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The Strangest Funeral Ever - John 11:33-44

Taught on | Topic: Resurrection | Keywords: Mary, Martha, Lazarus, resurrection, death, salvation, weeps

According to one source, there are approximately 2 million funerals in America per year, which means that about 5,479 funerals take place every single day! Most of those funerals are pretty typical: a formal service followed by an interment. But the funeral service we're looking at was really different--and not just because of a resurrection. Here Jesus does three things that are pretty normal for most people at a funeral, but strikingly odd for Jesus.

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1/23/2011
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The Strangest Funeral Ever
John 11:33-44
Skip Heitzig
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According to one source, there are approximately 2 million funerals in America per year, which means that about 5,479 funerals take place every single day! Most of those funerals are pretty typical: a formal service followed by an interment. But the funeral service we're looking at was really different--and not just because of a resurrection. Here Jesus does three things that are pretty normal for most people at a funeral, but strikingly odd for Jesus.
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43 John - Believe:879 - 2009

43 John - Believe:879 - 2009

"But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" John 20:31.

Believe:879 is an epic journey through the book of John led by Pastor Skip Heitzig of Calvary of Albuquerque. As we explore each of the 879 verses of this gospel, we'll grow in grace and in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. From His pre-incarnate existence, to His public ministry, through His death and His resurrection we'll traverse familiar territory and embark on new adventures of faith.

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Outline

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  1. His Tears (vv. 35-37)

  2. His Anger (vv. 33-34, v. 38)

  3. His Approach (vv. 39-44)

I Have Some Questions For You:


  1. How much trouble do you have believing that God will work in your life? What can you do to increase your faith in God’s power?

  2. Is it surprising to read that Jesus wept? How does this make you feel? What does this say to you as a representative of Christ?

  3. Why do you suppose the human body is so important to people; i.e., why such an emphasis on having a fit physique? Why does God want to resurrect our bodies?

Detailed Notes

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Death is a very real part of life; everyone who lives will die—unless the Lord comes back before that.  How many people return from the dead on the day of their funeral? Lazarus has been dead for four days. It is the strangest funeral ever, because Jesus will perform his most famous, greatest miracle. Jesus has resurrected others: the daughter of Jairus, after a short time (Matthew 9:18-26), and the son of the widow at Nain, after about a day (Luke 7:11-16).

As we study our text, we have considered Jesus' delay and the interaction between Mary and Martha with Jesus. Now we come to the main event: ultimate proof of Jesus' claim in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life."

400 years BC, as Socrates lay on his deathbed after drinking hemlock, his friends asked, "will we live again?" Socrates replied "I hope so, but no one can ever know." Jesus action here blows that notion out of the water.

  1. His Tears (vv. 35-37)
    1. Weeps differently from Mary, Martha, and the rest
      1. Κλαίο  Klaio- properly expressing uncontainable audible grief- (Mary, Martha)
      2. Δακρύω  dakrýō -to silently weep burst out silently in tears (Jesus)
    2. Why does Jesus weep?
      1. You'd think he would say "Stop crying!"
        1. He knows He'll raise Lazarus from the dead
        2. He knows Lazarus' sisters will soon embrace him
      2. Our God really cares about the sorrowful; it moves Him
        1. "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
        2. "The Love of God" by Frederick M. Lehman
          The love of God is greater far
          Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
          It goes beyond the highest star,
          And reaches to the lowest hell;
          Could we with ink the ocean fill,
          And were the skies of parchment made,
          Were every stalk on earth a quill,
          And every man a scribe by trade,
          To write the love of God above,
          Would drain the ocean dry.
          Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
          Though stretched from sky to sky.
      3. Couldn't He have kept Lazarus from dying?
        1. Reflects the attitude of Mary and Martha. Why did He let Lazarus die? Remember, he healed the blind man ( See John 9) a stranger, but he let his friend die.
        2. Predictable argument: How can a good God allow suffering?
          Like a loving parent, discipline demonstrates you do love them.
  2. His Anger (vv. 33-34, v. 38)
    1. He groaned
      1. Root word means snorting of a horse
      2. He gave way to such distress of spirit as to make His body tremble
    2. He was troubled: Ταράσσω tarassó  agitate, stir up, trouble
    3. Not surprising for others to be angry
      1. Second stage of grief according to Elizabeth Kubler Ross
      2. Jesus was first to know Lazarus was dead
      3. Knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead
    4. He is angry at death itself and the sin that caused death
      1. Death was not God's plan to begin with
      2. We all hate death
      3. When someone dies we know it's wrong
      4. Jesus shares that anger; it's why He came
      5. Jesus is about life
        1. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."(John 1:4)
        2. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
        3. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life." (John 6:47-48)
        4. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)
        5. The Gospel of John theme: Jesus is about life (47 times in this gospel)
    5. We are powerless to do anything about death
      1. Powerless to redeem, save or keep ourselves from the grave.
      2. "For the wages of sin is death," (Romans 6:23)
      3. Myth: The only thing you need to go to heaven is to die
      4. Myth: If you want to get to heaven, do good things or be a good person
      5. Lazarus will be resurrected—to die again
  3. His Approach (vv. 39-44)
    1. With His face filled with tears and a heart filled with anger, Jesus goes to the Tomb
      Tombs - no embalming, bodies buried on the day of the death; natural cave or room carved in a rock, with shelves on wall for 8 corpses; body wrapped in bandages with aromatic spices in the folds to hide the stench for a few days. Bodies laid in state for 1 year, then the bones collected and placed in an ossuary (bone box) and placed on the shelved.
    2. Jesus prays publicly
    3. He cried out with a loud voice (with the loudness of a multitude)
      1. Jesus is about to do a powerful miracle, voice matches the deed
      2. Wizards would cast spells by muttering; He distinguishes Himself from that black magic
      3. Put's His credibility on the line
      4. To get His audience's attention
      5. Shouting Lazarus limits the response
    4. Lazarus came out
    5. He could have performed this from any place, but he went to the tomb
      1. As he had with the nobleman's son (See John 4:46-54)
      2. Could have directed Mary and Martha to go to the tomb
    6. Preview of coming attractions
      1. We will be raised from the dead
      2. "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (John 5:28-29)
      3. We will be physically resurrected at the rapture of the church—"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)
      4. The resurrection of our bodies completes our salvation
        1. Salvation from the past penalty of sin (justification)
        2. Salvation from the present power of sin (sanctification)
        3. Salvation from the future presence of sin (glorification)
        4. The Lord created us as body and soul and has plans to redeem both
    7. Had the men move the stone away and loose and let Lazarus go
      1. Only God can raise the dead
      2. We should do what we can do
      3. Picture of ministry: we do what we can, He changes lives
    8. "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 18:7)

Figures Referenced: Socrates, John Van Doren, C.H. Spurgeon
Publications Referenced:  "The Love of God" by Frederick M. Lehman
Greek Terms: Κλαίο  Klaio- properly expressing uncontainable audible grief; Δακρύω  dakrýō -to silently weep burst out silently in tears; Ταράσσω tarassó  agitate, stir up, trouble
Cross References: Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 7:11-16; John 1:4; John 3:16; John 4:46-54; John 5:28-29; John 6:47-48; John 9; John 10:10; John 11:25; Romans 6:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; Hebrews 4:15; Revelation 18:7

Transcript

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John Chapter 11, let's turn there, John Chapter 11.  Finally today, we get Lazarus out of the grave.  We've been looking at him for a few weeks, and this is the highlight.  John Chapter 11, let's pray together.

Lord, in a very unique manner, we have all gathered together from different places that we live, different parts of the city and the state, we're gathered in one place to hear the common texts and truth of the Word of God.  All of us are needy, we depend upon you.  All of us, our needs are varied, but we all need to hear what you have to say through your word.  And even though the spokesman is imperfect, your Holy Spirit, we trust will be the one who will ultimately bring such truths, home to our lives.  We love reading about Jesus and we love reading about what he says and what he does.  We're always amazed.  He can never be put into a box, very unique.  And I pray Lord it is that we reflect upon this story, this truth.  I pray that we would see its relevance for our lives.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

I was in a store sometime ago and I was looking at the magazine racks and I was noticing the word Life appear in a lot of different magazines.  For example, there was a magazine, no longer in print called LIFE Magazine.  It's all about life.  Another magazine, People Magazine, it's all about living people.  There is a magazine called Best Life.  Another one called Natural Life.  Another one called Woman's Life.  Another one, Mac|Life, if you're into the computers.  It's all about living.  You'll never see a magazine called Death Magazine or Dead People Magazine or Victorian cemeteries -- Victorian Homes maybe, but not cemeteries, or Death Week Magazine.

Even though we know that death is a very real part of life that everyone who lives will die unless the Lord comes back before that time which is a real possibility, but other than that, people die.  One clever mortician down in Florida, rather than signing his correspondence cordially yours, he signs it eventually yours, [Laughter] spooky kind of a thought.  But how many people get the chance to get back up from the dead on the day of their funeral?

I heard about one woman who died and it was her funeral and after the service in church, the pallbearers grab her casket and were walking her out toward the hers.  One of the pallbearers slumped, bumped into a wall and ajar the casket and a faint moan was heard from the coffin.  They opened up the casket to find the woman was alive and that she lived 10 more years.  Well, eventually, she died and they had the funeral again.  This time the real funeral, same church, same pallbearers and as they were walking the casket out after the service coming close to that wall, her husband yelled out and said, "Watch out for that wall!"

