Be with Jesus #5 I am the Resurrection and the life We are on an extensive journey together. Our goal for the first part of this journey will be a simple one – We are going to learn the practice of being with Jesus. Being with Jesus and Being formed by Jesus. Living in constant connection with Jesus. Making Jesus our home This morning, we talk about the most difficult I am statement of Jesus; with audacity and authority Jesus declares that he is the resurrection and the life. He declares that he is not a religion, or a set of beliefs, but that he is life. He is new life. That his life is the pinnacle of what it means to be alive. And that when he takes up residence in our lives, when we become his follower, we come alive in a new way. So, let’s travel with Jesus. Let’s be with Jesus as he walks into this dark moment. This moment becomes one of the greatest signs in the ministry of Jesus. It authenticates who Jesus is. John 11:1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. 2 This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3 So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” 4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” John 11:17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. Jesus walks into an all too familiar scene. Death is a great wrecking ball that destroys everything. It shakes the biggest questions out of the human heart about faith, God, and life. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Martha is veiling her anger. “If you would’ve been here…” She seems to be blaming Jesus for not getting there in time. But in the same breath she still knows Jesus can do anything. And then Jesus makes the incredible statement; 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Jesus audaciously claims several things here; that he has power over death and the darkness of the grave will not win. That there is a life that never dies. That to believe in Jesus is a way to have that life. Believing in Jesus does something to you now in this life and in the next life. That physical death will not end the life that Jesus gives. And he’s going to prove all of this with the miraculous sign. Let’s just stop here and remember that Christianity is a supernatural religion if you want to call it that. We believe this stuff. We depend on this being true. We have deep inner conviction that this is true. 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” Jesus asks Martha flat out, “do you believe?” Martha’s response is a great one; she says, “maybe I don’t have a category for what you’re saying but I do know one thing, you are the one, the son of God, the Messiah the one who is come from God.” When you don’t know what to say or pray, this is a good place to begin. John 11:33 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. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” John 11:38 Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” Still unbelief. But guess what? The unbelief of these people will not stop with Jesus is about to do. 40 Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” 4 things… God’s glory is going to blow your mind. Jesus has powers that are not of this world. Jesus feels us. Now you know. Let’s see what GOD can do! Pastor Brian Harrell