[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's Word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in.
I'm so thankful that you're here. Welcome to church, everybody. You excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning?
I know I am. I'm so glad that you are here. I'm glad you made the effort. And for all of you watching online, we are so glad that you. You can tune in from wherever you're watching from. You've got people watching from all around the world. So high rich family, come on. Give them a big warm round of applause as we welcome our online friends.
Welcome. Welcome to you. Grab your Bibles, turn over to John, chapter 11. As we dig into God's Word today, I believe God's got something to speak to you. And I want you to just kind of have that same expectation, that level of faith. Every time you open up God's Word, God's going to speak to me. God's going to show me things that I need to see. God's going to reveal things in my heart that need to be revealed. God's gonna correct me. He's gonna encourage me. Every time we open up God's Word, God has that opportunity to speak directly into your life and into your situation. And so we're gonna continue on with our Moments series, talking about defining and divine moments in each of our lives and how our life is kind of defined. Our life is shaped by particular moments in our past. And one of the moments that you obviously have come to at some point in your life is the moment of grief and great emotion, the moments where you experience loss. And for me personally, the very first time I experienced all those was at about 4 or 5 when. When we lost the. The dog that we had. So our dog died and it got hit by a car, and it happened right in front of me and my older sister, my younger brother. We saw the whole thing happen. And that was an extremely traumatic moment for us having to experience that. And until you. Until you understand the process like it's. It's hard for you to process that. And, you know, my wife and I lost our dog here last year of about 14 or 15 years, and that was still traumatic for me. For those of you that have lost a dog, for those of you lost a cat, I Don't care.
But for man's best friend, that was a big deal for me. And it was the first time that I ever experienced loss and grief and sorrow and death.
And then I remember later on when my dad came and told me that grandmother had passed away. She was hit by a drunk driver. She's only 51 years old. And losing her at that young of age and also processing that through my young eyes, that was a difficult moment for me. And so I remember they took us to the hospital and I thought it was probably inappropriate for me at that age, but they wanted me to go into the hospital room and say goodbye to grandma. She was already gone. And I'm like, this is. I feel like I'm too young to be in here. I'm too young to be in there right now. Let's just be honest.
And the only thing that I can remember about the awkwardness and the strangeness of that moment is the fact that they had come in and like, disinfected the room with like an orange flavored disinfectant. And you can. You could just taste it on your tongue. And that's. That's the. That's the memory that kind of shaped the rest of my future when it comes to dealing with pain and heartache and loss and anxiety and death and grief. And I just think of it in terms of fake orange disinfectant on my tongue. And so to this day, by the way, I am a massive Mike and Ike fan. You where my Mike and Ike fans at? You know what I'm talking about? God's candy. I want no deliverance. Don't pray for my deliverance. I need that. And every time that we go to the movies, I'll get a package of Mike and Ikes, and I'll sit there and walk through them Mike and Ikes, and I'll pour them out of my hand. And my wife just holds out her hand and I only give her the orange ones. Cause I ain't eating the orange ones.
And so she's like, I love the orange ones. I'm glad you do. That's the reason why God put us together. Cause I ain't eating this.
But those moments of grief and sorrow and loss really defined and shaped my future. And you have moments in your past as well where you.
You might not say, well, that was a. That was a great day for me. It was. It was a bad day. But that moment kind of sticks in your mind and it shapes the way that you think. It shapes the way that you process things. It projects itself into your future.
And here's the thing. The Lord wants to be Lord of those moments.
Here's a powerful scripture that we need to see today. This comes to us from Psalm 34:18. It says, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and he saves those that are crushed in spirit. God says, I'm with you in the valleys. I'm with you in the shadows. I'm with you in the darkness. I'm with you in times of great grief and high emotions. God says, I'm near to those people. The question is, do we invite him into those moments or do we do what most people do and isolate ourselves? We think, I've got it all under control. Let me just pull away. And God says, can you not pull away from me?
And so here's the most important thing that I'm going to say today. As a matter of fact, if you only hear this one thing that I. That I say today, please, please hear this simple statement that I think is going to help you in your future. Because you're going to walk through dark days. Those days will come. It's part of life. Here's what you need to know. Grief is an invitation. It's not a barrier.
