Speaker 1: Hey, what up?
Speaker 1: It's Mark Carter.
Speaker 1: I'm the pastor of Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.
Speaker 1: I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message I got to tell you, man, I'm really excited about today.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited.
Speaker 1: Sometimes, see, I get all weak to study the passage and I see so much incredible stuff in God's word.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to share it with you.
Speaker 1: And I'm just reminded all the time.
Speaker 1: God's word is alive.
Speaker 1: God's word is just different man.
Speaker 1: It's different than every other book, and if we should open ourselves to it, he will speak stuff that only he could know directly into our hearts and check it out.
Speaker 1: You don't even have to totally believe that for him to do it.
Speaker 1: So even if you're not there yet, hey, just be open and see what happens.
Speaker 1: In 2005, my wife became pregnant.
Speaker 1: It was our third time being pregnant.
Speaker 1: We already had two girls and we're really excited.
Speaker 1: We started to think about this new baby that's coming along.
Speaker 1: Obviously, we're already a little bit experienced.
Speaker 1: We're thinking about all the times we're going to go to the park and play and all the things that young parents do with young kids.
Speaker 1: About nine weeks in, we found out that, though we were having twins, they did not survive and Kenzie had a miscarriage, and that was surprisingly like ugh, like that hit me a lot.
Speaker 1: That was emotionally difficult.
Speaker 1: I don't know why it was a surprise, but maybe the level to which I felt disappointed or felt like, wow, well, we'd already been dreaming about this.
Speaker 1: We already had plans of what was going to happen.
Speaker 1: We're already thinking about these kids, and those of you who are parents, you know this.
Speaker 1: As soon as that baby is like conceived, there's part of you for many of us.
Speaker 1: You already love that kid, you're already thinking about that kid, and so that was a little bit disappointing.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if there's anybody in here who has something that you expected it to go one way but then it went the other way.
Speaker 1: You were hoping it was going to come through.
Speaker 1: You were hoping you were going to attain it, you were going to get to it, but it just hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 1: You thought it was really going to work out with that particular relationship, but it really didn't.
Speaker 1: You were praying so hard.
Speaker 1: God, I need you to do this, and it seems like, actually, as time goes by, that becomes less and less of what is happening.
Speaker 1: It's hard.
Speaker 1: If you're going to walk with Jesus Now, the world will disappoint you anyway, but if you're going to walk with Jesus, we've got to have a grid.
Speaker 1: We've got to have something that we can do to deal with despair when things come along that it's like I don't understand at all why this is happening.
Speaker 1: We need something that we can grab onto to weather that storm.
Speaker 1: Thankfully, we've got some good coaches.
Speaker 1: Jesus had some very good friends.
Speaker 1: He had some friends he liked to hang out at their place.
Speaker 1: You've got friends like that.
Speaker 1: You've been there.
Speaker 1: There's friends that you're like kind of friends with, and then there's friends you're going to go over.
Speaker 1: Hey, man, let's have some barbecue, let's hang out all afternoon.
Speaker 1: This is the kind of friends Jesus has in Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and they're a little bit tighter than everybody else, and so when Lazarus gets sick, mary and Martha are like we know who we're going to call and they send word to Jesus, who is not with them at that moment.
Speaker 1: We're going to pick it up in John 1 or 11.
Speaker 1: Number one we're going to learn about dealing with despair.
Speaker 1: Here it is A man named Lazarus was sick.
Speaker 1: He lived in Bethany with his sisters, mary and Martha.
Speaker 1: This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair.
Speaker 1: Her brother, lazarus, was sick.
Speaker 1: So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him Lord, your dear friend is very sick.
Speaker 1: Notice how they throw a deer in there.
Speaker 1: They're like remember who this guy is.
Speaker 1: He's a really important one.
Speaker 1: Whatever you're doing, please come and heal him.
Speaker 1: But when Jesus heard about it, he said Lazarus' sickness will not end in death.
Speaker 1: No, it happened for the glory of God, so that the son of God will receive glory from this.
Speaker 1: So although Jesus loved Martha, mary and Lazarus important to note although he loved them, he stayed where he was for the next two days.
Speaker 1: Finally, he said to the disciples let's go back to Judea Now.
Speaker 1: The disciples are a little bit afraid of that.
Speaker 1: They're afraid if they go there.
Speaker 1: Jesus tends to make trouble in a lot of the places that he goes.
Speaker 1: They're afraid Not only is he going to get stoned, but they're probably going to get a little bit stoned as well, not in that way Hit by the rocks, going to get a little bit stoned as well, out in that way hit by the rocks.
Speaker 1: So they don't necessarily think this is a particularly good idea.
Speaker 1: But his disciples objected.