I'm not going to go there except to say that we now come to the funeral of Lazarus.  He has been in the tomb in his grave for days.  A period of seven days was required called heavy mourning where mourners came around the family and they would often wail and shout, and it was very emotive followed by 30 days of light mourning.  This is the fourth day and it's a strange funeral.  I've done a lot of funerals in 30 years.  I buried lots of people, all ages and you can imagine with that many funerals, I've heard and seen some pretty strange things.

One thing that I can tell you about, I don't have the freedom to tell you all the things I've seen and heard, but one very vivid reminder or memory that I have was after a funeral service and we -- years ago, this was years ago.  I went out to the cemetery to intern the body and a musician was there with a guitar who was drunk.  Now, I thought that the family had asked this person to come.  They thought I had asked this person to come.  The truth is nobody asked this person to come.  He just showed up and started playing his guitar and singing.  He was drunk by the way.  And it was until he was halfway through the first verse, his wearing his word and we thought, "This isn't right."  We had to haul him up.  I'll never forget that funeral.

But, this takes the cake in terms of strange things that happened at funerals.  A resurrection would be the strangest.  We're familiar with this passage.  It's the most famous and I would even say the greatest of all of the miracles that Jesus performed.  Certainly, he has raised dead people before in the scripture, a boy and a girl.  The daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue.  She was dead for a short period of time.  Son of a widow at Nain who was dead for about a day, but Lazarus has been dead for four days.

So if the disciples were ever to release an album called Jesus' Greatest Hits, this would be hit number one, The Resurrection of Lazarus from the Dead.  We've spent a couple of weeks already looking at it.  It's a long passage.  Week number one, we considered the delay.  Jesus stayed where he was when he heard Lazarus was sick and we dealt all about the delays or the denials of God.  Last week, the second week, we looked at the interaction between two people and Jesus, Mary and Martha and what was going on in their heart is they poured it out before the Lord.

Now, we come to the main event.  This is the ultimate proof of the claim that he made back in Verse 25, which is the key verse to the whole chapter.  Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life."  It's a wonderful thing to say but somebody listening to that could have said, "Prove it."  He's about to.

Four hundred years before Christ, a man named Socrates, the great philosopher of Athens, drank the poison hemlock and laid down to die.  While he was on his deathbed and friends gathered around him, they asked the great philosopher, "Will we live again?"  And Socrates, with all of his wisdom and all of his experience, and all of the great knowledge that he had -- this is what he said when his friends said, "Shall we live again?"  Here it is.  Here's the great wisdom of the sage, "I hope so."

 "Really, you can't do any better than that?  Will we live again?"  "I hope so."  But no one can ever know.  Well, what Jesus is about to do completely blows Socrates' notion out of the water.  But, there's three strikingly odd things about this funeral.  I'll show them to you, but let's read our verses, so we'll see where we're at, Verse 33.  "Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping," that's Mary, "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 and Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.'"

"Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, 'Lord, by this time, there's a stench where he's been dead four days.'" I still like the Old King James the best.  By this time, he's stinking, [Laughter] there's nothing better than that.  That's just cool.  "Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the Glory of a 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.  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 died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth.  And Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."  There's a few things that are odd about this, strikingly odd.  Number one, tears.  You've got tears Skip.

It's a funeral.  People cry at funerals.  No, I'm not talking about people crying.  It says in Verse 35, "Jesus wept."  It's the shortest version in the Bible by the way.  John Van Doren says, "It's the shortest verse, but it's the longest sermon."  It goes to show that less is more, Jesus wept.  It's the kind of passage that you got to do more than analyze it.  You got to do more than study.  You got to feel this passage.  Enter into it.

Charles had then spurge and preached two separate messages on that single verse, two words, Jesus wept, and this is what he said.  "There is infinitely more in these two words than any sermonizer or student of the word will ever be able to bring out of them, even though he should apply the microscope of the most attentive consideration."  Here's what's important to see.  When he says Jesus wept, he wasn't weeping like the other people that are mentioned are weeping, Mary and Martha and the crowd.

The word that is used for their weeping is the Greek word Kleio and it means to wail.  When he says that Jesus wept, it's a word used nowhere else in the New Testament.  This is the only place and it's the Greek word Dakruo, which means to silently weep or to burst out quietly in tears.  So just picture Jesus standing there and tears are now coursing down in his cheeks and filling those omniscient eyes.  The question is, "Why is Jesus weeping?"  I mean he knows that within five or ten minutes, he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead, right?  He knows that within a few minutes, those two sisters who are mourning the loss of their brother are going to be embracing him because he will be alive and that funeral will be turned into party zone central.  Why is he crying?

You think, this is the guy who is coming to the funeral with a Kleenex box saying, "Dry it up.  Stop crying.  Just watch what is about to happen."  He doesn't do that.  Jesus wept.  Here is God incarnate.  Here is God in a human body.  By now, you know that that's one of the great themes of John is that he presents Jesus in his deity.  In the beginning, it was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God and that's Jesus Christ.  But what is interesting to me and a tremendous truth is here is John who exalts the deity of Christ, has no qualms at all about showing us his humanity.  Jesus wept.  Why does he say that?  Why does he include that in this book?

John wants to show us and Jesus wants to show us by weeping that God enters into the sorrow of those that he loves.  He enters into the sorrow of those that he loves and that's the reaction of the mourners at Verse 36.  After Jesus wept, it says "See how he loved him."  Now, think about this.  The very sorrow, Jesus could have himself prevented.  He now fully enters into it.  Could have prevented it, "If you have been here Lord, my brother wouldn't have died," both of them said that.  You could have prevented that now, the very sorrow he himself could have prevented, he fully enters into it.  He's moved by what he sees and what he knows.  He's moved because he loves Mary, he loves Martha and he certainly as a friend loved Lazarus.

I think this is important to muse upon for a moment and I want you to think in a comparative way.  Compare the Greeks for example.  They had their belief system at this time.  The Greeks had many Gods and many Goddesses.  Did you know that the chief characteristic, according to the Greeks, of their gods and their goddesses and their pantheon was summed up at a single word Apatheia in Greek, which means apathy.

The chief characteristic of their gods is they were apathetic.  Indifferent, unable to feel human emotion and didn't even care about it.  They were apathetic, that was their chief characteristic.  Now, here is Jesus, who presents a God totally different from that nonsense.  Here's Jesus, he's not stoic, he's not aloof, he's not detached, he is representing God the Father who are one in purpose, as one who cares deeply with the sorrow of man.

How did Isaiah predict Christ?  Isaiah 53, "He would be a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief".  And 10 chapters later, Isaiah 63:9, "In all of their distresses, he too was distressed."

Or just get this truth.  We serve a God who really cares about all of those he loves who are sorrowful.  It moves him.  He's not detached.  The writer of Hebrews was so clear about this when he said, "We don't have a high priest or a representative who is unable to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but he was in all points tested like as we, without saying.  That's the love of God.  And the love of God, I've always loved to him about the love of God, it's sort of sums it up in one little stanza.  "The love of God is greater far than ink or pen can ever tell.  It stretches to the farthest star and reaches to the lowest hell.  And could we with ink the ocean's fill and were the skies of parchment made, were every stock on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade.  To write the love of God would drain the oceans dry.  Nor could the scroll contain the whole.  Though stretched from sky to sky."  People don't write songs like that anymore.  What a truth, the love of God and here's a little picture of a God who cares, Jesus wept.

So he wept and they said, "See how he loved him!"  They picked up on that and John recorded it, Verse 37.  "And some of them said, 'Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying?'"  Now, it sounds to me like the crowd has picked up on the same attitude the two sisters had that we noted last week.  They said, "If you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died," now they're sort of picking up on that.  And they're confused by it.

Here's Jesus weeping over somebody he loves and they're thinking, "Well, if he loved him so much, why do you let him die?"  And it's interesting that they are reaching back to a memory.  They mentioned the blind man that was healed, that's way back in John Chapter 9 several months before.  There was a man in Jerusalem that Jesus, remember he spat and the mud made a little spit mud ball and put it on the guy's eye and said, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam," like I was a total stranger.  So they're thinking, "Here's Jesus, he heals a guy who is a total stranger.  His own friend Lazarus whom he loves, he lets die."  Why?

Now, I find this to be their question, I find this to be the philosophy of most people at a time of loss.  It seems that whenever we lose something, even among believers, among Christians, there is the same predictable, banal argument, how can a God of love allow people to suffer especially me?  As if they are somehow to be immune from all of the troubles in life and God's never allowed to let anything bad happen to build character to anyone, and so they bring up this argument.

By the way, if you're a parent, answer that argument.  Well, how can a God of love allow anything bad to happen to his kids?  If you're a parent, you answer that question.  You can answer it.  Here's a question for you, parents.  Do you intercept every decision your children ever make?  If they're going to make a bad decision, do you say, "I see what's coming, it's a bad choice.  I'm not going to let them make that."  You might do that in the formative years, but as they grow older, if you intercept and stop every choice they make, you will develop emotionally stunted, unable to cope with life kind of individuals.  There are needs to be consequences that everybody faces for growth.

