Move the Stone

Hey man, turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

Awaken, awaken, awaken.

God has pounded this into my heart, into my soul since early March.

And so in John 11 this morning, I'm be wrapping up this study and we walk through 2 Chronicles.

If my people, we talk the first week, who are my people?

The church.

If the church, God's people, would humble themselves.

Week two was and pray.

If we will begin to pray again and really pray and really get involved with one another.

I've taken it in my mind and my heart that anytime someone's at my house, I don't want them to leave unless we pray.

I want to gather together with people and pray.

I want to begin to be a person of prayer.

And so we pray.

And then last week we talked about confession.

When we get real and look in the mirror of our life and realize that we've got to confess sin.

There's a lot of self-righteousness in the church today.

And we don't like to talk about that.

But we we really don't want to look at it, and it's hard to look at.

But David said, Create me a new heart, O God.

Renew a right spirit.

And so last week with that, and today I want to tell you what happens when the church wakes up.

And so in John 11, the title of the sermon today is Move the Stone.

Say Move the Stone.

Move the Stone.

Alright, and so in John 11, we'll be looking at that.

In 1955 in Bangkok, Thailand, there was a really great, amazing discovery of a statue.

The monks were going through an old temple and they were finding artifacts and they started moving them into another temple.

And they came across a humongous statue that was buried in rubble and dust and dirt.

And as they began to kind of look through it, they were trying to figure out exactly what they found.

And they put together, they got cranes in there.

They found out that this statue was almost six tons in weight.

And so they devised some ropes and some lifting and some cranes.

And they pulled the thing up.

They got it off the ground and they were trying to move it into another temple.

And so when they did that, all of a sudden the cranes started tipping over because they didn't know the way or realize it.

The cranes started tipping over.

One of the cranes fell.

The statue came crashing down.

Men were scattered, and they were left looking at the site, scratching their heads as to what are we going to do with this?

And it laid there for a couple of weeks.

The men were moving things back and forth.

And one day, as it would happen late at night, one of the monks came by and was looking at it, and he peered into the statue, and it seemed like that something was glowing inside of it.

And as he peered in, he realized what we would find out later in 1727.

They took this statue and it had been covered with plaster and stucco, and had been covered in layers to hide something that was deeper within.

But they were in this predicament.

What could they do to move the stone?

Say, move the stone.

Alright, John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

We'll get back to the end of that story in a little bit.

In John chapter 11, point number one this morning, what we're gonna see is an insurmountable predicament.

John 11 · chapter mention

There's an insurmountable predicament.

Look at John chapter 11, verse 1.

John 11:1

God's word says this.

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

And so the predicament that we see, letter A, is this a predicament of infection.

And it was an infection of a familiar place.

It gave a town there that Jesus would come and visit.

And the town's name was Bethany.

Bethany was a poor village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives.

I think I've got a picture, a little map for us to kind of see up here.

You can see where Bethany is located, just east there of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.

And Bethany was a place that Jesus, scripture records 11 different instances that Jesus traveled there that we know of.

But as you see where Jesus grew up, if you just travel up the map, just central, up to about the middle, right under Galilee, we see Nazareth.

That's where Jesus grew up.

That's where he was a young man, a young part of his life.

But we know some things.

We know that when his parents, Mary and Martha, or Mary and Martha, Mary and Joseph, hid in Egypt, down at the bottom left corner, they would have had to come back up to get back to Bethlehem, and they would have came by the Mount of Olives in Bethany.

And so Bethany, what I'm saying is this was a common place for Jesus to travel.

It was two miles from Jerusalem.

It was 90 miles from this hometown of Nazareth.

We don't know how often he was in Bethany, but there are 11 instances where the Bible says that he was in Bethany.

So it's important to note features in the Bible when it gives us locations and things like this.

So, but it was a poor village, and it was in Bethany that he would meet faithful friends.

And that's part of this insurmountable predicament.

You know, letter A was the familiar place, but it was faithful friends that were infected.

Look at verse 2 and verse 5.

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Verse 5 says this.

How do we know these were friends?

Because the Bible says that Jesus loved them.

You know, there's only a few instances in all of Scripture where it talks about Jesus and his friends.

It's interesting.

In John 15, 13 and 14, it says, No greater love is this than a man would lay down his life for his friends.

And then he looks at the disciples in their eyes and he says, You are my friends.

Could you imagine being in that space of time when Jesus looks into your eyes and says, You are my friends?

He's telling them of an instant that's about to occur that they are having a hard time grasping.

He says, I'm going to lay down my life for my friends.

These were his friends.

The disciples were.

Aren't you thankful, church, for godly Christian friends?

Let's do something.

Why don't you look around at a friend in the room and you can mouth to them?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Look for a friend in here.

Look for someone who's a friend and say thank you.

Thank you for friends.

Man, I'm so thankful for Christian friends that lift me up.

Friendships bonded and sweetened through the Spirit of God.

Aren't you thankful?

The Golden Girl said, Thank you for being a friend.

Look, aren't you thankful?

I'm so thankful for friends.

But we know also that was the story of the disciples, but there was a big three in Scripture.

Okay.

You talk about Peter, James, and John.

And Scripture, the big three, got to see things that some other friends didn't get to see.

They went on a special fishing trip with Jesus.

They saw specific miracles that some of the other disciples didn't see.

They got to go to the transfiguration site with Jesus.

But then there was another friend Scripture calls that Jesus called the beloved John, the writer of this book.