Speaker 1: Rabbi, they said, only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you.
Speaker 1: Are you going there again?
Speaker 1: Jesus replied there are 12 hours of daylight every day.
Speaker 1: During the day people can walk safely, they can see because they have the light of this world.
Speaker 1: But at night there's danger of stumbling because they have no light.
Speaker 1: Then he said our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.
Speaker 1: The disciples ever dim, like, not necessarily cluing in to what Jesus is saying.
Speaker 1: Lord, if he's sleeping, he will soon get better.
Speaker 1: They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, as though Jesus would have to cross, go all the way back to wake up somebody from a nap.
Speaker 1: But Jesus meant Lazarus had died.
Speaker 1: And so he told them plainly Lazarus is dead and for your sakes I'm glad I wasn't there For now you will really believe Come, let's go see him.
Speaker 1: Verse 17,.
Speaker 1: When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days.
Speaker 1: So this is complicated math, okay, so don't think about it too hard.
Speaker 1: But apparently when they sent this messenger to Jesus, that was the very day that Lazarus also died.
Speaker 1: And now it takes a day to get there.
Speaker 1: Then there's two days that Jesus waits and then he comes back on this day and here he is.
Speaker 1: Okay, so now Lazarus has been dead for four days.
Speaker 1: Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss.
Speaker 1: When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.
Speaker 1: She's not even going out yet.
Speaker 1: Martha comes out.
Speaker 1: Mary, she's like Martha said to Jesus Lord, if only you'd been here, my brother would not have died.
Speaker 1: Where were you, jesus?
Speaker 1: You could have stopped this.
Speaker 1: You could have ended this whole thing.
Speaker 1: What the heck?
Speaker 1: I thought we were tight.
Speaker 1: I thought like we had a little bit more important place in your heart than this.
Speaker 1: Why would you do?
Speaker 1: It wasn't even that hard.
Speaker 1: Like what were you doing?
Speaker 1: That you couldn't come and heal Lazarus?
Speaker 1: And we learn later.
Speaker 1: Eventually, mary does come out.
Speaker 1: She's asked to come out, so she eventually does, and she says the same thing in verse 32.
Speaker 1: She says Lord, if only you'd been here, my brother would not have died.
Speaker 1: They've been talking about it and they're both emotionally torn up.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that you've been this way when you've had various disappointments.
Speaker 1: We can all get.
Speaker 1: Maybe like Martha.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're a little bit angry, like you're marching out to Jesus.
Speaker 1: You're like what the heck is going on here?
Speaker 1: You're irritated.
Speaker 1: You're even like accusatory.
Speaker 1: You did this or at least you didn't stop it.
Speaker 1: Or maybe we're a little bit more like mary who she's?
Speaker 1: She's so numb, maybe emotionally, she's so confused about what jesus didn't do that she just can't even move.
Speaker 1: Yet she's like I can't even deal with this yet.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I can't think about jesus right now.
Speaker 1: I'm so disappointed.
Speaker 1: I've got so much depression going on.
Speaker 1: I can't even do this right now.
Speaker 1: Maybe you just kind of hide away from people, maybe you get real insulated and you just start to take counsel with yourself and it gets darker and darker and darker.
Speaker 1: We got to learn how to survive these disappointments, guys.
Speaker 1: We got to learn it.
Speaker 1: Verse 22, martha says but even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.
Speaker 1: Jesus told her your brother will rise again.
Speaker 1: Yes, martha said he will rise when everyone else rises at the last day.
Speaker 1: Jesus told her I am the resurrection and the life.
Speaker 1: Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying.
Speaker 1: Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never, ever die.
Speaker 1: Do you believe this, Martha?
Speaker 1: That's trippy, this word.
Speaker 1: Belief pistueo we've talked about this word before.
Speaker 1: It's in the book of John.
Speaker 1: A lot it's believe, but we have to understand this idea of belief.
Speaker 1: It's not just John.
Speaker 1: A lot it's believe, but we have to understand this idea of believe.
Speaker 1: It's not just.
Speaker 1: I think that's probably true.
Speaker 1: It is not only am I persuaded that it is true, I'm committed to it, I'm pledging myself to it.
Speaker 1: I'm so convinced that it's true that I'm going all in on it.
Speaker 1: I'm trusting the high wire and I'm walking out on that high wire because I believe I'm going to be okay.
Speaker 1: Out on that high wire, because I believe I'm going to be okay.
Speaker 1: Well, this word was used earlier in John, chapter three.
Speaker 1: Jesus was talking about himself and he references this story that all the Jews would have understood.
Speaker 1: It's the story of when some snakes were sent, as a form of punishment from God, into the Israelite camp when they're on their way from Egypt and they started.
