Introduction:
The Two Most Amazing Things That Jesus Does (John 11:38-44):
- He Raises the Dead .
(John 5:25) - Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
- He Partners with People.
1 Corinthians 3:6-9 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:48-00:51
I'm always amazed at the things that people can do.
00:52-00:53
Are you like me?
00:54-00:56
You know that show America's Got Talent?
00:56-00:57
How many people watch America's Got Talent?
00:58-00:59
Isn't that show amazing?
01:00-01:02
They get these people on here with these...
01:02-01:04
Total confession time.
01:05-01:07
I really only liked that show during the auditions.
01:08-01:08
Okay?
01:08-01:12
When it gets to the really well-polished professional acts, I kind of tune out.
01:12-01:18
I'm like, "Boring." I like to see the people come out with the really weird things like the chicken that plays the piano or whatever.
01:19-01:29
But I don't think there's a person who has a gift that amazes me more than my wife.
01:30-01:35
Erin is a human baloney detector.
01:37-01:38
She knows when you're lying.
01:39-01:43
And I see a lot of people shifting very uncomfortably in their seats.
01:46-01:47
But listen, don't worry.
01:48-01:52
If you're lying to her, she's not going to call you out on it on the spot.
01:53-01:57
But I just want you to know that she knows when you're lying.
01:58-01:59
She just does.
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Many years ago, serving in a different church, I had a lady come in that was asking for food.
02:07-02:17
She said she hasn't eaten in a long time, and she was really desperate, and Aaron was nearby, and I called her over, and she came in to the office, and sat down.
02:18-02:21
And Aaron looked at the lady for a second, and she said, what kind of drugs are you on?
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And I was like, you know what?
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I'm going to go somewhere for a while.
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I'm like, this is going to get really ugly.
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And the girl got so indignant.
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She was like, I'm not on anything.
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I can't believe you would ask me.
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And Aaron just sat there like, mm-hmm, OK, OK.
02:42-02:44
And then we got to talking to the lady in a little bit.
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And after a few minutes, the lady kind of put her head down and she said, "Heroin, crack, some weed." And she just gave this list of drugs.
02:57-03:17
She goes, "Yeah, I'm on a lot of different things." And Aaron goes, "Okay, well, we're going to get you some help." And afterwards, I'm like, "How did you know that?" I'm like, "Okay, I would have asked the question about the drugs, but I usually do like at least a 25-minute on-ramp before I just blast strangers with that kind of a question." But she just knew. She just knew.
03:18-03:26
She took one look and she goes, "I said, 'How did you know?'" "I just knew." "How did you know she was lying?" Aaron goes, "I could tell she was lying." Amazing.
03:29-03:39
And today we're going to look at Jesus Christ because there's two things that He does that is as amazing as my wife is.
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There's two things that Jesus Christ does that blow everything else out of the water.
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that anything, that anybody, anywhere can do.
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There are two things we're going to look at today that Jesus does.
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They're completely staggered.
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Turn in your Bibles to John 11.
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Just recall where we've covered so far.
04:03-04:06
Jesus got word that his buddy Lazarus was sick.
04:06-04:13
And because Jesus loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha, the Bible says that Jesus waited two days.
04:14-04:19
Yes, he waited two days because he loved them.
04:21-04:28
Well, Jesus shows up in Bethany, in Lazarus' hometown, four days after Lazarus died.
04:30-04:59
And we saw this last week, Mary and Martha both came to Jesus on different occasions, and they were like, "Jesus, if only you'd been here!" You remember Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus went on to say, "Lazarus will rise again." And we saw last week in the middle of all the pain and confusion, Jesus wept.
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John 11.35, Jesus wept.
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That's the shortest and biggest verse of the Bible.
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So here we are.
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Our series, if you're visiting with us, we're in this series called "Knowing Jesus." And we're moving from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
05:28-05:34
And today, we're going to talk about about the two most amazing things that Jesus does.
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Now, to be fair, that could be my opinion.
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But these two things are in the text.
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Okay?
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And in about 25 minutes or so, you're going to share this opinion with me.
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Let's see the two most amazing things that Jesus does.