But, when you deny your child something here that she wants, or you discipline your child when they do something wrong, one of the things they say, "You don't love me."  Now parents, is that true?  When you deny them something and they say, "You don't love me," or if you spank them and they say, "You don't love me," does your denial or your discipline demonstrate that you don't love your children?  Of course not, it demonstrates you love them, they just don't get it right now.  They will, it's not important what they think of you today, what's important is what they think of you when they're 18 and 20 and 30.

So here's this crowd, typical.  Why would Jesus allow this to happen?  So number one, his tears, they're odd.  It's strange, he's crying.  He knows he's going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  Number two, anger.  Jesus is angry, Verse 33, "Therefore, when the Jews -- when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping," look at this, "He groaned in the spirit and was troubled."

Verse 38, "Then Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb, it was a cave and a stone laid against it."  We read that twice, groaning.  The word groan is a very interesting word that literally means the snorting of a horse.  Just sort of intricate can you pick -- what that sound like?  What does a horse sound like when it snorts?  You don't want to do it.  [Laughter] Right?  Something like [Snorts], maybe that's not a good horse, but you get the idea.  [Laughter] Embrimasthai is the Greek word, the snorting of a horse.  When it's transferred into human emotion, it speaks of outrage anger, indignation.

My wife has a cute little habit, it's endearing.  Whenever she gets frustrated with something, she groans.  I mean especially if she's working on computer stuff.  It could be a number of things.  When she's working on the computer and I'm in the kitchen, I hear it.  She'll be typing away and then I hear a -- there's little grrr.  And I always smile, it's so cute.  [Laughter] It means that she's had an impasse and she's venting her frustration.

Well, this is a little deeper than that.  In fact, one translation translates it, "He gave way to such distress of spirit as to make His body tremble," groaning.  Look at the second word in Verse 33.  "Groaned in the spirit and was troubled torasso, means agitated or stirred up or restless, again, deep emotion.

Now, it would not be surprising for anyone else at that funeral to be angry.  I mentioned last week that one of the stages of anger management whenever there is loss, one of the first stages is anger, denial and then anger.  I am mad at the doctors.  He could have done something to prevent the death of my loved one.  I'm mad at the nurses.  I'm angry because they weren't attentive enough.  I'm angry with family members because they didn't tell us that there was a problem to begin with.  I'm mad at God because he let this happen.  Those are part of the emotional range that takes place.

But Jesus is angry, groaning, deeply agitated in the spirit.  Why is he groaning?  Certainly enough for those reasons.  First of all, he knew that Lazarus is dead before anybody else knew it and he told His disciples.  Number two, he's there to raise Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus is angry I believe -- now, follow me here, at death itself, and more specifically, at the sin that has caused death overall.

Here is Jesus looking at a tomb, a friend he loves is dead and he knows that from the very beginning, this was not God's plan.  It shouldn't be like this.  That wasn't part of the whole plan to begin with, when God created man upon the earth.  Now, we all hate death.  We hate it.  We fight it.  We revile against it, rebel against it, get spooked out by it.  We hate it.

And when somebody we love dies, we say, "This is wrong.  I've been ripped off.  I've been robbed."  That's why the very first emotion whenever there is loss is that denial.  "No!  No!  It couldn't happen!  It shouldn't happen!"  I want you to know that Jesus shares that sentiment and he shares that anger.  In fact, that's why he came, to fix that.  That's why Jesus came to give life.

I'm amazed that how often that theme runs through this Gospel.  In Chapter 1:4, John says, "In him," in Christ , "Was life and the life was the light of men."  John 3:16, "For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life."  John Chapter 6, "I am the bread of life.  He who believes in me has everlasting life."  John Chapter 10:10, "I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly."  And so, that theme goes 47 times in the Gospel of John.  John wants you to know Jesus is about life, life, life, life, life, all the way through.  And now, he's standing in front of death.  And he is angry like we are.

Here's the difference.  We're powerless to do anything about it.  And he's about to do something about it, we're powerless to do anything about mortality, death, lifespan.  We can't do anything about it.  We can't fix it.  We are powerless to redeem ourselves.  We are powerless to save ourselves.  We are powerless to keep ourselves from the grave and you know why?  Because death is a result of one thing and what's that?  Sin, the wages of sin is death.  We can't fix it.  Jesus can fix it.  The wages of sin is death.  This is happening and this has happened, it will happen because there's sin in the world.  And the day that you eat the fruit of this Adam and Eve, you will surely die.

There's a myth in the United States of America.  I encountered it many times when I do funerals and I've done a lot of them as I mentioned, and sometimes there are funerals for people who are marginally religious or are not spiritual at all.  But the myth is this, "That the only thing you need to go to heaven is to just die."  So what I got to do?  So there's people they live without God, they don't care about God, they never pray, they never read their Bible, they don't want anything to do with God and then they die.  And suddenly, everybody is religious.  He's at a church and he's in heaven and -- he's in heaven?  Why would he want to be in heaven, why would God make him be in heaven?  He wanted nothing to do with God his whole life.  Why would God let him suffer in his presence forever?

But that's the myth.  All you got to do to go to heaven is just kick the bucket and you're there.  There's another myth closely associated with the first one and that is, "If you want to get to heaven, you just do good things."  Be a good person, be very, very sincere and fill your life with good deeds.  No amount of good deeds can ever earn a spot in the kingdom of heaven because the wages of sin is death and that's why Jesus came to the earth, was to pay that debt of sin that no one else can pay.

And just to note by the way, Lazarus will get up, no question.  Lazarus will be resurrected.  You know what that means?  It means he has to die again.  How depressing is that?  Yeah, I died once, it was a real drag.  [Laughter] And I haven't been feeling good the last couple of days, this might be number two.  I might be dead in a couple of days.  He had to die again.  Now, just for the record, if I ever get really close to death and I'm almost in heaven, don't you dare pray me back.  [Laughter] Do you hear me?  I will make life miserable for you if I find out you're the one responsible for bringing me back when I'm that close to heaven.  I don't want to come back.  Are you kidding?  Taxes again?  [Laughter] Aging again?

So tears, anger, the third thing that's odd is approach.  Here's Jesus, his face filled with tears.  Here's Jesus, his heart filled with anger and with his tears and in his anger, he goes somewhere.  He does something with it.  He does something about it.  He goes to the tomb of Lazarus, Verse 38.  "And Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb.  It was a cave and a stone laid against it and Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.'  Martha, the sister of him who was dead said, 'Lord, by now, this time there's a stench for he's 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?'  They took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.  Jesus lifted up his eyes and said -- now Jesus prays publicly in front of people, 'Father, I thank you that you've 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 said these things, he cried out with a loud voice.  'Lazarus, come forth!'" a word about tombs and burial.  In those days, they didn't embalm people, I mentioned that last week.  And so, the day they died was the day they buried them.  They buried them in a tomb which was typically a cave, a natural cave appropriated for the use of a tomb, or they would carve out of a hillside in pure rock a little room, a tomb.  The tomb was a room of about 8 x 10 or 9 x 10 x 8 and it had shelves on the sides of the wall.  Niches to accommodate eight corpses total because usually families were buried together in a common tomb.  When a person died, they were wrapped up with bandages, pieces of cloth.  Every single appendage, each arm, each leg was individually wrapped, so it was like a mummy.

And then aromatic spices were put within the folds or between the folds of the wrapping and that was to simply take away the stench.  It was only good for a couple of days, after that the stench of the corpse would overpower and overshadow that.

Once they were placed in the tomb, a stone was rolled in front of it, a groove was cut on the outside of the tomb so a large cartwheel round kind of a stone was rolled downward in place to keep out animals, to keep out grave robbers, and to keep out the stench.  The body was laid in state for one year.  After a year, they would walk in that tomb and by that time, all the flesh had eroded off the bones, they were simply a skeleton.  The bones were collected and placed in a very small box called an ossuary or a bone box and placed in one of those niches.  That's what was happening here.

Jesus says, "Roll the stone away," and Martha protests.  And I got to say, I don't chide her at all for saying, "Lord, he stinks."  If you have ever smelled rotting human flesh, you will never forget it.  I worked in the medical field and when I was training in radiography, they would bring in body parts and bodies that have been -- the coroner would do this.  They have been found after two or three months of death, and the smell, the stench is something I will never forget.  So I read this and go, "I get this protest."  And I bet Martha is assuming that Jesus just wants one last look at his friend, "I just want to see Lazarus one last time," she's probably assuming that, which is one of the reasons for an open casket today, to have that last look.

And so she protest, "Lord, you don't want to look at putrefying corpse.  You got to understand, that would tear Martha and Mary's heart out."  They've already dealt with the grief of the loss of their brother not to exhume the body after decay is adding insult to injury, so the protest.  Jesus prays after saying -- having a word to her, and then he says, this is kind of interesting if not strange in itself.  In Verse 43, he said these things; "He cried out with a loud voice."  And the word for loud voice is the loudness of a multitude, to cry with the loudness of a multitude.  It was a shout, "Lazarus, come forth!" probably even louder than that.

And why did he have to do that?  He certainly didn't need to shout, right?  I mean, Jesus could have simply said, "Lazarus, it's time.  Come on out buddy."  That he could have just thought it, right?  He could have kind of go on like this.  [Laughter] Why do they have to shout?  Well, a couple of reasons I think.  Number one, Jesus is about to do a powerful deed.  The most powerful, the greatest miracle of all of his miracles and the voice matches the deed, a loud, powerful, commanding, consuming shout.  There's a second reason perhaps that he shouted.  Did you know that wizards would cast their spells or give their incantations by muttering, by whispering, very low voices?  As to distinguish from that nonsense, that black magic, he shouted, "Lazarus, come forth!"  Now, it's public.  Now, you got to understand, once you say those words, now you're on the line.  If that guy didn't come out of that tomb, you're done.