The beloved John, it says that he had such a relationship.

There was a point in the Last Supper where he rested on Jesus' shoulder.

They had this close relationship.

In fact, the only disciple that stayed at the place of the cross when the rest of them scattered, the beloved John, who took care of Jesus said, take care of my mother.

That's the type of closeness, the friendship that was had here.

And it says there was the beloved John.

But then there's Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

What was their connection?

So what we see, it started with hospitality.

Now we don't know in Bethany.

I suspect, I don't know.

Scripture doesn't tell me.

But they could have met somewhere along the process.

They could have met somewhere early in Jesus' life.

We know the 11 instances.

He came to Bethany, and we know that when he entered to Lazarus' house, Mary and Martha, they met him with hospitality.

He was welcomed in.

His feet were washed.

He was given a cold drink.

He was allowed, and it was common for a traveler to be given travel to stay in somebody's place.

And so he was given a place to stay.

But it started friendship with this hospitality.

Can I speak to the church this morning?

When people walk through the doors of CCW, I'm so proud of my church.

Most people walk through and they have a conversation about this church, and we ask them afterward, what brought you here?

What do you think about the church?

It was so hospitable.

Thank God for that.

Our church is known for being hospitable, and we should.

Can I say a little charge for us, church?

It doesn't just happen on Sunday and then start back again at 10 a.m.

the next Sunday.

We have to be hospitable all week long.

Invite people over.

Invite people to your home and so that you can be hospitable to people.

Invite people for a meal.

If you don't like the cook, then pick up some takeout.

If you don't like to cook, then tell them to bring the food.

But invite people over.

I believe in board game friendships.

Okay?

That may sound old school to y'all, but I believe in sitting down, seeing people eye to eye, and even if you don't like the game, I'm sorry, I'll pick a new one.

But let's spend time together and get to know each other.

I believe in it.

It's hospitality.

We're so tied up running and going and doing.

Can we in this season become people of hospitality?

So Jesus got to know them and we see that hospitality.

They were faithful friends.

Well, that's a predicament.

His faithful friend is sick.

The second thing, letter B, is this the predicament of inconvenience.

Look down at verses four through six.

When Jesus heard that, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister Lazarus.

So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was.

This has us scratching our head, this inconvenience.

The inconvenience was his current ministry.

Jesus went to Judea, he went out to minister, and now his friend is sick.

But Jesus stays two more days.

That seems strange.

Now, isn't it that when you get sick, what's the worst part?

The waiting.

Y'all with me?

When you go see the doctor and they say, we will send you results soon.

We will contact you.

And that waiting period makes us like we had to do the COVID test for camp, and we had a little waiting period, and we had a window of time, and to get everybody in and make sure we could still go and all this stuff.

And the waiting, and I would be, I was bothering Dr.

Sawyer, I'm sure.

I was trying my best just to be patient and not be that person because I knew she would send me the results.

Okay, I knew she would when she had them, but I'm like, I hadn't heard any on some results, and she would send me some, and then finally she told me, You wouldn't believe, guess what the last one was?

No.

My wife, even worse.

Like, don't she know I need her at camp?

What's she going and doing, thinking about trying to get to COVID?

You know, like I don't need that.

So now I'm suddenly actually really sick.

Like I didn't have the COVID, but I was really, I'm like tied up.

Night before, I'm like, oh no, what do we, you know, I gotta have her.

What does she mean to be?

You know, I'm praise the Lord.

Okay.

You know, we get the message, and she didn't have it.

The results came in.

We were able to go, and camp was good, but that waiting was like torture.

I'm telling you, Satan was trying to mess with my brain.

Heather was like, I'm good, I'm fine.

I'm like, well, that's great, I'm not.

You think I'm gonna handle all the girls in camp?

You are crazy.

Okay?

Have y'all ever been around a pack of wild girls who get upset at camp?

Lord of mercy.

Ain't nothing fix that.

But Heather.

And so, now, and then I remember another time, you know, the other thing that you gotta wait on in life that drives you crazy is doctor's results and taxes, right?

You ever done tax preparation?

And you get on the site, you start looking if you're gonna get a refund, and it's like, here's what the site says you are due a refund in six to eight weeks.

Give or take three months if we decide.

You know, it's like you're checking and it says, Oh, we've had a new update in the system.

And so at first, this one year I was checking and checking and checking.

I'm like, I finally I was just like, I'm not checking no more.

I ain't checking, I'm done with checking.

And so we had vacation planned and we went to Orange Beach.

I totally forgot.

And I sat out, I was doing my devotions one morning on the porch, and it just hit me, it dawned on me.

Oh, and so I get on my phone and I'm checking the site, and the refund had come, and I'm on the porch, and I'm serious, people.

I had a party at 6 a.m.

on the porch, and I'm like, yes, I cried.

I was like, Lord, it was meant to be we're on vacation.

It wasn't meant to be all those other times.

We're here.

I'm like waking up the kids.

I'm like, kids, who wants to go to the souvenir shop to buy dumb, useless stuff?

Who needs flippers?

I do too.

Who needs a magnet?

We are going to the shark store to get dumb stuff.

Who's in?

Dinner's on me.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, I was like, we got money.

You know, the waiting, though, the waiting drives you crazy.

Drives you crazy.

But they sent word to Jesus, and he never did come.

He never did come on their time.

That was a predicament.

It was a predicament.

There was an inconvenience of his current ministry, then there was an inconvenience of timing.

