SPEAKER_00: So a few years ago we we were living in our first house.
SPEAKER_00: We've lived in four houses at this point in ten years.
SPEAKER_00: So I I guess it means we'll probably be moving next month or so.
SPEAKER_00: This rhythm continues.
SPEAKER_00: So it was our first house, and when I dream, I don't know how when you dream what's going on with your dreams.
SPEAKER_00: When I dream, I am I am immersed.
SPEAKER_00: You know, like if it's an action sequence in a warehouse, you know, somebody's chasing me.
SPEAKER_00: I wake up and I'm I'm sweating.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, so and so I I was asleep, and we we were we had just gotten married, and so I'm asleep, and I'm dreaming that I am in my bed.
SPEAKER_00: So the dream is me in bed.
SPEAKER_00: So the dream is the reality that's actually going on, and I'm asleep in the dream, I'm asleep, and in the dream where I'm asleep, I dream that somebody breaks into the house.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so then in real life, this is a little bit like the plot of inception, right?
SPEAKER_00: So then in real life, I wake up.
SPEAKER_00: But but you know, you wake up, you're kind of confused, and you're like, what was so did I did I really hear somebody break in?
SPEAKER_00: Because that was what was going on in the dream, and there's this kind of confusion of like which reality am I in the dream reality or am I real reality?
SPEAKER_00: So I'm lying in bed, and I'm you know, I'm thinking it was probably nobody.
SPEAKER_00: I dreamt it.
SPEAKER_00: That was a part, that wasn't, and I'm telling myself that that was just a dream.
SPEAKER_00: I dreamt it, it's probably nobody.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's other said, well, what if it wasn't nobody?
SPEAKER_00: What if it's a real person, what if he's in my house, what if he has a a knife, what if he's after us, and I'm going, well, the chances of that are so absolutely slim.
SPEAKER_00: This is a ridiculous company.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you should rest, you should just go back to sleep.
SPEAKER_00: There's probably nobody, and and and then you're not quite sure if you want to know if somebody's in your house or not.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he'll just take something and leave, and then and then you're going, well, isn't it my responsibility?
SPEAKER_00: I got this this new wife over here, and I'm I'm kind of responsible.
SPEAKER_00: And so I finally I get up and I decide I'm gonna search the house.
SPEAKER_00: It's the mid the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't have as back before I was thinking too strategically about the stuff, and so I don't have any weapons.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm walking around the house and you know, I search my bedroom, I search the bathroom, and I search the two closets and the master, and then I'm going out into the out into the open.
SPEAKER_00: I am worked up because I'm still not sure if I had really heard something or not.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm there's a chance that I did hear something.
SPEAKER_00: And so I go out, I go to the laundry room, open the garage, to the kitchen, to the den, dining room, and then there was the other side of the house, uh, two bedrooms, and so I go into the office, closets, right?
SPEAKER_00: Has anybody else had to do this, by the way?
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's nerve-wracking.
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, you kind of like that, like that's gonna do something.
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: And so, oh no, nobody was in there.
SPEAKER_00: Second bathroom, shower curtain.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that'll freak you out.
SPEAKER_00: And so, shower curtain, last bedroom, uh, you know, last closet.
SPEAKER_00: No, but nobody was in there, right?
SPEAKER_00: The whole house was empty.
SPEAKER_00: I go back to sleep, I'm so worked up, having to convince myself that wasn't real.
SPEAKER_00: But when you're having a dream and it is real, and then you wake up and you wake up to a totally different reality.
SPEAKER_00: Have you had that dream?
SPEAKER_00: You've had the dream, you have to convince you that wasn't true, that didn't happen, that's not going.
SPEAKER_00: You're in one reality and then you wake up to another.
SPEAKER_00: Um, sort of, you know, sort of like when you found out Millie Vanilli was lip syncing, and you're like, what?
SPEAKER_00: What hold on?
SPEAKER_00: You replay the hills is scripted?
SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_00: The hills is scripted.
SPEAKER_00: I've been investing so much time and it's in script.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you don't know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: So you're in, you're in one reality, and then something happens and a newness, something new happens and it it changes, it changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: And some mornings you wake up, some mornings you wake up and it's to a reality you don't like.
SPEAKER_00: There's a board meeting, there's a court date, there's a divorce, there's a funeral, and then there's these other days that I mean you're you're going skiing.
SPEAKER_00: You're getting married.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's a beautiful spring day.
SPEAKER_00: This week in this text, the thing that kept coming back around for me is there are wedding days and there are funeral days.
SPEAKER_00: And he's at both.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is at both.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're going to see in the story.
