Lessons from Lazarus

There's a time to be still and know that He's God.

Psalms 46, 10.

Ladies and gentlemen, I I just want you to know, I really believe with all my heart that this year is going to be one of the greatest years in this church's history.

I believe that.

God's giving me that peace.

And we're going.

That's right.

We owe nothing.

All we owe is to God.

Hey, his glory.

No debt.

Building as we go.

Building started.

I'm telling you, it's exciting.

But you hadn't seen anything yet.

I'm telling you.

You haven't.

It's coming.

And we've got to get prepared for it.

I'm telling you.

That's why God's laid on my heart the core values and then everyday Christianity.

Because I believe that God's going to set us apart this year to live out our Christianity so vehemently and so powerfully and so literally in our community that people are going to say, you know, I just met so-and-so from CCW.

They just have the joy.

I've never seen such joy.

I've never seen such love.

I've never seen such contentment.

I've never seen such peace.

I mean, they're so friendly and they're so caring and so helpful.

I want to go visit that church and just see what's going on over there.

So with that said, I want you to turn with me this morning.

In your Bibles to John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

One of the greatest miracles, one of the most talked-about miracles in the Bible.

And it's the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

And boys, it's just packed.

As I studied this for the last, well, actually, I got God laid this, I've got a little devotional I'll read every morning.

In fact, you notice I don't have my little notebook.

God laid this, I do a devotional every morning.

Look at all my notes.

But anyway, about I guess six weeks ago, I was did this devotion.

And it was lessons, the title of devotions, Lessons from Lazarus.

Two devotions one morning, three lessons next morning, another three.

And God really spoke to my heart, knowing that we're coming into the new year.

And I said, How perfect this could be to challenge us for the new year.

And then as we partake of the Lord's Supper together, it's just, I think it's just perfect for what God wants to do and how to lay the groundwork for our core values and for our everyday Christianity that we're going to be looking at and going into.

And actually living out.

So in John chapter 11 is the story of Lazarus.

John 11 · chapter mention

Do you remember the story?

Lazarus was sick.

Martha sends word to Jesus.

Jesus is in Bethany.

And that's about a strong day or day and a half, maybe even two days away, that Lazarus is really sick and maybe dying.

And the word gets there, and immediately the disciples think that, hey, we're going to go.

We got to go.

We got to go.

And then some of the disciples say, I don't know if we need to go or not right now.

Don't you remember they tried to kill you, Jesus?

Right.

Tried to stone him.

So, so here we are.

But then, you know, Thomas, and a lot of people say doubting Thomas sometimes because he had to put his hands in his side and touch the snail prints in his hand.

But let me tell you, Thomas immediately just kind of jumps up and says, Okay, let's go.

And I'm going.

I'm ready to die with you.

He was courageous.

Let's go.

Your best friend.

And Lazarus and Mary and Martha were very close to Jesus.

Jesus, if you remember, Jesus was in their house a lot, but there was one time when he was there and teaching, and Mary's sitting at his feet, and Martha's doing the cooking, doing the everything, and she kind of tells Jesus that, hey, would you please, hey, I'm doing all the work here.

Would you please tell Mary to get up and help me?

And that's when he has to lovingly say, now, Martha, wait a minute.

Martha, Martha.

Hey, hey, wait a minute.

She's doing what's most important.

Now, not the service is not.

Okay?

So anyway, we we see this, and Jesus says, We're not going yet.

We're not going right now.

And they don't understand that at all.

But it's your friend.

And then Jesus makes this profound statement in this passage.

He says that he's really just asleep.

Now they think sleep is referring to physical sleep.

And it does, and it is sometimes.

But it also in the New Testament refers to death.

1 Corinthians 11, especially.

So, and then he goes on and he tells them the reason we're not going is it's not time yet.

Now let me tell you something.

There's a lot of things going on in our lives that we try to get Jesus to do, but it's not time yet.

You're with me, church.

I mean, we pray, we fast, and all that's good, and we should.

And we almost try to push Jesus into doing what we want.

Hello?

You okay?

But yet in Jesus' timetable, it's not time yet.

Martha, Mary wanted Jesus to come and heal Lazarus right then.

But Jesus said, it's not time yet.

