Sermon - 29 September 2013 by Andre Webster

3. The Death of Lazarus
John 11 :1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from
Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. …
3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you
love is sick.”
4When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end
in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be
glorified through it.” 5Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. 6So when he heard that Lazarus was sick,
he stayed where he was two more days, 7and then he
said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” …..
11After he had said this, he went on to tell them,
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there
to wake him up.”
17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been
in the tomb for four days. …..19When Martha heard that
Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary
stayed at home. …

4. 21“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here,
my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even
now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the
resurrection at the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
26and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Do you believe this?” ….
28After she had said this, she went back and called her
sister Mary …
32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw
him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.”

5. 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had
come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in
spirit and troubled. 34“Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35Jesus wept.
36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the
eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.
It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

6. Healings after the cleansing of the temple
The Samaritan women at the well ;
12 lepers were healed at some stage
The Roman centurions paralysed servant
Delivering people from demons and deaf and dumb spirits in the
synagogue, and other places;
Healing Peter’s mother-in-law from a fever
Straightening the withered hand;
Resurrecting the son of the widow of Nain and Jairus’s daughter
Healing the woman with the issue of blood;
Healing the deaf man with a speech impediment
Healing 6 blind men at different times
Healing the epileptic son; Healing women with spirits of infirmity
in Galilee
A man with dropsy; Healing the servants ear in the garden
Healing the nobleman’s son at Capernaum
Feeding the 5000

13. FATALISM:
It is the acceptance of every event
being inevitable.
Nothing can be done about it,
You can’t change the world,
You must be practical and realistic.
… You must
accept reality.

14. Faith is the deep confidence that God is good
and that God’s goodness somehow triumphs.
Faith is that intimate personal trust by
which you say,
‘I commend myself into your strong,
loving hands’
as Jesus did on the Cross.

15. ‘God knows the plans for my life, they are plans for
good,
not for disaster, they give me a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
I can come to God when I’m weary and burdened
because he will give me rest. I know that His yoke is
light, that he has a gentle and humble heart and in Him
I can find rest for my soul.
Matthew 11:28-29

16. Song of Solomon – Martin Smith and Kim Walker
Over The Mountains, Over the Sea
Here You come running my Lover to me
When I feel the cold of winter
And this cloak of sadness,
I need You
All the evil things that shake me
All the words that break me,
I need You

17. Do not hide me from Your presence
Pull me from Your shadows, I need You
Beauty wrap Your arms around me
Sing Your song of kindness, I need You
Over The Mountains, Over the Sea
Here You come running my Lover to me. All
through the valleys,
Through the dark of night
Here You come running to hold me till it's light
I'll come running, Come running
Come running, back to You

20. Henri Nouwens writes: The gospel awaits fresh discovery
In the open places we leave in our hearts.