Speaker 1: These poisonous snakes started to kill a lot of them and so God told hey, moses, you're going to need some performance art.
Speaker 1: I want you to make it sounds weird a pole with a snake on it and I want you to lift it up and everybody who looks at that pole, they're going to be healed.
Speaker 1: It's weird, it's a weird way to heal people, but that's the way I want to do it.
Speaker 1: And Jesus says that was actually about me, by the way Verse.
Speaker 1: By the way, verse 14 is as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the son of man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
Speaker 1: If you look at the snake on Moses' pole, you get healed from snake bites.
Speaker 1: I guess If you look at Jesus and believe who he says he is, you get healed from death.
Speaker 1: My friends and that I mean the world, doesn't even get this Like Jesus is the death cure.
Speaker 1: That means when you close your eyes to die, you are instantly going to wake up and be like what the heck am I still doing here?
Speaker 1: Let's go, let's get to my reward, jesus, come on, whoo.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad I think most of us are really so glad to be done with this body, like, oh my gosh whoo, I feel so much better already.
Speaker 1: Pistueo, believe, or decide to trust, or commit and trust yourself to him.
Speaker 1: What is believing?
Speaker 1: What is it we're supposed to believe, we're supposed to trust, but the question really is not trust what, it's trust whom.
Speaker 1: Whom are we supposed to trust?
Speaker 1: And Jesus kind of points this out to Martha.
Speaker 1: You'll notice that he doesn't say, he didn't say hey, martha, yeah, like in five minutes, I'm just going to raise him.
Speaker 1: So what's the big deal, man, come on, give me a break.
Speaker 1: All right, it was a long journey, I'm going to do this anyway.
Speaker 1: He doesn't try to comfort her with what he's about to do.
Speaker 1: Did you notice that?
Speaker 1: He points to who he is?
Speaker 1: He said everyone who believes in me, everyone who believes in me, here's what I'm here.
Speaker 1: Lazarus is tertiary right now.
Speaker 1: Martha, everyone who believes in me, that's where the power is.
Speaker 1: That's what.
Speaker 1: That's what, what is going to get you through, see, trust.
Speaker 1: Trust resists focusing on how God is going to do it, what exactly he's going to do, when he's going to do it.
Speaker 1: Trust is always focused on the person of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Trust is focused on whom.
Speaker 1: That's what trust is about.
Speaker 1: That's what belief is about.
Speaker 1: That's what faith is about the question we're asking.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we ask what is true, but we really need to ask more often what is true about Jesus?
Speaker 1: With regard to my situation, my answer is in the son of God.
Speaker 1: What is true about him?
Speaker 1: Jesus is telling Martha.
Speaker 1: Martha, it matters how you think about me, and we're not denying reality, but what we're choosing to do is see reality through a Jesus lens, as though Jesus really is who he says he is and has the power that he has.
Speaker 1: And this isn't anything new.
Speaker 1: This was, I mean, clearly spelled out all over the Old Testament.
Speaker 1: It's in the book of Proverbs, chapter 3, 5, and 6.
Speaker 1: You know it.
Speaker 1: Probably many of you Trust in the Lord with all of your heart.
Speaker 1: Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Speaker 1: Somebody point to this.
Speaker 1: Say not much help all the time.
Speaker 1: Not much help all the time.
Speaker 1: In all your ways, submit to him and he, who, he, he will make your paths straight.
Speaker 1: Does that mean that you have to make them straight?
Speaker 1: No, it means he will do it.
Speaker 1: He'll be the one that straightens the path.
Speaker 1: You're like well, it's not straight though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know he's going to do it.
Speaker 1: You don't have to figure out how to get it straight.
Speaker 1: You do the work of trusting in him with all your heart.
Speaker 1: This ain't no help, and remember to submit to him and he'll get you there, baby.
Speaker 1: So we need to consider who it is we're trusting, we're believing, we're entrusting ourselves to, and then, as we let it go, we say okay, I know you, because it's you that knows about this situation.
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to walk away from it.
Speaker 1: In my heart, I might walk right back, but then I'm going to disciplinedly walk away from it again because of whom it is I am trusting, and we forget this sometimes.
Speaker 1: We forget that, though we work very hard and we're trying to solve every problem and get it done, just so, and we just know it's got to be this way or that way.
Speaker 1: The Bible is very clear that we're supposed to believe God, and sometimes we just make it more complicated than it is.
Speaker 1: Just believe God, I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 1: That's all the complication that God gives you.
Speaker 1: Believe me, trust me, I can do it.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean we never have any action.
Speaker 1: But it does mean often, when our heart is all clenched up and we can't see the way forward, we don't know why God did whatever he did and we don't know how he's ever going to get fixed.