And there was a reason why it wasn't time yet.

And we're going to see that in this message.

So that's the context.

Jesus is waiting in Bethany, Lazarus is dying, and really by the time the person came to tell Jesus that Lazarus was six, there's a good chance that he died.

In fact, I'm pretty sure he did.

Because if you do the timetable, it's four days after, in fact, Lazarus had been dead four days before Jesus shows up.

And there's a reason for that.

Because, see, the Pharisees thought that it was only on the fourth day after death, the fourth day of death, that the Spirit left the body to go be with God.

So see, there's a reason.

It's not time yet.

Jesus wanted to make sure that everybody knew that Lazarus was really dead.

Dead, dead.

I mean, as Martha says, and we'll see this in a minute, he stinketh! Hey, that's King James.

He's stinketh.

You gotta realize they didn't embalm back then.

All they did was wrap them in clothes and then put perfume all over them.

And the perfume can only last a day, maybe a day or two when you're dead.

Then the stench starts coming.

And there's chances that he was not the only body in there.

Because graves back then were big caves, and a lot of times there'd be more than one body in a cave.

So it could really be stinking.

So with that context, let's look at the powerful truths.

Truth number one.

When Mary gets to, when Jesus shows up, and the word gets out that Jesus is coming, and Jesus is, you know, within probably 20 minutes, he's coming, he's coming, Jesus is coming.

Martha jumps up, takes off to go see Jesus.

Mary does it.

Mary's mourning.

She's broken hearted.

Martha's the older sister.

She kind of is the leader.

She takes off and she gets to Jesus.

And she tells Jesus, when she gets to Jesus, she doesn't say, Oh, father, I mean, oh Master, I'm so glad you're here, and I love you, and I'm hurting you.

And Lord, we've lost, I've lost my brother.

You've lost one of your closest friends, and I need, I just need comfort, Lord.

I just need you, oh, I don't know.

She was distraught.

You would be too if you just lost your brother.

That's not the way she was acting, though.

She was distraught, but instead of kind of compassionately laying her head on his shoulder and giving, you know, crying out wow, she's hurting, she said, Jesus, if you'd have been here.

In other words, I think, this is just what I think, she's upset because Jesus didn't do what she wanted Jesus to do.

Hello?

Sound familiar?

Somebody knocking on your door?

When's the last time you got you're in a situation and you prayed and you wanted, you told God what he needed to do, and he didn't do it, and then you got mad at God.

Hello?

I'm guilty.

Anyone else guilty?

And I'm gonna show you how I know she was upset in a minute through in this passage, in these lessons we learned.

But now she still knows, and I love this next statement.

She says, but even now I know.

Say that with me.

But even now I know.

She still had faith.

Mary, Mary is, I meant Martha is so evident and so picturous of who we are.

She she believed, but then she doubted.

She believed, then she doubted.

She believed, and then she doubted.

Aren't we like that?

Come on, come on.

Let's be honest.

Aren't we like that?

So, lesson number one.

Jesus knows how you feel.

At Lazarus' funeral, we see in verse 35 and 36.

Actually, pick up with me at verse 33.

This is awesome.

Look at verse 33 through 36.

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and said, We have uh, where have ye laid him?

They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus wept.

Verse 35, shortest Bible.

Verse in the Bible.

Verse 36, then said the Jews, Behold, how he loved him.

Jesus knows how we feel.

And let me tell you how I know that.

Two words here.

Notice he groaned.

He groaned in the spirit.

That word there means that he had deep sympathy.

It means that he was moved deeply.

It means that he was very upset.

Now there's a lot going on here.

They've got mourners that are crying out to the height of their voices.

If you've ever been around some of that, that's that can be irritating.

Hello?

Been there, been been in one of those situations.

And they're just crying out, and sometimes they were paid to do that.

So don't look at me and say, well, oh man, that's don't they're heartbroken.

Well, I think some of them are, and then some of them I think they're just joining in.

And all this commotion's going on.

So one, here's the situation with Jesus.

Jesus is irritated at that.

By the way, that's one of the synonyms for the word, groaning, irritation, unrest.

And then he sees Mary and Martha and some of those that were very close, and he knows their heart is ripped out of their chest.