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Number one, write this down.
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He raises the dead.
06:09-06:11
Let's pick up in verse 38.
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It says, "Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.
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It was a cave and a stone lay against it.
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Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.'" The Bible says Jesus was deeply moved again.
06:30-06:31
We talked about that last week.
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That's not a compassion term.
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That's a disturbed term.
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That's a little bit agitated term.
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He was moved again.
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The Bible says that Lazarus was in this tomb and there was a stone over the cave.
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Why did they put the stone?
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It obviously was to keep animals and robbers out.
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It was to keep the smell in.
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We'll talk about that in a second.
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Pick up in verse 39.
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It says, "Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, 'Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.' Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God.
07:32-07:36
So, Jesus says, "Remove the stone." And Martha's like, "Not a good idea.
07:38-07:44
Because he'll stink." See, the Jews did not embalm.
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They wrapped the body.
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They added spices to help with the smell, and they would put in a tomb.
07:55-08:00
And that's so foreign to us to this sterile environment, right?
08:00-08:09
In our day, when somebody passes, we have morticians, and we have funeral homes, and we have all these chemicals, and formaldehyde, and all of these things.
08:09-08:29
So in our day, when somebody dies, we have these very professional people come and dress the body up, and do the hair, and makeup, and the whole thing, so that when you go to the funeral home, the person looks like they just came from the prom and they're laying down taking a nap.
08:31-08:31
Right?
08:34-08:45
The funeral home is clean, it's fresh smelling, and that's what we're used to, but that wasn't what was experienced here.
08:45-09:01
It was, "Wrap the body, put some spices so it doesn't stink too bad, and we're going to put it in a tomb and cover it with a stone." Well, that decomposing tissue releases hydrogen sulfide and methane.
09:02-09:04
So the smell gets horrible.
09:06-09:11
And you also have to wonder how Lazarus would have looked after four days of decaying.
09:14-09:29
So Martha, Jesus says, "Move the stone. Take away the stone." And Martha's like, "Lord, by this time there'll be an odor." Still, it seems that Martha's a little bit hesitant, right?
09:31-09:35
Jesus says, "Move the stone," and Martha's like, "Look, look, look, okay.
09:36-09:39
I've already established that I believe you're the Messiah.
09:39-09:54
We've talked about that, but you wanna move the stone from his tomb, And you expect me to think that a corpse is going to come walking out of his grave.
09:56-09:59
And I love the fact that Jesus didn't give her a rebuke.
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But He gave her a reminder.
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He just said, "Have you forgotten my promise?
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You're going to see God's glory." I love that.
10:14-10:19
Sometimes we just need the Word of God reminded to us, right?
10:21-10:41
There's times we know the Word, and we could tell somebody else the Word, but isn't it just refreshing sometimes, especially when we're in a state like Martha, where we're in a rough season, and somebody just comes along and gives us that gentle reminder, "Hey, I want to remind you of what God said." That's what Jesus was doing for her here.
10:41-10:52
In verse 41, it says, "So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
10:54-11:05
I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.'" See, Jesus was making it clear here.
11:05-11:08
This whole event was for the sake of other people's faith.
11:10-11:40
whole thing. That's why Jesus waited before going to Bethany. Why wouldn't you hurry up when you heard Lazarus was sick? Well, it was for their faith. It's because I love Mary and Martha. And we saw, that was in verse 5, and then we saw back in verse 15, Jesus said to the disciples, "Lazarus is dead and I'm glad I wasn't there." Like, why? For your sake. This whole thing Jesus is doing for the sake of the faith of the people there.
11:42-11:48
And Jesus, He just says this prayer.
11:50-12:00
He says, "Father, I thank You that You've heard me, and You always hear me." Notice there's no asking for anything, there's no petitions.
12:02-12:23
Jesus is just simply saying, "Father, show them how we are connected." In verse 43, it says, "When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!'" A loud voice.
12:23-12:31
The Greek actually could be translated "in a loud voice, with a loud voice." This wasn't a whisper.
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Jesus shouted.
12:39-12:44
You know, I read this week, one commentator made this statement.
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He said if Jesus didn't specify Lazarus, the whole cemetery would have emptied.