SPEAKER_00: We see three people.
SPEAKER_00: We see Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and these three people, they're just two sisters and a brother, all siblings.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus comes and interacts with them and creates newness in them.
SPEAKER_00: And the newness doesn't become, they get because they get their act together, they become self-evolved, and they become self-improved.
SPEAKER_00: And the newness just comes because Jesus is there.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus loves these three.
SPEAKER_00: He's close friends with these.
SPEAKER_00: These aren't acquaintances, these are close friends.
SPEAKER_00: And so the story in John chapter 11 is Lazarus gets sick, and Jesus is not there.
SPEAKER_00: And Lazarus gets sick, and Mary and Martha, the sisters, they are there, and Lazarus is sick, and so they send a messenger to Jesus, and a messenger is headed towards Jesus to say, Hey, your friend, the guy you love, you love this, he's sick.
SPEAKER_00: And he's probably gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus tells his disciples, he says, Hey, um, it's interesting, kind of the way the text is formed.
SPEAKER_00: He tells the disciples Lazarus is dead.
SPEAKER_00: So he he knows, even before somebody's told him that he's dead, he knows he's dead because Jesus is God.
SPEAKER_00: And he tells, and and and he words that he says he's asleep, and then the disciples say, Well, if he's asleep, let's just go wake him up.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, oh my gosh, these guys, um, he's he's dead, guys.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is what verse 14, if we jump into the text in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: So then he told them plainly, because the disciples aren't catching on as normal, just like us, we don't catch on.
SPEAKER_00: And so then he told them plainly, hey, Lazarus, Lazarus is dead.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says this kind of surprising statement.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For your sake, I'm glad I was not there.
SPEAKER_00: So that you may believe.
SPEAKER_00: But let's go to him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, all the commentators say probably Lazarus died before before the messengers even got to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't like Jesus was stalling to let Lazarus die, but at the same time, Jesus is God, so he knew he died when he was going to die.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, I'm glad.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's almost like in this in this narrative of John, we've been seeing all these miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Is it the seventh miracle that Jesus will perform?
SPEAKER_00: And each each miracle, he's just doing something incredible to validate himself as God, as the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: And these disciples, even the disciples, they're not, they're not, they're still not believing.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, I another miracle's coming.
SPEAKER_00: This is a big one.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm kind of glad this situation came up because I'm going to do something that creates such belief in you that you will trust in me.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering's been your big hang up when it comes to belief in God.
SPEAKER_00: I get that.
SPEAKER_00: I completely get it.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that suffering's been quite personal.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you know abuse, you know betrayal, you know disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know it to the point that it takes your breath away, you know it to the point where your heart is absolutely broken.
SPEAKER_00: I don't pretend we talked about suffering maybe a month ago.
SPEAKER_00: I said this, I'll say it again.
SPEAKER_00: I don't pretend to be able to completely answer those concerns.
SPEAKER_00: And we use this term when we talked about suffering before, that God has an asymmetrical relationship with suffering.
SPEAKER_00: So God permits suffering and his sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: He does not like it, but he's in control over it, and he will use it.
SPEAKER_00: That's asymmetrical.
SPEAKER_00: We can get our minds around something like that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a little bit of the difference between the creator and the created, a deity and a human.
SPEAKER_00: So asymmetrical, he permits it, he doesn't like it, he's in control over it, and he will absolutely use it.
SPEAKER_00: And none of this, none of the brokenness and the death was a part of creation to begin with.
SPEAKER_00: Read the Genesis account.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the garden was perfect and it was in harmony, it was peaceful, and there's provision, and there wasn't brokenness, there wasn't death, there wasn't sickness and fear and anxiety, and all of that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a part of creation.
SPEAKER_00: The unraveling of the world is just because we have turned from God and we create the brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: We create it in ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We created in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: Then Thomas, also known as Didymus, I'd stick with Thomas, just an idea.
SPEAKER_00: Uh don't, yeah, please call me Didymus.
SPEAKER_00: I want to go with that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh then Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, let us also go that we may die with him.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like Jesus is going, man, these these guys are just, you never know what they're gonna say.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is going, no, let's let's scale back a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what this is about right here.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the passion.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00: That's great, Thomas.
SPEAKER_00: So they they head to the village, they head to Bethany, and they get there, and Lazarus has been in the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: He's been in the tomb for four days, and so a lot of Jews have been heading from Jerusalem to Bethany's.
SPEAKER_00: It's about two miles, and so a lot of Jews are coming to visit.
