John Chapter 11:37-44

Now God is interested in your needs.

He wants to hear what your needs are. But if your prayer time is just a time where you tell God your needs and then that's it, oh man, you're missing out on so much. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Who does God use to affect the lives of others?

How can you change the lives of strangers? And do you look for opportunities to pray? On today's program, we have one of David McGee's assisting pastors, D.A.

Brown. D.A., what are your thoughts on some of these things? Bob, as we pray to the Lord, we should not let our prayer time become a to-do list for God. Today, Pastor David explains the importance of praying to our Father and spending that time with Him as He continues in the Gospel of John chapter 11. Well, let's get right to it.

Here's David McGee with his teaching, What Shall We Do? We're in John chapter 11, verse 38. Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb, and it was a cave, and a stone lay against Him.

And Jesus said, Take away the stone. Now 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. You know, death, death is, death is bad. Death is awful.

Death is painful. I don't know if you've noticed over the last 10, 20, 30 years, but what we've started to do is kind of to try to move death out of our society. And the way that we've done this, one of the ways we've done this is to, especially with the retirement home and extended care facilities and whatnot. And then what happens is people pass away in those elements as opposed to passing away at their home. Now I don't know if you've thought about this, but when I was a young kid, you know, in our neighborhood from time to time, you would hear about somebody passing away in their home.

You don't hear about that anymore. Now understand that as people age and as we get older, some of us require the amount of care that's necessary, that's needed in an environment like that. But what happens is we're not intimate, if you will, with death. And what happens is when death comes, we ask ourselves a lot of the right questions, don't we? You know, what is this all about? What is life about? Is there life after death? What happens after I die? And so as we've removed this from society, we've also kind of removed those questions from society, if you will. Now I've heard some people say that at a funeral is the worst time to talk about the Lord or being born again.

You know what? That is so wrong. See, as a pastor, that often is the only chance I will get to offer salvation to people who will never come to this place, but will come to a funeral. Now I do it tactfully, and certainly if I'm not sure about the eternal destination of the person who's passed away, I'll leave that alone, because I don't want to beat people up with that, especially at a time when they're already hurting. But I do want to make that offer of salvation. As a matter of fact, when somebody calls and says, hey, I want you to do this funeral, that's one of the things we ask is, okay, are you going to allow a pastor to give the salvation message?

And everybody so far has said, yeah, sure, that'd be great, and we've done that. But it's a good time for us to talk about the right questions. Now you know what's interesting is here Jesus has taken away the stone, and what's Martha doing? Martha is giving him the excuse, the reason that they can't do this thing. Now she has no idea what Jesus is getting ready to do, does she? And she goes, you know, Lord, let's not move this rock, because he stinks.

Now as only a sister can do, she's pointing out her brother's stinkiness, and that's kind of a family thing. I sit here, and obviously Lazarus is dead. And as excuses go for not serving God or being at church, that's a pretty good one. And if you guys ever call with that one, we'll let you off the hook. I would be there Sunday if I was dead.

And so we'll probably want to know more of the details. But you know what? This was no reason to God. Can you fathom that?

Can you let that sink into your brain? This was not even a valid excuse with God. God was gonna fix it. Often we come up with, I was gonna call them reasons and give us all a break. Often we come up with excuses for not following God, for not serving God, for not walking with the Lord. But let's call them what they are, they're excuses. Now keep in mind, I had some really good ones.

I mean some really good ones. Because I was born, some of you know this, I was born at deaf mute. I was born 95% deaf. My tongue was attached to my gums and I couldn't speak. I had to have nine different operations so that I could hear and so that I could speak. And then I went through four years of speech therapy. Now as excuses go, being deaf mute, that's pretty good excuses, isn't it?

And then later I had the excuses of being drug addicted and rock bands and all that stuff. But you know what? God took away my excuses. And you know, He can take away whatever is in the way this morning.

Whatever stands between you and Him, He can deal with it. Now you know what's interesting? He asked Martha to take away the stone. Think about this for a second. Could Jesus have taken away the stone? Oh you betcha. But He asked Martha to remove it.

I want you to kinda mentally note that and we'll come back to that. And of course again, she says, Lord, by this time there's a stench for He's been dead four days. And you know, it's probably just my twisted mind, but I wonder how long that stench lasted after He came out of that tomb.