So third reason, I think simply to command their attention.  When he said, "Roll the stone away," I bet everybody is doing this or leaning in, husband talking to wife, leaning in [whispers] you know.  It happens sometimes when I preach.  I notice people talking to each other [Laughter] and Jesus wants to get their attention, "Lazarus, whoa!" there's now locked into him.  Locked into this event and Jesus wants everyone to understand the drama of what is happening.  So in a loud, commanding, powerful, "Lazarus!"  Oh by the way, why did Jesus have to address him by name?  Why couldn't he just say come forth?  The answer is to limit the response.  Right?

If Jesus with his power would have said, "Come forth!"  Hades would have emptied itself.  Every corpse in that cemetery would have -- shut up.  That would be quite a scene so he's very specific.  "Lazarus, come forth!"

Verse 44, "And he who had died," just picture this, "Came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes."  Can you just see him shuffling his way to the entrance of the tomb?  And His face was wrapped with a cloth and Jesus said to them, so practical, "Loose him and let him go."  So Jesus went to the grave, walked to the tomb -- he didn't have to.  Couldn't Jesus have simply -- from wherever he was before he got in to Bethany, where he met Martha and Mary, simply from that point, done it?  You remember the nobleman's son John Chapter 4?  Nobleman's son was dead, the nobleman came to Jesus, "My son is sick," and then his son died.  Jesus said to him, "Your son lives," and that's 20 miles away.  It's a long distance miracle.

Jesus didn't need to be there to get it done.  Couldn't Jesus that said, "Mary, Martha, go to the tomb.  You're going to see something really cool.  Blow your mind, your brother is alive."  Jesus goes to the tomb.  Now, put it all together, with tears in his eyes, with anger in his heart, Jesus goes to the place of death, the tomb that houses his friend Lazarus and conquers death by resurrection.  You know what that's called?  In movie jargon, we would call this a trailer, a preview of coming attractions.

What Jesus did that day at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus will one day do again at your grave and your grave, in your grave, in my grave, as we will be raised from the death, he'll conquer death.  I want you to see this, turn backward to John Chapter 5, look at two verses.  You're about to see the general principle of which we have seen a mere preview of.  We've seen the preview.  Now, here's the full scope.  Two verses, John Chapter 5:28.  Here's Jesus speaking, "Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice."  You get that?  "And come forth, Lazarus, come forth.  And come forth those who have done good, to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation or condemnation."

So what happens at Bethany with Lazarus is but a pale anticipation of what will happen in our future resurrection.  You know when that is by the way?  You know when we'll going to be resurrected?  At the rapture -- the rapture of the church, some point in history when Jesus is done with this whole mess, he will come down out of heaven and take those who are alive on the earth and believe in him up with him and a whole new event happens called the tribulation period.  At the rapture of the church will be a physical resurrection of our bodies.  I want to read it to you.  You don't have to turn there but write it down, jot it down, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17.  I'll read it and listen how close this sounds like to what we read with Lazarus.

"For the Lord Himself, Jesus Himself will descend from heaven with a shout," isn't that interesting?  A shout, like he did at the tomb of Lazarus, "And with a voice of an archangel, and with a trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  And then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord."  So when Jesus comes in the future to collect the church, it's going to be with a shout.  And I've always wondered, well, what do you mean a shout, what's that about?  It might be simply as he comes down He'll say, "Come forth!"  And that will be resurrection day.

Talk about an extreme makeover.  Everyday, when you look in the mirror, just think about what's coming.  Your resurrected body, revised, renewed, upgraded physical body, reconstituted from the old you.  Now, I got a question, I get a lot of questions about the Bible and one was from a dear lady who said, "Why on earth would God Jesus ever want to resurrect our bodies?  Who at that time are in various forms of decay and some of the molecules are scattered all over the place and why would he even want to gather the dust and the ashes, and the molecules and bring us back together?"  It's a good question.  Here's the answer.

The resurrection of your body is important to complete your salvation.  Now, hear me when I say this, salvation has three different aspects to it.  There is a past aspect, a present aspect and a future aspect.  You have been saved, past tense, from the penalty of sin.  That's past tense.  That's called justification salvation.

You've been saved from the penalty of sin, past tense.  You -- present tense -- are being saved from the power or grip of sin.  That's sanctification salvation.  One day in the future, you will be saved from the very presence of sin itself that's called glorification salvation, so past, present and future.

The Lord designed us as body and soul, and as plans on redeeming both and renewing both.  Just a final note before we close up.  Why did Jesus tell those guys to roll the stone away?  I mean if he has resurrection power, if he can say "Lazarus come forth," can he just go like this to the stone?  Or spin it up and cast it like to the moon?  And He could have spun that thing around and thrown it in the ocean.  Why did he say, "Hey you guys, roll the stone away.  You do it, not me.  You do it."  And then why did he say, "Loose him and let him go."  I mean, again, couldn't he just go, "Lazarus, hold still."  He pulled those bandages up and there he goes.

You know why?  Because only God can raise the dead, man could move a stone.  You do what you do and I'll do what only I can do.  And what I love about this is there's the partnership in this miracle, right?  And I see that as ministry.  None of us can change a life.  None of us can save us all.  I don't save anybody but I sure love tossing away gravestones and taking off grave clothes, don't you?  It's about all we can do.  Only he can change a life, only he can do stuff like that, we can do these stuff and it never gets old to see him doing it.

Unfortunately, the story ends here and we see the reaction that we'll look at next time, but it sort of -- how will I say this?  It leaves me with a longing.  I wish there were more details.  I wish John would have said, "And here's what Lazarus looked like", "And here's what Lazarus said, 'Wow!'" And then, Mary and Martha embraced Lazarus."  We're not told those details.  It would be nice to know.  I can guarantee you this.  That mourning funeral was turned into a party.  The tears that they had were dried up and it was eclipsed by a joy they never imagined.  And again, it's a preview of coming attractions.  Revelation 21, "And God will wipe away every tear and there will be no more death and no more sorrow."

So the bottom line is, we conclude and we say, death is not the final word, Jesus Christ is the final word because in him is life.  And he is the resurrection and the life and he proves it.

Let's pray.  Father in heaven, we have seen a very small snip at a periscope, a portrait of what's going to happen one day when our own physical being is reconstituted in a glorified manner.  Not like Lazarus who was in the physical world again and have to die, but in physical body that is designed for eternal purposes that will never grow old, that will never die, that is like the resurrected body of Jesus to complete the promises that he so often made.  We look forward Lord to that as we get old and we groan our own kind of groanings as human beings.  We know that you have a great plan in store for us and we submit ourselves to it.

Father, I pray for anybody who has lost loved ones in the past weeks, months, years.  I pray Father that you'd comfort them in a special and unique way.  Give us hope in the midst of this life, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