SPEAKER_00: They're coming to visit Mary and Martha and you know, give their condolences and to, you know, to mourn with them.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's a lot of Jews at the house, and we don't quite know why Martha got up and headed out of the house to go meet Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe she was so eager.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's because there could have been a scene.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of these Jews didn't like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's preaching this radical grace thing, and they're kind of sticking with the standard and the burden of the law.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe Martha's going, I don't want a scene at my house right now, and I'll I'll I'll head out.
SPEAKER_00: I will go and I will meet him as he's coming in.
SPEAKER_00: And so Martha heads out, and what we get is we get the three interactions.
SPEAKER_00: We get one with Martha, we get another interaction with Mary, and we get a third interaction with Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00: And it's three awakenings.
SPEAKER_00: It's three movements from one reality to another.
SPEAKER_00: And so with Martha, here are the three awakenings, and then we'll break them down.
SPEAKER_00: With Martha, we see an awakening of understanding.
SPEAKER_00: With Mary, we see an awakening of nearness.
SPEAKER_00: And then with Lazarus, we see an awakening of his pursuit.
SPEAKER_00: So at the first interaction with Martha, here's how this plays out, verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you'd been here, I mean, hey, haven't you said that?
SPEAKER_00: If you had been here, my brother would not have died.
SPEAKER_00: But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
SPEAKER_00: So she has some belief.
SPEAKER_00: She's a smart lady, she has some belief going here, but she is distraught and she is frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: You should have been here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you you should have been here.
SPEAKER_00: You should have shown up.
SPEAKER_00: In my family, you should have shown up.
SPEAKER_00: My friends, you should have shown up.
SPEAKER_00: In my health, in my child's health, you should have shown up.
SPEAKER_00: And if you had been here, things would have been different.
SPEAKER_00: My idea of what you should do is not what's playing out.
SPEAKER_00: Have you had that?
SPEAKER_00: You've been there?
SPEAKER_00: Timing.
SPEAKER_00: My timing for this scenario is not playing out.
SPEAKER_00: You should have been here and you should have made this happen.
SPEAKER_00: So we have deep disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: Martha's speaking this to Jesus, just raw honesty.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I love about this story.
SPEAKER_00: Raw honesty.
SPEAKER_00: Not this kind of religious, let's kind of cover things up and how you know, well, bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming.
SPEAKER_00: So glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let me show you where the tomb is.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Mary and Martha are coming out and they're like, Why weren't you here?
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus comes, he pushes back against this.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 23, he says to her, Your brother will rise again.
SPEAKER_00: And Martha answered her, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
SPEAKER_00: So she's thinking eternity.
SPEAKER_00: She said to her, No, I said, I'm the I'm the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_00: The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_00: Like, do you, do you, do you believe that life is actually in him?
SPEAKER_00: That life is not in more of whatever, more money or approval or you know, whatever, a better whatever, a better body, or better clothes, or better this, or you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, more, more, more, more.
SPEAKER_00: Do you do you believe that life is actually in him and it can't be taken away from you?
SPEAKER_00: Even when you die, it cannot be taken away from you.
SPEAKER_00: That part of you that if we um if we took you apart, just body part by body part, we could we would still never find you.
SPEAKER_00: We would never find.
SPEAKER_00: There's a part of you that's not physical, that part will never die.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't cry with her, he just speaks truth to her.
SPEAKER_00: And Martha is coming into a greater understanding of the world and of life and who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: And so Martha leaves and she heads back to the house.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has asked for Mary to come.
SPEAKER_00: So she goes and she tells Mary, and we don't know why Mary didn't leave the house.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Mary was so distraught she just didn't want to see him.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: You I mean, you're so disappointed, I don't want to go to church.
SPEAKER_00: Don't want to deal with it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so disappointed, I'm so frustrated with God.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to open my Bible, I don't want to pray, I don't want to talk to a certain friend who's gonna be like super religious toward me.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to I don't want to go to church.
SPEAKER_00: I I don't I'm just gonna stay home.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Mary's doing that.
SPEAKER_00: She's just so heartbroken.
SPEAKER_00: But when she finds out that Jesus has asked for her, everything changes, and she leaves the house and she comes toward Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We get heartbroken for all sorts of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, your career.
SPEAKER_00: You had this timeline.
SPEAKER_00: It hasn't played out.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about it this week, all the heartbroken moments of my life and kind of career path was a quite a large one.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the timing wasn't working.
SPEAKER_00: I was working a job I didn't like just after seminary, and I I was getting rejection after rejection after rejection.
SPEAKER_00: You're just not fit for this.
SPEAKER_00: This just isn't quite right for you.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're gonna be so great at something.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe like eight of these over the course of like a year.
