Hey, everybody. You're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at gregatharvest.org. Again, it's gregatharvest.org.
You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. Lord, where were you? Lord, where were you when my marriage dissolved? Where were you when my child went astray? Where were you when my loved one died? It's okay to pour your heart out to the Lord. The key is you pour your heart out to the Lord.
If it causes you pain, He cares. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again, you hear all the angels are singing.
This is the day, the day where life begins. Some people will share their pain with anyone, a friend, a bartender, the checker at the supermarket, a wrong number who calls their phone. Other people keep all that pain locked away inside the aching chambers of their heart. What's the best way to deal with those calamities? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the value of bringing our pain to the Lord.
He invites us to call on Him, and He has the capacity to bring help in the midst of the crisis. It's the day, the day where life begins. Well, now we see a story before us here in John 11 of death. It's a story of Mary, Martha, and their brother, Lazarus, who died.
They were devastated by this unexpected tragedy. They were effectively saying, as we'll see in a moment, it's not fair, because they were a tight-knit family and one that happened to be very close to Jesus. In fact, Christ Himself frequented this home often. There was something about the home of Mary and Martha that made them feel comfortable, and I think it was probably Martha's cooking. I have no doubt that she was a great chef, and the food was fantastic, and Jesus would show up with 12 of His buddies and crash there to use 60s vernacular, and Martha always welcomed them. There was probably something always on the stove in Martha's home, and Jesus felt welcomed and loved there and spent a lot of time there, and they could legitimately say that Jesus was their personal friend. So when their brother Lazarus, who was also a friend of our Lord, got very sick, they just sent word to Christ, figuring He'd take care of it straightaway. That brings us to our text, John 11, verse 1. We'll stop there. So here we are, Mary and Martha.
They're probably bragging to their friends, you know, Jesus, we're like this, we're so tight. He'll be here any moment. He'll come walking down that road like He always does, and Martha will come up with a great meal, He'll heal Lazarus, and we'll have a great time. And they waited, and they waited, and they waited.
Now Lazarus is sicker and sicker. Now he's died. Now it's been one day. Now it's been two days.
Now it's been three days. Now it's been four days, and still no Jesus. And one day, here comes Jesus, headed toward Bethany. So not only has He not healed His close friend, He even missed the funeral. So in their estimation, Jesus had failed. Jesus was late. And here's what happens, John 11, verse 20.
Wow, pretty accusatory. And Martha said, well, I know that He'll rise again in the resurrection of the last day. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me, though He were dead, yet shall He live, and whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?
I'm asking you. Jesus asked her, I'm asking you, do you believe this? It's still true. And Martha was very honest. Lord, where were You? Lord, we were telling everyone You'd come through for us.
And maybe You've said that to God, in all honesty. Lord, where were You when my marriage dissolved? Lord, where were You when my parents divorced? Where were You when my child went astray?
Where were You when my loved one died? But I want you to notice something that's very important. Jesus did not reprove Martha. He was actually very understanding, very patient with her.
And here's my point. It's not a bad thing to tell God how you feel. You don't have to candy-coat prayers. Did you know you can be honest with God in prayer? You can actually say, Lord, I don't like the way things are going right now. And I'm not happy right now.
And I don't understand why You're doing what You're doing right now. But I'm crying out to You, Lord, because I have nowhere else to go. It's like the apostles said when Jesus said, Will you also go away? They said, Lord, where else shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.
Let's paraphrase. Lord, You're the only game in town. More specifically, You're the only God in town. We don't like this.
And we're asking You why. It's okay to pour Your heart out to the Lord. The key is You pour Your heart out to the Lord. Let me just say this. Let's just say for the sake of a point, God condescended and answered your question.
Lord, why? You really want to know? Yes.
Okay, ready? Yes. Here's why.
Boom. I don't agree. I mean, you wouldn't like it. See, we live on promises, not explanations. So I don't think we should spend too much time wondering why. I don't know that we would ever understand some of the things that have happened to us here in this life. But I think we'll understand all the things that have happened to us when we get to heaven. Jesus did not correct Martha. Rather, He seeks to give her an eternal perspective. Martha, verse 26. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. He that soever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
Yeah, I believe it. Okay, so she's gone now. Enter Mary. Now, by the way, Martha was very outspoken.
