Aug 15, 2021 |Jesus And The

Sisters

08.15.21 | Jesus And The

Sisters

James Granger

John 11:1-46

Jesus shows us that God is present with us in the midst of our deepest losses, and through the resurrection of Jesus we truly have eternal hope in the midst of the very real pain we are experiencing in the moment. Have you or someone you know experience loss? Pastor James Granger walks us through his personal experiences and how we can have eternal hope through it all.

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Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”
John 11:1-7

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.” Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
John 11:17-28

As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!” When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked. “Lord,” they told him, “come and see.” Jesus wept.
John 11:32-35

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
Matthew 16:25

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. “Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.” Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.
John 11:36-45

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:6

Jesus wept.
John 11:35

I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.
Isaiah 46:10

He who calls you is faithful; He will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:24

The LORD is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.
Psalm 18

I was dead, but look — I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Revelations 1:18

What kind of loss have you experienced? What are some of the emotions that came with it?

As you read John 11, what are some things you appreciate about Jesus as you observe his interactions with Martha and Mary after the death of Lazarus?

What are some truths from the Bible you might choose to cling to when you are faced with loss?

Who in your life is dealing with loss? What’s a specific step you can take this week to help sustain them?

Do you believe that “everyone who lives and believes in Jesus will never die?” How can you proclaim this truth in the way you cope with loss?

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