Faith That Will Raise The Dead

The basic, more traditional lesson that the story of Lazarus in John 11 teaches us is that if we know God, Jesus will raise us up on the last day.  Spiritually speaking, that’s first grade stuff, although very important stuff.  The deeper lesson to be learned is that Jesus laid aside the privileges of the Godhead temporarily and walked this earth by faith, led by the Holy Spirit.  He lived a lifestyle to be modeled by all disciples who would follow.  He walked in the Spirit with His ear tuned to His Father.  All the miracles He accomplished came as a result of obeying The Father.  This is the very lifestyle that God has for each of us.

John 11

The Death of Lazarus

 ¹ Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³ Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
⁴ When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. ⁷ Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
⁸ The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”
⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
¹² Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” ¹³ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
¹⁴ Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
¹⁶Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

   
¹⁷ So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. ¹⁹ And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
²⁰ Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. ²¹ Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
²⁴ Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
²⁷She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Jesus and Death, the Last Enemy

   
²⁸ And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” ²⁹ As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. ³¹ Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
³² Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
³³ Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. ³⁴ And He said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
³⁷And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

Lazarus Raised from the Dead

   
³⁸ Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” ⁴³ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” ⁴⁴And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

When you walk in the Spirit …

1)  You hear bad news differently than other people.  (3-6)  “When Jesus heard that, He said, ‘ This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of  God may be glorified through it….’ ”

2)  You live on a different schedule. (6)  “So when He heard that he was sick,  He stayed two more days in the place where He was.”

3)  You view danger differently.  (8-11, 16)  ” The disciples said to Him, ‘ Rabbi,  lately the Jews sought to stone You,  and are You going there again? ‘ ”

4)  You talk differently.  (11-15)  “…Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

5)  You view death differently.  (11, 15, 23-26)  “…Your brother will rise again…whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die…”

6)  You pray differently.  (41-44)  “Father I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

Conclusion:  What will it take to get in tune with God and live the Jesus lifestyle?     a)  Child-like faith    b)  True holiness.  The bible tells us without it, no man shall see God.  c)  Total dependence on the leading of the Holy Spirit through obedience and sacrificial prayer.  We have to get our spiritual ears and eyes in tune with the Spirit.

In following the example of the life of Jesus as His disciples, most of us have never made it out of the wilderness temptation stage.  We must get past the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life if we want this kind of faith. 

Back To Basics Christianity

Church has become complicated.  During my 2+ years in sabbatical from pastoral ministry, I’ve had the opportunity to visit several churches.   What I observed became a part of what God is teaching me.  I have become very aware of things I have been doing wrong and right.

On the right side of things, I realize my passion for the ministry of praying for others is a rare quality in churches today.  Many never even give an invitation for the lost.  Most never have a time of praying for the sick and hurting in their midst.  Prayerless-ness is spreading through the churches like a plague.

Concerning matters that I’ve been wrong about and God has corrected me,  I’ve had a new revelation on how inward-focused my ministry had become.  We have a mission to reach the lost souls drifting through this life without God.  Most churches have very little outreach (or zero outreach) to the hurting people in their communities.  They are caught up in an endless cycle of training and re-training the same people over and over again who never do anything with it.  Most believers in these churches have never won a soul to Christ.

On Sunday mornings these days, we find ourselves meeting with a small group in our living room and praying about launching a regional church based on outreach, prayer, bible teaching, and a house church network.  There is a real excitement about what God is doing and a real sense that we are hearing from God about the future.  We are doing hands-on ministry in the community when we see opportunities to serve. 

If church has become too complex, religious, stuffy, political, boring, and stressful, do what we did and get back to the basics of being a believer.  I can tell you that it really feels good.  Come on in, the water’s fine. –Jeff Burke

Experiencing God

Mark 5:²⁵ Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, ²⁶ and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. ²⁸ For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
²⁹ Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. ³⁰ And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
³¹ But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”
³² And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. ³³ But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

God cannot be encountered through knowledge alone.  This gospel is not according to human knowledge, but according to a personal experience with His Spirit.  For so many years we have so emphasized  that we cannot live for God by our feelings that we have nearly abandoned our spiritual senses altogether.  A look at the experiential words used ( in the NKJV)  to describe this woman’s healing encounter with Jesus gives us some hints on what an experience with God feels like….

1)  She heard –  She heard about Jesus, His miracles, the mass healings, His teachings.  Jesus practiced Power Evangelism.  He brought people into an encounter with the power of God.

2)  She came –  She acted on what she heard and she changed her location.  Some locations give you a greater likelihood of encountering God.  She moved in a specific direction toward a specific place.  Jerusalem was the special place God chose to launch the gospel message to the entire world.   Nazareth was the special place God chose for the birth of Jesus.  You have an appointed place  of blessing.  Ask God to show you where.

3)  She touched –  She made a personal contact with Jesus.  Her touch  was an act of faith to receive her healing.  Jesus had something on Him that she recognized and she wanted some.  There is a transfer of God’s anointing when we lay hands on one another in faith.  If you are sick, ask the elders of your church to lay hands on you as representatives of Jesus.  If they don’t believe in that, get a new church.  Keep in mind that as a believer, you have the power to lay hands on the sick and see them recover.

4)  She said –  She spoke out her faith in a statement.  “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”  It’s hard to say, “I shall be made well.”  What if it doesn’t happen?   She believed that what Jesus had done for others, He would do for her as well.  

5)  She felt –  She felt “in her body” that she was healed.  Her physical sensations came into play.  Some physical sensations have a spiritual meaning.  Be sensitive to what you feel in your physical being , your emotions, and in your spirit.  God speaks in a multitude of ways.

6)  She knew –  Faith’s completion ends with a knowing that we have experienced God.  Being led by the Spirit consists of knowing  what God is doing down in your know-er. 

God wants to use you to do the same ministry that Jesus did –  bringing others into a real experience with a real God.

Looking Over The Edge

In the 70’s I was on an evangelistic mission trip and one of our stopping points was Yosemite National Park.  We went hiking and found ourselves on top of a mountain with a straight down drop of hundreds of feet.  Some of my friends walked up to the edge of this cliff and hung their toes over the edge.  The sight of it made my stomach do all kinds of flips and flops.  

Sometimes God will allow us to get right on the edge of disaster and go through all kinds of pain, so that we will learn to not trust in ourselves but in Him.  Paul had been beaten and left for dead in Asia.  The saints gathered around and prayed and he got up, fully recovered.  He had looked over the edge of eternity and came back to to tell about it.

2 Corinthians 1:9,  “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.”

Trusting in yourself is pride, the root of all other sins.  We trust in  “God who raises the dead.”  If He can raise the dead, then nothing will ever be too hard for him.  There is no limit to the great things God can do through you !  –   Jeff Burke