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10/25/2009
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Believe:879
John 20:30-31
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Is your faith in need of bolstering? Do you find yourself saying "Help my unbelief?" The book of John presents a unique, up close and personal look at the life of Christ, focusing on Jesus as God Incarnate. As we dive into a thorough study of each of John's 879 verses, we'll walk with disciples who were eyewitnesses of His ministry, His death, and His resurrection, and we'll experience abundant life in His name.
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11/1/2009
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The World's Most Important Word
John 1:1-5
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It may be difficult to say what the most important word is in any language, but not for the Apostle John. He begins his gospel with the identification of Jesus as, "The Word." Starting with the very beginning of beginnings, John shows us the fundamental truths about the Jesus that he writes about in the rest of this book. The language is simple and unmistakable and yet the truths presented are deep and extremely profound. Let's see how John presents Jesus and Who Jesus is according to one who was closest to Him.
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11/15/2009
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Step Into Son-Light
John 1:6-13
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I love early mornings when sunlight first comes up over the eastern sky. But if you’ve ever had the experience of the sun suddenly shining into your eyes (like when you turn westward while the sun is going down), it's not so pleasant. Most people wince when light is shined in their eyes. Jesus is presented here as being "the light of men" and "shining in darkness". But the world cries out, "Turn off that light!" How can Jesus enlighten your life and how will you respond to Him?
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11/22/2009
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One of a Kind!
John 1:14-18
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It is a mistake to think of Jesus as "one among many" options in the pantheon of deities. He is unique, matchless, unrivaled, singular, and incomparable. From His birth to His Resurrection, there is no one who even comes close to the majestic Christ. Jesus was One-Of-A-Kind! Let’s consider four distinct ways that Jesus was unique and what these mean to us today.
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12/6/2009
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The Greatest Man Meets the Greatest Lamb
John 1:19-34
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Everyone is good at something, maybe even great at something. Maybe you're a great artist or a great mom or even a great leader. Jesus said that John the Baptizer was the greatest man who had ever lived (Matt. 11:11). But John knew Jesus to be the greatest One ever—past, present and future - the Sacrificial Lamb sent to remove sin. Today we discover from John the Baptist how to witness for Christ and we look at the identity and the activity of this most unusual man.
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12/13/2009
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Are You a Follower-Really?
John 1:35-42
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You can't make it through much of the Bible without coming to the word Disciple. Just the four Gospels alone use this term 228 times. Basically a disciple is the follower of a teacher: one who observes, learns, and practices what the teacher shares. We now come to the first time John uses this term in his book. So today we assess ourselves by asking, "Are YOU a follower?" Lets look at five characteristics of the first disciples of Jesus and see if they’re reflected in our lives.
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1/3/2010
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Finding the God Who Found You
John 1:43-51
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When the first disciples encountered Jesus, they chose to follow Him--only to discover that they had already been chosen by Him! Without getting drowned in that theological tide pool, let's consider and marvel at how both of these realities work together. The Bible teaches that God sovereignly elects people for salvation while at the same time teaches our responsibility to believe in Christ. Let’s see how both Philip and Nathanael encountered Jesus for the first time.
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1/10/2010
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The Wedding Guest
John 2:1-12
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How cool (and also potentially scary) would it be to have Jesus as a guest at your own wedding! The unnamed couple at the village wedding of Cana had that privilege. Jesus was the wedding guest who brought the best gift. His first miraculous sign was performed while celebrating that marriage. But far more than just attending a nuptial party, Jesus demonstrated who He was in relation to four entities: His mother, the moment, a miracle, and His men.
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1/17/2010
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Trouble in the Temple
John 2:13-22
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A hymn by Charles Wesley begins, "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child..." It’s a beautiful song with a beautiful thought. However, Jesus is anything but gentle and mild in John chapter two. Here in the temple at Jerusalem, He displays His righteous anger as He overturns tables and beats the religious businesspeople with whips! But Jesus was using this trouble in the temple to predict a greater sign—the triumph of His own physical temple—His bodily resurrection!
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1/24/2010
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Uncommitted!
John 2:23-25
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These three verses are some of the most unusual in the New Testament. They describe a scene in the life of Jesus that explains His popularity and fame. The response of people to the miracles of Jesus is understandable. What is not readily understandable is Jesus' response to the interested and excited crowd. Though they believed in Him, He was not too energized over their kind of faith. Understanding this will help us to understand Jesus and His mission.
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1/31/2010
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Nick at Nite!
John 3:1-8
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The meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus at night is one of the most famous and compelling stories in Scripture. This man's inner curiosity and spiritual thirst drove him to want to know more. What he heard puzzled and astonished him, but he heard from Jesus' own lips the only way to be saved. Jesus' words here divide all of humanity into two groups: those who are born again and those who are not.
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2/7/2010
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Extreme Makeover: Soul Edition!
John 3:9-21
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For years ABC has aired two different versions of a show called Extreme Makeover. One is a total body makeover designed to enhance the physical beauty of a selected individual. The other is a Home Edition that rebuilds or adds to a struggling family's residence. But only Jesus can give the soul a makeover; only Jesus can ready a person for eternity. Here Jesus answers Nicodemus' question of how a person can have the New Life that comes from the New Birth.
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2/14/2010
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God's Valentine
John 3:16
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Today we take a look at the Bible's most famous verse and probe its depth while preparing to take the Lord's Supper together. Though most everyone knows this verse, John 3:16 is much more than just a slogan; it is a summary statement of God's love through Jesus Christ. This single verse of scripture gives us the salient truths of God's plan of salvation in abridged form. Let's consider God's great plan for us as we unpack it phrase by phrase.
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2/21/2010
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To Grow Up, You Must Grow Down!
John 3:22-30
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"They that know God will be humble, and they that know themselves cannot be proud!" That's what British Puritan John Flavel once said. And that’s how John the Baptist once lived! John the Baptist and his followers provide some great applicational fodder for how Christians should get along and humble themselves before one another and God. For any Christian believer who wants to spiritually grow up and grow strong, he must first grow down.
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2/28/2010
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The Nail Everything Hangs On
John 3:31-36
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Imagine if everything you valued was in a sack, hanging on the wall from one nail. It surely must be a strong nail, or you're lost! If life could all be boiled down to one thing or one word or one most important principle, what would it be? What is the irreducible minimum for everything and everyone? John answers that here, saying that Jesus Christ is the nail that everything hangs on. He determined what has been and what will be. Thus our knowledge of Him and relationship to Him is paramount above everything else.
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3/7/2010
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Refreshment!
John 4:1-14
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You know the feeling of swallowing ice-cold water on a hot day or after a savory meal—it's refreshing! That cool, invigorating sip revitalizes you from the inside out and makes you say, "Ahh!" Well, that experience is not limited to the physical realm, but is even more satisfying in the spiritual realm when dealing with Living Water. Jesus came to give thirst-quenching spiritual life to every parched soul on the planet. When was the last time you drank deeply?
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3/14/2010
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How to Lead People to Water
John 4:10-30
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The world is thirsty and doesn't even know it, or won't admit it, or will look to be satisfied by everything else but Jesus Christ. So your job and mine is to lead them to water (living water, that is). Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman illustrates perhaps the best approach for personal evangelism to be found anywhere. Leading someone to the place of spiritual satisfaction is a process that rests upon two pillars—the pillar of attitude and the pillar of approach:
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3/21/2010
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What God Really Wants
John 4:20-24
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Worship conferences, worship seminars and worship experiences abound within the landscape of the American church, but in all these there's something that seems to be always lacking—worship is confined to the activity of singing songs. When the subject is brought up in this chapter, Jesus talks plainly and openly about true worship: what it is and what it isn't. Let's explore these few verses to discover what God is seeking after and how to be part of fulfilling that.
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3/28/2010
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Spiritual Farming 101
John 4:28-42
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Farmers live for the harvest season--a time when their crops are taken in and profits are made. But crops don’t grow on their own. Seeds must be sown and plants must be garnered by a whole group of active farm workers. God is the head Farmer and we are His farmhands, all working together to produce a bumper-crop of people who believe that Jesus is the Savior--Are you in?
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4/18/2010
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Everyone Needs a Faith-Lift!
John 4:43-54
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Like any muscle in our physical body, our faith too must be exercised in order for it to develop. Faith is developed in virtually every circumstance in life, but especially in hard times. Peter put it best, "These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold" (1 Peter 1:7). Let's look at a real-life story of one who came to Jesus in his trial and had his faith lifted to a higher dimension.
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4/25/2010
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Healing Misery with Mercy
John 5:1-16
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One of Jesus' most distinguishing characteristics in His earthly ministry was His mercy toward people who were hurting. This is not astonishing, for the prophet Micah announced that "God delights in mercy" (Micah 7:18). Jesus standing among the squalid misery of sickness and hopelessness while at a feast in Jerusalem is a perfect setting to show how Christians can show mercy to a world in misery. But be warned: not everyone will be sympathetic to your cause!
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5/23/2010
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Like Father, Like Son
John 5:16-24
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The most important question you could ever ask is not, "Who am I?" but rather, "Who is Christ?" That was the supreme question Jesus presented to His disciples when He said, "Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15). Jesus made the most astonishing claim ever when He confronted the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem here in John 5. What do these claims have to do with us today? Absolutely everything!
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5/30/2010
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Everyone Lives Forever
John 5:25-29
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My mom used to wake me up early every morning with her sweet voice saying, "Rise and Shine!" It took a few times but I eventually got up out of bed. As Jesus declares that He will be in charge of the future judgment, He too will usher the call to everyone who has died to "Rise up!" But not everyone will rise up to shine; some will rise up to suffer. Let’s consider three inevitable and unalterable truths about the future for all of us: We will all die, we will all be judged, and we will all rise again to live forever... but where?
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6/6/2010
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Why Should You Believe?
John 5:30-47