Grief is an invitation to get closer to God than you've ever been, to walk near to him in the middle of the valleys. It's not a barrier between you and God, of where were you in this moment? I needed you and you didn't come through. You didn't do what I thought you should do. There's a barrier between me and God. And unfortunately, many people choose not to believe, not to have a relationship with God. Why? Because of a defining moment in their life of grief where they decided not to invite the Lord into it, but instead it put up a barrier in between them.
The barrier that says, I'm disappointed in what you didn't fix. I'm disappointed in what you didn't do. I'm disappointed that you didn't step in and do a miracle. And this is exactly what we find, by the way, in John chapter 11, where Jesus begins to show us that he's God of the valleys. He's the God that brings dead things back to life. He's the God that speaks into dead situations and speaks freedom and life and hope. We also see in this chapter that Jesus deals with great emotions. He walks into an emotional situation and expresses emotions himself. We get a good look at the personality of Jesus, and I think sometimes we get lost in the fact that Jesus was fully human and Fully God, he experienced a whole wide range of emotions just like we do. And he shows us how to do it and in what context to put those emotions.
And so In John, chapter 11, we come upon a situation that many of us have seen this many, many times. And I want to hopefully help you look at it with fresh eyes.
Over my 25, 26 years now in ministry, I've read this story hundreds and hundreds of times. And so it's easy for me to dive into the story and say, I've seen this. I've seen this. I understand what it's about. And then to miss the little things that the Holy Spirit wants to show me. So I want to encourage you to open up your heart, allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and show you some things that you need to know today. There are some things that you need to know. God wants to let this be a divine moment for you.
So pick it up with me. In the Book of John, chapter 11, it says, Now, a man named Lazarus was sick.
So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. And Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it's for God's glory that God's Son may be glorified through it. I want to pause there for a moment because Jesus said the sickness won't end in death. He didn't say it wouldn't go through it.
Because those of you that know the story know that death is absolutely a part of this story.
But think about this. Jesus shows them the end so that the middle wouldn't freak them out.
And that's something important to keep in mind as you read this word. Jesus shows you the end so that the middle won't freak you out.
He says, this sickness is not gonna end in death. He doesn't say, you don't have to go through it, but he says, at the end, there's a new heaven, there's a new earth.
At the end, I'm gonna make all things right.
And then Jesus walks his disciples and his friends through the darkest valley, the valley of death. So Jesus says, this is not going to end in death, but it's for God's glory that God's Son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. And so when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.
And then he says to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. But, Rabbi, they said a short while ago, the Jews were trying to stone you, and yet you're going Back.
Can you imagine being Jesus disciples and trying to give him advice about what's safe?
Jesus, you don't understand.
You ever had those moments where you're arguing with God about things that he doesn't know, but you don't know, Lord, he's really mean, but you don't know. I can't do that, but you don't know. That's awkward for me.
And here's what they're saying. Jesus, you can't go back there. That's not safe.
But safety isn't the goal.
Safety's never been the goal.
There's effectiveness, there's obedience, there's bringing the Lord glory. And Jesus understands that. He walks them through their feeling of being unsafe. You ever been there?
He's showing that he's Lord over their feelings of being unsafe.
And Jesus answered to this, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I'm going to go there to wake him up. That's man, I cannot help but laugh a little bit about that. Because, you know, Jesus knows what he's going to do.
No, he's asleep. I'm going to go wake him up. And he's the only one that knows what he means. I love that little inside joke.
I'm going to go over to wake him up. His disciples said, lord, if he sleeps, he's going to get better. Jesus was speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So he told them plainly. You guys didn't get the joke. Lazarus is dead, okay?
And I love that the Lord still speaks plainly when we need him to.
And you could ask him, Lord, can you just. Can you just be clear with me? Because I don't get the joke. I don't understand the things that you're saying. Can you just speak clearly to me? And here's what we say in our culture. Clarity is kindness.
And the kindest thing Jesus could do in this moment is to be honest with him and say, look, he's passed.