SPEAKER_00: And just each one, you're feeling worse about you're getting more and more disappointed.
SPEAKER_00: Sickness or death, a child dies, a marriage dies, the hope of marriage dies, the hope of a child dies, and you don't want to get out of bed.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you are heartbroken.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, one year as a teenager, I I lost my my uncle, my grandfather, and my parents divorced.
SPEAKER_00: And I can remember being like Martha for a good bit of time, sort of like, I'll kind of uphold it a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm frustrated, I have my questions, but I'm not gonna break down.
SPEAKER_00: And then the breakdown happens because you're exhausted.
SPEAKER_00: You're trying to uphold it, and the frustration is just so much, and you you're just you're you're heartbroken.
SPEAKER_00: Mary gets to Jesus and she just falls down.
SPEAKER_00: And we get this unbelievable moment in verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: When Mary reached the place where Jesus was, she saw him, she fell at his feet.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Lord, if you if you'd been here, my brother would not have died.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus saw her weeping, and this word weeping, it's not it's wailing.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is, it is.
SPEAKER_00: Have y'all been watching the news and the Malaysia flight?
SPEAKER_00: And they showed some clips of some Chinese families warning, and they are wailing.
SPEAKER_00: And then they showed an American family, and the American family says, Well, we're trying to process through this, and we're looking for some closure.
SPEAKER_00: And then they go back to the clip of the Chinese family, and and they are they are overcome.
SPEAKER_00: They are they are yelling, they are wailing.
SPEAKER_00: Mary's wailing.
SPEAKER_00: She is at his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Some Jews had come along with her also weeping.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was deeply moved and spirit troubled.
SPEAKER_00: Where have you laid him?
SPEAKER_00: He asked.
SPEAKER_00: Come and see, Lord, they replied.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wept.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the second interaction, the second awakening we get in it is of nearness.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Mary is wailing.
SPEAKER_00: She is on the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, Well, get up, Mary.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're just lacking so much faith.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Haven't you seen the other mirror?
SPEAKER_00: Haven't you heard about me?
SPEAKER_00: Haven't you been listening at all?
SPEAKER_00: That we never die.
SPEAKER_00: Even when we die, we don't die.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, have some belief, Mary.
SPEAKER_00: Get your act together.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say any of that.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say he doesn't say anything about that.
SPEAKER_00: And he weeps.
SPEAKER_00: And this word is quiet weeping.
SPEAKER_00: He lowers himself.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't present truth.
SPEAKER_00: He gives compassion.
SPEAKER_00: And he just he just cries with her.
SPEAKER_00: Man, isn't that reassuring when we're heartbroken?
SPEAKER_00: And we're not getting our act together and having incredible faith.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not rising up to say, blessed be your name.
SPEAKER_00: We're just heartbroken and disappointed and frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: And we are weeping and wailing because of a disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: And isn't it good news that Jesus comes into that and he doesn't speak a lecture over us, that he comes into that with compassion, and that he actually cry with us.
SPEAKER_00: So he moves from Mary and heads towards the tomb, and we get our we get our third interaction, our third awakening, and an awakening of his pursuit.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 38, Jesus once more deeply moved.
SPEAKER_00: And this word, deeply moved, is is like a bellow or a roar.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is it is a deep concern.
SPEAKER_00: A fierceness and his sorrow is rising up as he moves towards the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: And he came to the tomb, and it was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
SPEAKER_00: And so verse 39, Jesus says, take away the stone.
SPEAKER_00: And Martha says, Lord, it's gonna smell bad.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's gonna be it's gonna smell horrible.
SPEAKER_00: He's been in there four days.
SPEAKER_00: His body is deteriorating.
SPEAKER_00: It is going to smell horrible.
SPEAKER_00: And she what she's thinking is, she's thinking, this is the Messiah?
SPEAKER_00: This is actually God in human form.
SPEAKER_00: He probably doesn't want to deal with this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like the president coming to your house and you say, Hey, can you haul the trash out?
SPEAKER_00: It's got a bunch of my dog stuff in it and like old food.
SPEAKER_00: And you can you do that for me while you're here?
SPEAKER_00: She's thinking he's not gonna want to go into that.
SPEAKER_00: He's not gonna want to smell that, he's not gonna deal with that.
SPEAKER_00: And the good news is he has no hesitation.
SPEAKER_00: None.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you think that mistake is too much for God?
SPEAKER_00: That season of your life?
SPEAKER_00: That wound, that doubt, that disbelief, you think it's too much for God?
SPEAKER_00: He he will come straight into that.