Why wouldn't Jesus come when Lazarus was sick?

He was sick unto his death, and it was common for friends, and it's common today.

If you hear that somebody is really ill to the point of death, you go.

If you're a real friend, you make contact, you figure out how to get there, how to get to the hospital, if you need to get to if they're gonna start planning a funeral, you're gonna make plans, you're gonna be there because that is common as a friend.

And so there was this inconvenience of timing.

Um a lot of y'all have heard this, but I'm gonna say it anyway.

There was one Christmas break that I came back from Christmas break knowing I had a girlfriend that I was breaking up with that girlfriend.

And the very next night, as God would have it, I go to the greatest place to find a girlfriend.

Steak and shake.

A group of my friends were going to steak and shake, and I look over at the other side of the table, and who would be there but this beautiful blue-eyed girl?

And it was like, have you ever had a moment in time where it felt like sound went off?

Sound went off.

I was moving in slow motion in a tunnel as I saw her eyes.

Her hair was blowing in the greasy steak and shake breeze.

And I'm looking at her and I'm like, oh my gosh.

So I sit down and I'm over there at my end of the table, word opposite, and I'm just putting out the vibe.

Muscles clenched, jaw tight.

Stare at, let her know that I notice her, but don't let her think that I'm staring.

Notice.

Oh, you are staring.

Oh my gosh, she's so beautiful.

I want to stare, pick up tongue, slip in saliva, and wait for your moment to make something happen.

And so I'm staring at her.

And out of nowhere came the most, as Forrest gonna say, the most beautiful words I ever heard in my whole life.

And she looked over at me and said, She they were talking, and she said, if Rick were an animal, he would be a raccoon.

From the other end of the table, he would be a raccoon.

Just look at him.

And I'm like, what?

What?

And the whole table erupts in laughter at my expense.

And without any thought of her beauty and any thought of all that was at stake, I replied because the only thing my mind knows how to do is respond to humor with a more humor.

And the death blow comes out of my mouth.

I don't even know what I'm saying.

Before I can even think, I responded with four death words.

I said, That's okay, horse gums.

And I'm like, I immediately I put my head down, I'm like, yo, what did you do?

And I look up, and the last second, hail Mary, I look up, and at the other end of the table, she was laughing.

I was laughing, she was laughing, I was mean to her, she was mean to me, I knew this is love.

Ever since that day, we've been together.

Ever since that day.

Our story, listen, I know this.

In God's timing, it's had some roller coaster moments.

But I can say this before you and God together, I'm thankful for God's sovereignty.

Timing.

I don't know who or where I'd be if it weren't for that meeting at Stake and Jake.

It was God's timing.

God had perfect timing.

I had all kinds of plans.

And maybe you're like that.

You say, man, I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for this one encounter.

If it weren't for this one day.

Now, all of you that came to know the Lord of salvation, where would you be if it weren't for this one moment in history?

And so I'm so thankful for God's timing, even when it doesn't make sense to me, and I want things on my timing.

God's timing.

They had a predicament.

They had a predicament of ignorance.

Look down at verses, starting at verse 8.

So Jesus says to them in verse 7, let us go back to Judea.

The disciples said to him, Rabbi, verse 8, the Jews sought to stone you there, and you're going there again?

And so we see that the disciples, they're in their ignorance, they didn't understand Jesus' goings.

And to their credit, Jesus kind of had an unpredictable pattern.

But we we know this about him.

Whatever he did, he was following the Father's will.

And they would question him and ask him.

And the disciples were afraid, like if we go through that way, the last time we were there, Jesus, people were trying to stone you.

Don't you understand what we're up against here?

And so they were afraid.

Now I want you to understand, I got to teach the kids this week.

Now I taught them something about being scared.

Courage is not the absence of fear.

Y'all with me?

Courage is not the absence of being scared of a moment.

Courage is facing fear and understanding who's in control.

And so the disciples were afraid, but they had Jesus with them.

And then look down at verses 11 and 12.

This ignorance they had.

These things he said to them.

And then he said, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him.

And the disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he'll get well.

However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought he was speaking about taking rest and sleep.

Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

The disciples didn't understand what he was saying.

They had this ignorance, they didn't understand his motives and what he was doing and why, when they got the call, they didn't go two days ago.

Lazarus sleeps.

They're like, Isn't that good?

He's asleep, isn't it?

That means he's on the men, Jesus.

And he says, Guys, Lazarus is dead.

That's why we're going back.

With Jesus, they're with him for almost three years, and they're not quite understanding his methods.

And he's saying, My methods are about the Father's will.

I work, my timing is about the Father's will.

I'm living and doing, and it's about the Father's will.

Jesus must have felt like, you know, being perfect and having all knowledge, but he was human.

He must have felt like an adult teaching a kid to tie their shoes.

You ever been through that process?

It's like, this is so easy.

In your mind, you're like, this is so simple.

Why don't you get it?

Like, especially if you got like a smart kid, right?

They're super smart in other ways, and you're like, this is super easy.

Like, just tie it.

Watch.

Done.

This is so easy.

And for them, it just takes that clicking moment or whatever it is.

But Jesus must have felt like that often with the disciples.

I wonder what it would be like to just step into his brain for a moment in these times.

But he says, Lazarus is dead, and I'm going for the Father's will.

There was a prediction ignorance.

The second point this morning is this.

Then we see after that an inconceivable pledge.

He gives a pledge.

And when he arrives back into Bethany and he comes upon Mary and Martha, we're going to see about this pledge.