They're brokenhearted, they're in agony because of a deep loss, an emotional, deep pain.

And he's moved deeply.

The word groan.

Deep emotional.

He was deeply involved with their situation.

Can I get an amen?

I want you to know next time as a Christian, you're in a major situation, circumstance, or catastrophe, or major situation.

I know we've got some that's lost loved ones this Christmas and cousins, and I've been right there praying with you.

I know Jason Neal, the Neely family.

And so I know, I know.

Deeply moved.

So Jesus is right there with you.

He's deeply moved.

He's groaning.

He's weeping with you.

He knows when you're deeply broken, heck, guess what?

He's deeply moved with you.

Can I get an amen?

Hallelujah.

He's with you.

And then he said he was troubled.

Not only was he groaning, he was troubled.

The Greek word there is tarotso, and it means to stir up, to make restless, anxious, distressed, with all that money.

I mean, he he was he's moved for them, and then he's he's agitated.

And let me tell you why I believe he's agitated too.

It's because, one, they didn't believe, hey, they didn't believe that he would do what he said he was gonna do, and he didn't already told the disciples, he says, it's okay.

When I get there, I'll take care of things.

And even in the midst of your most deepest circumstances, here's what he's telling us as we go into 2000, this new year, 2020.

He is saying to us, when you enter into those trying times, those emotional, heart-ripping times, I'm with you.

I feel with you, and I've got your back.

I'm gonna see you through.

Trust me.

So he's a little agitated because they're not trusting him wholeheartedly.

And you got to realize he's coming back toward the end of his ministry.

Because after this situation, he has to go into hiding and just minister to the disciples before they crucify.

You with me?

Man, this is good.

Very good.

We see the suffering in verse 33 with him.

Look, verse 35, we see the sobbing, the sincerity in verse 36.

Look at verse 36 when he says, Then said the Jews, oh, he was sincere in two things.

He was sincere in his love for Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and he was steadfast in his commitment toward them.

Man, that's good.

Listen, the next time you're going through, and you will, this year.

Some of you are going through it now, some of you just come out.

Listen, let me tell what life is.

Either you're in trouble, or you're fixing to go into trouble, or you're coming out.

That's life.

You with me?

So when you are in the midst of the fiery furnace, listen, by the way, that's when Jesus showed up for the three Hebrew boys.

In person, he showed up.

He's gonna see you through in 2020.

He's gonna see you through.

He's gonna see our church through.

I don't care what we go through and what we're gonna face in 2020, he's gonna see us through.

If we stay faithful to him.

Can I get an amen?

Now, watch this.

So we see his steadfastness, we see his love.

But now let's look at lesson number two.

Lesson number two, Martha is a good example of how Jesus can give you back what life has taken from you.

Now, what do you mean by that, Pastor?

In Joel 2.25 in the Old Testament, remember when Israel had sinned and messed all up and God had sent judgment on them.

The locusts was eating everything.

I mean, they had lost everything.

And they had lost everything because of their disobedience.

But then he makes this profound statement unto the nation Israel.

He says, But if you repent, I will restore to you.

I love this.

I will restore to you.

Jesus says, I'll give you back what hey, life has taken from you.

I will restore everything back to you.

Yes, same thing with Job.

Great example.

But right here we see that we need to claim the promise.

Take it to heart.

Take it, hey, and ask God to replace and renew our spirit.

Martha said, look at verse 21 and 22.

Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

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

Instead of saying, if only, pray even now.

I know it's not too late.

God can move on your behalf.

Listen to me.

It's never too late with God.

Some of you are coming into this new year and you're saying, Oh, I blew it in in 2019.

I mean, I my life was a mess.

I was, I just uh I lost everything.

I I I'm just ready to give up.

I'm just ready to quit.

There's no use.

My friends, that's nothing but Satan lying to you, trying to destroy you, defeat you.

There's always hope with God.

Nothing is impossible with my God.

Luke 137.

Nothing.

Nothing.

So we see lesson two.

Right here.

And boy, it's just fantastic that He will restore to us.

Again, Mary shows us a mixture of faith and doubt.

Protest and praise.

She didn't understand why Jesus didn't come earlier.

Martha had faith for, hey, in fact, let me, I wrote this to me.