Speaker 1: The answer is be like a child and just believe God.
Speaker 1: Look at Jesus.
Speaker 1: Somebody say God's way is best.
Speaker 1: God's way is best.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always look best, but it is best.
Speaker 1: Here's number one God's purposes are best.
Speaker 1: Believe what we decide to trust, what we decide to trust, that God's purposes are best.
Speaker 1: We got our own purposes.
Speaker 1: I can have my purposes of.
Speaker 1: It could be great stuff.
Speaker 1: It could be to help others or to keep others safe.
Speaker 1: It could also be about me.
Speaker 1: It could be that I get what I want or that I become who I think I'm supposed to actualize myself in this world to be.
Speaker 1: I can have lots of agendas, but God's agenda is the one that's important.
Speaker 1: God's agenda is the one that's going to most bring glory to God.
Speaker 1: This is what he teaches us in verse four.
Speaker 1: Lazarus' sickness will not end in death.
Speaker 1: No, it happened for the glory of God.
Speaker 1: Why do we have this problem, Jesus?
Speaker 1: For the glory of God.
Speaker 1: You don't see it yet, but you have the problem for the glory of God, for the son of God will receive glory from this.
Speaker 1: So God's way brings Jesus the most glory.
Speaker 1: God's way is actually the most loving thing he could do.
Speaker 1: Check this out, dude.
Speaker 1: This will blow your mind, I hope.
Speaker 1: I hope you see it the way I do.
Speaker 1: John 11, five and six in the LSB that's a word for word translation.
Speaker 1: I don't want to complicate things for you.
Speaker 1: Some translations are thought for thought, meaning they're trying to get the essence of what is being said.
Speaker 1: Other translations are word for word.
Speaker 1: They're both helpful, but the one that's rightest is the word for word.
Speaker 1: And so when you really want to know what is being said here, that's why you have a pastor, so that he can study the Greek for you and he can tell you what it is.
Speaker 1: Not that you can't learn to do some of that on your own, which is totally dope, but here's what it literally says.
Speaker 1: Now, jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, so when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in that place where he was.
Speaker 1: So when he heard, he loved them.
Speaker 1: So when he heard that word, so it's consequently because he loved, because he loved them.
Speaker 1: He didn't go because he loved them.
Speaker 1: He chose a different time to go.
Speaker 1: They're like if you love me, you would come.
Speaker 1: He says actually, if I love you, I won't because I actually want what's best for you.
Speaker 1: Have you considered the possibility, I guess?
Speaker 1: I know that it's hard, especially when it's fresh.
Speaker 1: So if you're in some fresh trauma right now, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I know that it's hard, but there is peace, there is consolation in the idea.
Speaker 1: Have you thought through the idea that God is withholding some stuff from you because he loves you, because he's deliberately thinking through your things and he sees the long game and he knows well, if I give him that, then I can't give him this and this is going to be dope.
Speaker 1: This is way better than that thing that they think that they want and so he just withholds it.
Speaker 1: You know, when I was sick for all that time in my early 20s, I'm going to talk.
Speaker 1: I talk about it all the time but I'm not going to bring you deep.
Speaker 1: Most of you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: But when I was sick there was all kinds of stuff that, like God, I'm supposed to be young and strong.
Speaker 1: I look like a skeleton or like a ghoul or something, because I'm so sick I'm missing out on the years that I feel like I should be doing the heavy lifting.
Speaker 1: I can't go to work anymore, I'm thinking about.
Speaker 1: I do get to be with my three-year-old daughter, but it's hard to even go to the park.
Speaker 1: There's all kinds of things that you just begin to shut down at that stage of my life.
Speaker 1: And he'd be like God, why are you doing this now?
Speaker 1: Why do I have to deal with this now?
Speaker 1: What about the relationships that I might be missing now?
Speaker 1: And he didn't say a lot.
Speaker 1: He said a few things over the years.
Speaker 1: Some of them were God can do no wrong.
Speaker 1: Don't accuse me.
Speaker 1: God can do no wrong.
Speaker 1: I'm not Carter.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing you wrong here.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing you wrong.
Speaker 1: He told me to pray for healing.
Speaker 1: He didn't promise me he was going to heal me, but he told me to pray for healing.
Speaker 1: He said sit tight, son, I got you.
Speaker 1: I'm doing this out of love.
Speaker 1: God's way brings the most glory to Jesus.
Speaker 1: It is the way that is most loving.
Speaker 1: It's also the safest way.
Speaker 1: I think we might've missed this.
Speaker 1: In verse nine, the disciples are saying hey, lord, should we go back Really, because you might get in a little bit of trouble.