Letter A is this there's an uncertain pledge of hope.

An uncertain pledge of hope.

I want you to look at verses 20 through 23.

It says this.

Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him.

But Mary was sitting in the house.

Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.

Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.

And then look down at verse 32.

That was Martha.

Now Mary meets him.

When Mary came where Jesus saw him, she fell down at his feet and she said, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died.

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned.

And so we see this pledge.

There's this uncertainty of hope.

Now Mary and Martha, they have a relationship with Jesus, a friendship.

And so don't miss the weight of all this.

And people just didn't quite understand.

They were believing that Jesus could have healed Lazarus' sickness, but they weren't seeing beyond that.

They believed if he would have got back, Lazarus could have been raised from his sickness.

And Mary and Martha have this uncertainty about their hope.

They have this hope and then they have this doubt.

They have this belief and then they have this doubt and then this belief and then this doubt.

Kind of feels like I'm just being real.

Does Christianity not feel like that sometimes for you?

I feel like, yes, Lord, I believe some days, and then I'm back down, and then I'm back up, and then I'm back down, and it's like I understand the verse that says, I believe, Lord, but help my unbelief.

And it's like this roller coaster.

Uh, one of my children, Wyatt, he's my roller coaster.

We got a picture of Wyatt that uh we'll put up here.

The the roller coaster in our life.

Um, Wyatt is so passionate, and he he's on the celebration side.

We got that picture, maybe now.

It's coming.

Okay.

So this that was Wyatt and uh the first one was Wyatt in the urgent care, having a good time, right?

This other one, I have Wyatt upside down in the washing machine, you know, the dryer.

And um, he's just he's so passionate, if you're in a race with him, you know, he he wants to win.

He's but if he loses, it's the end of the world.

He's the greatest on the top of the mountain.

You know, if you're gonna do something, we're gonna go have the chicken he likes.

He's like, yes, he gives the best celebration.

But when things aren't, he's back down and it's just roller coastering.

And so when I when I see this pledge of hope that was given, Mary and Martha are going through this.

They say, Lord, we believe in you.

We know that you can.

And they say, both of them say, Lord, if you'd been here.

And you know what Jesus responds?

He says, If you'd been here, then this wouldn't have happened.

And he says, I want you to understand something.

I'm gonna raise your brother, I'm gonna give him life.

And Martha goes, Yes, I know, Lord, at the resurrection, you'll give my brother life at the time, and he's like, No, I'm here to give your brother life.

And then Mary hits him and she says, If you'd have just been there, and this is what we understand the promises are sure.

The promises are firm.

Our hope wavers.

When it doesn't happen in the timing or the situation, or our hope can waver.

And we see that in Mary and Martha and their humanity.

But then we see a second thing.

Let her be an unwavering pledge of healing.

Jesus says in 25 through 27 This.

After he says, Your brother will rise again, and Martha says to him, We know on the last day.

And Jesus looks at her.

Okay.

And I wish I knew the tone sometimes.

Are you with me?

I wish I knew the tone sometimes.

I don't know if Jesus got down on a knee and said, Martha, listen here.

Martha, listen, he says, I am the resurrection.

I am the life.

Who he who believes in me, though he may die, though he may die, though he is dead, he will live.

He explains to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

Now, there's this is not a small thing that he says, I am.

I want you to understand that.

It refers to a passage where Moses and Pharaoh were getting ready to go at it.

And Jesus or Moses was going into the Pharaoh to ask for release of the people, and he says to God in this conversation, who should I say is sending me to the Pharaoh?

And he says, Tell him, I am that I am sent you.

And there's seven statements in the Bible.

Don't miss I am statements in the Bible that Jesus brings forth.

He says, This church, I am the bread of life.

He says, I am the light of the world.

I am the door gate, the way in.

I am the good shepherd to my sheep.

John 14, 6, he says, I am the way, the truth, the life.

He says, I am the true vine.

And here he says, I am the resurrection.

I am rebirth.

I am new life.

And you say this, right, church?

I need hope.

And Jesus says, I am.

Say, what will work anymore?

He says, I am.

What's the latest thing?

He says, I am.

I need a fresh start.

I am.

Nothing is real anymore.

I am.

I don't know who I can trust.

I am.

Nobody listens to me.

I am.

My marriage is sinking.

I don't know where to turn.

I am.

But I can't hold on.

I am.

I'm pouring into other who's pouring into me.

I am.

I don't know why I am here.

I am.

I need a fix.

I am.

I need somebody to hold me.

I am.

And Martha, I am the resurrection and life.

I am that I am.

He is the great I am.

Do you believe in that, Church?

He is I am.

And that's what he says to Martha next.

Verse 26.

And whoever lives in me and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this?

He asks her a piercing question.

Do you believe this?

Church?

Do you believe this?

Do you believe, church, that we can have a real awakening of God?

And I believe it.

But if the church does not believe it, if we in general in our daily lives don't believe it, if we believe it on Sunday but don't believe it and live it the rest of the week, he says, I am.

I am this.

I am the awakening.

And so we see this inconceivable pledge.

And then thirdly, this morning, we see an incredible phenomenon.

It's unbelievable what happens next.

It's incredible.

It would leave a town of people reeling for days and weeks and months.

In fact, the name of the town of Bethany right now is called El Azrael, which means the place of Lazarus.

To this day, it's called Lazarus' town.

And so you want to talk about an impact to this day, you can go and visit Lazarus' town because of the incredible thing that happens next.

