Roll Your Stone Away | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

Well, of course I want to open with the Scripture concerning

this day. In Matthew 28 it says, But the

Angel answered and said to the woman, Do not be afraid, for I

know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, for He is risen as He said.

Come see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and

tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead.

Indeed, He is going before you into Galilee.

There you will see Him. Behold, I have told you, it's so

important for us to think about what we're celebrating today,

and this winds up what we call Holy Week.

Last Sunday, we talked about Palm Sunday, Jesus Christ,

triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem.

A great multitude of people greeted him.

They threw palm branches on the road, even their coats.

They were so excited about what was going on.

But the message last week is how important it is that we're not

just following the crowd, because many in that same crowd

that cheered when he came to town also were in the crowd that

said crucify him. Crucify him.

Yesterday, or excuse me, Friday, as we were celebrating Good

Friday as we call it, the day of His death, I talked about how

important it is that we would recognize that Jesus gave us an

example that we need to be prepared for that which is to

come. We oftentimes think in terms

only about dealing with situations now, but the Bible

pattern is take care of it ahead of time.

It makes it much easier and you can begin to walk through the

situation with proper wisdom. So after Jesus Christ died and

was buried, the Bible says that the disciples were all

distressed by the situation. They were all in hiding.

And so some of the ladies in this particular chapter are

going to the grave to find out what's going on, not expecting

really a resurrection, although they had been told ahead of time

it would happen. I mean, there's one thing to

hear somebody say, well, there's going to be a resurrection.

Jesus said I'm going to raise from the dead on the third day.

That would be another thing to actually go there and find out

it had happened. And that's why when the Angel

met them, they were scared. And that's why the Angel first

says to them, don't be afraid because he is risen.

How many glad today we can say Amen, Jesus Christ has risen

from the dead. There are many great teachers

throughout history and even followers of great teachers who

can say, wow, weren't these amazing instructions and things

that he taught? And many people will say that

about Jesus Christ. But more than just believing he

was a great teacher, we believe that he was God come in the

flesh, that he came to give his life for the sacrifice of our

sins, that he would die on the cross, that he would be

resurrected and give to us that life giving spirit, that

resurrection spirit so that we walk in it all the time.

That's why the question, what are you looking for is a very

important question because on Easter Sunday we should be

looking for, well, what is it that God really wants us to see

and understand about what he's doing in the earth?

That's why this next verse of Scripture is so powerful.

It's the apostle Paul praying for the church in Ephesus, and

it says, Father, let the eyes of their understanding be

enlightened, that they might know what is the hope of His

calling speaking about Jesus Christ.

What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the

Saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power

towards us who believe according to the working of His mighty

power which He worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead

and seated him at the right hand in heavenly places?

And again, the apostle Paul understood, and that's why he's

even praying for the Church of Ephesus, because it takes

special enlightenment, if you would.

In other verses he talks about a spirit of revelation, a spirit

of wisdom. It takes something from God to

actually believe. Jesus Christ not only lived and

died, He rose from the dead. And those of us who have become

familiar with the Holy Spirit can say, yes, we can testify to

that. But also in this Scripture, he's

praying that they would recognize that.

Well, there's a calling He wants us to see.

There's an inheritance God has put within us.

He wants us to know and he wants us to really comprehend, well,

what is this resurrection power all about?

Because church, we're not here today just to talk about a

resurrection that happened 2000 years ago.

We're here to recognize that power is still in the earth

today. Amen.

And it takes a revelation from God to actually say, wow, this

power of God is available to us today.

We're not just those who celebrate something that

happened in the past so that we can say, well, I know that it

happened. That's my faith, but know for

those who experienced this power began to walk in this power.

And so when we talk about it, we can say, wow, I know something

inside of me says that's true. And what God is saying to us

today is, well, there's some more of that.

I want you to see. That's why in the book of Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 and speaking about resurrection power, he said, for

if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in

you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to

your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

When Jesus Christ was getting ready to leave his disciples by

way of his death, burial and resurrection, and ultimately to

his ascension into heaven, he said, I don't want you to think

I'm going to leave you as orphans, but I'm going to come

again to you. And it's going to be in the form

of the Holy Spirit. And when I come back, I won't

just be God in one location. I'll be God dwelling in the

midst of my people, and I'll be a God who will be wherever my

people are. And not only that, he wants us

to know that we can have that spirit inside of us.

That's an amazing thought. In First Corinthians chapter 15

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

it says after the first Adam we all come alive.

So when we are born, coming out of our mother's womb, we breathe

the breath of life and that makes each and every one of us a

living being. But when we are born again, the

Bible says that God puts within us a life giving spirit.