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The theme of John's gospel is "believe." The whole reason he wrote this book is so that people who read it will believe in Jesus (see John 20:31). But why should they believe? And even more applicable, why should we believe? After all, the events of the New Testament are over 2,000 years removed from us today. Jesus' confrontation with the religious leaders in John 5 tells us why we should believe. Like a skilled lawyer, Jesus calls upon four witnesses to testify to His claims and these four give the reasons for our believing in Jesus Christ.
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6/13/2010
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Lessons From a Picnic
John 6:1-14
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This story ranks in the "top ten" of the most famous miracles of Jesus Christ. In fact this is the most famous of all His miracles as it alone is recorded by all four gospel accounts. But this is far more than a Sunday school tale. This extraordinary picnic was not just a free meal for five thousand folks; it provided lessons for both ancient and modern disciples. Here are four profound truths that emerge from this lakeside lunch.
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6/20/2010
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What Storm Goers Need to Know
John 6:15-21
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Have you ever been on the ocean in a raging storm? If so, you know that a well-trained crew follows an immediate protocol until the storm is over. Their knowledge and experience about violent weather are invaluable for those who want to survive. Using the story of Jesus walking on the waves to His disciples, let’s discover a few things about the stormy trials of life.
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7/4/2010
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The Right Thing, The Wrong Way
John 6:22-29
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Our text reads that crowds of people came "seeking Jesus." That sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? And yet Jesus challenges them as to their motive because they were seeking Him (the right thing) in order to satisfy themselves only (the wrong motive). Let’s consider three monumental truths about how people interact with spiritual things in general and Jesus Christ in particular. Let’s also reconsider the starting point for anyone who wants anything to do with Christ.
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7/11/2010
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Wonder Bread!
John 6:30-50
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The Hostess Company has for years advertised that its Wonder bread "helps build strong bodies 12 ways" and that just two slices has the calcium of eight ounces of milk and the fiber of 100% whole wheat. Wow! The crowd that Jesus was speaking to would have loved that! But our Lord presents something to them far greater than what they were wanting. He knew what they needed.
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7/18/2010
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Plain Truths About the Bread of Life
John 6:51-71
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Mark Twain once remarked that "A lie can travel halfway around the world while truth is still lacing up its boots!" This section of John's Gospel has generated much confusion and misunderstanding. Even Jesus' original audience had trouble understanding His meaning, and when they did, they found the truth was difficult to bear. These "hard truths," however, are "the words of eternal life" (v. 68). Let's look at these four realities today.
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8/1/2010
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Seeing Jesus Through the Fog
John 7:1-13
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There was always a fog surrounding Jesus! It was a fog of uncertainty, of unbelief, and of conflicting opinion. He was misunderstood about both His mission and His message. His friends, His family, and His foes were often bewildered about who He was and what He was doing. That remains true even today. But in this passage our view becomes clearer. Jesus had clearly defined objectives that He reveals here and they are extremely practical for us today.
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8/8/2010
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Follow Jesus But Don't Be Religious
John 7:14-24
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Jesus clashed with religious leaders more than any other group of people. He went against their spiritual grain and challenged their legalistic ideas. Christ made it clear that He hadn’t come to establish a new religion but rather to show the way to God His Father. He didn’t give people another “system of beliefs and practices”; instead He said that He Himself was the way, truth, and life. In this public confrontation, we learn how to follow Christ in truth and not be religious.
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8/15/2010
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Standing by a Waterfall (Dying of Thirst)
John 7:25-53
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All the diverse and assorted experiences offered by this world can never satisfy the deepest longing of the human soul. What we really want isn't what we really need. The rest of John chapter 7 illustrates this truth. In the midst of a crowd of people clamoring for deep spiritual satisfaction stands the only One who can provide it. He offers them the drink that really satisfies and all but a few refuse it, preferring rather to die of thirst. How painfully ironic!
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8/22/2010
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Scribbling on the Ground
John 8:1-11
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Can you imagine what a surviving copy of Jesus' autograph would be worth today? Or what about a letter to His disciples? The fact is, there is no existing document or copy of anything Jesus ever wrote. We only have this story of Him scribbling something in transient dust on the Temple stones. Though John doesn't tell what Jesus wrote that day, his account does reveal a lot about Jesus Himself and how He interacted with three different kinds of folks.
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8/29/2010
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Blinded by the Light
John 8:12-20
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When the sun shines right in your eyes, your immediate inclination is to squint, turn away, or put sunglasses on. Light can be blinding! Though light penetrates our world, providing illumination and energy for our very existence, big doses of it can be difficult to handle. That's true spiritually as well. Jesus, by His teaching and work, illuminated this world darkened by sin. Some rejoiced in that light, able to see where they were going. But others, who'd been so accustomed to spiritual darkness, could only wince when Jesus was around.
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9/5/2010
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The Worst Way & Best Way to Die
John 8:21-30
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One person put it this way, "Death is the big flaw. Sometimes we can postpone it, lessen its physical pains, deny its existence—but we can't escape it!" Since that is universally true, why don't people take death seriously enough to plan for it? While we are alive in this world, everyone should be thinking more about the next. But what's the best (and worst) way to die?
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9/19/2010
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The Best Way & Worst Way to Live
John 8:31-36
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Everyone has an opinion on what "The Good Life" is. For some, it's financial independence. For others, it’s autonomy from government control. For still others, it’s the ability to do whatever you want whenever you feel like it. Jesus offers a different kind of freedom and a better brand of life. Here Jesus tells us what the best way to live really is: It’s the freedom to be a genuine disciple. And He tells us what the worst way to live really is: It’s the slavery of a sinful lifestyle. Today consider how free you really are and what areas of life you may still be in bondage to.
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9/26/2010
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The Devil's DNA
John 8:37-47
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Your body has 100 trillion cells. Inside each one is a nucleus and in each nucleus are DNA molecules. DNA is like an instruction manual for life with densely coded information telling each cell what to do. A simple paternity test would prove that my father was really my father. Here Jesus gives His audience a spiritual paternity test that reveals their spiritual father to be the devil himself. No matter what your physical ancestry, you can always tell one's spiritual heritage.
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10/3/2010
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Who IS This Guy?
John 8:48-59
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Jesus had friends and He had enemies. But besides those, He also had some "frenemies" (enemies who pretended to be friends). To this crowd who at first pretended to believe (v. 31) Jesus is both confrontational and controversial. This paragraph highlights three possible identities of Jesus: two of them were his enemies' accusations and one was Jesus' own claim.
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10/10/2010
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Life Hurts! Where's God?
John 9:1-12
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"Why is there so much pain in the world?" is the most frequently asked question ever! We hate it when we, or those we love, are in pain. Today we see Jesus confront a hurting world. As we do, consider these words by Elizabeth Elliot (whose husband was murdered): "If God is in charge and loves us, then whatever is given is subject to His control and is meant ultimately for our joy."
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10/17/2010
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The Truth About Your Neighbors
John 9:13-34
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Those of us who are Christians live in a sea of unbelievers who work with us, live next to us, shop where we shop, and send their kids to the same schools. Some have a mild case of unbelief disguised by religious practices. Others are more demonstrable in their agnosticism or atheism. Let's watch a local Jerusalem neighborhood struggle against faith in spite of clear evidence.
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10/24/2010
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Got Any Blind Spots?
John 9:35-41
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When you drive, you encounter "blind spots"—it could be part of your own car or it could be a tree that hides traffic on the other side. Those blind spots hinder both progress and ultimately, safety. When Jesus healed a blind man in Jerusalem, the same man was also healed of his spiritual blindness. But others who thought their spiritual perception was keen were as blind as a bat! As we consider this story, can you think of any blind spots in your spiritual journey?
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10/31/2010
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The Good Shepherd (and a bunch of happy sheep!)
John 10:1-10
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This is one of the most beloved passages to be found anywhere in Scripture. But it's not a stand-alone passage: The healing of the blind man in chapter 9 was more than a miracle. It was part of the process of Jesus forming His flock. The leadership had cast the healed man out of the synagogue. Jesus found him, accepted him, saved him, and placed him in His own fold.
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11/21/2010
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What's So Great About the Good Shepherd?
John 10:11-21
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"What's so great about being a Christian?" some people ask. The answer lies in the kind of care, provision, and protection we get from Jesus Christ, our Shepherd. Have you ever stopped to make a list of the benefits that are yours as a follower of Christ? Consider this short list of advantages that you, as a child of God, have. When was the last time you thanked Him for being your Shepherd? This would be a great week to do that!
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12/5/2010
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To BElieve or Not to BElieve...
John 10:22-42
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"In all unbelief there are two things: a good opinion of one's self and a bad opinion about God."— Horatius Bonar. It's true, isn't it? Humanism is man-centered and rejects God's existence or His relevance. But Jesus appealed to two things: the plain evidence of His supernatural works and the testimony of those who witnessed them. Jesus here asserts His deity, and the reaction is predictable—some believed while others did not believe. Which camp do you fall into?
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1/9/2011
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The Great Physician's Patient Dies
John 11:1-16
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When a doctor loses a patient on the operating table, there is a deep sense of remorse and sadness in the surgical theater. Doctors are trained to save lives but sometimes even the best trained physicians are unable to control complications that lead to death. But here we discover that Christ, the Great Physician, not only knows that His patient is sick--He allows him to die! Here are three principles about Divine Medicine that we can all learn.
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1/16/2011
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A Tale of Two Sisters
John 11:17-32
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In 1859 Charles Dickens wrote his famous work, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The story before us is set in Bethany near Jerusalem and highlights the personal relationship that two sisters had with Jesus Christ. Their broken hearts provide an excellent platform to consider how Christ deals with people in grief and loss. Let's actively probe not only their responses but ours to the incredible promise Jesus makes.
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1/30/2011
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What to Do with Jesus?
John 11:45-57
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Any lawyer can tell you that whenever the star witness is a resurrected corpse, you have a pretty good case! But Lazarus being alive from the dead doesn’t seem to persuade everyone. And so the big issue becomes what shall we do with Jesus? The decisions made here set the clock in motion for an impending hate crime—the crucifixion of Christ. But from heaven’s vantage point, this is all part of God’s plan for redemption. Let’s see the responses and how we can make a difference.