Look at verse 33.

We're going to read different parts up through 38.

But verse 33 says this.

And he said, Where have you laid him?

And they said to him, Lord, come and see.

And then verse 35, it says, Jesus wept.

So letter A in this phenomenon is Jesus Christ.

It's a phenomenal thing that we see in Scripture.

It's a tender thing.

It's a precious thing because it shows us Jesus' humanity on this earth while he lived.

It tells us about his fully being man.

We talked a few weeks ago about the hypostatic union.

Jesus was fully man, fully God as he was here on earth.

And so we see him weak.

The Bible says that we have a high priest that was touched with all the infirmities that we were touched with.

Jesus went through all that we were touched with.

And yet, we see him in this moment.

Jesus cries.

Why did Jesus cry?

This is what goes in on in my mind.

Jesus knew what he was about to do.

Jesus knew of the power of God and the resurrection power.

And he was trying to get it across to Martha and Mary, and he knew.

Yet he cried.

Why did Jesus cry?

I don't know if you think like this.

I think why did he have to cry?

Why would Jesus cry?

He cried, one, because his friends were hurting.

He loved these people and they were crying.

Some of you are real tenderhearted.

All it takes for you to see somebody else, right?

Any people like that?

You'll see somebody crying, you're going to join in.

What happened?

Why are we crying?

Right?

Right?

They'll be watching a movie and they'd be crying.

You're like, oh, we're crying.

Where do we?

Let me get the tissues.

Let's pull them up, right?

And so and his friends are hurting.

We miss this story when we go through it and and and just see that his brother died, he was sick, and that the people were hoping for this miracle.

But the people watch their brother die.

They're hurting.

They walk through.

Some of you have walked through watching a family member lose their life.

And it's painful.

There's no good instance of this.

I don't care if they're 95.

You know, you're like, everybody says they lived a good life.

It still hurts those who remain, right?

It hurts.

It hurts when we lose people we love, right?

And so they went through death with Lazarus, their brother, who's actually quite young.

And they're thinking, man, he should have had so much more life.

Why would this happen?

And they went through this and they're in grief and they're mourning.

And we look at it and say, well, Jesus is about we know the end, and so we go, it's about to be good.

But they went through that, and Jesus tenderly wept at the sight of death.

Well, I think it was a little deeper than death.

Look at verse 38.

It was a little deeper than just death.

Verse 38 says, Then Jesus again, groaning, groaning within himself, came to the tomb.

It says twice in this passage that Jesus groaned.

He groaned because of sin.

There's two scriptures other than these that say Jesus groaned.

This was a depth of his weeping, a depth of his cry, a depth of his tear, the turmoil that was going on in his heart.

And it says in Mark 8:12, a place.

Mark 8:12

Now don't miss the weight of this.

That Pharisees would not believe in him without a sign.

They sought a sign from him, and it says he groaned.

He was angry and upset and to the point of tears that it took a miracle for them to believe.

He was doing miracles to help the sick and to help people who were hurting.

But the people that weren't hurting were asking like a magician's show, and he's like, oh, I hate this.

I just want them to believe without having all this.

And he groaned.

And the other place that we see that he groaned was when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane and he was about to be crucified.

And it says that the weight of sin, sin's weight, caused him to groan.

The predicament of sin, when he looked at the process and what was going to have to be done, it caused him to groan in his spirit.

And so Jesus groans.

Don't miss the weight of what was happening.

He hated sin.

Sin caused Jesus to weep.

It wasn't what was about to happen, it wasn't that Lazarus was in the tomb.

He hated sin.

He was with the Father at the beginning of creation.

He was God and with God and saw the world the way that it was supposed to be.

And then all this sin came in like a strand of the flu, infected all men without any warning.

And all of a sudden, now the world is not what it was supposed to be.

And for 33 years, Jesus walked through the world and sin touched him at every turn.

Sin was all around him, but he never once sinned.

Can you imagine?

He never sinned.

And he knew as he walked through life and he got up the next day, it wasn't supposed to be like this.

My friend, and he looks at Judas and he looks at Thomas Doubting and he looks at people and he knows it wasn't meant to be like it was paradise before all this sin.

He hated sin.

The payment of the sin was going to cost him everything.

It haunted Jesus.

He hated sin.

Don't miss why he wept.

He groaned.

I assure you it wasn't because Lazarus was in the tomb.

It was death itself, the sight of a broken system.

Listen, church, today we have a disease problem.

And it's not COVID-19.

We're infected with sin.

There's only one antidote.

There's a blood serum that has to be taken.

A serum that couldn't come from a lab, came from a cross.

And it's for everyone.

Romans 3.23 says, this church that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Romans 6.23 said the wages of that sin is death.

We are going to die.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The blood serum covers that infection that made Jesus weep.

It made him groan.

The blood serum fixes the problem of the infection.

I want you to understand though, Hebrews 9.27 says this it is appointed unto man wants to die.

We are going to die.

We have an appointment with it.

It's written in a book, the Bible says.

And so we're going to die.

There's only one thing that can fix our problem, our sin problem, and that's the blood serum.

Well, let's see what happens after this.

Lazarus in verse 39 through 40.

Jesus groans because of sin.

And then we see, let me read it.

Jesus said, Take away the stone, Mary, or Martha, the sister of him who is dead, and said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench.

That makes me laugh.

There's a stench, Lord.

For he has been dead four days.

