because just a little bit ago my brother was in the priest was in prison just a little bit ago my brother was inside of a cave just a little bit ago my brother he was dead just a little bit ago I did not know which way was up just a little bit ago I was overcome with anxiety and fear just a little bit ago my mind I was losing my mind just a little bit ago I was overwhelmed just a little bit ago I did not know which way was up just a little bit ago I could not pay my bills just a little bit ago I was in the hospital just a little bit ago the doctor gave me the report just a little bit ago all these terrible things were coming my way but God somehow has carried me all the way to this moment what can I give to him I'm gonna move this out the way let me move that out the way let me move this out the way and then she sees it she sees it we have been in a series called built different built different uh if you're unfamiliar with that term it just means somebody who's Cut From a Different Cloth just they're set apart and we have talked about first and foremost how Jesus is built different and how we are now as a church family walking through how Jesus called us to be built as a church uh there are these 12 Stones that we have those of you who are here for the first time are watching for the first time maybe you've never seen these maybe you're on the website and you took a look at them these are our values as a church our our boundaries our the cultural norms if you will for us and I have them here on the screen we preach the gospel we love people we protect Unity we are planted in church we serve the hurting for us here we fight for surrender and we speak to mountains a couple here we we give honor we walk in humility we see with eyes of hope we at this church Family Express joy and thanks and we lead like Champions all of these came right from the Bible right from the gospels we feel like if Jesus was walking on the Earth right now these are things that he would be exemplifying things that he would be preaching so we're going to walk through the Bible here today and I hope and pray all of us grow in our walk with God John chapter 12 if you have your Bible John chapter 12 I'm looking over to my left and your right I see a bunch of our teenagers with their Bible so I absolutely love that well done teenagers great job taking notes growing John chapter 12. and we're going to start reading in verse number one six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived whom Jesus has had raised from the dead here a dinner was given and Jesus's honor Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him then Mary took about a pint of pure nard an expensive perfume she poured it on Jesus's feet and wiped his feet with her hair in the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume but one of his disciples Judas Iscariot who was later to betray him objective why wasn't this perfume sold in the money given to the poor it was worth a Year's wages you like me changing voices he did his or but because he was a thief how about the Bible writing that about you this is like forever people are reading this as Keeper of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it leave her alone Jesus replied it was intended that she that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial you will always have the poor among you but you will not always have me today we're going to walk through a couple of these 12 Stones we walk with humility and we give honor this text is Rich y'all I mean it's like crazy rich as I was walking through it this past week and I was praying about it I I just my heart was bursting on the inside my mind was being open my eyes were being opened I was seeing this text in a way I had not seen this text before I I uh we have a couple of campuses in Guatemala and those who are coffee drinkers I'm not a coffee drinker I'm just naturally this crazy I don't know how it happened I know my mom my mom's watching online right now maybe my mom dropped me when I was young mom it's your fault this is how why I am how I am but but in Guatemala there's there's some of the best coffee in the world and I saw in this text like us sticking our hands into a whole bunch of coffee beans or ground coffee and us just smelling all that's in this text because it's not one-dimensional you can read it as one-dimensional you can read it like it's just some white word black words on a white piece of paper and you can be disconnected from it and think what does this have to do with me but I'm telling you this text has everything to do with you has everything to do with where you are right now in your life married or single teenager older person younger person influencer it does not matter where you are on the journey this text speaks to all of us John chapter 12 I used to read it like it was just John chapter 12 but obviously there's a chapter 11. and you take a step back into chapter 11.
and your eyes start to be opened there's a man by the name of Lazarus and he is sick his sisters Mary and Martha they send a text message to Jesus hey Jesus the one you love is sick can you come here and can you make him better can you heal him Jesus does not come right away he waits multiple days Lazarus ends up dying I want you to feel this for just a second because you have been in situations just like I've been in situations where you have asked God to do something and he waited you've asked him to answer a prayer and he waited you asked him to fix a situation and he waited and the thing you were asking him to fix not only did he wait he let it die come on some of us it's a marriage that we were in some of us we've been praying for God for a long time God where's my spouse I know I'm fine Lord I know I look good Lord look at all this Lord why has not a man been blessed by what this is right here waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting God God how come this hasn't turned around how come I didn't make the team how come the business hasn't gone off the ground how come my kid's not home yet why hasn't the situation been fixed I've been doing the right thing Jesus this is somebody that you love this is somebody that you care about this is somebody that you're in relationship with and here you are letting the thing you care about die now if you've never been here just live and walk with Jesus a little bit longer is coming and anybody that will try to tell you oh you follow Jesus and everything will be rose petals and beautiful songs and like a piano playing in the background and butterflies floating they're lying to you that's not the way it is yes there is life but man there's pain as well there's difficulty there are times things are on your shoulders and you're like I can't carry this thing I can't handle this this is about to break me I can't continue to move forward any longer God where are you have you forgotten me don't you know this is too much for me this is where Mary and Martha are this is what they are feeling this is what they are navigating and Jesus taking his time shows up in John chapter 11. in the funeral has been going on people are at the house they're crying tears of streaming Mary and Martha are beside themselves what is this I'm dealing with this injury I'm dealing with this problem you're telling me divorce papers were sent to me you're telling me you cheated on me you're telling me that this happened and they are wearing this they get there this is where the shortest verse in all the Bible is in John chapter 11. it's in uh John chapter 11.
I think it's verse 33 or maybe 35 Jesus wept she could memorize some of the Bible right now boom there you go you're holy wept feels the emotion he feels the moment and then he says take me to where you laid them Lord you can't go there it's been four days it's too late Lord we already put the stone in front of his grave it's Overlord nothing can happen here there it's impossible there is no way this thing can turn around and Jesus says you don't even know who I am I am the resurrection and I am the life you take that stone and you roll it away and then Jesus pauses and he prays and then with conviction and power he calls the Lazarus inside of that grave and he says the Lazarus you come out and I feel like Jesus is saying that over every man and every woman under the sound of my voice you come out you may have been dead for years you're coming out of that grave you're not gonna be lost forever you won't be in that Brokenness forever you won't be in that anxiety forever come on out he comes out of that grave Lazarus he comes out he comes out hopping I see him hopping why is he hopping because he still has his grave clothes on him cause sometimes you're alive but you still have some grave clothes wrapped on you so he comes out hopping and some of y'all you hopped your way to church today you hopped your way online everything's not right you still got some grave clothes on you but you heard him call your name and you're hot all the way over Jesus says go ahead and take off this man's grave clothes take them off don't run from them don't run from the grave clothes don't run from the difficulty don't run from the drama I know you see it on them you take it off church can I just tell you that's our job when when Jesus brings people back to life what discipleship is is US walking with them and helping the grave clothes come off of them so here chapter 11 it's a miracle this is wild and then you read in chapter 11 that a lot of people believed a ton of people begin to put their faith in Jesus the religious leaders that they're upset about this they they're not happy about this at all because they have a system set up and they don't want Jesus messing with their system so here they start trying to figure out how they're going to kill Jesus I was wondering how much time was between chapter 11 and chapter 12. I don't have an exact number but look at this in chapter 11 verse number 54. it says therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea instead he withdrew to a region near the Wilderness to a village called Ephraim where he stayed with his disciples so there's some time that he just kind of pauses and we don't find out the response of the sisters until chapter 12.
What are the key takeaways?
Based on the transcript, here are the key points...