We know this from other stories in the Bible. She was always one to speak her mind. You knew where you stood with Martha. Do you know someone like her?
They just blurt out things, and then they'll say, I don't know why I just said that. Yeah, there's Martha's out there. Mary was quieter. She was very perceptive spiritually.
But now look at how the story shifts here. Verse 32 of John 11. Then Mary came where Jesus was in Psalm and fell down at His feet and said, same thing as Martha, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with their weeping, He groaned in the Spirit and was troubled.
And He said, where have you laid Him? They said, Lord, come and see. Verse 35, Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, see how He loved Him. By the way, that's the shortest verse in the Bible. You see, I can't memorize Scripture.
Let's try one. Jesus wept. Say that out loud. Jesus wept. You've got a Scripture memorized.
Good place to start. But it brings up a very important point, which is point number three. Jesus weeps with us in our times of pain.
Does that surprise you? Jesus weeps with us in our times of pain. We might think, oh no, God's indifferent. God's disconnected. God doesn't really care.
No, no. Jesus was and is God. What is God like? God is Jesus. Jesus is God. Jesus was God with a face on. Jesus was God walking among us as a man. You want to know what God is like?
Look at Jesus. So what does God feel when we're in pain? He feels that pain as well. He's the only one who can truly say, I feel your pain.
So why did this happen? Because Jesus, according to Isaiah 53, was despised and rejected. A man of sorrows acquainted with the most bitter grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way when He went by, but He was despised and we didn't care. Yet in our weakness, He carried our sorrows.
They weighed Him down. Yeah, Jesus bore your sins, didn't He? But He also carried your sorrows. So if it hurts you, it affects Him. If it causes you pain, He cares. Jesus wept.
That says a lot about how He looks at us and how He cares about us. Listen, death breaks God's heart just as it breaks our heart. And therefore, Jesus not only cares, but we also find another emotion of our Lord here that's sort of surprising.
We see anger combined with sorrow. Verse 33 of John 11. When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, He was moved with indignation and was deeply troubled and they came to the grave.
Verse 38, now I dropped down too. And it was a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. So the word trouble can be translated, He was mad. Listen, Jesus experienced a full gamut of human emotion. He felt joy, He felt happiness, He felt sorrow, and He felt anger. Oh yeah, Jesus got angry.
Boy, I wouldn't want to be on His bad side, would you? Remember the story of when He made a whip and drove the money changers out of the temple. Well, here He is angry again. So who is He angry with? Is He angry with Martha? No. Is He angry with Mary? Again, no. Is He angry with these people?
No. He's angry with death itself. In effect, Christ is angry with the grim reaper, if you will. He's angry that this had to happen. This was not my plan. But this is the way it is.
And it makes me angry. Well, the best part of the story is just ahead, where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Pastor Greg returns in just a moment. Hey, I don't know if you know about this, but we have a weekend service called Harvest at Home, exclusively for people that are tuning in literally from around the world.
Listen to this. We even have Harvest groups where you can get into a small group with folks from all around this planet of ours and study the Word of God. So join us this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well, as we pick up today's study, Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus and wept. And Mary pointed out that if Jesus had arrived sooner, maybe her brother would not have died. Pastor Greg continues. We see what happens after that. He says, well, show me where he is.
And he walks up there. And Martha warns him, Lord, by now he stinketh. That's King James. And I love the word stinketh. Because it's a really Elizabethan way of telling someone they stink.
So if you're with some guy and he doesn't smell good because he hasn't bathed in a week, just say, you know, by now you stinketh. That's just nice. Lord, he's decomposing.
Yeah? Watch this. Lazarus, come forth. And here comes Lazarus from the other side, alive again. It's a good thing Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth, because if he had simply said, come forth, everybody in every grave would have simultaneously burst from the ground and burst from the tombs. That's the power of Jesus.
