000 go forth from this pulpit today that would call forth 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.800 from the hearts of your people the kind of faith 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:07.800 that makes the difference in Jesus's name. I pray, Amen, Amen, 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:17.080 you may be seated. Spoiler alert, Lazarus dies and gets 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:22.200 resurrected in John chapter eleven. I didn't want to leave 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:26.520 you in suspense too long. But you ever think about 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:32.320 how different people have different love languages. They have a 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:37.320 book about it, the Five Love Languages. And I'm so 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:39.400 thankful that God gave me a wife that one of 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.520 her love languages is physical touch. Do you're not happy? 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:47.040 That makes me? What a blessing. I'm so glad her 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.479 love language is and acts of service. I much prefer 0:06:49.560 --> 0:07:00.160 physical touch. Amen, you know what God's love language, which 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:05.320 is trust. If you were to ask me from just 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:09.160 studying the Bible for however many years I've been studying, 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.560 since I was sixteen, how does God receive love? He 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.720 loves to be trusted more than he even loves to 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:19.320 hear you sing, and I'm not saying you don't have 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.320 a great voice. He loves when you trust him more 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.680 than he even loves when you, you know, wear a 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.480 cross around your neck. He loves when you trust him 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.080 more than he even loves. And I probably shouldn't say 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.000 this as a pastor, but more than he even loves 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.840 when you come to church. He loves when you trust 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:43.480 him on Tuesday. He just loves to be trusted. One 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.360 of the most difficult things I think in our life 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:50.080 is that we often equate love with comfort, while God 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:56.120 equates love with trust. If we are not studious, and 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:58.400 if we don't give attention to the scriptures, we will 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:02.680 conflate and confuse our human definition of love with a 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.400 divine love, a love that is not simply an action, 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:10.040 but an essence of who God is. I don't know 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:14.760 about your first job, but I would put myself out 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.200 there as maybe having the most interesting first job in 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:22.080 the whole room, because my first job at age fifteen 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:26.560 was to work at Petrest Cemetery and Cremation Service, and 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:30.960 I'm proud of that. I did those funerals with dignity, 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.439 and I lifted one hundred and eighty pound bull mastiffs. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.800 That's part of how I learned to, you know, preaching 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:45.960 dead churches was because right after my ministry of burying 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.240 dogs and cremating dogs, I had to go preach at 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.640 Baptist churches, and you know, the atmosphere could sometimes be 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.839 real similar some of the churches. Don't be hateful. I'm 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:59.959 just telling you about my experience. It was a good job. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.320 And people often judge me when I tell them, because 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.440 you remember, we used to go out there and I'm 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.600 on the way to the mall. I tell Eric, I 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:08.720 just need to stop by real quick and take care 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:10.839 of these dogs real quick. And you could tell who 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.360 your friends are when you stop by the crematory on 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:15.880 the way to the mall, who your friends are. But 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.480 some people would judge me. You know, you tell them 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:20.880 that you cremate dogs, and they look at you like 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.840 you deal drugs. And it was a service with dignity. 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.280 It was I'm again very proud of the fact that 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:28.200 I was fifteen years old with a job that paid 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:33.520 one hundred and fifty dollars a week. Yeah, and I 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:41.920 got my own beeper. Yeah, I don't know nothing, And 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:46.280 you know what, I think that one of the worst 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.280 jobs would have been to be the pr manager for 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:57.920 Jesus Christ, to have to explain his actions or to 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:03.400 have to give a press conference for Jesus, especially when 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:08.080 John chapter eleven says things like he loved them, he 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.440 received hospitality from them, but when it came time for 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:17.239 him to help them, he stayed away two extra days 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:22.880 because he loved them. As an interesting construct, and we 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.440 come to find in all of our lives the difference 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:32.040 between God's job and our job. See, God's job is outcome, 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.560 your job is process. Can I preach a little bit 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.320 to the three people who are awake. The longer that 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.720 you think you can control outcomes in your life, the 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.040 more frustration you are going to experience in this journey 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.880 of faith. And many of us were taught starting out 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.200 that faith was a way of controlling outcomes. It was like, 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.800 if you pray this and do that, then you can 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:03.160 expect this. But everybody in here has a Lazarus. The 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.120 Lazarus factor is the thing in your life that made 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:10.240 the formula fall apart. The Lazarus factor is the thing 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:12.880 in your life that caused you to question the very 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.120 nature of faith and start to see. At this point 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.440 in this passage, that faith is rarely a form of 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:23.280 manipulation by which we get God to keep our schedule. 