Speaker 1: And Jesus says there's 12 hours of daylight every day.
Speaker 1: During the day people can walk safely, they can see because they have the light of this world.
Speaker 1: But at night there is a danger of stumbling because they have no light.
Speaker 1: He says, guys, I'm the light of the world.
Speaker 1: I know you think we're maybe in danger, but as long as you stay with me and you stay within my light, you keep close to me, you keep following my word.
Speaker 1: My word is a lamp for your feet and a light for your path.
Speaker 1: As long as you stay near me, the dark ain't going to hurt you.
Speaker 1: I got you, man.
Speaker 1: I know the timetables.
Speaker 1: I know my own timetable.
Speaker 1: I know everything about you.
Speaker 1: I know the month that you're going to die.
Speaker 1: I know everything about it.
Speaker 1: Just stay close to me.
Speaker 1: You don't need to be afraid.
Speaker 1: It sounds trippy.
Speaker 1: The safest place in the universe is in God's will, even when it's not the will you prefer.
Speaker 1: The safest place in the universe is in God's will, even when it's not the will that you prefer.
Speaker 1: And it brings the most faith to others when we do it God's way.
Speaker 1: God's way helps other people and that's what happened.
Speaker 1: Verse 15,.
Speaker 1: I'm glad I wasn't there For now you will really believe Disciples.
Speaker 1: You need to double dip for now.
Speaker 1: You will really believe Disciples.
Speaker 1: You need to double dip.
Speaker 1: You're not getting this entirely.
Speaker 1: Let's try again.
Speaker 1: I need you to see it's not just glorious that I can people get better all the time and you've seen me heal people before.
Speaker 1: But you know what's incredible.
Speaker 1: That doesn't happen very often Resurrections.
Speaker 1: So let's trust in my way and if we do it my way, god is gonna get much glory.
Speaker 1: But other people are going to see it and faith is going to be sparked.
Speaker 1: I wonder how many people have been encouraged by your tenacity, by your willingness just to keep going, by your willingness to keep blessing God's name when things are tough, because he didn't give up God, he don't miss anything.
Speaker 1: He's using all of that to bring about his highest will.
Speaker 1: When Kenzie and I were in those early years we call them the dark times Up until about 2008,.
Speaker 1: Everything before that was the dark times between 99 and 2008.
Speaker 1: God was good to us, but it was hardship good to us, and there was a song by a gal named Ginny Owens.
Speaker 1: It's called If you Want Me To, and it just was very meaningful to us in that season because there was a lot of difficult stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to sing it for you you can look it up on YouTube if you want but it is a poem, so I want to read you the poem.
Speaker 1: I just want to go slow here.
Speaker 1: The pathway is broken and the signs are unclear and I don't know the reason why you brought me here.
Speaker 1: But just because you love me the way that you do, I'm going to walk through the valley, if you want me to, because I'm not who I was when I took my first step and I'm clinging to the promise that you're not through with me yet.
Speaker 1: So if all these trials bring me closer to you, then I'll go through the fire.
Speaker 1: If you want me to bring me closer to you, then I'll go through the fire.
Speaker 1: If you want me to.
Speaker 1: It may not be the way I would have chosen when you lead me through a world that's not my home, but you never said it would be easy.
Speaker 1: You only said I'd never go alone.
Speaker 1: So when the whole world turns against me and I'm all by myself and I can't hear you answer my cries for help, I'll remember the suffering your love put you through and I'll go through the valley if you want me to.
Speaker 1: We sing some pretty incredible worship songs.
Speaker 1: I think we have the best worship band in the entire world, just so you know, and it's awesome.
Speaker 1: But I think there's an even deeper worship than some of the songs that we sing, and it is that heart cry in the middle of all the pain, in the middle of I don't know why Lazarus is dead, when our heart says I'll go through this if you want me to.
Speaker 1: I don't understand, I don't know where this is going, but if this is what you want, then, Lord, I'll try to do it unto you.
Speaker 1: That's worship, baby, that's worship when it counts.
Speaker 1: And so can you and I choose to believe, can we choose to believe that what God is doing right now?
Speaker 1: He's doing it because he loves us.
Speaker 1: He's doing it to keep us safe.
Speaker 1: He's doing it to bring Jesus glory.
Speaker 1: He's doing it so other people learn more about Jesus.
Speaker 1: Somebody say God's way is best.
Speaker 1: God's way is best we decide to trust.
Speaker 1: God's purposes are best.
Speaker 1: Number two God's timing is best.
Speaker 1: God's timing is best.
Speaker 1: Some of us are, like Lord sun's, getting a little low Anytime now.
Speaker 1: Whenever you want to come in and save the day.
Speaker 1: I'm super ready.