Where he can be heard on the other side, in heaven itself. And by the way, this was not a sweet deal for Lazarus. This poor guy had to die twice. Isn't it bad enough to die once?
Come back to life and die again some other time. Lazarus is thinking, you know, I was kind of enjoying it over on the other side there in old Abraham's bosom, man. It was nice and comforting and really?
Yeah, really. And that brings me to my next point, number four. God can be glorified through human suffering. And he can bring good out of bad. So in this case, it was a horrible tragedy. But God intervened and brought a resurrection. And sometimes through suffering, some of the best things in life can happen. Sometimes that rejection, that demotion, that firing, that setback, that breakup, whatever it is, can be something that propels you forward in a way you never imagined.
So this looked like the worst case scenario. Lazarus is dead, we'll never see him again. Jesus brings him back again.
So here's what you need to know. Hope grows strongest in the garden of pain. I mean, we all want hope, right? But the Bible says if you don't want hope, you're gonna get it through tribulation.
Because Romans 5-3 says we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces endurance and perseverance produces character and character produces hope. Hope grows strongest in the garden of pain. We think, no, hope grows when everything's going well. Hope grows when there's no problems.
No, actually, that's not the case. Hope grows when things are hard because that's when God comes through and shows you who has power in the darkest circumstances. That's where your hope gets strong. What is hope?
Let's use it as an acronym. H-O-P-E, holding on with patient expectation. So Lazarus was brought back again from the other side. Jesus said, I'm the resurrection, I'm the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Listen, the tomb is not an entrance to death, but to life. Heaven is the earthly life of the believer, glorified and perfected. So listen, Christ has conquered death.
You say, now, are you nuts, Craig? People still die. What do you mean Christ has conquered death? Well, I know people die.
Well, I know that very well, actually. But I'm saying death is not the end. As I said earlier, we live in the land of the dying and we're headed to the land of the living. When you put your faith in Christ, you have life during life and you have the hope of life beyond the grave.
Why? Because when Jesus died on the cross, he paid the price for our sin and he conquered death. Death died when Christ rose.
So yes, believers still die. Yes, there comes a moment when our heart will stop beating and we'll no longer be able to draw a breath in our lungs. Yes, that day will come and we'll be technically brain dead.
I may already be right now, I'm not sure. But the point is, that day will come, but the soul lives on, you see. That's what's unique about humanity. What are you trusting in right now?
Proverbs 10, 28 says, the hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked are in vain. Man, I just read an article that made that point. Just read it today. It was about millennials and God.
And here was the headline. Millennials are losing their faith and replacing it with pizza push-ups and profound digital connections. And this article says, and I quote, just 27 to 28% of people in their 20s and early 30s attend religious services regularly according to the latest figures from the Pew Research Center. And what they're doing instead is some are finding their answers in yoga, others on Facebook, and some even in pizzerias. Like one guy named Kavon who said, he found in a pizzeria what he did not find in organized religion, deep conversations and relationships.
This is so crazy, I don't know what to say. But I kind of get it in a way too. What these young people are saying is, we're not seeing it in organized religion. I don't see it in organized religion either. And this, by the way, is not organized religion. We're talking here about a relationship with Jesus Christ and that's what you need. That's the only thing that will sustain you. Because when you come to the end of your life, pizza is not gonna save you. Or yoga, and certainly not Facebook.
Or any other social media. Remember when 9-11 happened? Some of you don't, it was a long time ago. But when 9-11 happened, when the twin towers of the World Trade Center came crashing to the ground and we all watched it happen in real time, it was a national trauma. And I'll tell you what, churches were packed. And there were people on street corners having prayer vigils. Even the Congress got along for a day. It stood on the steps of the Capitol and broke into a spontaneous version of God bless America. It was almost revival-like for a while.
And then we went back to our old ways again. Yeah, I think we turned to God because instinctively we know God has what we need. And we can say, I don't believe in organized religion, please. We're not talking about organized religion, we're talking about Jesus Christ. Dare I say it, Jesus is greater than pizza. And Facebook and yoga and religion and rituals and possessions and power and money. Jesus is greater than anything this world offers and he's the one you need to turn to because he's the only one who can save you. And you can be a Christian and eat pizza.