I'd like to say we're born and noun, but God wants to make us a

verb. Amen.

So that we're in this world not in a passive way, but we're in

this world in a proactive way. As a church, Mountain Zion, this

is our first fruit Sunday. We give this extra offering

because we have community centers.

We reach out to the nations of the world.

We preach a gospel that says God's power is available today

man, and we're here to be a proactive force in our world.

It's easy to look at what's happening in the world and

become all discouraged and talk about it and wonder what's going

on. I know what's going on.

My God is at work. Amen.

I know what's going on because God has put within us a life

giving spirit and it doesn't matter what I'm looking at, I

can know that with the power of that life giving spirit I can

make a difference in the world I live in.

And I can also know that just like it gave life to Jesus

Christ, so he rose from the dead, we also believe that He

makes each and every one of us alive in that we have the gift

of eternal life. That's why the Bible says death.

Where is your sting, O grave, where is your victory?

Because through Jesus Christ we have the gift of eternal life,

but also that scripture said He can make alive our mortal body.

And that's not just about resurrection, which is to come.

It's life that we can have today.

That's why at Mount Zion we pray for the sick.

That's why when somebody has a problem and they need strength,

we pray that God will help you overcome.

When I'm up here preaching, I don't just talk about self help.

I'm talking about God's help. And God's help is greater than

you, a man. And so we can all come to self

help to a certain level, but there comes a point in time

where we should recognize we need God's help.

And that gives us the ability to go beyond that which is natural

and to that supernatural power of the living God.

We're living in a world today where all the statistics are

indicating people are facing anxiety, depression, all kinds

of emotional distress in the midst of our affluence.

We're finding out that that's no cure for the soul.

That's no cure for what's going on inside.

But God says though darkness will cover the earth and gross

darkness the people, I'll give you a power, says the Lord, so

that you can arise and shine, and my glory can be seen upon

you. How many excited about that

today? So the story shared with you

today in John Chapter 11 is a story about resurrection.

John 11 · chapter mention

In this particular case, it isn't where Jesus is being

resurrected. It's where he becomes the source

of resurrection. Because as I was contemplating

what I should share today, the Lord said, I want you to share

this story because I want people to understand that resurrection

isn't just a theological concept.

Resurrection is a power that's available to whosoever will

believe. Amen.

And when Jesus Christ was here in the earth, the Bible says

that that was God made flesh to dwell among us.

He was the visible image of the invisible God.

I heard a pastor once say Jesus put a face on God, and that's

absolutely true. So when we see his life and see

how he responded in situations, that's God in action and the

human form so that we can more easily relate to it.

But I want to look at this story from the perspective that God is

in this story and the person of Jesus Christ in church.

I want you to know something. God is in your story.

I'm gonna we all have a story and I love stories and I love to

hear about people's stories, but I know that God has a story in

your life. And I remember many years ago

preaching the sermon, God has a road just for you.

And I think that's so important for us to know that we all have

a different journey in life and nobody can actually understand

the journey that we're in. And that's why it's so good for

us when we turn our attention to God and realize, well, there is

someone who does know my journey.

And when nobody else perhaps will understand, or nobody else

can sympathize, or nobody else can give me the very device

because they just don't know me or my story, we can know that.

Well, Jesus Christ wants to come into our story.

And if we will let him, he will gladly be there.

So going back to the story again, it says in John 11, now a

certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary, and

her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed

the Lord with fragrant oil, wiped his feet with her hair,

whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sister sent to

him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.

When Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not on to

death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be

glorified in it. Now, when thinking about Mary

and Martha, I think it's very good to recognize Jesus had

friends. I want you to know that God says

we can be his friend. When Jesus was getting ready to

leave his disciples, so he's talking about after his

resurrection, he says I don't want to deal with you anymore

like you're my servants. He said I want you to be my

friends. And in the Scriptures of

Galatians chapter 4, the apostle Paul said God doesn't just want

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

you to be a servant, He wants you to know you're a son of God,

that just like Jesus Christ, his hand is upon us.

We have a purpose for our life. And when we see that purpose,

God will help us fulfill that purpose.

And so it's important for us to realize that in this place,

Jesus had friends. And God says, I want you to

know, I want you to be my friends.

I want us to have a relationship.

Mary and Martha are very interesting because the Bible

gives us some insight into their personalities.

There was a time when Jesus Christ went to their house for a

time of what we would call fellowship today, or just to

getting together at their house. And the Bible says that Mary and

Martha were there getting ready for everything that was going to

happen. Now, when you see that story and

all the stories about Martha, she was the more practical

person, wasn't real motivated by her emotions.