And Jesus said to her, Did I not say that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?

So we see after this, we're going to see that Lazarus dies, point B, and he survives.

And this is what I want you to understand.

Jesus says, Now, move the stone.

He groans, he weeps, and then he says, Where is he?

And he looks at him and he says, Move the stone.

Somebody move the stone.

It's time to quit running.

It's time to quit crying.

It's time to quit praying.

It's time to quit doing nothing.

It's time to stretch out and move the stone.

It's time to get the action.

It's time to move the stone.

He says, Move that stone.

And then what we see immediately after Jesus, Jesus gives an answer.

We say, Oh God, we need you.

Oh God, we want you.

God, we gotta have you.

Lord, Lord, we need this change in our life.

We need this.

And God gives an answer.

And look at what happens immediately.

She says, But Lord, it stinketh.

Immediately there's excuses.

Now, if you're with me, I don't believe the people in the Middle East, in whatever year that was, were reading in old English from the King James.

But Lord, it stinketh.

I don't think they sounded like that.

It says Mary and Martha.

They probably weren't British.

But Lord, it stinketh.

It says Mary and Martha lived in uh Bethany, which was a project town, right?

It was a poor town on the side of Mount.

I think it was more like this.

I think Mary and Martha looked and said, dang, that stinks.

You want me to move that?

That stinks, Lord.

Move that stone, I might get dirty.

Lord, move that.

That I might get hurt.

Lord, I might get uncomfortable if I do what you said.

Lord, I might, that might be hard if I do what you said.

If I move the stone, Lord, some people might oppose.

If I move the stone, Lord, I might not like it.

Lord, if I move the stone, but look at what everybody else is doing, Lord.

You want me to move the stone?

He has been dead for four days.

The Jews had a belief that after three days, Jewish custom, then someone was declared actually, actual death.

And so interesting that Jesus waited, right?

He waited on that sickness on purpose, so that even in the declaration and the custom that he would be declared dead.

And he said, Lord, he's dead, and he's really dead because he stinks.

You could have healed him two days ago, but you didn't.

Now you're telling me to get up and move this stone.

Lord, I wanted you when I was young.

Now I don't have the energy.

He says, move the stone.

Lord, I've been really hurt by people.

Some people were supposed to be church people.

Now you want me to move?

I don't want to move the stone.

Lord, I've been abused.

Move the stone.

Lord, I don't want to forgive.

Move the stone.

Lord, I'm bitter.

Move the stone.

Lord, I don't want to change.

Move the stone.

Lord, I will get tired.

Move the stone.

Lord, nobody else is move the stone, he says.

Move the stone.

Well, look at verse 43.

Now, when he said these things, he cries out with a loud voice.

This is fun.

So I wish I could I wish y'all could have been there.

I wish we could have been there.

Benji, are we cued up and ready for the next few moments?

Okay, so this is what happens.

He said his name.

He says his name, and that's important that you understand that, okay?

He says the name Lazarus.

He says it a couple of times.

Why is that important?

Because listen, I know the power of the Lord.

If he would have just yelled, Come forth, every dead body for miles would have been coming out of the grave, looking like a scene from Thriller.

You'd have been walking up and down the town, and they'd have been coming like this.

And he says, Lazarus is important that he says his name.

But the way my mind works, I don't know if your mind works this way, this is the greatest call out in history.

One of the greatest calls out anyway.

And so I watch a lot of fighting, but I think Lazarus, if he'd have been in that tomb and this call out happens, what would have been Lazarus' theme song in the tomb?

If Lazarus had been in that tomb, what would he been listening to, getting ready for, pumped up to come out?

Okay, maybe it would have been this first one.

Another one bites the dust.

Another one bites the dust.

And another one dust.

And another one dust.

Maybe it wasn't about biting dust, but maybe he started reflecting and thinking about this next idea.

Maybe it was this theme.

Maybe he was thinking about that.

Maybe it was this next was this theme song.

Maybe it was knocking on heaven's door.

I don't know.

Maybe it was something else.

Maybe it was this next one.

We know this about Lazarus not from scripture, from what I think.

He was he was into the disco.

So maybe it wasn't that we'll survive, but maybe it was this next one.

I think this was his song.

Y'all watch these words or listen to it.

He says, Lazarus, come forth.

Lazarus came up out of that grave.

I'll say hi to Lazarus.

His heart beats up a lot.

If I had to ask him, Jason, was that not your story too?

Was that not your story too, Church?

Thank you, Lazarus.

You need to go on to your town.

We got something more to say about you.

Church, is that not our story?

We were in a grave, locked up by sin.

And he said, Come back to life.

When he gave you that blood serum, he says, I'm giving you life to live it.

And I want you to see, and we're closing, chapter 12.

You gotta see what happens at the end.

Because it wasn't just Lazarus got up, he went home, and I need you to see the end of the story when he got home.

In chapter 12, verses 9 through 11, it says this.

It says, Now a great many of the Jews knew that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death.

They wanted him killed on account of this, because of the account of him that many, listen to what it says, many Jews went away from the Pharisees' teaching.

Many Jews went away and they believed in Jesus because of the testimony of Lazarus.

A community, letter C is revived, a community revised, a testimony that changed men's beliefs.

When Lazarus came out, the most self-righteous of men couldn't look at him and say, I don't believe.

They believed.

It said those men came to see Jesus, but they wanted to see what Jesus did.

They wanted to see his work.

His testimony told them of Jesus.

May our life make people come see about Jesus.

