Death is Never Final

God still does miracles.

Psalm 77:14  (NIV)

14 You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.

Problems are the soil where the power of God flourishes.

Psalm 77:14  (NIV)

14 You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.

Every miracle begins with a problem.

John 11:1-4  (NIV)

11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

"They appealed to Jesus based upon His love for Lazarus." 

4 When 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.”

"God has a different perspective from us and a divine plan."  

The Death Trap - We have an enemy that wants to trap us.

John 11:6 (NIV)

6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,

1. We don't understand how God works.

John 11:11-13  (NIV)

11 After 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.”

12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

2. We get consumed with doubt.

John 11:16 n (NIV)

16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

3. We give up on God. 

John 11:17, 20  (NIV)

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

"What in my life is dead or dying?   They had a word from God that this sickness will not end in death."

  

With Jesus Death is Never Final

John 11:25-26 (NIV)

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

1. Settle in your heart who Jesus is.  

John 11:21-22  (NIV)

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

John 11:27 n (NIV)

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

"Put your hope in the One who can bring the outcome."

2. Stop analyzing everything.

John 11:38-39  (NIV)

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

"Trust God. He knows what He is doing.  Stop listening to your mind and feelings."

3. Start living again.  

John 11:43-44  (NIV)

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

You have a choice.  Lazarus chose not to be defined by death.

Instead of believing what I see.  I choose to believe what Jesus said. 

Just below the surface are seeds of possibilities that are just waiting for the right conditions.

Blake Lindsey, Church of the Highlands

https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/death-is-never-final

Easter 2015.  58,000 plus in attendance, 7571 salvations.