He says, I'm thankful that I wasn't there. So you could see what Jesus himself can do when there is no hope.
He tells them plainly, lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. And then Thomas, I love one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible. Thomas said this. Well, let us also go so we can die with him.
I love that. So great.
And when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. Look. But Mary stayed at home.
I want you to see that both of them in response to Jesus coming.
Both show that they're offended.
They're offended that Jesus made them wait, that he could have been there. He could have stopped this. He didn't do it. Now, one of them responds immediately in faith. And the other one has a little bit different response.
The other one says, I'm going to make him wait like he made me wait.
It shows us through John's writing that some people approach Jesus with a little bit of.
A little bit of sarcasm, a little bit of, you know what I want you to feel like. I feel I'm glad the Lord doesn't hide those people from us, because I'm one of those.
I understand that that's something I have to struggle with myself. Oh, yeah, well, see how this feels?
And you struggle with that sometimes, too. Let's just be honest.
So it says, one of the sisters comes, but the other one, Mary, stays at home.
Martha says this to Jesus, lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
I love that she's honest. She tells him how she really feels. But she says this. I do know that God will now give you whatever you ask. And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.
And she says, I know he's gonna rise again at the resurrection, at the last day. And Jesus said to her, no, no, no. That's not an event.
That's not a place.
The resurrection is a person. I am the resurrection. I'm the life you're looking at the resurrection. That's me. I am alive.
The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. He says, do you believe this?
And I love her statement of faith. She says, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who has come into the world.
And when Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet. Now, notice this is the other sister that decided she's gonna delay, too.
I'm gonna make Jesus wait. He made us wait. I'm making him wait. But then she finally comes. She falls at his feet, and she says the exact same thing that her sister said. Which shows us, by the way, what they were talking about. When Jesus didn't show up and do what they wanted him to do, if he would have been here, none of this would happen. We could have avoided this whole situation. We don't have to walk through this. He let us down. And they both say the exact same thing. It's the overarching thought inside of their minds. It's the.
It's the statement that they've made over and over. If Jesus had just done something.
But here's what happened.
Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. And when Jesus saw her weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.
Where have you laid him? He asked.
Come and see, Lord, they replied. And Jesus wept.
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. And it was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord said, martha, by the time, by this time, there's a bad odor. He's been in there for four days. Like this is about to be gross.
Then Jesus says, did I not tell you that if you believe, you'll see the glory of God?
So they took away the stone.
And then Jesus looked up and said, father, I thank you that you've heard me. I know that you'll always hear me. But I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. And when he said this, Jesus called out in a loud voice, lazarus, come out. And the dead man came out, his hands and his feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. And Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go. What a powerful story, by the way. This is proof that God is still the God of the living. The God that speaks life into dead things. The God that says, there is no ending. When I'm here, I get to control the ending.
Our powerful God that speaks life into dead situations. I wonder, do you have a situation in your life where you've given up hope? Is there a situation where you think there's just no way?
Then today's message is for you.
There's three things that I think are so important for us to notice today. And once again, it would be easy for us to just speak and, and to preach about and to discuss the things that we all have seen in this story many, many times. But I wanna focus on some things that perhaps you haven't seen to help kind of highlight how beautiful this story is, how rich and how powerful it is with wonderful, wonderful insight. Here's the first thing I want you to know. If you're a note taker, you're gonna wanna write this down. Because at some point in your life, please hear me, you're gonna need this.
Here's what we know through Scripture. Number one. God's delays are not denials, they're tests.
God's delays are not denials, they're tests. Often When God doesn't do what we think he should do, when he doesn't answer the way that we think he should answer, we say that that's a denial. God said no. It's not necessarily so.
There are multiple accounts, Old Testament, New Testament, of God the Father and God the Son, making people wait, and even God waiting himself.
There are three things that God can answer you. When you ask for something, God, can you help with the situation, can you heal the situation? You can you heal this disease? There are three answers that God gives. Yes, no, and wait.
Now sometimes it would be easier for us if God just said no. You're like, okay, God said no, we're moving to the next thing. But when God says wait, that's something that our Americanized version of life, we don't want to hear that word wait because we are not waiters. We're not about waiting.