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Right?
12:53-12:56
Like, "Dad, come out of your grave!" And there's like this rush.
12:59-13:13
"No, no, no, just Lazarus." Verse 44 says, "The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.
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And Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him and let him go.'" And you just have to think for a second of all the stuff that would have happened instantly.
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I mean, the man was dead for four days.
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What do you think that looked like?
13:36-13:37
I mean, can you see the scene?
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He's in this cave and they move the stone and Jesus shouts.
13:41-13:54
And I don't know how much time passed, but you have to think, maybe there were a few seconds of people like, "What's going to happen?" And then here comes the dead man.
13:58-14:07
And Jesus just very simply says, "Hey, get those cloths off of him and let him go." But you know, Jesus promised that this kind of thing would happen.
14:10-14:27
John 5.25 Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, those who hear will live.
14:30-14:32
You see, Lazarus was a preview of the coming resurrection.
14:33-14:44
At the rapture, the Bible says Jesus calls all His dead out of the grave and those alive at the rapture will join them to be taken to heaven.
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But the Bible says there are two resurrections.
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There's one for the saved, for those who trust Jesus Christ before the rapture, but there's a resurrection for the unsaved after the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ." Revelation 20.
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So the point is this.
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Whoever you are, wherever you are, sitting here watching, wherever you are, the stream, someday you are going to receive an indestructible body.
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And you will live forever.
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and this indestructible body that you have will either be to enjoy forever in heaven or to suffer forever in hell.
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And you say, "Well, I'd like the first option.
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How do I enjoy heaven?" Well, you see, Lazarus is also a picture of salvation.
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"Well, how so?" Well, that John 5 passage we just looked at, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming." That's future resurrection.
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But notice Jesus said, "and is now here." This whole idea of dead people coming alive isn't just about the resurrection.
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Jesus said that upon belief in Him, dead people are going to come alive.
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And that's exactly what Jesus does in salvation.
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He gives life to dead sinners.
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That's what we just got done celebrating a few minutes ago with Doreen and with Brady.
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They were saying, "Hey, I was dead in my sin, and now I'm considering myself dead to myself, and I'm receiving everything that Jesus Christ offers in eternal life." And understand, that is the Gospel.
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Jesus Christ did not come into the world to turn bad people into good people.
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Jesus Christ came into the world to turn dead people into alive people.
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You're like, well, how do I get that?
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Jesus made it so clear.
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V. 40, "If you believed..." I told you, if you believed, back in v. 25-26, Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life.
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He who believes in Me, though he dies, yet shall he live." Do you remember his question after that?
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Do you believe this?
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It's about faith.
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It's about believing that Jesus is who He is.
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And it's believing that Jesus accomplished what He said He would accomplish.
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You have to hear His voice and believe.
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You have to say, "Jesus, I'm receiving Your gift today.
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I am following You.
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This is me now." receive the gift.
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Belief.
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It's not through works, it's not through your character, it's not through your conduct.
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It's about, do you believe in Jesus Christ?
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But I have to tell you, there's no hope for the person who doesn't believe.
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There just isn't.
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And if you hear this message, and you can walk away saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I still choose not to believe in Jesus Christ.
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I don't have any hope for you whatsoever.
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Because there's no plan B.
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God's not in heaven saying, "Well, if you don't like this gift of grace and eternal life through me sacrificing my son, why don't you come over here and let me show you another option that I have for you that you might like a little better." There is no plan B.
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It's either life from Jesus Christ or dying in your sin.
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Those are your two options.
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The most amazing thing that Jesus does, we just celebrated it today.
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And you know, we weren't planning the baptism service when I planned the preaching calendar.
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So the fact that we had people being baptized on the day we talk about Lazarus' resurrection is just God's sense of humor.
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The most amazing thing that Jesus does is He gives life to the dead.
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Do you believe that?
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Have you received Him?
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That's the most amazing thing He does.
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Well, there's one more thing in this passage I want to talk about for a couple of minutes.
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And it is not as amazing as raising the dead because there is nothing more amazing than that.
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But there is something else that Jesus does in this passage that absolutely blows my mind.