I don't know. Okay, we'll move on. The death smell probably ended right there. Anyway, I know it's twisted. We'll move on. There's no spiritual point there.

Don't be looking for one. Verse 40, Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? Verse 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've heard me. I thank You that You have heard me. I love the way Jesus starts His prayer. I thank You that You've heard me. Isn't that a great way to start a prayer?

He thanks Him. I would encourage you in your prayer time to thank the Lord as you start out your prayer time. Now, I know, you know, I mentioned prayer and some of us go, because mentally what we do when we think of prayer, we think, okay, well, that's like, you know, laying on your face for like three hours. Well, some of us may be gifted in intercessory prayer. That may be what prayer means to you. That's, you know, to be honest, I pray for the people here, but I wouldn't consider myself gifted in intercessory prayer.

I was surprised to read that Spurgeon, they said, never prayed longer than five minutes, but he never went more than five minutes without praying. See, so living in that constant communication, that attitude of prayer and just, you know, as you got a couple minutes, spend it with the Lord. There's a traffic jam. Praise God's traffic jam. I'm gonna spend a couple minutes with the Lord.

Oh, there's a line at Walmart. Praise the Lord. I get to pray. This has changed my life. This has changed my life because it used to be, you know, especially, okay, I'm gonna open up a little bit, especially when I would get behind a car, you know, in a 50 mile an hour zone and they were going like 35, you know, and the highway patrol said I had to remove the bazookas, but anyway, can't legally have those and the stun thing is out too, but anyway, you know, I would get really frustrated.

You know what I do now? I go, oh, praise God, got a couple more minutes. Got a couple minutes to spend with the Lord. God gave me these few minutes by putting me, this person, in front of me that's driving so slow. Praise God.

I mean, it will change your life. Jesus starts this off by thanking the Lord. And the first life lesson here is do not let your prayer time become a to-do list for God. Don't let your prayer time become a to-do list for God. Now, God is interested in your needs. He wants to hear what your needs are, but if your prayer time is just a time where you tell God your needs and then that's it, oh man, you're missing out on so much.

You're missing out on so much more. Spending time with the Lord and thanking the Lord. Now, some of you, prayer may be very different for you. You may be just beginning your prayer life and let me encourage you in that. Prayer is just talking to God. Don't feel like you got to, you know, speak in King's English when you pray to God. You know, I've prayed with some people like that and it just always makes me, I don't know, it makes me wonder.

It does. I mean, because they, you know, they go around talking like this. They go around talking normal and then they go to talk to God and they're all thee that thou hast told in heaven and above. And it's like, I'm sorry, do you normally talk like that? It's like we change our voice, change our face so we can talk to God. Be careful with that one because God wants to enter into every aspect of your life. And so just talk to Him.

Just talk to Him. And it's a great thing to start it off with thanking Him. And keep in mind, you know, the Lord's Prayer, well, we're going to learn that really wasn't the Lord's Prayer. I know it's called the Lord's Prayer and I don't mean to get, you know, weird on you or anything, but the real Lord's Prayer, we're going to see in the Gospel of John in a few chapters. That was the prayer where Jesus was open-heartedly praying for His disciples.

And there's some beautiful things in there. The other thing He was modeling for us and going, well, this is one way to pray. And you know what's amazing? Do you remember how He started that out? He said, don't pray like the heathen do with vain repetition. Now, is it just me or did we do exactly what He told us not to do with that prayer? You know, I didn't know what it meant. I didn't stop to think of what it meant. It was just a vain repetition. Oh, I guess so. So you don't have to say the Lord's Prayer if you want to.

That's great. But the Lord wants to hear your heart. He wants to hear your heart in prayer. And notice too that Jesus prayed here with His eyes open.

He lifted up His eyes. So praying with your eyes open, that's a perfectly acceptable way to pray. As a matter of fact, if you're driving, that's a preferable way to pray. Don't close your eyes while you're, I was praying and I'm sorry to hit your car. Officer, I really feel bad, but you know, the Lord led me to hit your car.

So don't, you know, or worse yet. Well, Pastor David told me to pray while I was driving, so I shut my eyes and had at it. Let's recognize that when your eyes are open, you can be distracted too. Okay.