When I walk up to a restaurant, they say it's going to be about an hour and a half. Wait. Not for me they won't. No, I give me a Quarter Pounder with cheese in about 35 seconds.
An hour and a half. Wait. No, no, no. I don't even go inside when the gas pump says, please see cashier. No, I will not.
And that cashier will not see me. I will drive right to the next gas station. I'm not going in there. It's not happening. Why? Because I'm not about that waiting life.
But just because we don't like it and just because we're not used to it, that doesn't mean God won't use it. God won't say. And there are multiple instances of God making people wait. And he does it on purpose, for a purpose. God will absolutely make you wait on the healing, make you wait on the deliverance, make you wait on the breakthrough. And it's not a denial, it's a test.
So John, as he's writing this story intentionally makes it a point to say it was four days that this guy had been in that grave. Why is that so important for us to see? Because in this first century Jewish customs, by the way, funerals don't last 40 minutes like they would today. These are, this is a week long funeral.
And what they have in their mind for this custom in first century Judaism is they would say stuff like this. They believe that the spirit hovers around the body for three days, wanting to get back into it.
And so their funeral process is called a Shiva. And it's a whole week long process of grieving and mourning where families would come Together. And they, they stay around the body for those three days as they believe the spirit is going to return to the body if there's any hope at all. And John intensely makes it a point to say this was day four. Why? To say there was no hope except for God. It could not have been a naturally occurring phenomenon. This was Jesus's divine power. This wasn't some freak occurrence where he's like, oh, yeah, that happens because the spirit was right there and he just kind of put his spirit back in. No, no, no, no. There was no hope.
This is not resuscitation. This is death.
It could have only been divine.
Jesus still brings dead things to life, and he makes it a point to say there was no hope without God.
And because there are multiple instances in Scripture of Jesus waiting and the Father waiting, we still have that attitude today of we find ourselves waiting. And what happens is when we're waiting on things like God to return for Jesus to come back, we're waiting for a rapture, waiting for that day when Jesus makes all things right. People get really lazy in the waiting. We lose our faith, we lose our hope in the waiting.
Why does God make us wait?
Why can't God just come right now and just take us all?
Why can't he do that? And I want to remind you of a powerful scripture. In Second Peter, chapter three. It says, God is not slow in keeping his promise. Instead, what is he? He is patient.
It's not that God is neglectful. He's patient.
He's patient with you. Why are you so patient with me? He says, I don't want anybody to perish. God does not want people to go to hell. So he holds off so that people like me and you, people like our co workers, our fellow students, our family members that don't know Christ, can come to repentance, come to know him.
God still makes people wait, but it's always on purpose.
And in scripture, we don't have scriptures of Jesus running to anything.
It shows us that Jesus is never late and he's never in a hurry.
He's always on time.
Now, his timeline will not agree with yours, I guarantee it. When you want God to do the things that you want him to do, we want it right.
And by the way, in the 1970s and 80s Christianity, we fell in love with the right now God. God, give me right now. But notice this in this story that Jesus comes in after making them wait.
And the sisters respond to him saying, if you'd have been here, this wouldn't have happened. But you made us wait. You relate and we see that this is how they come. Offended but still loving Jesus.
I think that's so important that even if I don't agree with it, even if I don't like it, I could still come to Jesus. I could still be honest with him. You should have been here.
Here's what we know to be true. That faith isn't tested when God moves fast. It's tested when he doesn't.
Tested when he doesn't.
Now, that being said, there is a God that instantaneously heals. And I know my Father, sometimes he says yes and it's done immediately.
There's also times where he says no.
And faith gets tested when God says no or when he says wait.
So God's delays are not denials. They're a test.
And my hope is that you pass that test when God says wait.
Here's the second key that we see from this powerful Chapter number two. Jesus doesn't just fix pain. He feels it.
He doesn't just fix pain, he feels it. Now, our God still fixes pain. But I need you to see that Jesus is fully human. In this chapter, John makes it a point to show Jesus had emotions.
And those emotions are very evident in the writings of John. He's very clear that Jesus is shown by his personality and how he grieves with his friends.