It's awesome. So, just put it in its proper place. In your mouth, all right. It won't fill the hole in your soul. But Jesus will. And Jesus Christ who died on that cross 2,000 years ago rose again from the dead. And he's here with us right here, right now. Standing at the door of your life and he is knocking.
And he's saying, if you hear my voice and open the door, I'll come in. So I want to close by giving you an opportunity to believe in Jesus. An opportunity to find hope in this life.
An opportunity to fill a hole in your heart you've tried to fill with other things. And he's just a prayer away. And if you need Jesus tonight, if you're not sure that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you're not convinced your life is right with God, or maybe you've fallen away from the Lord and you feel like you need to come back to him again, I'm going to extend an opportunity as we close now in prayer. So, let's all bow our heads right now and pray together. Father, thank you for your love for us. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. Lord Jesus, thank you for coming and dying and rising. And thank you for the hope of life beyond the grave and life during life. I pray for any here that may not yet know you. Help them to see their need for you.
Help them to come to you and believe in you. Right now, we would ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie, with an important word of prayer. And if you'd like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord today, Pastor Greg will come back in just a moment to help you do that.
So, please stay with us. You know, Pastor Greg, sometimes we'll hear from people who've moved to a new community, and they want to be able to hear a new beginning on the station in their new area, and they'll write to tell us that. And we'd like to make that happen, but it often takes financial resources to make those arrangements. So, we hope our listeners will pray about making an investment today, and we want to thank them with an important resource we're making available. Yeah, that's right. The reason we offer these quality resources is so we can just help you, encourage you, and bless you, but also it's a way for you to support our ministry, because as you can imagine, it takes money to be on the radio, and we want to continue to reach you in your area and go into new areas where we're not on yet. So, we put that gift to work to reach more people with the teaching of the word of God and the message of the gospel.
Yeah, that's right. So, would you prayerfully consider partnering with us today? You can make that investment online and get details on the resource we'd like to send your way to thank you. It's a book called Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table, written by Pastor Louie Giglio. He points out we're in a battle for the control of our minds, and our enemy is trying to push a narrative that will lead to defeat.
The subtitle is It's Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind, and we'll send you this book to thank you for your investment. Just go to harvest.org, or drop us a note at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us any time 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Well, Pastor Greg, if somebody listening right now knows that they need to make a change in their relationship with God, they can do that right now, can't they? They really can, and I think some people might say, well, what, pray while listening to the radio?
Absolutely, because guess what? Jesus Christ is with you right where you are right now. And if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to invite him into your life, why don't you pray this prayer after me right now? In fact, I would even encourage you to pray it out loud.
Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I want you to come into my life and forgive me of my sin. I thank you for dying for me on the cross and then rising again from the dead.
I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Savior, be my Lord, be my God, and be my friend. Thank you for loving me and calling me and forgiving me.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now listen, as you just prayed that prayer, maybe you felt something emotional. I've had people write me and tell me of how they prayed with me at the end of our radio broadcast and tears came down their cheeks or they felt a great joy. Maybe one of those things happened to you, or then again maybe you felt nothing. Listen, irregardless of how you feel right now, I want you to know a fact. That prayer and minute, Jesus Christ has come into your life.
Why do I say that? Because the Bible says these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. That first doesn't say so you can think you have eternal life or hope if God's in a really good mood you may have eternal life.
No, it says you can know it. And if you just prayed that prayer and minute, Christ has come into your life. So let me say to you, welcome to God's family. We'd like to help you get started in living your new life with the Lord. We'd like to send you some free follow-up materials called our New Believers Growth Packet. Just get in touch and we'll send that packet right out to you.
As I said, it's free of charge. And our special thanks to our Harvest partners and others who support this ministry for helping us make them available. You can call us any time at 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or just go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Next time, we follow Mary into another biblical story. So great was her love for the Lord that she gave her all, including an extravagant sacrifice of perhaps her most precious possession. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.
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