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That I cannot - and I've been a Christian now since 1995 - and I cannot wrap my brain around this.
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The second most amazing thing that Jesus does - write this down - He partners with people.
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partners with people.
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What I want you to see here is in this passage, there's a combination of divine work and human work taking place for the resurrection of Lazarus.
20:32-20:39
Remember back in v. 39, Jesus said, "Take away the stone." and they, verse 41, took away the stone.
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So I've got to ask, do you think Jesus could have done that?
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Do you think Jesus could have moved that stone Himself?
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I mean, come on. Come on.
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He just resurrected a dead man.
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Do you think a pebble's going to bother Him?
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Do you think for a second Jesus couldn't have said, watch this, stone and paint that thing into oblivion or made it vanish?
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Do you think Jesus could have done that?
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You better believe he could have done that.
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But that's not what he did.
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He said, "Take away the stone," and they did.
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And then, verse 44, look at it again.
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Lazarus comes out all wrapped up. Jesus says, "Unbind him and let him go." And once again, I'm baffled because Jesus enlists help.
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I mean, couldn't Jesus have turned those grave clothes into a tuxedo or something?
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Right?
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That would have been cool, or like, feety pajamas, or anything.
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Jesus could have been like, "Bring him out," and poof!
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Here comes Lazarus in a brand new toga or whatever.
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Dead.
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He says, "Hey, take those cloths off of him.
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Those grave clothes." And I've got to tell you, those are the parts of this passage that I have a harder time wrapping my brain around than the whole dead man coming back to life thing.
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By show of hands, who here today would say that you are hesitant to ask people for help?
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Who would say, "I am hesitant"?
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Oh, like almost all of you.
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"I'm hesitant to ask people..." That's me too.
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"Hesitant to ask people for help." Why are we like that?
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I'm that way too, but why are we like that?
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You know, that's kind of me too.
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I hate asking people to do things that I can do myself.
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Right?
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Or for some people, you're like, you know what?
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It's just easier to do it myself.
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And the energy it would take to ask and explain, I can just do it myself.
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Or some people would say, you know, things are a lot quicker if I do it myself.
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Or it'll be done right, right?
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It'll be done right if I do it myself.
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And here's the thing that absolutely staggers me about that.
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Do you realize God's not like that at all?
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He gets people involved in what he's doing.
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I mean, the story would make more sense to me if Jesus just showed up and said, "Okay, everybody have a seat.
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Watch this, rock, poof, gone.
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Dead man, poof, alive.
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And grave clothes, poof, gone.
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Ta-da!
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I'm God.
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And everybody's like, "That was awesome, Jesus!" Watch this.
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But that's not what he does.
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He's like, "Hey, here's what we're gonna do.
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Move the stone." And God does the miracle, he does the heavy lifting, but somehow he prefers to partner with people.
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For example, for example, we're not gonna turn here, but I just want you to think of John 2.
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Jesus turned the water into wine.
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Remember that story, His first miracle?
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You remember how that went?
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Jesus said, "You fill the jars, I'll turn the water into wine, and then you take the wine to the master of the feast.
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In other words, you prepare the way, I'll do the miracle, you follow up." And then you go to John 6, and Jesus created the bread for the thousands of people.
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Remember, Jesus asked His disciples to test Him.
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Where are we going to get all the bread to feed all these people?
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and this little boy gave them his lunch.
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Do you remember how that miracle happened?
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Jesus said, "You get the people seated, I'll multiply the food, and then you gather up the leftovers." In other words, you prepare the way, I'll do the miracle, you follow up.
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John 11, again, the combination of the divine and human partnership.
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You move the stone, I'll reason from the dead, you unbind them.
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In other words, you prepare the way, I'll do the miracle, you follow up.
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Jesus chooses to partner with people by using people to do what people can do to prepare the way for Him to do what only He can do.
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And then He calls us to follow up.
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That's how the kingdom works.
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I mean, we can't give life.
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We can move the stone.
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I mean, we can't give life, but we can minister to the one who just received new life.
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And right now, some Bible scholar is like, Wait, wait, wait, hang on a second.
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Is this normative?
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Is this really like for the church?