I love that in this difficult season. It says Jesus spends time with each of them in their grief. He doesn't just show up and do a miracle and leave he could have, but he spends time with them in their grief, knowing what was about to happen. Jesus knows that Lazarus is going to rise again. He knows that he's going to walk out. Jesus, that's not hidden from him. But he still spends time in the people's grief. He's patient and he sits with them and he deals with them in their grief.
And I love the question that he asked. We find this in verse 34, where Jesus asked the sisters, where have you laid him?
Where have you laid him? Why is that so important for us to see? I want you to notice this. Jesus doesn't need directions, but essentially what he's saying is, take me to the place of your deepest pain.
Jesus is saying to the same people at that funeral ceremony that he says to us today, show me where it hurts.
And Jesus invites us to take him to the place our deepest pain. And often that place is right where there's a barrier between us and God.
When God didn't fix it, when he hadn't moved you say, you should have been here.
If you really are God, why did you allow that bad thing to happen? God said, that's the barrier between me and you.
But what we fail to see is he's the God that brings dead things to life.
You say that was done, and God said, no, it's not.
I'm the resurrection and the life.
And so we see this powerful, emotional Jesus in this beautiful chapter, and it gives us two wonderful words. Now I remember when we were small, like my parents would make us memorize scripture.
And it was always great when you found this particular scripture because you could memorize a whole scripture. It just has two words, Jesus wept. You're like, I got a scripture memorized. I can quote it. Jesus wept.
But you know, just those two. That's a two word sermon right there.
We could preach a series on the fact that he weeps with those that weep and he mourns with those that mourn. He sits with them in their grief and takes time to let them process through what they're feeling.
And then it says this, by the way, in two spots on each side of Jesus wept. It says, Jesus was troubled in his spirit. Your Bible might say Jesus was indignant. It says Jesus in other chapters was heavily moved and troubled inside of his spirit, and he had some sort of emotional outburst. It's interesting that it's not the same words as Jesus wept. It gives us a powerful Greek word that has a story attached to it, a word picture, if you will. If you've never seen this, you might want to look this up. Because when it describes Jesus as being heavily, deeply moved in his spirit, it gives us a word of a that that means a horse that's angry, a horse that's neighing, a horse that's stomping the ground. You ever seen a horse or an animal that gets super angry in the way that they have an emotional outburst, they show you outwardly that they're angry. If you've ever seen that, then you know exactly the word that John is using to describe what happens in Jesus's emotions.
Jesus isn't just. Isn't just soothing.
He's angry, and he's not angry like it would say. There's several other times in scripture where it uses this word. And normally it's because they have a lack of faith that Jesus is angry. Like, I'm just shocked. I'm deeply troubled at your lack of faith. As Darth Vader would say, I find your lack of faith disturbing.
But that's not the case because these Ladies both said, you are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the Messiah. I believe you are the resurrection and the life. I believe that the Father hears you. It's not a lack of faith. Jesus is angry at the bully of death itself and what it's done to its friend, to his friends. He's angry at the wages of sin being death and the grip that death has on the world.
And he shows us in this powerful scripture that Jesus doesn't just soothe our pain, but he's confronting the powers that cause it.
Jesus is confronting death. He's confronting sin. He's confronting that bully that death is to each of us as he weeps.
And you need to see that today because it's important that you understand how Jesus processes emotions. What is he angry at? Not at the people. Why? Because our battle isn't against flesh and blood.
He's not angry at them.
He's angry at what sin has caused and what it's done to every single one of us that have to live underneath the curse of death and the grave.
And it's interesting, though, that it shows us that Jesus doesn't just stop there with his anger. He knows what's about to happen. He knows that weeping's gonna endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. He knows that Lazarus is about to have an incredible homecoming.
I don't know if you can imagine it just for a moment that Lazarus is in heaven, spending time with the Father. All his wildest dreams are coming true. He gets to see the other side. And then a voice calls out.
He's like, oh, man, I gotta go back to work on Monday.
But here's point number three. Number three. Jesus proves his authority over the greatest fears.