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.040 I've got news for you. God will not be manipulated. 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.560 God will not be moved just because we get uncomfortable 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:34.160 in a situation. And I hate to break it to you, 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.640 but faith is not a means of manipulation. It is 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.880 a patience with mystery, the kind of mystery that can say, 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.480 on one hand, God can do anything. But in that 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.640 very same breadth that you say God can do anything, 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.040 there is something in your life right now that God 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:54.880 will not do. That you see in his word that 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.360 he did for somebody else, but he has not done 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:02.679 for you yet. Simply trying to say that everybody in 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.800 here has a Lazarus, everybody in here has something that 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.520 was supposed to be done. If God really loved you, 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.800 he would, If God really saw you, he would. If 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.600 God was really strong like they say he is, he would. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.800 If God really had all power in his hand, he 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.920 would have. Because we confuse God's love with proof in 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:28.240 circumstantial evidence, we never really get to the foundational core 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.240 that the love of God is not always proven by 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.720 the way I feel his presence. The love of God 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.920 is proven by the way I deal with his perceived absence. 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.480 The love of God is not only proven in the 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.440 times where I thank Him for my blessings. The love 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.199 of God is proven in my life where I cannot 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.600 feel Him. But by faith I praise Him because he 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.520 is God. Even when I don't sense God. He is God. 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.600 And I wonder, is there anybody who's willing to give 0:12:55.679 --> 0:13:01.120 God a praise by faith in this place today? At Gaston, 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:06.079 at Blakeney, at Valentine, at you see online? Give him 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.400 a praise if you don't praise him for what he does, 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:21.760 but who he is. And they didn't have text messaging, 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:25.319 so when Martha sent the message to Jesus, you need 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:29.000 to get here quick. The one who you love needs 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:33.040 your help, she would have to wait several days, two 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.920 days to be exact, from the time the messenger got 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.840 there until the time he got back. But there was 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:42.920 one problem. When the messenger started coming back to Bethany, 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:47.600 he was by himself. He was supposed to bring Jesus. 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:50.760 You know how it is when you see the person 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:52.199 you didn't want to see and they don't have the 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:57.720 person with him that you really wanted to see. Where 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:03.080 is he? She sent him message, and Jesus left Martha 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:10.000 on Red. You ever been left on red? Honestly, I 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.760 only became familiar with this phrase a few months ago. 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.559 There was somebody I was ignoring and I ran into 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:25.120 him in real life. He goes, bro, I'm like, praise 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:29.240 the Lord. Brother. You know, I get real fake when 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:30.920 I have to see somebody face to face that I 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.920 don't like. Like, what's up, man, what's been going on? 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.000 He's like, I've been texting you. You left me on Red? 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.160 You got a new number or something like that. No, 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:52.040 did you get my message? Yeah? I got it, and 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:53.720 then I faked the heart attack. You know, I didn't 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:59.400 know what to do. Hey, Jesus, the one you love 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:06.720 is sit Hey Jesus, I'm depressed. Hey Jesus, I can 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:11.600 hardly breathe right now. Hey Jesus, I feel all alone. 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:16.040 Hey Jesus, I need to know how to make this decision. 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.880 Hey Jesus, I need you to show my husband how 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.960 to stop being crazy. Hey Jesus, I need you to 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.080 do for my kids what prozac can't do and calm 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:31.520 them down. Hey Jesus, I need you to straighten this out. 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:36.560 And Jesus left Martha on red. Have you ever been 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:39.600 left on red by God? Have you ever prayed a 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.280 prayer that hit the ceiling? Have you ever prayed a 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.120 prayer that bounced right back? Have you ever prayed a 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:47.880 prayer that came back to you with such velocity that 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.280 you barely got it out of your mouth before you 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.480 had to stare at the same situation back in your face. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:16:00.720 And he left them on red because he loved them, 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.960 not because he was busy, but because he loved them 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:09.880 so much he didn't come. I don't know what to 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:14.640 do with that. Humanly speaking, my love language is presence. 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:20.240 You know, I love you, pastor, but you don't come. 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.840 You don't love me if you don't come. That's how 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:26.920 I feel about it. You know, people will say things 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:33.400 sometimes we're there with you in spirit. I appreciate that, 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.000 But there with me in spirit doesn't help me move 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:42.760 these boxes. Huh. There with me in spirit doesn't cook 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.240 chicken noodle soup when I have a coal talk to me, 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.280 somebody there with me in spirit. And then people are 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.360 real annoying. They'll give you cliches and think that's supposed 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:56.120 to comfort you. Well, if you know God put it 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.280 on you. He won't give you any more than you 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:03.440 can bear. They always got a scripture for you. You know. 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:06.879 That's why when I sent you the scripture the other day, 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:08.360 I said, delete this if you don't want to see 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:12.919 it right now, because sometimes the scripture is annoying. I 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:14.639 love how y'all look at me when I say stuff 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.280 like that. That's how I know I'm preaching good because 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:19.399 you give me that face. It's the face that you 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:21.320 make when you thought it, but you would never say 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:30.680 it out loud. Halloween is over, take your mask off 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.919 and admit for a moment. Come on, y'all, this is 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.240 my job to say the stuff that you're thinking anyway, 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.600 so you don't think you're going to hell for thinking it. 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:47.359 You can have great faith and still be frustrated. You 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:56.480 can have great faith and still wonder sometimes what the 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:00.280 one day, I'm gonna put out a whole CD call 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:05.520 Honest Worship, and it's gonna have songs you love like 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:10.800 you're never gonna let never gonna let me down, except 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:14.360 that one time you're never gonna It's gonna have ad 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.080 libs like you seldom lost the battle, except when I 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:25.760 was fourteen, And you're gonna sing about the real situations. 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:36.600 The one you love is sick, and we often conflate 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:42.160 God's love with the circumstances of our life. Now, if 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.680 you look to the circumstances of your life for the 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:50.000 proof of God's love, you are looking for love in 0:18:50.240 --> 0:19:00.680 all the wrong places. So Jesus says one of those 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.080 things that could sound like a cliche on the surface, 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.359 He says, this sickness will not end in death but 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:14.600 for the glory of God. Well, hallelujah. Do you know 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.159 what I mean? God is your provider, but he's not 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:24.000 paying my rent. The stuff you won't say. In fact, 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.760 when we put this online, let's put the stuff you 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:32.760 wish you had the guts to say. But Martha, Martha 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:36.520 said it, and I want to show you how she responded. 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:43.160 Because everybody has a Lazarus. Everybody has something that God 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.800 was supposed to do for you that he did not do. 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.480 What I love about the Bible is that it gives 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:57.960 us the inside of hindsight. The inside of hindsight means 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.480 I know why John wrote Book of John because at 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:04.840 the end of it he says, the reason I wrote 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.520 all of this was that you may believe. And he 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.159 organizes his gospel account. If you ever read the Gospel 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:13.560 of John, it reads differently than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:16.000 Those are called the synoptic gospels. That means optic, you know, 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.040 like see with sin, sin with see with they saw 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.000 with one another. John's on a whole different wave. John 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:28.160 takes seven signs that Jesus did, seven statements that Jesus made, 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.239 and then he organizes it not as it's happening, but 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:37.879 after it happened, and after he has the insight of hindsight, 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:43.679 so he addresses who Jesus is with a knowledge of 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.000 what he came for, after he saw him do all 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:51.679 that he could do. The insight of hindsight is really powerful, 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:54.639 but we don't live our lives with the insight of 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:58.439 hindsight about every situation. I would like to suggest to 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.200 you that Mary and Artha, who