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And the answer is absolutely yes.
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I want you to look at this passage with me.
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We'll have it on the screen here.
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1 Corinthians 3.
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Look very closely.
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Paul says, "I planted.
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Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." So neither he who plants, nor he who waters is anything, It's only God who gives the growth.
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He who plants and he who waters are one.
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And each will receive his wages according to his labor.
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Look at this next phrase.
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"For we are God's fellow workers." Let that sink in for a second.
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"For we are God's fellow workers." He says, "You are God's field.
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God's building." You see in this passage, it's the same thing.
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God says, "You prepare the way.
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Plant." God says, "I'll do the miracle," which is give growth.
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And then He says, "You follow up," which is watering.
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That's how God chooses to work.
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He partners with people.
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You prepare the way.
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I'll do the miracle, you follow up.
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Okay, so here's the question.
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Why does God choose to work this way?
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Why? Why?
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Why does God do this?
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I mean, He doesn't need me.
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I think we would all agree on that, right?
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Does God need me?
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No, does God need you?
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No, He does not need anyone.
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So why does He do this?
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Why does God choose to work this way?
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I'm going to tell you why.
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Write this down.
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I don't know.
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You're like, "Okay, so we pay you?" I don't know.
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I don't know why He works this way.
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I don't know why He chooses to partner with us.
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I don't know.
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But I am so glad that He does.
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God has given us the privilege of preparing the way.
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We get to preach the Gospel.
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We get to teach the kids and harvest kids.
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We get to lead the teenagers and youth group.
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We get to love people through hospitality.
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We get to play on a worship team.
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We get to maintain clean and organized facilities.
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We get to prepare the way.
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And we get the privilege of following up.
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We get to host small groups.
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We get to pray with people.
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We get to baptize people.
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See He gives eternal life to those who come to Him.
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That is all Him.
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But He's called us to prepare the way.
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to follow up.
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Church, today, I want to call us all back to this.
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We need to see working for Christ, not as an obligation, not as a duty, not as a necessity, but a privilege to partner with God.
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This must change not only the excellence with which we carry it out, but the joyful attitude with which we serve.
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God is giving life.
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What a joy to celebrate that in our church this morning.
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Amen?
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God is giving life right here Through this ministry, through this church, God is giving life.
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He's transforming people.
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He is rescuing people from hell.
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And He is changing their eternity.
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And He's allowing you and I to be a part of that?
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I just want to say, if you're not working for Christ right now in some capacity, if you're not on board with what God's doing, come and see me.
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Grab one of our leaders and say, "Hey, I want to be a part of what God's doing.
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I want to partner with God." Because church, we have stones to roll.
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And we have grave clothes to remove.
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Are you with me?
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Alright, let's pray.
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Father in Heaven, we sing this song sometimes, I stand in awe of You, and God, we do stand in awe of You.
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I can't fathom the kind of power that creates out of nothing, God, and I can't fathom the kind of power that can give life to the dead.
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I believe it, but that's a power that can only come from the Almighty.
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Jesus Christ demonstrated here.
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God, I stand amazed at Your resurrection power.
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And Father, I stand amazed at the fact that You would use people like us to partner with.
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I don't get that.
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Because Father, You know our hearts.
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We are so often wayward and distracted and complaining.
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You choose to work through us, and Father, You choose to work with us.
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And I just pray for my brothers and sisters here today, Father, as we stand in awe at Your resurrection power, that we would stand in appreciation of You.
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That You have this eternal plan that You're working on, that You've already prepared, for what You can unfold before our eyes.
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You're allowing us to come beside You and watch You work and even work with You.
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Thank You, Father.
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Thank You.
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We praise You in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 11:38-44
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
How is Lazarus’ resurrection like an illustration of salvation?
Explain how we see a combination of Divine and human work in Jesus’ miracles. Why do you think Jesus chooses to work this way?
Read 1 Corinthians 3:6-9. How should “being God’s fellow workers” change the way we view working for Christ?
BONUS: Where do you think Lazarus was during those 4 days he was dead? Support your answer.
Breakout
What are some things we learn about praying from John 11:41-42? Incorporate these into your prayer time together.