His authority over the greatest fears, death and hell and the grave.
Jesus proves his authority even over his own fears.
It's important for us to recognize that even later on in scripture, as Jesus is about to go to the cross, he's sweeping great drops of blood under great anxiety and asking the Lord, Lord, if it's possible, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me. You cannot ignore that Jesus is fully human, walking through times of deep anxiety and emotional responses.
And Jesus understands that from this moment on, from the moment that Lazarus gets up out of this grave, here's what it means that this is the ceiling of Jesus. Fate. They're going to kill him.
It says later on, from this moment on, the religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus.
This is the end of the line for Jesus. He knows that once that dude gets up and walks out of this grave. That's the end for me. And Jesus does it anyway.
He faces death.
He faces the fear of what's going to happen if he does the right thing. Like, you're going to have to face it too.
What's going to happen if I. If I stand up and do the right thing and if I help?
Jesus confronts that fear and has authority over it. And I love that.
That Jesus confronts his own fears, knowing that this is going to cost him everything. And in this moment, Jesus proves that following after God comes with a price.
Jesus proves that following after God will come with a price. And you might say, well, Pastor, he's paid the price for all of my sins. No, no, you got to pay a price, too. Jesus was very clear.
What's the cost of following Jesus? Please hear me. Everything Jesus says very clearly. You need to hear this scripture. Matthew 16 says, for whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, he says, you're gonna find it.
And Jesus confronts the thought of losing our lives.
He says, give it away.
And if you lose it for my sake, you're gonna find what really life, what life really is.
So here's a statement that we need to understand is that when we surrender what we cannot keep, we find what cannot be taken away.
You can't keep your life.
You're only here for a brief moment.
Life will end.
But Jesus shows us, you don't have to be afraid of that.
That sickness will not end in death.
There's something more when you understand that he is the resurrection and the life.
He's more powerful than my fears.
So Jesus speaks to Lazarus. He calls out in a loud voice, lazarus, come out. I had one commentary that says, be thankful that Jesus called Lazarus by a specific name, because if he hadn't, everybody that had ever died gets up out of the grave and starts walking. Like, why did you call it? What am I doing here? I was doing just fine on the other side. But Jesus specifically says, lazarus. And so only Lazarus comes out. That's just a little brief story that I was thinking about, but.
But I think Jesus is in an emotional roller coaster in this moment. We see him weeping, we see him angry. We see him being confronted with the sisters as you should have been here. We see all these emotions happen. And it's not just because he's dealing with Lazarus and his friend that he obviously very, very much loved. John is very clear saying that. But also, you can't help but notice that there are a lot of parallels between Lazarus death and Jesus own death.
Think about this. In the story, there's a tomb, there's a stone, there's the sisters that are weeping, there's people that are grieving, there's accusations. Where is God when it hurts? How could God let this happen?
All of that is exactly the same as what's going to happen when Jesus is put inside of the tomb.
I think Jesus looks ahead in time and knows what his own death is going to do to his friends and the emotions that they're going to have to walk through as they trust him in the darkest moments of their life. When all hope seems lost, I think Jesus sees it.
We see the emotions of Jesus. How much he loves his friends, how much he loves those that have put their faith in him. And knowing that they have to walk through times where it seems that all hope is lost.
But there is one big difference between Lazarus death and Jesus death. And we find that John's very clear about that. That's in what Lazarus comes out wearing and what Jesus doesn't.
You know the story we talk about at Easter when Jesus gets up and walks out of the tomb, the disciples come and they look in the tomb. They see his grave clothes are neatly folded. I won't be using these, thank you very much. Death is finished. It's dealt with once and for all.
But Lazarus comes out, still bound.
And this is important for us to see, because from the very first moment that God ever saved you, you weren't perfect. You didn't have it all together. You're gonna need a lot of help. Let me say it this way. I can be saved and still need a lot of help walking in freedom.
And what does Jesus say? Roll the stone away.
And they did it. What does he say? You guys go and unbind them. Here's the thing. Jesus didn't need their help. Jesus could have just spoken to the stone and it rolls away by itself. By the way, we see that in his own story.