This was a nugget God gave me.

I want to give to you.

I see Martha had faith for the past.

Martha had faith for the future.

Because you remember what Jesus told her?

He said, Yes, hey, he's going to rise again.

And what did she say?

I know that.

You've told us that we're all going to rise again.

I know that.

But I want him alive, hey, I want him alive now.

That's exactly it.

She had faith for the past, faith for the future, but no faith for the present.

So think about that.

Is that not true in our own lives?

I mean, we we know God's gonna resurrect us.

We can't do it.

Right now?

That's the question you got to answer today.

Hey, you know he's gonna resurrect you in the uh rapture, but can he resurrect you now?

Can he change your life now?

Can he restore you now?

Hey, can he bring the joy back now?

Can he bring the power of God back now?

Can he bring, hey, the witness back now?

Yes, yes.

He can restore what you've lost.

Can he restore that marriage?

Yes.

Can he restore that relationship with your children?

Yes.

Don't give up.

He says, Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out.

Verse 34 in Romans 11 says, Who can know the Lord's thoughts?

In other words, and then at the end of that verse, how can we be his counselor?

In other words, how can we tell God what to do?

Wow, that's good.

We don't have to tell God what to do.

All we have to do is trust him to do what he knows best is for us to do.

That's worth you being here if you don't hear anything else.

Amen.

Man, that's good.

That's good, preacher.

Lesson number three.

Look at verse 43 and 44.

And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin.

Jesus said unto them, Loose him and let him go.

Loose him and let him go.

But look at verse 39.

Before they could loose him and let him go.

Jesus said, Take ye away the stone.

How many of you would like to see the Lord Jesus do some miraculous?

I'm talking about miracles in your life and in our church this new year.

I do.

I'm expecting it.

But now let me say this.

He will not perform the miraculous or the hey, are the miracles if we don't do our part.

See, there's there's there's there's this scale.

Obedient equals blessings.

You with me?

Disobedient equals curses.

If you're willing and obedient, now watch, you should eat the good of the land.

If you refuse and rebel, you should be devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 119 and verse 20.

You with me?

So here we see a scale.

Jesus says, I'm gonna raise Lazarus from the dead.

In fact, there's only one person that can do that, and that's me.

There's only one powerful enough to raise the dead.

And he's pretty good at it.

He had, because this is the third time.

And then he does it a fourth time, recorded times, should I say.

He could do it anytime he wanted to.

Probably.

You know what?

I can't wait to get to heaven to find out all that he did that he didn't write down.

Talking about a history lesson.

But we know he raised Yoris' daughter.

Remember that?

She was dead, 12 years old, dead.

Walked in the house.

Oh, I like that part.

There was doubting and faith there too.

He wouldn't even let disciples go in.

He wouldn't let the crowd go in with him.

He said, No, y'all don't believe anyway.

You stay out here.

I'm going in.

Uh-uh.

He didn't want unbelief around him.

So he went in, raised her from dead, and then notice what else.

I'm going to preach this message out of Luke 7.

I've never preached it here, and I've only preached it a few times.

Hey, the woman lost her young son, and they're in a funeral possession.

They are literally heading to the graveyard with the body.

And all of a sudden, we see the procession of death coming out of the city.

Pull, hey, hauling the casket, toting the casket.

I don't know how they did it.

And then we see Jesus and his disciples, the I call it the possession, the procession of deity coming in.

You got the procession of death coming out and the procession of deity coming in.

And all of a sudden Jesus sees this funeral.

He goes up and he says, Stop! Goes over to the casket, says, Stop! And they're all looking.

Can you imagine?

This long-haired guy with a beard comes up in a robe, and you're right in the middle of your funeral procession, you're hurting, you're crying, and mourning, and all that that's going on that was going on at the grave of Mary.

And he just says, Stop! Looks over to the young man and the words young man, Neotes in the New Testament, so we know Israel was 40 or younger.

He looks over to the young man and he says, Get up! Woo! I would have loved to have been there.

And he sets up.

I know you're looking at me like I'm crazy.

Read your Bible.

Luke chapter 7.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

And he sets up, and you know what I used to tell them.

I tell the students when I preached at it to about 5,000 students.