May what God is doing in us tell the community, come see about Jesus.

When they hear about your hospitality, when they hear about what you're doing, may it make them say, I gotta come see about this work of Jesus.

May they want to come to our church because what they see is something has happened in that person, I gotta go see about Jesus.

There's a comedian named Brian Regan, and he talks about going to a dinner party, and at the dinner party, there's a guy with the Mii Monster.

And the Mia Monster means no matter what you say, that guy has a better story.

Anybody got a friend like that?

You tell a story, they got a better one.

You ever been?

And he said, He says, I was telling a story one time, and one guy goes, That's nothing.

He's like, Oh, I'm sorry I even spoke.

Oh, that was nothing.

You're the floor is yours.

But he says he wishes at these dinner parties he was one of the 12 astronauts to walk on the moon.

Because he would let somebody go, you know, I have enterprises, I've been here, I've been there, I have the 401k, I've got stock, blah, blah, blah.

And the person's going, go, go, and he goes, I'm one of the 12 men to walk on the moon.

And he's like, What can you say to that?

What else can you say?

Unless you're Lazarus.

I wish Lazarus would have had a dinner party with an astronaut.

Because they're like, I walked on the moon.

I was in the sea of tranquility.

And Lazarus goes, I was dead.

Jesus said, Stop.

I did.

Mic dropped.

Party's over.

Right?

What a story.

And here's the deal: Lazarus' story went on and on and on.

The world, listen, church, is in a strange season.

I want you to understand something.

It's time to wake up.

Our church has got to wake up.

Our communities got to wake up.

God is saying, America.

Listen.

God is saying there's this question.

You and I have to understand something.

We have an appointment with death.

Hebrews 9 27 says that.

We are going to die.

That is certain.

This physical life has an end.

You are going to die.

What is in question is whether or not you're going to live.

Are you going to take up residence in a grave until you die?

Are you going to sit at the stage of a cemetery?

Are you going to park at the funeral parlor until you die?

Let me help you.

We have an appointment in a book.

We are going to die.

And the whole world is caught in a panic.

And we're going to die.

And I'm going to tell you something.

I know it says it's appointed once for a man to die.

It's in his plan.

It's in an appointment.

But you're not going to scare a Christian with heaven.

I know where I'm going.

And I can't wait to go there one day.

It's in an appointment.

Am I going to live till I go there or am I going to die?

Whether or not you live on your way out is up to you.

I feel like Joshua, as for me and my house, we're going to live.

We're going to serve the Lord.

And there's only one way, church, now hear me please, that we're going to get an awakening.

You and I must live.

We got to live, church.

We gotta live and we gotta live on purpose.

I have a few photos that I need you to see before I close.

I believe in my heart that when you study awakening and revival, it's not always a country.

Sometimes it's a small portion and a place for a season.

And when Heather and I were in Connorsville, Indiana, down in this bottom corner is Callie and Wyatt, when they're real little.

But these teenagers got it in their hearts that God was gonna use them to reach our town.

I didn't plan this.

All of a sudden we came back from camp, like we just went to, and teenagers said, We gotta start praying.

Not the church, not the deacons, not the council.

Teenagers.

We were messy and real and raw.

And this is one site from a Friday.

Fridays at three o'clock.

They'd meet together after school and they started praying.

On the cross, they started putting names.

There was a cross in that room of lost teenage friends.

And they begged God that the blood serum would work in the life of their lost friends and their family members.

And we would pray over all of these people, and they begged God, God, give us revival, give us awakening, do something in our community, in our schools.

And they started prayer groups at their schools.

And the group started meeting in the courtyard at lunchtime and praying.

And let me show you the next picture.

This is a call to salvation at one of eight events that we put on because of what God started doing in the hearts of teenagers.

There's 350 souls came to the Lord this one night.

In a matter of seven years, there were 1,200 salvations.

We had a revival, an awakening of God in a time and a season.

But this is what I'm seeing right now, church, and I want you to see this in the next picture.

We got a group of kids.

And a couple of weeks ago, we went out and they took a gospel track and they took these bags and they captured one of the villages.

And then they went out to Willow Oaks, and every door in Willow Oaks got one of these bags with a gospel track in it.

And then they went out into Chelsea Park.

And every house in Chelsea Park got a bag.

And we don't have a picture, but then they went out to Polo Downs and every house at Polo Downs got a bag.

And you know what?

Somebody was here at VBS this week and I said, How did you hear about us?

We got this yellow bag.

I said, Yes, Lord! Church.

I believe in what we got going on here.

But I gotta have some adults believe in too.

We got some students, they're ready.

They're gonna charge hell and they got their super soakers.

But we have got to be a part of this.

We cannot no longer be a church that looks around at what people think around me.

We cannot be inhibited by altars and confessions and getting things right.

There is a window of opportunity that God laid down in the middle of this world and he said, You're gonna be still.

I'm gonna make sure that you're being still.

God wants to do an awakening.

It's in his will to do an awakening.

See, an amazing thing happened at the sight of that statue.

In 1955, after it had fell to the ground, a monk came through and he was peering through the cracks and he saw through that plaster a shiny light.

He continued investigating, he started pulling in and digging in and breaking away at what was inside.

He was moving the stone and what was underneath, pure gold.

11,000 pounds of pure gold.

Some of y'all with me going.

Worth over 250 million dollars.

Have been sitting in rubble covered in ash, heap in the corner, unused, nothing happening.

250 million dollars.

