I Am The Resurrection And The Life (August 4th, 2019) - Ted Duncan

Thanks so much, Harvest New Market.

So thankful and excited to have the opportunity to be here.

Have been praying for you and uh cheering um as as you guys have hit different milestones as a church family since this church has been uh planted.

Um Lindsay and I love Mike and Ange.

And uh I've been trying to get Mike to come and speak at my church and somehow I ended up speaking at his church before he came to ours.

So please encourage him to uh to reciprocate and come to uh Harvest, Mississauga.

I really, really appreciate his ministry and appreciate them as a couple.

And uh I also just wanna uh encourage you when when when you're a church that has such a uh gifted and godly uh uh pastor, it's it's easy for you just to assume, oh, he already knows he's doing a great job.

I mean, it's it's obvious he's doing a great job.

We all think he's doing a great job, but you know it would be really nice if you took some time uh to actually express that to him, because uh leadership is lonely.

It doesn't have to be lonely, but it can be lonely.

And don't assume, take the initiative to to encourage Mike, to encourage Ann, to encourage uh uh Jeremy and John, the other staff and and leaders of this church uh as well.

Um this is the Civic Holiday Weekend.

And so this is the uh the long weekend at the uh at the end of July, the beginning of August.

Do you have your your normal Civic Holiday plans, the special Civic Family Feast, the traditional Civic Holiday Feast Civic Civic Holiday is one of those weird holidays, right?

Because there actually isn't anything that goes along with it.

It's just kind of there.

But what Civic Holiday actually does is it reminds us, it it's actually a point in time to tell us that there's actually less summer than there is more summer.

It is the turning point, it is the halfway point, and and so summer really comes in us, it comes to us in two halves.

You've got July, which which comes to an end with the civic holiday, and then you've got August, which comes to an end with Labor Day.

And so the two halves both have these holiday uh weekends uh at the end.

And uh today I want to take you to uh the the halfway point of the Gospel of John, a John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

Uh spoiler alert, the end of the Gospel of John ends with a death, a burial, and a resurrection.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, right?

But at the halfway point of the Gospel of John, there is also a death, a burial, and a resurrection.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Lazarus.

And from this passage, we're going to see really how the Gospel of John fits quite nicely into these two halves.

The first half of the Gospel of John centers around these six signs that Jesus performs.

He does things like turning water into wine, healing an official son remotely.

He doesn't even have to go there, feeding thousands of people, raising a man who had been lame for 38 years up on his up on his feet.

Jesus performed these six signs, and the and the resurrection of Lazarus is sign number six.

Now we now, those of you who are familiar with sort of studying your Bible, you know that seven is an important uh number in the Bible.

And so things aren't really complete until you have the number seven.

You know, the seven days of creation.

It's just one example of that.

And so you have these six signs that ultimately point to the completion, the seventh sign.

The first half of the Gospel of John is these first six signs leading up to pointing to the seventh sign, which is Jesus' own resurrection from the dead.

And so there's three things that this passage can tell us about Jesus and what it means to follow him from this incredible story.

And in order for us to truly understand these things, it's not just my own human uh effort or ingenuity that we'll be able to do that.

It will need to be the power of the Holy Spirit.

So let's ask God's spirit to work in our midst right now.

And so, Heavenly Father, we've already sung your praise.

We've lifted our voices up to you.

And we pray right now that by the power of your spirit, God, that we would now hear your voice speak to us through your word.

So, God, I pray that you would have your way with us, Lord, and that we would listen intently, God, and that we would receive what you want to say to us today, and that we would yield to your spirit, that we would allow ourselves to be transformed by the living and active word of God.

Lord, we just sang about how good you are to us.

And Lord, you are good, and we thank you that you have given us your word for our good, Lord, so that we could be transformed for our good and for your glory.

So help us, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

John 11 begins like this it says, Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and and uh and her sister Martha.

It was Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

So the sister sent to him, saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill.

But when Jesus heard it, he said, This illness does not lead to death.

It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to his disciples, Let us go to Judea again.

The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day?

If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

After saying these things, he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.

The disciples said to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he will recover.

Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant he was taking rest and sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.

But let us go to him.

So Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us go that we may die with him.

The first thing we need to understand about Jesus has to do with his timing.

When we think about the timing of Jesus, we need to understand that he has a plan.

And our timing hardly ever lines up with Jesus' timing.

We're sort of like, you know, there's always a handful of people in church.

Everyone else is clapping on two and four, and then there's that other guy on one and three.