I said, I know what he said.

The moment he got up, when he sat up, can you imagine a man dead and all of a sudden he's laying there and he just sits up?

And we know he was dead because he'd been dead at least four days.

Hello.

Just thought.

And he snaps up and he says, Jimmy's up.

That's where he started, date.

Yep.

Is that not good?

And then we see he raises Lazarus from the dead.

So he's the only one that's got the power to raise someone from the dead.

And he does it quite.

By the way, that hey, that gets me excited.

It makes me want to have a spell because I think he can do it for them.

I know he's going to do it for us in the resurrection.

Can I get an amen?

We're going to get our new bodies.

Amen.

So here we are.

Here we are.

What a powerful picture, folks.

The power over disease, devils, and death.

All have to submit to Christ.

Is that not awesome?

Alright.

God wrote this to me, gave me what.

Here's what we got to do.

We got to roll away the stone.

Here's what we got to roll away.

Ready?

There's no place in your notes for this because God gave it to me afterwards.

After I do my outline.

Alright.

Number one, we gotta roll, just find somewhere to write this.

Maybe write it in the Bible in the side.

We got to roll away the rocky stone of ignorance.

We can't be ignorant of what God's word says.

Can I get an amen?

2 Peter 3.18, grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Two, we got to roll away the granite stone of unbelief.

He that believes on him shall have life.

He that believeth not shall not see life.

John 3.36.

That's it.

Then three, the slate stone of error.

You should know the truth.

Say it with me, church.

And the truth shall what?

Set you free.

Sanctify them through thy word.

Thy word is truth.

That's what we're going to be preaching about next week.

The first unbelievable, foundational, core value of this church is clear biblical truth.

So roll away the stone, the slate stone of error.

And then roll away the lime.

I'm trying to, you see how I'm trying to use this different stones?

Somebody say that's pretty good for a country boy.

But anyway, the limestone of prejudice.

John 2, 9 says, you cannot say that you love God and hate your brother.

You know what I love about this church?

When you stand up here and look out like I do, I see every, every color.

Every color.

I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

That's heaven.

And by the way, can I say something?

God doesn't see color.

Come on, folks.

In fact, why do you worry about color?

We all got the same blood.

Washed in the blood.

Amen.

He loves us just the way we are.

He made us just the way we are.

And then the hard stone of doubt, got to get rid of all our doubt.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Now, what's this?

We got to ask God in 2020 to increase our faith and decrease our doubt.

Can I get an amen?

You got to trust him.

You said, but but no, there are no butts.

That was a problem with Martha.

But, but if you'd have been here.

Amen.

We don't need to be Billy Goat Christians in 2020.

Always button.

No, no.

Just yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord.

And then the slippery stone, here's the good one.

Of inconsistency.

Can't be inconsistent.

Good crowd here today.

Paul, thanks for being late, but at least you're here.

Amen.

We're very close.

I know the new visitor's got several visitors.

Oh my goodness.

I don't know if I'm going to come back to that church.

I'm late.

He'll call me out.

No.

Paul and I very, he's one of my counsel guys.

He's over the building project, so no.

But hey, the inconsistency.

I'm excited that you are going to make a new year's resolution to not miss church unless you're dead.

Amen.

Just a thought.

You need to be here.

We need to grow together.

We need to walk together.

We need to pray together.

And then there's the dazzling stone of fear.

Gotta get rid of fear.

God's not given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, hey, and of a sound mind.

God's not given a spirit of fear, but of power and of sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7.

2 Timothy 1:7

Gotta get rid of it.

You with me?

Say amen.

Lesson number four.

I know that's a message within itself, isn't it?

But I gotta give it to you.

I love it.

I love it.

I love the truth.

Oh, you should know the truth, and the truth should set you free.

I do want you to be consistent this year.

I really do.

I want you to find your place in this ministry and get involved.

We need you.

We need you.

And we're gonna really need you when we get over there.

We're gonna need Susan to be uh meeting with our logistics committee.

We're gonna start putting together all that.

We're gonna be working hard this next few months and uh actually next four or five months, getting ready to go into that new building.

It'll be 12,000 square feet.

We're gonna have a big stage.