She just looked at it, hey, we're putting on a party.

We got to get this party and we want it to be a good party

because of the masters coming to our house.

And so the Bible says she was very busy doing everything she

needed to do. And it also says she became very

preoccupied or nervous about what was going on.

She got so upset that she came to Jesus because her sister

Mary, who should have been helping her, is laying at the

feet of Jesus Christ, soaking in his stories and just looking at

him. And she goes in the room.

She says, Jesus, would you tell my sister that she could be in

the kitchen helping me? And she's like, no, I'm not

going to tell her that. There's lots of times when work

is important. But right now she's doing the

better part because she realizes, hey, who's sitting in

the room with her and she wants to drink it all in.

No, it's OK that Mary's doing this.

There was another time when Jesus was at their house again,

and the Bible tells us that Mary started pouring oil on his head.

Now, I don't know how they would have known this, what kind of

oil it was that she was pouring on his head.

But his disciples knew right away that it was a very

expensive perfume oil that she was putting on her head.

And one of them said, Jesus, you should stop her.

The poor could use this money. We should sell it basically, is

what he's saying. Jesus said no, what she's doing

is right because she's annoying to me for burial.

So you can see how Mary was the lover, the more emotional of the

two, and she was the one who just wanted to show Jesus her

affection. And Martha wanted to show Jesus

how willing she was to work. Now, as Christians, we have to

understand there's the work of the ministry and also there's

the point where we show our affection and love for him.

That's why at Mount Zion we have a program where we have worship

and praise because it's appropriate.

That would come and well, Make Love to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Say, man, how am I glad we can do that in the House of the most

High God? But we want to also have

something that touches the more practical side, which is when

the word of God comes to us and gives us instruction and helps

us understand what what it is that we need to do.

Now, I don't know where Lazarus fits into this other than that

was their brother and he's the subject of this story.

But when we see the sisters in action, we can understand

they're just people. And for them, Jesus is the

Messiah. He is a great teacher, but he

also has honored them by being their friend.

And that's what we need to understand God wants to do for

each and every one of us. Now they're all concerned as

Jesus has come to them and they're like Jesus, don't you

know that? Well, if you would have been

here earlier, this wouldn't happen.

And Jesus said this thing is not on to death, but it's for the

glory of God. What is he talking about?

Well, we know as we read the whole story, how many know when

Jesus Christ raises somebody from the dead, that's to the

glory of God. That story even preceded him as

he was going to the holy city and helped him with his

reputation because that gave glory to God.

That was something awesome. And again, that's why at Mount

Zion we believe that when someone is sick, we pray for

them. When they need deliverance, we

pray for them. When there's a difficult

situation, we pray for them. But always remember, in the

context of this story, we know what happened, but we also want

to have to understand that for everything that God does, it's

about the glory of God, and we can't necessarily define that.

We do and should know that if we belong to Him that His glory

will be revealed in and through our lives.

But at the same time, we have to be very careful that we're not

trying to manage it. If you would, I've often shared

I had two dramatic miracles in my life with muscular dystrophy

diagnosis. I had that the Lord healed me

from a seizure disorder. I had about 10 years later I was

healed from that. And that's a miracle.

And those are the kind of miracles I like say that brings

glory to God. Amen.

But over the years, I began to realize well before God answered

my prayers, He gave me supernatural strength because

nothing that I was going through ever hindered me from doing what

I always did. And so I realized, wow, that

brought glory to God. It was more about glory that I

was observing in this particular situation because I didn't

necessarily talk about how I felt or what I was feeling at

the time, but I understand that, well, God can glorify himself in

many different ways when we think about resurrection, that

brings glory to God. But you know, in church history,

martyrdom was one of the ways that God brought glory to his

name. In the early days of the Church,

one of the Church fathers said the blood of the martyrs is the

seed of the church because martyrdom was quite common under

the rule of Rome. But in the midst of all of this,

when people saw how these people responded by what they were

going through and how they had God's grace to help them in

these situations, it was such a tremendous time that within 300

years, the whole Roman Empire became officially Christian

because of the testimony of the glory of God being revealed in

church. I believe with all my heart,

we're living in a time when the glory of the Lord's going to be

revealed and all flesh are going to see it together.

So I'm saying, God, I want to be in the glory.

I want to share your glory to my world.

But it means we have to be careful to say, OK, God, show me

what you're doing in the midst of this situation.

Now, in this particular situation, it says Jesus again

loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that he was sick and this is important, he

stayed two more days in the place where he was.

Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea

again. Now, this is interesting because

if somebody sends you a message, could you come quickly and pray

for our brother Lazarus? It's a very bad situation.

How many? You know, you'd think you'd pack

up, say we got to get over there, but instead he waited a

couple days. And this tells us something

about God because, well, God doesn't always do what we tell

him to do. But you need to understand

something. He loved them.

So what he was doing in their life was not a reflection on the

fact that, well, he didn't care. He understood that he wanted to

manifest his glory in this situation and he wanted them to

be a part of it. And so he was going to

demonstrate his love by the fact that he waited, because the

situation was going to get worse before it was going to get

better, and they were going to be confused before the situation

was worked out, and they were going to be disappointed before

everything would be revealed. But when the joy of the Lord

came church, it was the greatest joy you could ever imagine.

Amen. And I really believe that with

all my heart that we the people of God need to set ourselves up

by saying, you know what? God's going to do something

that's exceedingly in abundantly above all that we could ask or

think. I have a testimony.

I've seen God do great things in my life, but even at my age, I

have a greater testimony in front of me as my faith is

something good is on the horizon because God is the God of

resurrection. Amen.

Church. And so even his delays lead to a

greater testimony. Again, I remember early on in

the ministry I preached a message.

God doesn't wear a wristwatch. I did at the time.

Now, I just checked my cell phone all the time, but I'm

always aware of the time. And that's because I felt like

God had said, you know, if you do these things, I'm going to

bless you and this is going to happen.

That's going to happen. I'm like, OK, when's it going to

happen? When's it going to happen?

And God said, I'm not wearing a wristwatch.

So I guess this is as on to the Lord.

Now, I don't wear a wristwatch. But anyway, you can't watch the

timetable when God's involved in it because He doesn't operate in

our time. Amen.

So Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went to

meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house, two kinds of

people. Martha, well, got company

coming, got to go greet him and said, Mary sitting in the house

because she's probably just overwhelmed by the emotion of

it. Now, Martha said to Jesus, 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. And of course, when you're the

busy type who likes to get the job done, how do you know that's

what you look for other people to do?

And so that's kind of what she's saying.

You know, I just want you to understand something.

If you would have been a little more fast, little bit more on

the ball, guess what? This wouldn't have happened

here. She's looking at it from the

practical observation of the situation.

And basically she's asking the question, well, where were you?

Why didn't you come two days ago?

Why didn't you get here before he died?

Now I I know I still believe that you're the God who can

heal. I still believe that you can do

all things. But as far as this story goes,

she thought it was all over. Have you know, church with God,

the story is never all over. If we put our trust in him,

that's so important for us to know.

Amen. And so Jesus said to her, your

brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that

he will rise again in the resurrection.

At the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the

resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he

may die, he shall live, And whoever lives and believes in me

shall never die. Do you believe this?

She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ,

the Son of God who is coming to the world.

And I put over this the theological observation because

she was more the practical person.

You can be sure she knew her catechism, she knew her

doctrine, and when Jesus Christ is asking her question, she

could recite the lessons. Well, I know that one day we

will raise from the dead. I know that you will do such and

such and such and such, but Jesus wanted to understand

something. No, wait a second.

I didn't say I'm going to be the resurrection.

He said what I am the resurrection.

Jesus was the one who met Moses in the burning Bush and Moses

said, well, who's talking to me? He said I am who I am.

Tell them the I am had sent you because he was asking questions

about, well, what are the children of Israel going to say

when I come to them and say they're going to be delivered?

And God says to you today I am who I am.

You fill in the blanks. I said you fill in the blank

because whatever it is that's happening in your life, He is

the solution for your situation. He will reveal His glory in your

life if you'll let Him in. Amen.

And so he wanted Martha to understand I'm the present tense

God. I'm not just the future God.

A lot of people have a God that had a past.

He rose from the dead and they'll talk about the Gospels

and some have one of the future. One day I know I'm going to go

to heaven or one day Jesus is going to return.

And Jesus said both of those things are theologically

correct. But remember, I'm here right now

in the here and now says the mighty God.

And he wants us to know he's the I am God.

Mary came where Jesus was and saw him.

She fell down at her feet again. She's the emotional one, saying

to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have

died. Therefore, when Jesus saw her

weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in

the Spirit and was troubled, and he said, Where have you laid

him? They said to him, Lord, come and

see. Jesus wept.

And I, I love this story because it shows us #1 the other side,

which is Mary, the sensitive one.

She's probably hurt because Jesus didn't show up, but she's

also sensitive to him. So she's not going to say I'm

hurt. Where were you?

But she did say, well, Lord, I do know it makes it sound like a

faith confession. I know if you were here, this

wouldn't have happened. But I hope you never mind.