You know, the timing is just not in sync.

And what we need to acknowledge right from the get-go here is the difficulty of verse five and verse six.

It says, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Verse 6 then says, so when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer where he was.

That timing doesn't make any sense.

Jesus loves Martha, he loves Mary, he loves Lazarus.

Why on earth then would he not drop everything and get to Bethany as fast as possible?

Why would he possibly delay two days?

Some of us have lived or right now are living in that cramped, difficult space between verse 5 and verse 6.

It's not a very good place to be.

It's a place where you know that God loves you.

You know that God has a plan and a purpose.

You know you just sang and believe that he is good, and yet there is something that you want him to do, and you believe he can do it, and yet he hasn't done it yet.

And the only explanation that we're given is back in verse 4, and this is what we need to trust in when it says when Jesus heard it, he said, This illness does not lead to death, it is for the glory of God.

Being stuck between verse 5 and verse 6 is not easy, but let's just acknowledge following Jesus is not easy because his timing doesn't always line up with our timing.

But if you find yourself in that cramped, awkward place between verse 5 and verse 6, remember verse 4 that you're there for his glory, that he has a greater purpose in mind.

Dr.

Robert Smith Jr.

had this to say about this passage.

He says the word crisis and the word emergency are not in God's vocabulary.

Here he is, waiting two days before he goes anywhere.

This Jesus is one who oftentimes redeems by restraining and delivers by delaying.

The timing of Jesus, he has a plan.

Some of you are waiting for an illness to be healed, a suffering to be alleviated, a relationship to be restored, a heaviness to be lifted.

And you believe that God can do it.

You believe that God loves you, and yet he has not done it.

His timing.

Then in verse 7, after this, after delaying two days, he said to his disciples, Let us go to Judea again.

The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you.

Are you going there again?

In John chapter 8, Jesus said, Before Abraham was, I am.

John 8 · chapter mention

And he used the personal name of God to describe his own identity.

Y-H-W-H in Hebrew, Jehovah, Yahweh, the tetragrammaton, whatever you want to call it.

And it says in John 8, 59 that they picked up stones to throw at him.

Then in John 10, Jesus said that he was the good shepherd, declaring himself to be king.

And he made himself equal with God.

And again, they picked up stones to throw at him.

There were multiple assassination attempts on Jesus' life long before he went to the cross.

And so Jesus is now talking about going back to Bethany, which is just a couple of miles outside Jerusalem.

The disciples said, Listen, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you.

I thought that's why we fled from there.

We can't go back there.

But Jesus says in verse 9, Are there not 12 hours in the day?

Jesus, and it's it's all about timing.

Are there not 12 hours in the day?

If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world.

Jesus uses this metaphor of day and night a number of times when he talks about his time on earth.

The night was, you know, that's Good Friday.

That's when he went to the cross.

But the day, that's the three years of him preaching and teaching and healing.

And Jesus was on a specific schedule.

The reason why he didn't die in John chapter 8 is because that was during the feast of Booths.

John 8 · chapter mention

He wasn't going to die during the Feast of Booths.

He's supposed to die during the Feast of Passover.

He had he had several months.

He it was all planned out.

The timing of Jesus is perfect.

And he's telling the disciples, look, I'm working on a schedule.

I've got it all laid out.

Verse 10, he says, If anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.

So he's telling them, just stay with me.

I've got the light.

I know the schedule.

Just stick with me.

Verse 11, after saying these things, he said to them, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.

The disciples said to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he will recover.

Okay, we don't need to risk our lives if he's just fallen asleep.

I mean, sleep is good for him.

When you're sick, that's what the doctor says.

Get some rest and you'll be feeling better soon.

They're like, we don't need to go there on this suicide mission just to wake someone up.

But verse 13 says Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was taking rest and sleep, and then he told them plainly, Lazarus has died.

Have you ever had someone beside you fall asleep in church?

Never you, right?

It's never been you.

But, you know, at first it seems like they're really tracking with the sermon because they start nodding, right?

And it seems like they're just really on pace.

And then the nod just all of a sudden settles down here or up here.

Now, what does it take to wake someone up when they're sleeping in church?

Everyone do this, everyone just do it to your neighbor right now.

Yeah.

Not much, does it?

Just a just a little bit of not no elbows to the face, Rick Jessup, okay?

Just just a little bit of elbow action.

It's not, it's not, it's not hard work.

And so listen, when Jesus is talking about Lazarus falling asleep, when you talk about Lazarus, listen, how hard is it for Jesus to raise the dead?