Oh, that's gonna be awesome.

We do all kinds of drama play a lot.

We're gonna have a big nice gym for uh basket uh basketball, volleyball, a wana indoors, and pickleball.

That's exactly right.

It's gonna be awesome.

It's gonna be awesome.

You're gonna have people from all over this community wanting to use the gym and all that too.

I mean, we'll have people on this campus every day, all day long.

It's coming.

I know it.

I see it, and I've seen it.

It's coming, folks.

And there's we do all that for one reason.

To tell them Jesus is awesome.

And that he wants to be awesome in their lives.

That's what we do.

That's what we do.

So, lesson number four.

Lesson number four, and boy, what a lesson it is.

And by the way, the miracle was worked here, you gotta get this.

The miracle was, I almost missed this.

Thank you, Lord.

The miracle right here was worked simply by the spoken word.

No magic, no abracadabra, or no, you gotta do this, do that.

No.

God spoke the word, and he raised Lazarus from the dead through his word.

Spoken word, which gives me, and I think I have this on the outline for you, we need to pray like the psalmists prayed in Psalms 119, verse 34 and 35.

Psalms 119:34

That's on there for you.

Because put a star there.

I want you to pray this every day this new year in your quiet time.

Listen to what the psalmist said.

Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law.

Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Make me to walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

Wow, that's it.

Psalms 119, verses 34 and 35.

Psalms 119:34

Pray that every morning before you start your quiet time.

Give me understanding, Lord, this morning.

Give me understanding.

Lord, I'll keep what you show me this morning.

I shall observe it.

I shall meditate upon it with my whole heart.

Then, Lord, let me walk in that path that you've given me today.

Because, Lord, I delight in your ways.

What a way to start the day.

Can I get an Amen?

What a way to start the day.

And then, lesson number four.

God has bigger and better plans in mind for you in 2020.

Can I get an Amen?

God's got bigger and better plans for you in 2020.

Lazarus was four days dead when Jesus arrived.

And we know why.

He waited to make sure he was dead.

But there's two reasons.

And I believe this.

When the Lord waits, it's for two reasons.

If the Lord doesn't answer your prayer immediately, or when you think he should, there's two reasons he waited here that I believe are very applicable for us.

One, he says, that he may be glorified.

That's what he said.

He says in verse four, this sickness is for the glory of God.

Do you realize a lot of times sickness is for the glory of God?

Now I know that goes against some kind of theology that's taught today.

Where that if you're, you know, there is no sickness if you're walking with God.

That's just not biblically true, folks.

That's not biblical.

They say if you're sick, it's because there's sin in your life.

Well, I got news for you.

There was nowhere in God's word that said Lazarus had sin in his life, and because he had sin in his life, that he died.

Now we do know sin brings death.

We'd understand that.

But it wasn't, hey, it wasn't in his life that we know of, or he would have recorded it.

So you can't say because you're sick that there's sin in your life.

Now, is there a possibility?

Yes.

If you've been living like the devil, yeah, God's going to get your attention one way or another, and it could be.

And we do know if you start making a mockery of God, God will, hey, bring you to a premature death, 1 Corinthians 11.

I'm serious.

So, yes.

But here we see that this sickness was for the glory of, to bring glory to God.

And the second thing we see, it is to bring strength to our faith.

To strengthen our faith.

To strengthen our faith.

But God's got a good plan for you.

Jeremia 29.11, for I know the thoughts.

Do you realize he thinks about you?

Have you thought about that this morning?

God thinks about you.

He says in Jeremiah 29.11, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord.

Now watch.

Thoughts of peace and not evil.

He's not thinking evil toward you.

He's not thinking bad toward you.

He's thinking the best for you.

Can I get an amen?

Come on, church.

You ought to be shouting on that one.

He wants peace and the best for you.

And then notice what else he says.

Oh, I love this.

He's going to give you a future hope.

A future hope.

Now, most people stop there on verse 11 in Jeremiah 29.

You ought not to ever quote or read Jeremiah 29, 11 without verse 12.

Listen to what verse 12 says in Jeremiah 29.

Call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen.

The challenge for 2020 is this church has got to really learn to pray.

We do a lot.

The word, the weakness in this church is we're not praying enough.