Speaker 1: Maybe you thought I thought I'd be at this milestone by now and it hasn't happened.
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering about why.
Speaker 1: Why has it not happened yet?
Speaker 1: Or I had a baby, carter.
Speaker 1: You didn't have that baby?
Speaker 1: Well, I had one when I didn't think it was the right thing to happen.
Speaker 1: I don't think I was ready for that responsibility and it still happened.
Speaker 1: Or my parents gave me too much responsibility at too young of an age and I don't know why that had to happen.
Speaker 1: God, why did you let that happen?
Speaker 1: And I don't know how he'll talk to you about it in heaven, but I know on the authority of God's word.
Speaker 1: God's always.
Speaker 1: He always does things on time and in this case, he did it four days later.
Speaker 1: Four days later would have been the most days later.
Speaker 1: Four days later would have been the most loving thing.
Speaker 1: Four days later would have been the most wise thing.
Speaker 1: Four days later would have been the thing that points out God's power the most.
Speaker 1: Four days later is the thing that helps the most amount of people.
Speaker 1: Jesus is always on time man.
Speaker 1: He always does things at the right time Romans 5, 6,.
Speaker 1: Just at the right time, when we were still powerless.
Speaker 1: He died for the ungodly At the right time.
Speaker 1: There's like a right time for that particular thing and there's a right time for you and for me.
Speaker 1: And honestly, if we just pay attention to the Bible, I know that sometimes we always wanna be like the one that it happened for quick God, like I know that sometimes these take a long time, but can I just be the quick one, and maybe you will be sometimes, and sometimes you'll get that.
Speaker 1: But if we just look at the Bible, I mean God definitely lays out this pattern.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: So Abraham and Sarah I'm just gonna run through them If you don't know who they are, that's okay.
Speaker 1: Abraham and Sarah that's 25 years between when God said it and when that's when it finally happens.
Speaker 1: Joseph 13 years being a slave or a prisoner or both.
Speaker 1: Between when he hears the promise and when God finally elevates him.
Speaker 1: Moses this guy does the entire thing wrong first.
Speaker 1: Then it's another 40 years before God finally comes through and makes it happen.
Speaker 1: What about David?
Speaker 1: It's about 15 years between when the prophet Samuel tells him he's gonna be king and he actually finds himself to be a king.
Speaker 1: And then we got Simeon it's about 15 years between when the prophet Samuel tells him he's going to be king, and he actually finds himself to be a king.
Speaker 1: And then we've got Simeon.
Speaker 1: He's in the New Testament.
Speaker 1: He's this old man.
Speaker 1: And somewhere along the line this guy believed God because the Holy Spirit told him you are going to see the Messiah.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine if no one has seen the Messiah yet and it's just been prophesied you know hundreds of years and nothing's happened?
Speaker 1: And God's like, yep, it's going to be you.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine?
Speaker 1: You're like, really, it's going to be me.
Speaker 1: And yet he believed and he saw the baby Jesus.
Speaker 1: He said, wow, I've been waiting all of this time.
Speaker 1: And you just get the sense from the text that dude Simeon's like he's about to croak right now, Like he's got a month or so, like he's old.
Speaker 1: Bless God, he made it that far, but God saved some stuff for the last minute.
Speaker 1: All right, there's 30 seconds on the clock.
Speaker 1: And God's like, okay, now, now I'm going to do just what I said.
Speaker 1: Can we see, guys, god is not late.
Speaker 1: There's going to be a payoff for waiting and waiting.
Speaker 1: Well, I wish life was all payoffs, but I find that it's not.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you find it.
Speaker 1: There are times God rewards us, but then there's like long seasons where it's like anytime now I'm still going.
Speaker 1: It's still hard.
Speaker 1: In this particular area or that particular era I did believe God and I'm hoping he's going to reward that, but I guess not necessarily today.
Speaker 1: And sometimes he heals the sick, sometimes he raises up something that was long dead in your heart, or maybe it's a relationship or something that you thought that thing's over and God brings it back around again.
Speaker 1: And sometimes the best way to believe God is really just to move on.
Speaker 1: This is what happened with Moses.
Speaker 1: Moses dies and they all mourn him.
Speaker 1: For 30 days the whole nation of Israel is mourning Moses, like, oh Moses, 30 days goes by and God's like all right, moses is dead, go.
Speaker 1: It's great, guys.
Speaker 1: It's great that you mourned him.
Speaker 1: Great way to honor your leader.
Speaker 1: He's dead now.
Speaker 1: He's actually with me in heaven, right here.
Speaker 1: You don't need to worry about him.
Speaker 1: You'll be fine without him.
Speaker 1: Now it's time to go.