Just a little bit of elbow, just a little nut.

It's not a hard thing for him to raise Lazarus from the dead.

It's like waking him up from sleep.

Verse 15, he says, For your sake, I'm glad that I was not there.

Again, Jesus knew Lazarus had died.

Another set of messengers didn't come.

Jesus and his omniscience knows that Lazarus has passed away.

He says, I'm telling you these things so that you may believe.

He says, But let us go to him.

And so Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him.

Mentioned how part one of the Gospel of John and part two of the Gospel of John are similar.

You've got a death, a barrel, and a resurrection.

You also got Thomas.

Thomas is at the very end of the Gospel of John, and Thomas is right here at the end of part one.

Now, sometimes we think about this as being a highlight in Thomas' life, right?

Let's go! I'm willing to die with Jesus.

But does he say die with Jesus?

No, he says, let us go that we may die with him.

Who's the him?

I mean, it could be Jesus, but I mean that doesn't really seem to fit with Thomas' temperament, does it?

Lazarus is the one who's already dead.

He's like, oh well, if we're gonna follow him into Bethany and Lazarus is dead, we might as well go die with him.

Die with Lazarus.

So Thomas is really doubtful about Jesus' timing and all of these things.

Surprise, surprise.

So the end of part one is very similar to part two.

Now look at verse 17.

Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and to Mary to console them concerning their brother.

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him.

But Martha remained seated in the house.

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 from God, God will give you.

Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again.

Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

She said, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying, In private, the teacher is here and is calling you.

When she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.

Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but he was still in the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who were with her in the place, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

And he said, Where have you laid him?

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

Jesus wept.

We've talked about the timing of Jesus.

Now let's talk about the tears of Jesus.

That he enters into our pain.

Even in those moments where we don't totally understand his plan, he comes to us and enters into our pain.

Jesus remains on the outskirts just outside of Bethany.

And notice how in verse 19 it says that many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them.

When it says the Jews, it's not just talking about Jewish people.

In John's gospel, the Jews become shorthand for the Pharisees, for the religious leader.

They were all Jewish, okay?

So it was kind of redundant to say the Jews came.

Whenever he says Jews, he's referring to the religious leaders.

These are the people who on two different occasions had picked up stones to try to kill Jesus.

You can understand why Jesus is staying outside of Bethany at this point in time.

He doesn't want to create another confrontation.

And so it is Martha, classic Martha, right, who runs out to Jesus.

Mary sticks behind.

In the Gospel of Luke, there's this story about these sisters, right?

And Martha's the one, she's getting the casserole out of the oven and she's setting the table, and meanwhile, Mary's just sitting there doing nothing.

And Martha complains to Jesus about her sister.

So Martha, she's type A, you know?

Does anyone know what type B is?

Is there a type C or is it like vitamins?

Is there like, is there, are you type B12?

How does that someone who is type A is probably on their phone right now?

I gotta research it, I gotta figure out what that is.

How many other type?

I I don't know.

I'm I guess I'm not type A.

So she goes out to Jesus and look at what she says.

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

Her honesty here is really refreshing.

If you have never been legitimately disappointed with Jesus because he didn't answer your prayer, chances are you've never really prayed.

Chances are you've never really poured out what was really inside your heart.

Getting on the the 401 um to to come here today just brought back a I don't drive on the 400, we all try to avoid it as much as possible, right?

But but for um several months, I was driving right along the right along the 401, right past the new market, into Markham, where my my friend uh was was fighting cancer.

And cancer won.

And there are all kinds of people praying and and uh all these all these times of seeing these moments and hoping that that he would get better and but then just seeing deterior him deteriorate.

I started spending uh nights uh uh sleeping over so that his wife could be home with their kids and thinking about her and thinking about his children and all of these reasons.

Verse five, God, you love him, you love me, you love his family.

Verse six, why aren't you healing him?

You see, this this walk with Jesus is not always easy.

Aslan is not a tame lion.

But notice, notice what Martha does with her disappointment.

It doesn't cause her to run away from God, it causes her to run right to him.

And she honestly tells him how she feels.

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

But you delayed Jesus.

This is the pain that she is experiencing.

The pain that Jesus chooses to enter into.

He comforts her by saying in verse 23, your brother will rise again.

Now Martha had said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

She had been to small groups, she had done personal devotion, she read her Bible, she knew what we believe that one day we're all going to be resurrected.

This isn't just a New Testament concept.

In Daniel 12, verse 2, let me show you this verse on the screen.