So sometimes closing your eyes is a good thing. I don't know if y'all ever did this. I made the mistake. We young kid, you know, I was praying in a group, you know, seven, eight-year-olds, you know, we got through praying. I raised my hand. The teacher said, what? And I said, Johnny had his eyes open. She said, how do you know? God told me. There's no good answer.

You only do that once. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A.

Brown. Hey Bob, I want to take a minute to pray for some listeners in the state of Idaho, specifically these cities, Cascade, Clarkston, Grangeville, Ketchum, Marcing and Boise, McCall and Moscow. God, we thank you for everyone listening today. Lord, we pray that you would encourage them and remind them how much you love them. Lord, if there are some listening today who haven't put their trust in you, we pray that today will be the day that they would say yes to allowing you to forgive them of their sins and that they would say yes to following you with all their heart, all their soul, and all their strength.

And Lord, we pray that you would get them plugged into a Bible teaching, Bible believing church. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 42, Jesus continues, 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.

Wow. So he's praying as much for the benefit of those around them as having communication with God so that they'll see, so that they will hear. You realize that's why the stone got rolled away at the tomb of Jesus? He didn't need the stone to be rolled away so he could get out. Jesus was not in there going, hey, let me out, come on, somebody roll the stone away. He didn't need to do that. He could have gotten out like that. The stone was rolled away not so Jesus could get out so that we could see in that the tomb was empty.

And it's still empty today. So he's praying this prayer, and you know really what this prayer is saying? Show them, Daddy. Show them, Daddy. Daddy, they're all watching. Show them.

That's a good attitude to have. That's a good prayer to pray. You show them, God. Verse 43, now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

Man, I'd have liked to have been there. This is one that I want to see on video footage. I mean, I'm thinking they'll have some sort of thing like that up there. And I want to see that Lazarus thing again where he calls him forth and then he comes out, because this is good stuff. Verse 44, and he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave cloths and his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, loose them and let him go.

Wow. He said, Lazarus, come forth. And even though Lazarus was dead, he came forth.

This is amazing stuff. Now understand the reason, and I've heard this before and maybe you have too, the reason he called Lazarus by name is because had he just said come forth, everybody who was dead in that area would have come up out of their grave. One day, he won't say Lazarus, he'll just say come forth. And you know what's going to happen? Everybody's going to come up out of their grave.

Man, there's power. There's power in the words of Jesus. And Lazarus was brought from death to life. And what joy, can you imagine standing there and being his sisters and watching him get up and come to the entrance of that tomb? Or maybe the exit. You know, tombs didn't need an exit before Jesus came around, but they needed him after. Maybe it was two doors, entrance, exit. He came out the exit. And they stood there and thought, man, look at that. He's alive.

He's alive. Do you understand we're going to have a portion of that joy when we get to heaven and we see loved ones who have gone before us, and then when they see us, and then we're going to see people, we're going to see some people that we've known, and then there's going to be some people that we don't know that will come up and thank us. Pastor David, what are you talking about?

I understand something. The whole thing of giving and being a blessing to people's lives. Some of you are very faithful to give here financially, and we are very faithful to support missionaries. So do you understand that by what you're doing, there's people on the other side of this planet earth who are getting saved? Can you imagine the joy that you'll feel at that moment of looking at a changed life that you had something to do with?

Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. When he came up out of here, it was different than the resurrection of Jesus. He came out with his grave clothes on. He was still bound up. He was still wrapped up, and he had to take his grave clothes off.

Now again, let me ask you a question. If Jesus had just snapped his fingers or said a word or something, and him been out of his grave cloths, oh you betcha, no doubt about it. But what did he do?

I want you to notice this, Saints. He told the people to unwrap the grave cloths. He told the people to take those cloths off. You know why he did that? You know why he had to move the stone? You understand why he had them take the grave cloths off? Because he wanted, oh this is good stuff. He wanted to include them in what he was doing that day. He could have done the whole thing by himself, but he included others. He gave them the opportunity to take the grave cloths off of Lazarus.

You understand? We have the same opportunity here. We should be going through the same process, taking off our grave cloths, taking off the old man. You'll find that concept in Scripture a lot, putting off, putting on, putting off the old man, taking off the old way of life and the old things and putting on the new man. And then after we do this and as we do this, we get the opportunity to help others take the grave cloths off. You know what? I've done a lot of things that are very cool and a lot of things that brought a lot of joy, but you know what? That's one of the greatest things we ever get to do is we see somebody go from death to life, but they still got the grave cloths off.