I'm going to just be honest with you.

Me included.

I meant corporately.

And I'm not, I don't never pray enough individually.

So we got to work that out.

I want some people that are prayer warriors to become real prayer warriors, and I think there's some here that we can organize some praying times together.

We used to, a couple of years ago, we did it every quarterly on a Sunday night.

We'd just show up and pray for an hour.

So I need some people that have that gift.

Come to me, let's set something up and let's start doing it.

We can do it in the morning, Saturday morning early.

Whatever, with the men.

I'd like to see some men really get a heart for meeting together maybe once a month or once every two months or once a quarter.

But I'm not talking about meeting together to talk about Alabama and Auburn football.

I'm talking about meeting together and getting a hold of God.

Amen?

And starting January the 15th, this few weeks, from January the 15th to January the 31st, that's two weeks, a little over two weeks.

I want this church to pray and fast for the new year.

To ask God to do the miraculous for 2020 through us and our church.

Now you can fast several ways.

Some of us could try to fast with just juice and water for two weeks.

I can go about seven days and I get sick.

I've tried it.

Most I've ever gone is ten days and got severely sick.

So, but I'm gonna I'm gonna fast.

I'm gonna eat one meal every day, and that's it.

And fast the other two meals.

I'm not gonna eat.

And I'm also, are you ready for this?

Gonna eat no sugar for two weeks.

Now that's a sacrifice for me.

So I'm just telling you what I'm gonna do to honor the Lord and cry out to God and ask him to move miraculously in 2020.

We got a lot going on, folks.

We got buildings.

I mean, there's just so much.

And you know, somebody said, you ought to be worried.

I said, why should I be worried?

It's God's.

I tell you, if I was worried, if we had borrowed a million dollars, I'd be very worried.

But we're not gonna put ourselves in that position because we don't need man's help.

We got God.

Now God uses men and he's using us to do it, and he'll bless you.

He's gonna bless you in 2020 if you mean business, and he's gonna bless you physically, he's gonna bless you financially, he's gonna bless you in every way.

He needs to bless you so you can be a blessing to his ministry in this community.

And if you believe that and pray and fast that way, you'll see it happen.

Amen?

Without faith, it's impossible, please God.

Lesson number five, verses 38 and 39.

We've read the verses, grown in the heat.

Hey, here it is.

We got to remove the hindrances.

We got to remove the hindrances.

And let me say something.

I wrote a little note to me under the Bigger and Better Plans About Faith.

There are times when only prolonged suffering can give us the best blessings.

Did you hear that?

There are times that when only prolonged sufferings can give us the greatest blessings.

You need to put that somewhere you can read that often.

Number five, remove the hindrances.

One of the quickest ways to overcome grief and heartache is to obey God's commands.

I'm there.

That's it.

Before the miracle occurred, now look, the command has to be obeyed.

We must remove the rocks before Christ can work.

The Bible says in Proverbs 28:13, he that covers his sin shall not prosper, but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13

The protesting, look at verse 39.

Anytime, and I want to kind of wrap this thing up before we go to the Lord's Supper.

Let me tell you what God taught me here.

I'd never really seen this in this application.

And we're going to have the Lord's Supper.

This is sweet, though.

Anytime God's getting ready to do a miraculous miracle, there will be opposition.

Hello?

Let me show you what God showed me for the first time.

And I've read this story, preached this story more than once.

I want you to see what he showed me.

And by the way, when I re-preach a passage, I always ask God to show me something that he didn't show me before.

Never fails, he does.

Watch this.

And I wrote some little marks here in my quiet time.

Here's what I wrote.

God wants to do something great.

When God wants to do something great, there will be opposition.

That's the first thing.

Second point he gave me.

Opposition will come from good people.

Working people.

Martha said, Lord.

I mean, she had a relationship with God, with Jesus.

They were friends, great friends, intimate friends.

Jesus loved her.

Lord, Martha said, when opposing him.

She was opposing the Lord.

She was good friends with the Lord, but she said, But Lord, you failed.

If you'd have been here.

Hello.

What are you saying, preacher?

There's going to be some of us good working folks that aren't going to agree with some things we do.

They're going to think there's a better way.

Well, instead of complaining about it, come tell us.