Those ladies came looking for someone to help them roll the stone away from the tomb, and it was already rolled. Jesus doesn't need their help.
Jesus doesn't need their help with the grave clothes. He obviously got up out of the grave clothes himself. He can do it. But he asked people to be a part of the process of watching someone get free.
And here's the thing. You're gonna need people to help you walk in freedom, too.
Jesus speaks life. You can be saved and still need a lot of help walking in freedom. And Jesus asked his disciples to Help people walk in freedom. He's still giving you that challenge as well. We get so consumed with what God is doing for me in this moment that we forget he's asking you to be a part of the miracle. And Jesus asks these Jewish people that are gathered here to do something that was not allowed by Jewish law for them to do. Touch a dead body. They can't touch a corpse. They can't be around it, because that means I'm contaminated. Now I'm unclean because of what I touched. Jesus says, that's not a thing.
He reverses that, and he does it on purpose, because many of us need to have that confronted in our own life.
What happens if I try to help somebody else walk in freedom? What happens if I try to. That's gonna make me dirty by having to deal with their junk. I've got enough to contend with on my own. I don't want to help anybody else. And Jesus says, help them, and he will use people to help you walk in freedom. And then he will use you to help others walk in freedom. And unfortunately, many believers will throw up their hands and say, that's not for me. Yes, it is.
This is why groups are so important that you don't isolate and spend your time alone and thinking you're gonna be able to walk in freedom by yourself. That's not a thing. Over and over, I can show you this. Multiple examples in Scripture of Jesus saying, I'm putting you into a people, and those people are gonna help you walk in freedom. And you're gonna help other people walk in freedom, too. That's your job as a believer, to help people walk into freedom. Jesus still commands his people to help others walk into freedom. But, Lord, he stinks.
Yeah, and so did you.
But, Lord, it's messy. Yeah.
And so are you.
We have been reconciled to the Father and we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. If you've never helped other people walk in freedom, if you've never used your testimony, if you've never used the things that God has taught you to sow it into somebody else's life and say, let me help you the way that the Lord helped me, you're missing the point.
I'm just trying to avoid death myself. I'm just afraid of death. No, Jesus has authority over that. He said, in the meantime, it's not about you dying.
It's about you living for the glory. Jesus said at the beginning of the story, for the glory of God. He said, I'm thankful I wasn't there. So you could see how important this is to your future.
You are called for a purpose. God didn't just save you so you can get to heaven someday. He gave you a mission for the rest of your life to make a difference, help people that are dirty, help people that are bound.
And you get to be a part of the miracle, saying, lord, I'm not just here wasting my life, wasting my time waiting on some rapture to happen. No, no, no. Live on purpose.
Live for today.
Jesus says, loose him and let him go. Don't be afraid of death. Don't be afraid of the smell, of what happens when Jesus has spoken life into that situation.
I want to close with this thought that I think is important for us to see. Obeying Jesus isn't about avoiding death, but bringing life into dead spaces.
And that's the challenge that I have for you today, the challenge that I see from this word.
Are there dead spaces around you?
Because it could be that that's exactly why God has you where you are.
Think about your job.
Are there people that are around you like they're walking through a difficult situation? There's a dead space there that's a person that may be saved, but they're walking bound.
I think the Lord is saying, I'm going to use you to speak to that person this week. Is there a person in your family that's bound?
Is there a person in your family that you know is far from God?
Could it be that the Lord would use you?
The Lord is speaking to you today and saying, roll away that stone.
He's speaking to you today and saying, you loose him. Let him go.
We serve a God that still brings life into dead spaces, that still speaks light into darkness. And he wants to use you to be his hands and feet.
I think it's time that you started living with the end in mind of how to redeem the time that you have left for the glory of God. Can you receive that? Everybody, I want to finish up right there, if that's okay. So go ahead and close your Bibles. I want you to put your phones away. And unless you're watching online, then please keep it open because there's something important I want to tell you. Perhaps you're watching this here today and you're like, you know what, Pastor?
I never thought of myself as being used by God to help somebody else walk in freedom.
Well, it's true.