She's thinking if you would have been here, this wouldn't have

happened. But she was a sensitive one, but

so was Jesus. And I want you to know this

about God because the Bible teaches us that God has

emotions. He feels what we feel.

That might be hard for you to believe that the Bible tells us

that God is a God of feelings. And when Jesus Christ was in

this situation, he felt what they felt, how he knew he was

going to raise them from the Lazarus, from the dead.

So it wasn't an issue of outcomes.

He was getting drawn into their emotions.

He was getting drawn into their feelings and He wept because he

was aware of how they felt in the situation.

Jesus wept and I was a kid. That was our favorite verse of

the Bible because we always had Sunday school and vacation Bible

school contest. Whoever could memorize the most

verses and everybody could add Jesus wept right away.

Very short, but. So telling.

He felt he groaned. The Bible even says when we have

the Holy Spirit, that sometimes the Holy Spirit inside of us is

crying out with groanings which cannot be uttered.

I know that when I'm in prayer, I can get in touch with God and

know how he feels about the service on Sunday morning, and

he can direct me on what to say for that particular time.

And I believe it's so important to know that we have a God who

can sympathize with our infirmities.

That's why God became flesh, so he can sympathize with our

infirmities, and he certainly does.

Church. The Jews said, see how he loved

him there. Everybody recognized the love.

And some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of

the vine also have kept this man from dying?

Lazarus was raised from the dead.

Then Jesus again groaning in himself, came to the tomb.

It was a cave and a stone lay against it.

Jesus said take away the stone. Martha, the sister.

Of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there's

a stench, for he has been dead for days.

Everybody asked the same. Question.

Really, everybody had the. Same statement too.

And that was, first of all, why weren't you here?

And #2 why did this happen? And I like to say that from time

to time, because one of the greatest things you'll hear

people say when they say, I don't believe in God.

How can there be a God when there's wars?

How can there be a God when they're suffering?

Because everybody thinks the same thing.

How can there be a God who that's bad things happen?

And God said well. I created the natural order and

I created people so that they could grow and develop.

And because of these two things, there's always a conflict.

I don't stop everything from happening, but I'm always there

when it happens. I said he's always there when it

happens. Amen, Sharks.

But sometimes when we. Feel that we weren't protected.

We kind of think, well, God doesn't notice we're here, God

doesn't love thee or God doesn't care my about my situation.

God said no, that's not true at all.

I care, I'm concerned. And when Jesus said roll the

stone away Martha, the practical ones like he's been dead 4 days,

it's going to stink. Martha, I want to work a

miracle. What's the matter with you?

Get yourself together. You know church, sometimes we go

through situations and it's like that stench that we want to stay

away from. We don't want to open or roll

away the stone because it's better not to deal with it.

Just just let dead dogs lie, so to speak and God.

Says Nope, you got. To roll the stone away might

smell a little bit, you might have some issues you got to deal

with, but roll the stone out of the way so God can do his work

in that church. And I believe that with all my

heart. And He says to us that we need

to be that kind of a people of faith.

It says then finally then they took away the stone from the

place where the dead man was lying.

Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that

you have heard me. Now when he said these things,

he cried with a loud voice. Lazarus come forth, and he who

had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes.

His face was wrapped with a cloth.

Jesus said to him, Lose him and let him go.

I do want to say that, you know, as Christians, God can make us

alive, but sometimes we do have some grave clothes.

That's why we have our life enrichment classes in the

ministry of counseling here at Mount Zion for marriages and for

personal situations. Because sometimes even after

you've been made alive, you got to be willing to deal with the

issues because God doesn't want us just to be alive.

Jesus said I didn't just come to make you alive.

I have come to give you the abundant life.

How many want to reach out for the abundant life on this very

important day of Easter? Amen.

Let's all bow our heads and close our eyes for just a

moment. And I'd like.

To say that the. Jesus, that was with.

Mary, Martha. Who loved them?

Who was at work for them that same Jesus is saying won't.

You let me into. Your life won't you let me into

your circumstance? Let me in your.

Marriage, let me in your personal distress.

Let me in. I want to.

Be there for you. Let me in your.

Heart and in your life, I want to be your strength.

I want to be your God. I want to be your helper.

That's what he wants. To do for us.

Father I thank. You today for your covenant of

blessing that you have for us, your people.

I pray in Jesus name that each and everyone of us would have an

enlightenment this day to know there's more you have for us in

Jesus name, Amen. This is Pastor Lorne Coverbius

from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us

today and invite you to connect with our church family by

visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media.

God bless you.