Daniel 12:2

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, sweep, sleep being not sweep, sleep being a euphemism for death.

Jesus didn't invent it.

It's an Old Testament metaphor for death.

Those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contentment.

And so Martha gives the theologically correct answer here, but she's not picking up what Jesus is putting down.

Jesus said to her in verse 25, he says, Listen, you're referring to the resurrection, the Daniel 12 resurrection, but then he says, No, no, no.

I am the resurrection and the life.

I'm the one who makes Daniel 12 possible.

He says, Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

Believe is the key word in the Gospel of John.

It occurs 98 times.

Just about every chapter, every story hinges on that word of believe.

And notice the open invitation.

Whoever, it doesn't matter what your background is, doesn't matter whether you lived a good life or a horrible life.

He says, Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

See, there's a death after death, everlasting contempt and shame.

But there's also a life after this life.

And Jesus is the resurrection.

And he asked her the most important question that any of us could ask.

He says, Do you believe this?

Do you believe that in believing in Jesus you can be forgiven for your sins, you can receive the gift of eternal life, that you can escape the judgment that all of us deserve for our sin.

Do you believe this?

She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

So Martha gives this incredibly succinct and beautiful summary of who Jesus is, that he is the Christ, and that he is God's Son, and that he came to dwell among us so that we could become like him.

He is the Son of God, and he suffered and died on the cross so that we could be called sons and daughters of God.

He became like us as sinners so that we could become like him, living in relationship with the Father.

And again, it's fascinating because at the beginning of the part one of the Gospel of John, and the end, part two of the Gospel of John, you've got a death, a burial, a resurrection, a death, a burial, a resurrection.

You've got Thomas being skeptical, you've got Thomas being skeptical, and you also have these two statements.

Mary said, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who's coming into the world.

And John 20 ends by saying, These things were written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God.

You see all these parallels?

Because this miracle here, this moment here, is pointing to the ultimate moment.

Verse 28, when she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying, In private, that's important.

No one else knew that Jesus was there.

She says, The teacher is here and is calling for you.

When she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.

Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews, remember, those are the religious leaders who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out.

They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

Now, when Mary came to where Jesus was, she saw him and she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

The same thing Martha said.

All the Jewish leaders as well, all the Pharisees, they're going expecting to end up at the tomb, and all of a sudden hears their enemy, the person who they've been trying to kill, standing right in front of them.

Then verse 33 says, When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, even though all the past uh um and um and antagonism between the Pharisees and Jesus in that moment, the Pharisees are still overwhelmed with grief at Lazarus' death.

This was obviously an influential family.

He was buried in a proper tomb with a stone rolled in front of it.

Only wealthy people would have had that kind of a burial.

They obviously loved and cared about this family deeply, so they're weeping as well.

It says that when he saw Martha weeping, Mary weeping, all the Jewish leaders weeping, it says that he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

That word deeply moved, you can you probably have a footnote in your Bible beside that phrase, it kind of glosses over what's actually happening here.

That word is the word to describe a horse or a bull when it's snorting out its nostrils when it's when it's being provoked.

It's a word to describe anger.

He's indignant in this moment.

Jesus is looking at the scandal of death and how the way that sin had ruined the beautiful creation that he had created with his father.

And even seeing, listen, when Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that wasn't just something that only applies to us.

It's something that he lived himself.

He actually had compassion on these Pharisees who were trying to kill him when he saw how they were broken over the reality of sin and death in this world.

And then John 11, 35, Jesus wept.

If you've never memorized a Bible verse, you have now.

I'll give you a little jewel for your Iwana crown on the way out.

The tears of Jesus, he enters into our pain.

Now, some uh commentators like to say that this is a moment that really reveals, you know, the humanity of Jesus.

That he couldn't hold it together, you know, like, but but but his humanity kind of spills out here.

Listen, that couldn't be the furthest from the truth.

We read cover to cover in the Bible that we serve an emotional God who grieves, who mourns, who is angry, who rejoices and sings over us.

This isn't Jesus showing his humanity.

This is Jesus showing full-fledged divinity in this moment.

You see, there's this false understanding in systematic theology that that says because God is, because Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, because God knows the end from the beginning, because he sees the whole picture, he can't experience emotion because he already knows what's going to happen.

Well, Jesus knew what was He said this is an illness that won't lead to death.

He says Lazarus is asleep and I go to awaken him.

I mean, he knows what's gonna happen.

In like three minutes, all this pain is gonna be over.