Speaker 1: Now it's time to get on with the plan of God.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we need to leave something in Jesus' hands while we go on and do the rest of what we know to do.
Speaker 1: Jesus, I'm going to.
Speaker 1: Maybe you'll bring this back, maybe you'll resurrect it, like Lazarus, Maybe you'll keep it dead, like Moses.
Speaker 1: I don't know which one you're going to do, but I've got to go on and do the other things I know to do.
Speaker 1: Life can't stop while I wait for this particular thing.
Speaker 1: God's way is best.
Speaker 1: Here's number three.
Speaker 1: So we said God's purposes are best, god's timing is best and God's friendship is best.
Speaker 1: God's friendship, this whole context.
Speaker 1: Man is.
Speaker 1: Jesus is their friend.
Speaker 1: Verse 33,.
Speaker 1: When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him and he was deeply troubled.
Speaker 1: Where have you put him?
Speaker 1: He asked them.
Speaker 1: They told him Lord, come and see.
Speaker 1: Then Jesus wept.
Speaker 1: Look at this.
Speaker 1: Two things happening at the same time inside Jesus' heart.
Speaker 1: I'm glad I've got a Savior that understands that you can have more than one emotion at one time.
Speaker 1: He's angry and he's sad.
Speaker 1: He's angry because he's seeing the visible kiss of death in his friend, and Jesus knows death was never the intention.
Speaker 1: None of these people were supposed to die.
Speaker 1: Death in the New Testament is an enemy that he defeats on the cross, but he's still angry in his spirit.
Speaker 1: Desk, you moved on my boy.
Speaker 1: Watch out, though, because Jesus is coming for you Desk, and then he's also wells up in tears because the people around him are hurting, even though he knows, dude, I'm doing this in 30 seconds, but he's still.
Speaker 1: I'm sad because you're sad.
Speaker 1: I see the pain that all this sin on planet earth causes and has caused, down to verse 43, then Jesus shouted Lazarus, come out.
Speaker 1: And he does.
Speaker 1: Aren't you so glad you don't have an indifferent savior?
Speaker 1: Aren't you so glad that he's not like come on, get with the program and go.
Speaker 1: He's a tender savior.
Speaker 1: He's like I get you.
Speaker 1: I hurt with you.
Speaker 1: He's a tender savior.
Speaker 1: He's like I get you.
Speaker 1: I hurt with you.
Speaker 1: I'm sad with you.
Speaker 1: I'm confident that I'm about to be awesome, but I also know what it's like.
Speaker 1: I've been in your shoes.
Speaker 1: I've been on your planet.
Speaker 1: I've walked around and felt all the things.
Speaker 1: I know what it's like when everybody you ever knew in your town betrays you.
Speaker 1: I know what it's like when the last ones run away.
Speaker 1: I know what it's like to suffer.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, man.
Speaker 1: I know what it's like when it's hard.
Speaker 1: Shout out Lazarus, come out.
Speaker 1: What do we do?
Speaker 1: We do just what we said we look.
Speaker 1: This is a skill.
Speaker 1: Now, this is a practice If you're gonna be Jesus's disciple.
Speaker 1: It's a skill.
Speaker 1: We practice looking at Jesus.
Speaker 1: We practice it.
Speaker 1: We get better and better at it.
Speaker 1: Hebrews 12,.
Speaker 1: Looking away from all that will distract to Jesus.
Speaker 1: We look at Jesus, who's the leader and the source of our faith and also its finisher.
Speaker 1: Believing because the way they're talking about it in Hebrews is believing is directing your gaze on Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's directing your heart on Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's saying, yes, all these things but Jesus.
Speaker 1: And it's something you can practice every day.
Speaker 1: Now you're going to have to manage stuff, okay, so don't run the red light, but as soon as your mind is clear enough to come back to Jesus and rest on him and what do you mean?
Speaker 1: Rest on Jesus?
Speaker 1: You don't just think about him and his beard, you think truth statements about Jesus.
Speaker 1: That is in the Bible.
Speaker 1: Lord, I'm so thankful that you're always for me and never against me.
Speaker 1: Lord, I'm so thankful that it doesn't matter what I ever do wrong, you forgive me because of Christ's blood.
Speaker 1: Lord, I'm so thankful that, even when I'm down and out, you're going to work everything together for my good God, I'm so thankful that, even when I'm down and out, you're going to work everything together for my good God.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful, jesus, that you will never leave or forsake me.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that I'm on your mind today, that I'm the apple of your eye.
Speaker 1: Wow, jesus, that's just so awesome.
Speaker 1: That feels awkward at first for people, but guys, it can become very second nature and it is for everybody.