were mourning the loss 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:06.040 of their brother Lazarus in John chapter eleven, never read 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:11.160 John chapter twelve. That's just a guess, especially since John 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.919 didn't write it until a D. Eighty five. Jesus died 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.040 in a d. Thirty two, so that means they didn't 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.560 get to read chapter twelve while they had to live 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.600 out chapter eleven. Who am I preaching to? Who is 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.840 in chapter eleven? Today? Let me show you something. If 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:32.159 you're in chapter eleven, it's in verse two, it's in parentheses. Now, 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:35.640 I want to caution you be very careful to never 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:39.119 put a period where God put a parenthesis. What do 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.879 you mean by that? I mean that some things in 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:45.560 your life will make sense after the fact that don't 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:49.560 make sense right now. And John chapter eleven, Verse two 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:52.879 is very interesting because it says, not only did Mary 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.120 cook for not only did Martha cook for Jesus, but 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.800 Mary worship Jesus. Give me verse two. This Mary, who's 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:03.800 other Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:07.240 poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.760 her hair. The only catch is this that didn't happen 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:14.959 until John chapter twelve. That happened after what we are 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:19.080 about to read. That happened after the revelation that Jesus 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:21.919 was about to give. But the writer puts it in 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:26.199 chapter eleven because if you do not see yourself worshiping 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:30.120 in John chapter twelve, you will not have the strength 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.800 to wait. In John chapter eleven, I don't know who 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:36.960 this is for, But God said this morning. I want 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:40.600 you to see yourself in John chapter twelve. I want 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:43.399 you to see your self worshiping. I want you to 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:47.440 see yourself grateful. I want you to see your self restored. 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:50.520 I want you to see yourself better. I want you 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:53.280 to see your self free. I want you to see 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:56.520 yourself delivered. I want you to see your self healed. 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:02.400 I want you to see yourself with a testimony. Come on, y'all, 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:05.399 high five twelve people. Tell them I read the next chapter. 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:09.280 I found out it doesn't end in then. But for 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:15.040 the glory of God, I speak that over your children. 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:19.280 Your children will worship the Lord. Your children children will 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:22.879 have a legacy. You will see the goodness of the 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:26.560 Lord in the land of the Living. Shouted. You believe 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:33.840 it now, shout if you want to believe it. But 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:40.280 it's kind of hard right now. God liked that second 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:45.960 shot better than the first one. They say, you've got 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:49.959 to see it to believe it. God says, you've got 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:58.960 to believe it to see it. And what I love 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:07.280 about it, yew's it down is Jesus has to break 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:09.119 it down. You know. This is for those of us 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:13.920 who are in the remedial class and for the advanced students, 0:24:13.960 --> 0:24:18.840 the honor Christians. You can make your grocery list while 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:23.480 I share this. But for the rest of us, the disciples, 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:28.000 even the ones who followed Jesus, even the ones who 0:24:28.040 --> 0:24:31.600 had the most exposure to him, were constantly confused about 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:37.000 his motives, and they doubted the outcome because they had 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:41.200 not yet seen the cross. Even at the cross, most 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:43.120 of them went home because they had not yet seen 0:24:43.160 --> 0:24:50.600 the resurrection. He's the God of the outcome. He's the 0:24:50.640 --> 0:24:54.720 God of the outcome. I'm not. And the reason I 0:24:54.760 --> 0:24:57.720 need that in my life is because all I can 0:24:57.880 --> 0:25:01.560 do is sow the sea. I was reading one scripture 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:04.040 where Jesus said that we should pray to the Lord 0:25:04.040 --> 0:25:06.880 of the harvest, and for a long time I read 0:25:06.880 --> 0:25:09.000 it just thinking about how we should pray. But then 0:25:09.040 --> 0:25:11.280 I thought about the fact that he called God the 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:16.480 Lord of the harvest. The harvest represents the result, the 0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:20.680 seed represents the process. He's the Lord of the harvest. 0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:25.800 He's the God of the outcome. But I'm the lord 0:25:25.840 --> 0:25:31.560 of the seed. I decide what I sew, I decide 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:35.520 what I withhold. He's the God of the outcome, and 0:25:35.560 --> 0:25:37.879 the only thing that's difficult for us in reading this 0:25:38.000 --> 0:25:42.960 passage is that we have the insight of hindsight. The 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:46.399 disciples didn't. So he said to his disciples verse seven, 0:25:46.760 --> 0:25:50.760 let's go back to Judea. But Rabbi, they said, a 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:54.359 short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, 0:25:54.680 --> 0:25:57.720 and yet you are going back. What they didn't understand 0:25:57.960 --> 0:26:02.320 is that Jesus was invincible until his assignment was complete. 0:26:02.560 --> 0:26:05.160 He wasn't going to die until it was time to die. 0:26:05.680 --> 0:26:08.040 He wasn't going to die on accident because there was 0:26:08.080 --> 0:26:11.120 a price on his head. He would only die at 0:26:11.119 --> 0:26:14.920