The Lord wants to redeem your life. The Lord wants to help you to become who he's called you to be. You have an obligation. You have A responsibility.
God has placed you where you are in time and where you spend your time, purpose.
And if you call yourself a believer, you have a job to do. It's time to get busy helping people, to walk in freedom. And the Lord will help you. He'll show you what to say. He'll show you the right time.
But we have to be willing to step up and confront those fears of what if, what happens if they don't respond the way I want? That that's between them and God.
Be obedient. It's important. It matters.
Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me?
Perhaps you came here today and you're saying, pastor, if I'm going to be honest with you, I don't have a relationship with the Lord. I am far from God right now. You may have never asked Jesus to come into your heart. You may have never asked him to forgive you of your sins. You may not have a relationship with him at all. My friend, you're in the right place.
If you're watching online, God led you to this video for a reason.
And I believe if you could see it right now, God himself is reaching down his hand to you and he's saying, come home.
Come to me.
The only question is, will you respond?
You may say, how do I do that? Let me help you.
Let me help you the same way that somebody helped me one time.
Or maybe you're here and you're saying, pastor, I was raised in church. I've done all the things, but I've gotten away from God. I've been far from Him. This is for you, too.
It's time to come home.
So with heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to lead you in a prayer. It's a prayer of repentance.
It's a declaration of who Jesus is.
And if you want a relationship with Jesus, it starts right here.
So my hope is not to. Not to single you out or to embarrass you in any way. And so, as a matter of fact, all of us are going to say this prayer together so you don't feel. You don't feel weird, but you need to say this. Pray this with me. Pray it out loud. All of us together, let's say these words. Just say, jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died.
And I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for all of my sins.
Will you please forgive me and I'll give you the rest of my life?
Thank you for loving Me.
And now with heads bowed and eyes closed and no one else looking around, if that was you and you actually prayed that prayer and you're saying, pastor, I meant that prayer. I'm coming home.
I prayed that prayer a minute. Can I just see your hand all across this place? Would you lift it up nice and high and proud. Just good, good, good, good. I see you up there in the balcony. Good for you.
Good. You can put your hands down, my friend. I'm not trying to embarrass you in any way. I'm not gonna make you stand up in front of the church. I would never do that.
But I will ask you to do one thing for me. If you prayed that prayer, I want you to notice that there is a phone number that's gonna appear behind me on the screen. If you're watching online, that number is coming up on that screen. It's just for you. And I want to ask you to text me. That's it. Just a text. You do this hundreds of times a day. Text the words I prayed to that number.
What's going to happen if I do that? Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to send you back to link to some things that will help you understand what just happened in your heart and what to do next.
The greatest mistake people make is praying a prayer, never taking a step of faith, and let me help you keep going. This is not the end of your relationship with Jesus. This is the beginning. Let me help you.
This is how you do that. I don't want anything from you. I want to help you just like somebody helped me.
Good for you. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for texting me. That's a big deal.
Irish family, go ahead and look up at me if you would, and let's stand to our feet together. I want you to know that if you're watching this on any social media platform, there's a huge favor that I'm going to ask of you. Would you do me a favor? If you feel like our world needs to hear this message about emotions and about how to deal with death and what Jesus says about it, what God's word says about crazy times when emotions are high, then do us a huge favor. Would you click the share button? It matters when you share this message with your social media world. People are watching this all over the planet every single week. We get people that are repenting, that are coming to Jesus because you were willing to take a step of faith and use your social media for redemptive purposes.
Instead of just normal social media things. So would you do me a huge favor? Would you share this on your social media platform?
And then for everybody else man, I believe God is doing some great things especially among our ladies. So ladies, we got a very very special treat for you favorite is coming up this week. I cannot wait for you guys to be a part of favored ladies. It's gonna be incredible.
Those of you that have ever been before, you know exactly how it's gonna be. So guys get your wives here, get your girlfriends, get em both here and we'll see what happens. It's gonna be hilarious. Then for everybody else, let me pray for you and bless you as we go. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Would you lead them, would you guide them, would you walk them through? Lord, would you show up and prove how great you are? We ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus and all of us said together. Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an amazing week.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
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[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