But this is the kind of savior that we serve, one who enters into our pain.

Yes, Jesus is omniscient, but he's also omnipresent, not just in a geographical sense, but in a personal chronological sense.

That when Jesus is with you in a particular moment, he is 100% with you.

And if we are to become like Christ, if we're going to WWJD this passage, we need to remember that.

Wherever you are, be there.

Breakfast with your family.

Don't be at work, don't be on your phone.

Look people in the eye, don't think about all the things you need to do next.

Be there.

When you go to a funeral, don't be like a cavalier Calvinist and just slap Romans 8.28 on the grieving person's face and say, oh, God's gonna cause it all to come together for good.

No, be there.

We're instructed.

Weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn.

Listen, emotionalism is bad.

Listen, we can't let emotions control us, but emotions are not inherently wrong.

Someone once said, they're great passengers, they're lousy drivers, right?

But allow emotion to be present in your life and be present in each and every moment.

Be present as we fellowship after the service.

Don't be thinking about Swiss Alet.

Think about the person you're talking to right now.

We serve a Savior who enters into our pain.

Then look at verse 36.

So the Jews said, His enemy said, See how he loved him.

But some of them said, Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind, a miracle that they tried to deny but they couldn't disprove, also have kept this man from dying.

So there was even faith among the group there that Jesus could heal, but they had no category for Jesus resurrecting.

Jesus enters into our pain.

And then thirdly and lastly, make note of this: the triumph of Jesus.

Jesus demonstrates his power.

He has a plan, he enters our pain, and he demonstrates his power.

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.

It was a cave and the stone lay against it.

Jesus said, Take away the stone.

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.

Classic Martha again.

Oh, sorry, sorry to interrupt your miracle here, Jesus.

I just needed to tell you something.

I love the way the King James translates this.

I'm not sure if you have a King James Bible with you right here, but just let me show you this on the screen.

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh.

I just, that's just amazing.

I just, I mean, that's just awesome.

But isn't Martha doing what so often we want to do?

We want to manage the smell problem, but not the death problem.

Jesus comes to deal with the real issue, not the surface issue.

Can you all agree that if Jesus can handle the dead thing, he can handle the smell thing?

If he liveth, he won't stinketh.

Everything's going to be okay.

Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believe, there's the word again, you would see the glory of God, going back all the way to verse 4.

This is not an illness that leads to death, but it's for the glory of God.

All things happen together for the glory of God.

So they took away the stone.

Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me.

Who are the people that are standing around?

The Jews, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, his enemies.

He wants them to believe in him.

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

And the man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.

Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go.

This is the end of part one of the Gospel of John.

This call to belief.

This incredible miracle of a stone being rolled away and someone coming out of the tomb who had been dead and is now unquestionably alive.

And a call to place your faith in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.

All good things come in threes, though, right?

Star Wars didn't end with Empire Strikes Back.

There's a part one, and there's a part two, and there's a part three.

Part one is Lazarus' resurrection and a call to belief.

And part two, obviously, is Jesus' resurrection and a call to believe, but there's also part three.

There's my resurrection and yours.

And the personal decision that each of us have to make.

And Jesus, like he called Lazarus by name, calls us by name, calls us to believe in him.

The apostle Paul experienced this.

He heard Jesus call him by name, saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And then Saul was baptized and converted and placed his faith in Jesus Christ and was used to bring about many, many part threes.

And God has called this church here to be a part three church, to marvel at what happened with Lazarus, to worship Jesus for his resurrection, but then also to personally embrace the newness of life that Jesus has given and to spread that message of a part three, to spread what it means to believe in Jesus.

Here's how the Apostle Paul summed it up in Romans 6, verses 3 and 4.

Romans 6:3

He says, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death.

A burial needed to happen.

Our old self needed to die.

We all stinketh in our sin.

But then it says, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

What would have been like for Lazarus to live again after having been dead?

What is it like for us to live again after having been dead?

Let's bow our heads together and ask that God would help us to live in this newness of life that He's given to us.

Our Heavenly Father, God, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for the privilege of gathering here in your name.

I pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, the same Spirit who opened our eyes to see Christ as Savior, I pray, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, that we would indeed walk in newness of life.

And Lord, I pray if there is anyone here today who has not yet placed their faith in Jesus, I pray that like Mary, they would believe that you are the Christ, you're the Savior, and that you are the Son of God, and that they would confess their sin and receive you so that they could be welcomed into your kingdom and receive the gift of eternal life.

God, thank you for all that you are and all that you have done.

I pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.