Come share with your heart and your thoughts with us.

Because if it's a better way than honor the Lord, we want to do that.

We're not strong-willed.

Well, a little bit.

We want to do what's best for us.

Folks, this is not our ministry, it's God's ministry.

And whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God.

And he that is joined on the Lord is one spirit.

1 Corinthians 6.17.

Now watch this.

Tell you what else.

Opposition.

Now here's a good thing I'd never seen before.

David, ministrator, you need to hear this.

Rick, need to hear this.

Nita?

She's probably with the kids.

You need to hear this.

Counsel?

You need to hear this.

Watch this.

Opposition can sound logical.

It can be reasonable.

What do you mean, preacher?

Jesus, what are you doing?

He stinks.

You're fixing open the roll away stone.

He's dead, Jesus.

He stinks.

Preacher, that's just a stupid idea.

Maybe.

Huh?

The next question.

I mean the next pro answer to that was guess what?

Rolling away a stone's hard work.

Hello?

Hello?

Rolling away a stone's hard work.

Hey, it can stink.

What we do sometimes, there can be stinky stuff going on.

Hello?

Gotta get in there with it.

Jeff and I had we had we had his toilet running all over for two days.

Last night we were out there freezing and some stinking stuff was coming up.

But we had to deal with it.

Amen?

We had to get it fixed.

So what I'm saying is, in 2020, you're gonna have opposition.

And it's gonna be not just from the enemy.

That's the easy part.

We know where that comes from.

It's the law.

It's the good people within our body.

Gonna have a bad attitude.

They're gonna have a stinking attitude.

Rotten attitude.

What do you do?

I'll tell them, hit the road, Jack.

Don't come back no more, no more.

No, no.

You have to deal with the opposition just like Jesus dealt with it.

How did he deal with it?

Lovingly and compassionately.

Martha.

Come here.

Martha, settle down.

Okay.

I've got some good concerns.

And I'm glad you're what you're telling me.

Maybe just a little nicer.

Okay.

Where is he?

Martha.

Take me to him.

Okay, Laura.

Okay.

And then she gets there with him.

And he says, roll a rain of stone, and then she gets upset again.

So what I'm saying is, it's not easy, it's hard work.

It stinks.

But we gotta be patient.

We gotta be loving.

Amen.

I'm preaching to me now, because that's not my normal attitude.

That's why he spoke so directly to me.

And then the other thing, opposition starts with unbelief.

They just really don't believe that that's gonna happen.

You with me?

It's either one or two things.

One, they don't believe it's gonna happen.

Number two, they don't want it to happen.

Now, if you don't want it to happen, you may have a real serious problem.

That's when you gotta evaluate whether or not you're where you need to be.

It's not about me.

It's about him.

Can I get an amen?

I've been doing this a long time, folks.

I do understand.

I promise.

And that was the last thing, honey.

Moving stones, hard work.

And it stings.

And then the last thing, and I'm through.

God wants to make you a living testimony.

Oh, and night, hey, in 20, 2020, God wants to loose us and let us go.

Can you imagine everywhere Lazarus went?

They were the he was the talk of the town.

He was the talk everywhere he went.

Lazarus, is that you?

Lazarus, is that you?

Lazarus.

Now here's what, can't you see this?

Did Jesus really raise you from the dead?

I'm here.

The question was, not that as much, Lazarus, were you really dead?

Oh yeah, I was dead.

I stunk.

Church, I'm so excited.

I want you to know I am more excited than I was when we started the church, Christy.

God has really dealt with your pastor.

I mean that.

He has got something so special for this church.

Folks, I'm telling you, he does.

And I want us all to be a part of it together.

Jesus is telling each and every one of us this morning, Pastor Danny, I'm gonna lose you.

Paul, I'm gonna lose you.

Play, I'm gonna lose you.

Counsel, I'm gonna lose you.

Staff, I'm gonna lose you.

Members, I'm gonna lose you and let you go.

And I want you to be a living testimony.

You're writing a gospel, a chapter each day.

By the deeds that you do and the words that you say.

Men will read what you write, distorted or true.

What is the gospel according to you?

Amen.

You wear that bracelet proudly.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel everywhere I go.