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2/6/2011
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A Meal to Reveal the Heart
John 12:1-11
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If you were to step into the home of Simon at Bethany (Mark 14:3) on that night, you would've seen Jesus and His disciples along with Lazarus and His two sisters reclining at a low table for a meal in honor of Christ. But if you were to step into the hearts of those people, you would discover they were all very different from each other. Those inside the house and outside represent the gamut of feelings about Jesus—from adoring love to intense hatred. What a complicated meal!
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2/13/2011
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A Day, a Donkey, a Deliverer, and a Decision
John 12:12-19
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2000 years ago, on the final Sunday of Jesus’ earthly life before His crucifixion, He did the most unusual thing—He sat on a donkey and was carried into the city of Jerusalem in parade fashion. This formal presentation of Him as Deliverer was both profound and predicted. What’s the significance of such an act as this? What overarching principles emerge for us today? We’ll dig in and discover them, but today you’ve got to write them down yourself:
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2/20/2011
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Living the Right Life
John 12:20-26
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If this sermon was a book and I wanted to sell lots of copies, the title would cause it to fail. Now if it were entitled "Living the High Life" or "Living the Successful Life," then I may have a winner. But many have lived with both success and riches who didn't live right! So what is the right life? Or to frame it with a better question: What kind of life is most pleasing to God? Through a series of paradoxes, John gives us the answer—it wasn't the answer most people are looking for!
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2/27/2011
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Cross-Culture
John 12:27-36
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The term cross-culture emerges from the social sciences and typically refers to interaction of one culture or language with another. But that's not how I'm using it today. I'm thinking of it in the biblical sense, the salvation sense. Jesus' whole life was immersed in the culture of the cross and He referred to His impending death on the cross as "His hour." Let's consider today the culture of the cross of Christ: what it meant to Jesus personally and the world ultimately.
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3/6/2011
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Believe It or Not!
John 12:37-50
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Most of you reading this are believers. Some are not. Both are dangerous positions to take but for different reasons—vastly different reasons! This paragraph in John's Gospel is the summary of all that has been written, from chapters 1 through 13. It reviews the two different responses people have to Jesus and then gives us Jesus' own synopsis on faith and unbelief. Today you will be able to understand the real differences and consequences of faith and unbelief.
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3/13/2011
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A Night Unforgettable
John 13:1-5
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Some days are frozen in time because of the magnitude of an event. You will always remember September 11, 2001 and where you were when the towers fell. The night America bombed Baghdad or the night John Lennon was murdered may be permanent memories captured in your mind. This was the final night Jesus spent with His own disciples and it would be unforgettable. Let’s discover how what seem like ordinary moments can be extraordinary appointments.
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3/20/2011
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Basin Theology 101
John 13:6-17
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At the final Passover meal that Jesus shared with His closest friends, He gave new meaning to the bread and wine, using them to point to His upcoming sacrificial death on the cross. Today we share Communion as a church family and reflect on that meal, as well as the lessons Jesus was teaching His first followers. After dinner Jesus took a basin of water and began to wash the feet of his students and taught them life principles about stooping, cleansing and serving.
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3/27/2011
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Betrayed!
John 13:18-30
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Relationships can withstand an enormous amount of pressure, but betrayal is sure to end most. The old English word means to hand over or to deliver. Think of it: while Jesus was about to deliver the world from sin and its destruction, Judas was about to deliver the Savior over to His enemies. If you've ever felt betrayed by someone, this study will have special application to you.
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4/10/2011
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A Brand New Way of Life!
John 13:31-35
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To follow Jesus is to have a brand new way of life. When these twelve men sitting around the dinner table started hanging around Jesus, they had no idea just how new and different their lives would become. At this final meal on that last night, they were still learning just how new their lives should be. (Jesus can still teach old dogs new tricks!) As present-day followers of Christ, let’s consider three aspects of life that become new once we become His disciples.
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4/17/2011
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F.A.Q.
John 13:36-38
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An old Persian Proverb reads, "It's harder to ask a sensible question than to supply a sensible answer." Many times our questions to God are reactive—based on a sort of knee-jerk reaction to painful circumstances. Peter asked Jesus two questions of this sort. But whenever we ask God questions we must hang around to get the supplied answers. The questions Peter asked are similar to ones we frequently ask. Let's consider and apply Jesus' outstanding answer
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5/1/2011
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A Theology for Messy Lives
John 14:1-6
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Life can be pretty messy sometimes: plans fail, people leave, money diminishes, and taxes rise. There are plenty of reasons to be troubled these days but there are better reasons not to be! Life was about to get real messy for those disciples around that Jerusalem dinner table. At times like that, there are some basic instructions we need to fall back on so our hearts inside us won't be swallowed up by the mess around us.
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5/8/2011
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How Can I Know God?
John 14:7-11
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What a thought—that a mere human can know God! The agnostic asserts this is impossible. The atheist insists that the very idea is an arrogant and purely metaphysical pursuit. But one of the reasons Jesus came was to reveal God's character and nature clearly and perfectly! Let's consider two roadblocks to knowing God and four resources that help us know Him better.
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5/29/2011
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Privileges of God's Employees
John 14:12-14
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Most companies have benefits for employees: things like overtime pay, health insurance, and sick pay. In 2 Corinthians 6:1, Paul calls us "workers together with Him" (NLT renders it "God's partners"). We have been called to a high and lofty task—to be His representatives here on earth. You might say we're part of the "family business." So what has God called us to do? And how has He provided for us in terms of resources? In short, what are the benefits of being God's employees?
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6/5/2011
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Four Part Harmony
John 14:15-18
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Some of the best moments on American Idol aren't the solo performances, but when all the singers join together and blend their voices in harmony. There's nothing sweeter than well-trained voices blended together in first, thirds, and fifths. Spiritual harmony is much the same—when believers blend with the triune Godhead there is an alignment that results in a deep sense of fulfillment. And what is the note we are to sing in this spiritual song? It is the note of loving obedience!
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6/12/2011
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Promises, Promises!
John 14:19-26
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Someone once mused, "Promises may get friends, but it's performance that keeps them." No wonder God has so many friends! He makes promises and keeps them. On this final night that Jesus spent with His friends, as both sorrow and confusion assailed them, Jesus made several promises that would sustain them in the days, months, and years ahead. What about you? Will you dare to trust the promises of God? It's the only way to see if they really work.
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6/26/2011
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Peace Where You Least Expect It
John 14:27-31
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On countless American gravestones this epitaph could be written: Hurried, Worried, Buried. What a sad way to live! Fear, anxiety, and distress have literally become part of our national culture. Odd, isn't it? Though we have such abundance in this country, most don't experience abundant life—especially as Jesus described it. Sure, everyone has his or her share of trouble and anxieties, but let's consider one of the greatest gifts Jesus gives to followers—the gift of peace!
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7/3/2011
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Life-Lessons from Grape-Growers - Part 1
John 15:1-7
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My parents grew grapes on their little plot of land in Southern California. There weren't many, but enough for me to know that getting fruit at harvest depended on three things: the solid connection of branch to vine, the vigilant care of the workers, and the consistency of those things over time. Jesus, walking with the disciples toward the Garden of Gethsemane, gives life lessons to His men using the familiar example of growing grapes. With that analogy in mind, let's consider the three ways our relationship to God is described by Jesus.
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7/10/2011
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Life-Lessons From Grape-Growers - Part 2
John 15:8-11
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As we grow older, we mature. In our spiritual lives we should become spiritually mature. The Bible calls it being fruitful. Spiritual fruit is the indication that we're truly connected to Christ. But there are others, as we'll see today. Last week we examined how the relationship with Christ is described (Connected to Christ, Cared for by the Father, and Consistent Over Time). Today let's consider how this relationship is demonstrated. When we're rightly connected to God we'll be:
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7/17/2011
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What a Friend We Have in Jesus
John 15:12-17
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We can get through almost anything in life with friends to share our sorrow and divide our grief. A Chinese word for friend is peng-yu and it has a much fuller meaning than in English. It means "one who brings completion and sums up beauty." The ancient Hebrews saw true friendship as an ideal to pursue and a blessing to enjoy. In these final moments with His followers, Jesus uses a most tender term for their relationship—they were friends! What does that friendship look like?
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7/24/2011
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Why Does Everyone Hate Me?
John 15:18-25
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There is a flipside to being a friend of Jesus. That's true of any friendship. Whenever you ally yourself and make friends with someone, you will incur some enemies because of it. Likewise, some who don't like Jesus won't like us either—and we discover there are quite a few who don't! Let's find out why, and how we can raise our heads high and prevail.
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7/31/2011
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Two Thirds Is Not Enough
John 15:26-16:15
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We love God the Father who created us and God the Son who redeemed us, but what about the Holy Spirit? We hear His name a lot, but who is He? What exactly does He do? What does He want from us? The Holy Spirit is the "quiet One," active in the life of believers but sometimes not acknowledged as being vital. Oswald Chambers noted, "The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a guest in a house. He invades everything!" Today, we consider Him and His role in our lives.
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8/7/2011
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The Holy Hound of Heaven
John 16:5-11
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Having understood Who the Holy Spirit is (Person not just power; Deity not just dignitary) we now find out what He does in the world of unbelieving people. Since the greatest gift God ever gave to the world was His only Son (John 3:16) it stands to reason that the greatest sin one can commit is to reject the Son (John 16:9). How does the Holy Spirit both sentence the world as prosecutor and lead people away from judgment? And what role do we play in all of this?
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8/14/2011
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When Sorrow Turns to Joy
John 16:16-22
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The flamboyant baseball-legend-turned-preacher Billy Sunday stated, "If you have no joy in your religion, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere!" That's not to say that life is all laughs. Hardly! Jesus anticipated His followers' deep sorrow. He predicted it. But He also assured them that their experience of sadness would be eclipsed by a greater experience of lasting joy.
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8/21/2011
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How to Send Knee-Mail
John 16:23-28