Church, I want you to understand something.

God wants an awakening in his church.

It'd be something like we've never seen.

Church, it's right beneath the surface.

Why don't you take your finger and point it at your heart for a second?

It's right here.

Gypsy Smith said, a man came to him and said, Brother Gypsy, I want to see revival.

How will we see revival?

He said, I gotta see revival in my day and my time.

And Gypsy Smith said, Some of y'all have heard me say this.

He said, sir, go down to your basement, take some chalk, draw a big circle.

He said, get inside that circle and pray with fervor that everyone inside of that circle would be awakened by the Spirit of God.

If you get on fire from God, they'll come and watch you burn.

Get excited about God, awaken for God.

He wants it for you and for me, but you gotta want it.

It's right beneath the surface, church.

1 Corinthians 16 9 says, Know ye not that you are the temple of the living God.

It's in you.

It's not just some stories that happened here.

It wasn't just Lazarus, it is real.

But you gotta want it.

We've got to move some stone.

As a nation church, we've lost our priorities.

We gotta move the stone.

Idols are taking up our time and our treasure.

We gotta move the stone.

Our family time is covered up.

We got some stone to move.

We gotta get in there and we gotta start chiseling.

Bible time has gotten faded away.

We gotta get in there and just start doing some chiseling, moving some stone.

It says there, if we will humble ourselves and pray, we have got to be concentrated about prayer.

It's gotta be something real in our hearts and our life.

We've got to move some stone.

We've got to confess sin, church.

If you have ought, life is so short.

If you have a problem with someone, church, please hear me.

I've been in churches for 16 years serving now.

And people will go forever and not get something right.

And every time they walk past someone in church, they're sick about them.

We're brothers, we gotta be bonded, so get it right.

Move the stone, open your heart again.

God wants you to have joy.

Move the stone so you can worship.

Move the stone so you'll care about inviting your neighbor.

He says, if you humble yourselves and you pray and seek my face, confessing and turning from your wicked ways, then I will hear.

Then my ears will perk up.

And I will hear from heaven.

I will hear if you if if you do these things.

Now we've got this window.

If you don't do them, what I can surmise is that he will not heal and forgive.

And this world is going to come to an end.

We're going to have an appointment with death.

Jesus is going to come again.

I know the victory in it, but we can be sad till the end, or we can have an awakening of God if we will do these things.

Lazarus came bouncing up out of that grave.

Boy, that's a picture of something.

Because Jesus gave his life, and you know what he did?

After three days, he moved the stone.

The napkin was folded inside.

He loves you, church, too much.

He gave everything for you and for me.

He loves you, church.

But he wants you to live on your way out.

Don't die on your way out.

So please stand to your feet.

I got an invitation for salvation, so bow your head, please.

If you're here this morning, life is a vapor.

It's here and it's gone if you don't know him as Savior.

Today is the day.

Now is the appointed time.

There's an appointment one day for us all.

That Romans 6.23 said, the wages of our sin, it's death.

Death is coming.

It didn't end there though.

There's a comma and it says, But the gift of God is eternal life.

Today can be your day of new life, of resurrection in your life.

So if you're here today and you say, Pastor Rick, if I'm real honest, I know I don't know the Lord.

If you were to go face to face with the Savior this afternoon, and he had to have a reason to let you into heaven, and the reason is you have a relationship with him, would you be able to say, Yes, that's true of me?

If you can't, today is that day.

You can pray a prayer like this, saying, Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner.

God, I'm sorry.

I know my sin made you weep.

I'm broken, Lord.

Today, let it be my day of salvation.

I believe that Jesus died, that he was buried, and that he rose again.

Moving that stone for me.

With heads bowed and eyes closed, with the BND this morning.

By uplifted hands, say, Pastor Rick, I just prayed that prayer and accepted Jesus as my Savior.

Amen.

Amen.

Anybody else?

I just prayed that prayer all over.

Anyone else?

The Bible says that the angels in heaven are having a party over one lost sinner.

And so God and all the angels are sounding the horns because of you that raised your hand.

Is there anybody else?

Church, I want to implore you just a moment to think.

Pray in your spirit.

But I'm going to ask you as we close.

I want to close with a call to worship.

I'm not going to ask anybody or plead anymore about this altar.

I know there's an altar in your seat, there's an altar in your heart.

Is there something that needs new life in you?

Is there something that has to change in your life?

Has there been excuses holding you back?

What do you got to move the stone in your life about so that you can get to the next place in your walk with Jesus?

What stone needs to be moved?

Who needs forgiven?

What do you need righted?

What needs to change parents in your life with your kids?

What do you know has to be changed so that you can lead them in the right way?

Move the stone today.

We're not called to easy and comfort all the time.

We're called sometimes to tackle some hard things.

Marriages, listen to me, married people.

Don't just ignore the issues.

You got to go to that wife, that husband today.

Move that stone, remove it, so God can start working.

We have to face some hard things.

No excuses, church.

We need a vibrant church in this community of Westover and Chelsea.

We need some people that other people all throughout the community are saying, I gotta come see about Jesus because of them.

But it starts with you.

You gotta be in that word.

Church, I'm imploring you.

Move some stone today.

And I want for us, as a declaration of moving the stone out of our life, that we would worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, with this song.

We sang it earlier.

Now I want you to hear it in new light.

Would you sing with me?

The altar's open if you want to come pray.

If you need to deal with something with a family member or a friend, please come do this.

But Benji's gonna lead us.