And then we get to set them free so they can walk around. And one of these grave cloths would have been something tying his mouth together. So that one was taken off why? So he could talk about it. So he could tell people, your grave clothes, are they off? Is this one around your mouth? Has it been untied?

I sure hope so. Because I want you telling other people about what's going on in your life and about what the Lord's doing in your life. And that cloth, that cloth has got to go, man. Because, you know, I mean, if you still got the cloth on, you can't really, can't talk. Well, I mean, I guess you could, but be like, Jesus, leave me. I mean, you need to take the cloth off. And you need to help others take their grave cloths off too. And it's awesome that God wants to use us to do this.

I mean, the concept is almost too good to be true. God wants to use you to affect the lives of others. Man, after we get saved, after we come to the Lord, it's not like we're done and that's it. And Zoom, you're in heaven. I mean, if that was the plan, you know, as soon as somebody got saved, they'd disappear. That'd be it. And you wouldn't have to struggle with sin or temptation or falling or getting up or any of that stuff.

That's not the way it works. God leaves you here. What for? Tell other people.

Share with other people. Help them take their bondages off to help them hear the word of the Lord. Romans 10 17 says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And then Romans 10 14 says, but how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they've never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? It's our role to bring people so they can hear the good news. Now, whether that's you telling them or you bringing them here, and I'll tell them. We can partner together to reach your friends and your family. And this is what we're supposed to be doing.

Taking our grave clothes off and telling people and talking to other people. Because if we don't, we're kind of like, well, have you ever heard this sound? That's a bad sound, isn't it? You never hear that sound and think, oh great, the car's not starting.

You may now because you'll have more time to pray. But that's a dead battery. A dead battery is a problem. What's the problem? There's not enough power to make the engine start.

So what should we be doing? Connecting to the power. Well, who's the power? Jesus is the power.

Jesus is that connection that we also desperately need. I've heard some people go, well, Christians are kind of like cars. You got to put in the gasoline to run. Well, I've heard that analogy before. I don't use it anymore.

You know why? Because I can fill up my car once a week or once every couple of weeks. I can't operate like that spiritually.

Fill up once every week, fill up once every two weeks. I'm good. I went to church like 04.

I'm good. Christians are more like, you've been to Disney or the monorails or the subways? They work on the contact principle. In other words, if they're connected to the power, they're going.

If they're not connecting to the power, they're not going. I think that's a better spiritual analogy. We have to be connected to Jesus to receive spiritual power.

And if you're struggling in your life, may I lovingly and kindly suggest that perhaps you're not connected to the source of the power that is Jesus. He is the giver of life. And that's what we're to be is givers of life to other people. I don't mean we're messiahs.

There's only one messiah and that's Jesus. But we can give life to others by proclaiming the truth of God's word and of God's salvation. What an awesome thing.

What an awesome experience. As a matter of fact, we're supposed to be doing that. You understand that? We're supposed to be doing it.

If we're not doing that, something's wrong. We're kind of like stale coffee. You ever gone to drink a cup of coffee and it be old and it be weak and it be cold? Isn't that nasty? Or maybe it's hot, but you don't realize it's been cooking for like two days or something before you drink it. You go by the gas station and you want a cup of coffee and it's like, oh my gosh, what is this? That's not a good feeling, is it? What are the people around you in your life experiencing when they drink from your cup, if you will? Is it something robust and full of life and full of strength and full of power?

Or is it like two-day-old coffee? Connect to Jesus. Connect to the power and have your grave cloths done away with, done away with. Now, Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead.

Let me ask you a question. What do you think Lazarus is wanting to do or he is thinking at this point? He's out of the grave.

His grave cloths are off. What do you think he's thinking? What do you think is going through his mind? What do you think he's thinking about doing that day or later tomorrow? What do you think he's, do you think he's going, oh honey, hand me the remote.

I'm thinking not. No, I'm sure at that point he was rip-roaring, ready to go. Why? Because he had been taken from death to life. Pastor, what could that possibly mean to me?

Let me explain. We, you and I, have been taken from death to life. What should we be thinking about?

What should we be planning to do? We should be thinking about telling others. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name. Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven, you've been born again.

So congratulations friend, you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Thanks again for listening and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.