Speaker 1: There's a monk from the 17th century that is called Brother Lawrence.
Speaker 1: That was not his real name, but that's who he's understood to be.
Speaker 1: He was a dishwasher.
Speaker 1: That was his job.
Speaker 1: That's what he got to do for the place he was living, and what he would do is make the most of it.
Speaker 1: As he washed the dishes, he'd think about Jesus and he would sense the spirit of God filling his soul, filling that space with Jesus.
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm right here.
Speaker 1: I'm right here with you.
Speaker 1: We're doing the dishes together.
Speaker 1: My friends, you and I can practice that all the time Now, sometimes it means we've got to put this stupid thing down, because this is a distraction.
Speaker 1: We turn away from the distraction and look to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Whenever it is distraction, we look to him and, like brother Lawrence, we just practice again and again, wherever you are, no matter how boring it is, no matter how mundane it is, no matter how maybe even disappointed or angry you are, we look to Jesus because Jesus is a friend, and maybe I don't know what yours was, man, I don't know what your dream was.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the thing that you were.
Speaker 1: You're watering that little seed.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it was, but maybe it's dead now.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's like Lazarus, maybe you yourself feel like I'm dead.
Speaker 1: I feel cold, I feel like I'm under the ground and the dirt has been rolled over and grass is now growing and people forgot about me.
Speaker 1: Can I just remind you that, because Jesus is your friend, I don't know when it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about it.
Speaker 1: All I know is he is your friend and at some moment he's going to say come out, get up, I'm ready.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: I'm here, I came at the right time.
Speaker 1: Now's the time to do it.
Speaker 1: Whether that's your dream, the thing that you thought was supposed to happen, or your desire, your want, whether it's that thing or my friends, even when you're actually dead, here's the powerful news your friend won't forget you.
Speaker 1: He never forgets you.
Speaker 1: You're always on his mind.
Speaker 1: He knows when to come through.
Speaker 1: He has the exact right moment.
Speaker 1: He's going to say Lazarus, come out up here we go.
Speaker 1: It's time now.
Speaker 1: It's time to get on with the thing.
Speaker 1: You did a good job.
Speaker 1: You looked at me, you trusted me, you listened for me.
Speaker 1: Friends, I don't know what's going on with you, but all I can encourage you is look to Jesus and hang on.
Speaker 1: Just hang on.
Speaker 1: Just don't give up.
Speaker 1: Don't let go.
Speaker 1: You don't need to figure it out.
Speaker 1: Don't figure it out, just hang on.
Speaker 1: Your God will come for you.
Speaker 1: Your savior will come.
Speaker 1: It will probably be the last minute, but he will come.
Speaker 1: And it may not be your way, but his way is the wise, it's the safe, it's the loving way that glorifies him the most.
Speaker 1: Somebody say God's way is best.
Speaker 1: Let's bow our heads best.
Speaker 1: Let's bow our heads.
Speaker 1: Yep, that's what's true.
Speaker 1: That's what's true, lord.
Speaker 1: God's way is best.
Speaker 1: We don't always know what that's supposed to look like in life.
Speaker 1: So I pray for you to bring this message to mind, lord, when we're in those situations where we need to release it to God's way.
Speaker 1: Would you bring this to mind when it's time for us to be focusing our heart on the person of Jesus and practicing the presence of God.
Speaker 1: Father, I pray for everybody that's in a particularly tough trial right now, that is particularly wounded, that is disappointed, that wishes it was different.
Speaker 1: God, I thank you that you have good purposes for that and I pray against the enemy who would twist that and try to get them bitter and try to get them to give up and tap out.
Speaker 1: Father, in Jesus' name, would you strengthen them with power right now.
Speaker 1: Give them a sense of your presence, give them a sense of your nearness, give them a sense of your consolation that you know what to do and when to do it.
Speaker 1: And you are both angry at sin, you're sad with them and you're confident about what you're going to do.
Speaker 1: Thank you, master.
Speaker 1: Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being His witness in our generation, check out Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: We'd love for you to join us, either digitally or in person.
Speaker 1: Also, if you're looking for leadership development-related content, don't forget to check out the Fierce Leadership Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts from.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to support this ministry.
Speaker 1: It's because of you that this is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click on the link in the description to give now or visit fiercechurch for more information.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this podcast, why not subscribe?
Speaker 1: Share it with your friends, click on the share button, take a screenshot and share it on social media or wherever you would share such things.
Speaker 1: Whatever challenges you're facing, I know you can make it.
Speaker 1: Don't give up.
Speaker 1: Hang on to Jesus.
Speaker 1: He won't let go of you.
Speaker 1: Jesus loves you so much and we love you.
Speaker 1: I hope someday we get to meet in person.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.