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Today you can be anywhere in the world and send or receive messages digitally via email. Sending email has eclipsed traditional mail for years now. Sending knee-mail is similar (you can be anywhere)—but with better results! You don't need wifi or a modem; you don't need an electronic device or a computer. Before Jesus left His disciples, He wanted them to get "online" with the Father and stay connected through the simple yet powerful means of prayer.
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9/4/2011
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I've Fallen, but I CAN Get Up!
John 16:29-33
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I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail! So said President Woodrow Wilson. Our Lord knows us better than we know ourselves and is not surprised by our weaknesses. We all fall and fail, even though we may commit to standing strong. What can we learn about ourselves and our God in such valleys? Even more, what kind of restoration can we hope for after our bout with failure?
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9/18/2011
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Holy Eavesdropping
John 17:1
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Imagine if you could sit and listen to Jesus talking to His Father—what would Jesus say to Him? In this prayer (which comprises all of John 17) we step onto holy ground. His instruction to His followers is now over. His preparation of them is done. He now turns His attention heavenward to talk directly to His Father about Himself, about His disciples, and about His future church. This prayer is unique for four reasons:
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9/25/2011
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The Gifts That Keep On Giving
John 17:1-5
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It's possible to give without loving but it's impossible to love without giving— Richard Braunstein. Part of God's nature is that He shows His love by His generous gifts. "For God so loved the world that He gave..." (John 3: 16). Here, in the opening lines of Jesus' prayer to His Father, He requests a gift from His Father and acknowledges three other gifts—two given to the Son by the Father, and one given by the Son to us. These are the gifts that keep on giving!
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10/2/2011
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How Followers Are Formed
John 17:6-10
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Okay, so which is it? Did I choose God or did God choose me? Perspective is everything! If you look at it from the divine viewpoint, you'll say God chose. If you're looking at it from a human viewpoint, you'll say we do the choosing. But why can't both be true? I suppose you can sit around, scratch your head, and try to ponder such imponderables, or you can sigh happily and say with a grateful heart, "I'm elated that He chose me!" But you should also ask yourself another question while you're at it—What am I going to do about it now?
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10/9/2011
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Missionaries or Monasteries?
John 17:11-19
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How can you leave your mark on the world? Most everyone wants to be remembered for some contribution made to society. Well, Jesus wants us to do that, too. In fact, He prays for that. God wants you to make an imprint on life's road so people will say, "Hey look! God's kids were here!" We can't do that by isolating ourselves. We have marching orders!
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10/23/2011
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Listen Up! Jesus is Praying—for YOU!
John 17:20-26
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What's God's general will for you? Look no further than this text! Now as we listen to Jesus pray for us, we also find what our priorities in life are to be. These words are the "Last Will and Testament" of Jesus Christ. So pay close attention and you'll get it right from the heart of Jesus Himself.
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10/30/2011
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I've Got It Under Control
John 18:1-11
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Sometimes life appears to be spinning out of control. Events happen we didn't plan for, people do things we didn't expect, we find ourselves in places we never thought we'd be in. But though you can't always control what happens to you, you are responsible for what happens in you (attitudes and responses). What do we really believe about God's authority and power in our lives? Is there ever a time when God can't say, "I've got it under control"?
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11/20/2011
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The Darkest Night!
John 18:12-27
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On a dark spring night in Jerusalem, it seemed everyone was against Jesus Christ. The religious system had long been opposed to and jealous of His burgeoning ministry. The mock trial designed to get rid of Jesus was only going through the technical motions to achieve their end. And Peter, Jesus' closest friend, was in a downward process of disassociating himself from Him. But in the midst of the darkest night, the sunrise of God's grace was beginning to shine!
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1/8/2012
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A King, a Kingdom, and a Courtroom
John 18:28-40
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What kind of a King is Jesus, and what is the nature of His Kingdom? And what does it mean to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done"? These are the questions faced in the text before us. As Jesus nears the cross, a nation denies His reign over them, while a Roman ruler questions Him and then cynically admits his own confusion and despair.
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1/22/2012
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How Do You Handle Jesus?
John 19:1-16
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Pontius Pilate was like every other person who has ever lived. The fundamental question of his life was, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" (Matthew 27:22). Everyone has to deal with Jesus, to decide about Him and His claims. In one setting, we can see how one man (Pilate) was influenced to deal with Jesus in three different ways. These three ways are how many people today still choose to deal with Jesus Christ.
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1/29/2012
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Execution of a King
John 19:17-22
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Regicide is the official word used for the execution of a king. Most countries reserve the stiffest of punishments for subjects or assassins who would kill their royalty. John records the execution of the King of kings on a Roman cross outside the city of Jerusalem. But the rest of Scripture reveals that it was more than an execution; it was sacrifice that brought salvation. The next few weeks, we will consider the cross in depth and what it means for the world and for us.
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2/5/2012
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The Cross on the Billboard of Eternity
John 19:23-24
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Did you know that the cross of Christ was always God's plan from the very beginning? It wasn't a reaction to mankind's rejection of His Son, nor was it an accommodation to a Roman and Jewish miscarriage of justice. It was according to "the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). Today we will take a journey back and connect the dots of God's unfolding plan of the cross throughout the ages.
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2/12/2012
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How to Love Your Mother
John 19:25-27
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A mother's love for her children is distinctive and irreplaceable. To watch a child suffer is crushing and almost intolerable for any mom. In this touching scene revealed in three verses, we not only see Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of her Son's cross, we also learn how Jesus cared for His mother. Even from His place of extreme suffering, Jesus was thinking of others and His love for Mary is noteworthy for us.
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2/19/2012
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iThirst
John 19:28-29
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The world is filled with Apple's i-technology, which delivers on its promise to make connectivity and information readily accessible. But there is a deeper need within everyone, a thirst to be right with God, that no app or gadget can fulfill. How ironic that Jesus, the great Thirst-Quencher, would Himself be thirsty. It was part of the great exchange—His temporary thirst enabled yours to be quenched eternally!
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2/26/2012
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It's Done!
John 19:30
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While Jesus was doing His greatest work, He uttered His greatest words! Through the excruciating pain of a tormenting death, Jesus gave the most meaningful statements worthy of careful consideration. John records three of Jesus' seven statements uttered while on the cross. The sixth—and perhaps the most hopeful—is the one we consider today.
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3/4/2012
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Death Under Control
John 19:31-37
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Watching someone you love die is always a heart-wrenching experience, especially when the victim experiences great suffering. For the apostle John, the death of Jesus was likewise difficult-but he saw a glimmer of hope, a silver lining in the dark clouds of death. This death was long ago anticipated and was being carefully monitored from the control center of heaven. Today we see why that's important.
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3/11/2012
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Disciples on the Graveyard Shift
John 19:38-42
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You can find an unending supply of books, pamphlets, and articles on discipleship in Christian churches and bookstores. Many of them will be predictably regimented and conventional, giving solid biblical references and calling Christians to ardently follow Christ—all great stuff. But not everyone's spiritual journey is identical. Some disciples are unexpected, and so is their story. Here are two disciples of Jesus who've been in the background and now step forward to care for the body of Christ after His death. Let's allow their story to inspire us.
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3/18/2012
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A Not-Quite-Empty Tomb
John 20:1-10
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There was a lot of confusion happening on the first Easter morning. The resurrection had happened but it was neither expected nor accepted by all at first. Mary Magdalene ran to tell the disciples what she saw, and they ran to check out her report. What they saw was compelling evidence of a resurrection, but only one of them really connected all the dots. Let's see why.
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3/25/2012
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Hope Rekindled
John 20:11-18
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When people grieve, they usually run the gamut of the emotional spectrum, from denial to bargaining to despair to anger to eventually hope. Mary Magdalene was in hopeless despair as she stood weeping by the grave of Jesus. The resurrected Christ deals tenderly with this woman as he reveals Himself to her and conveys hope for her future. Let's glean some principles for dealing with brokenhearted people.
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4/1/2012
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From Closed Doors to the Open Road
John 20:19-23
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Our relationship with Jesus isn't a secret to be hoarded; it is a story to be heralded! The disciples were seated behind closed doors (sounds like a lot of churches). Jesus wanted them out, giving away what they had been given. Let's see how these early followers went from panic to peace, from perplexity to purpose, and from protection to power. It's a great journey. Are you up for it?
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4/8/2012
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Rise Up!
John 20:24-31
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The apostle Thomas has been noted for his skeptical attitude. In fact, we refer to a skeptic as a "doubting Thomas." In this message from John 20, we consider four ways Thomas was able to rise up from doubt and become a joyful follower of Jesus.
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4/15/2012
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Gone Fishing! (Relating to a Risen & Returning Lord)
John 21:1-14
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I am not a great fisherman. I don't do it often and when I catch something, it's pure luck! My dad was the opposite—he loved it and was great at it. At least seven of Jesus' disciples were fishermen and here we see them plying their trade after the resurrection. Some beautiful lessons can be discovered about how to live while we wait for Jesus to come back for us.
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4/22/2012
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I Failed! Now What?
John 21:15-19
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One of life's harshest realities is failure. The very sound of the word seems harsh to our sensibilities. We even harbor the age-old axiom, "Failure is not an option!" But failure is an option; in fact, it's a certainty. But discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping-stones to victory. In a post-resurrection interview, Jesus restores Peter with a fresh commission. If you have failed in your spiritual experience (and who hasn't), these principles will inspire.
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4/29/2012
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Final Instructions
John 21:20-25
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As John closes off his singular testimony of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he features some closing words of Jesus and Peter about himself (John). These final sentences provide some instructions for us as we await Christ's return. How should we live in light of who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and when Jesus will return?
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There are 95 additional messages in this series.
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