SPEAKER_00: He has no hesitation toward you.
SPEAKER_00: None.
SPEAKER_00: My stench, your stench, of greed and selfishness and lust and patience, he doesn't even hesitate.
SPEAKER_00: We get verse 40.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says to her, Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?
SPEAKER_00: So they took away the stone.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
SPEAKER_00: I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the miracles are about.
SPEAKER_00: Miracles, if you have a problem with miracles, I understand that.
SPEAKER_00: They're not normal.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these were for a distinct purpose to validate his deity.
SPEAKER_00: So when he goes to the cross, they go, Oh, okay, he, okay, all those, wow, okay, he's not.
SPEAKER_00: Just like us.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus calls out, Lazarus come out, and Lazarus walks out, and he has strips of linen wrapped around his legs, around his stomach, around his arms, around his neck, around his head.
SPEAKER_00: He's all wrapped up because he was prepared as a dead man for burial.
SPEAKER_00: And I have a whole bunch of questions at this point.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, how did Lazarus feel about this?
SPEAKER_00: Did he go to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: If he went to heaven in those four days and you get called back, you're gonna think thanks, thanks, Jesus, appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00: I was in a place where there was no fear, no tears, no anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this, I I was, I was having a time.
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate the callback.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, thanks, appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, are his eyes wrapped?
SPEAKER_00: He's bumping into stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I have a bunch of questions about him walking out, what he's thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Did he hear Jesus' voice and he's thinking Jesus is here?
SPEAKER_00: I have a bunch of questions here.
SPEAKER_00: What we do know is the people there, they are frozen still.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's been dead for four days, he's been in there for four days.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus tells him to go take off the grave clothes that he is bound up in.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're here, you are bound up in trying to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: The right job, perfect job, perfect salary, perfect body, perfect record of Christian duties.
SPEAKER_00: Trying to outlive your bad with enough good.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying here, life is in me.
SPEAKER_00: To me.
SPEAKER_00: The pressure's off.
SPEAKER_00: If you have faith in Christ, the pressure is off.
SPEAKER_00: And he is your sweet fragrance.
SPEAKER_00: You're not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: He is your perfection.
SPEAKER_00: God's grace to you and Jesus is our sins were put upon him so that we may receive his righteousness over us.
SPEAKER_00: That's the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so maybe here you feel like Martha.
SPEAKER_00: You felt like Martha, maybe you feel like Martha right now, and you're just frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: You have some issues, you have some questions, there's this kind of wall between you and God, and because you are frustrated with some things.
SPEAKER_00: And he speaks truth to you.
SPEAKER_00: He's there, he's in the frustration.
SPEAKER_00: You won't understand everything, but he's there, and there's truth for you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you hear you feel like Mary, just brokenhearted.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, your heart just your heart hurts.
SPEAKER_00: You know, like there's not enough television, there's not enough wine, there's not enough uh busyness to cover it up.
SPEAKER_00: It just hurts.
SPEAKER_00: And he quietly cries with you.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're here and you feel like Lazarus.
SPEAKER_00: All bound up in some issue or addiction.
SPEAKER_00: Some some death.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to receive the life Jesus has for you.
SPEAKER_00: By just saying, I can't, I can't control off this.
SPEAKER_00: I can't even, I can't even unbound myself.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna pray for these things.
SPEAKER_00: And so last week we joined hands, right into that this week, and maybe this is weird to you.
SPEAKER_00: If it's weird to you, you don't have to do it.
SPEAKER_00: But when we pray, if you if you want to, just as a sign of sort of like receiving what God has for me, you could just hold your hands in your lap just open.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not about some, it's just a posture of saying to God, I I'm I I I need you and I need to receive this.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: So, God, we come before you with open hands only to portray that.
SPEAKER_00: We want our hearts wide open to you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And even if this morning we're not dealing with a disappointment or uh some suffering, we know we know this, we remember it, or we know it's coming, and we want to receive now.
SPEAKER_00: We want to receive now.
SPEAKER_00: If we are we have such frustration at times, help us to trust in your truth, that you're sovereign, and you're in control, and you're good.
SPEAKER_00: God, at times we are so distraught, our heart hurts.
SPEAKER_00: Because things aren't working out.
SPEAKER_00: And God, will you help us to see that you're you're not lecturing us?
SPEAKER_00: You're just with us.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, some of us are all bound up in some death and we barely can move.
SPEAKER_00: And would we would we put that down?
SPEAKER_00: Would we let go of that?
SPEAKER_00: Would we walk out of that tomb and receive the life you have for us?
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.