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Sam, come on. Anybody at Church of the Highlands thankful for the goodness of our God? Let's give him some praise. I just so inspired by watching Mackenzie's story and just the goodness of God right there in the middle of her situation. Just celebrating that and just want to take a moment, say hello to all of our locations. We just joined together as one family, one big church family across Alabama and Georgia. What an honor it is to be with everyone today at every location, online, on demand, intercorrectional facilities, wherever you're watching. God is truly with us today. And we are now seven weeks into a series all about the goodness of God. Psalm 34. 8. Are y' all okay if I go straight to the word of God today? Come on, we need it. Come on. Psalm 34. Eight's been our key text. Put it on the screen. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, and blessed are those who take refuge in him. So we've been saying it for seven weeks. We're gonna say it strong today. God is good. And all the time. Come on, put your hands together and let's celebrate one more time the goodness of our God. And God is good. God is good in Birmingham. God is good in Tuscaloosa. God is good in Auburn. Come on. God is good. With that UAB football victory, I had to say it. God is good. Maybe not so much in Memphis today, but he is in Birmingham, and so God is good. And we're celebrating that in this series. And if you've missed any of these seven weeks, please go back and watch them. God has truly, uniquely timed this series, and we just heard so much feedback from people of how God's met them right where they are. So I won't go through all of the topics, but they've been powerful topics around serving and growing different areas. But today's topic is a little different. It's kind of a serious topic. We're gonna have fun today. We're getting the word of God, but there's definitely a weight to today. Today we're gonna talk about suffering, and no one got up and took a lap right there, right? It's a serious topic, but in fact, about six months ago, this is the topic God actually kind of birthed in my heart that led to this whole series. And so today, if you have your app, I'd love you to take it out, to take notes today. Very important day to take notes. I believe God's going to minister to our hearts, and notes are a way for us just to collect thoughts. And, of course, to write down some things that can help us even beyond Sunday. Today we're going to talk about how Jesus wept, how we as a people can experience the goodness of God even in the middle of our suffering. And this is one of those topics. I mean, I think all of us would kind of rather avoid it. We wished it wasn't part of the human experience. We wish it wasn't part of life. But like it or not, suffering is a part of what we. What we are, what we're gonna face here on earth in this life. And I'm just so excited that we don't have to avoid it, that we can get into the word of God and let God meet us right in the middle of it. It's the goodness of God in our suffering. And again, for six months, I've been praying for today that I can't express. All I can tell you is this. I am so confident through the Holy Spirit today that God's gonna meet us right where we are, no matter what our suffering looks like. The word suffering in the Bible is actually really broad. You know, when we think about suffering, typically we think about the situation we're in. But I'm actually really grateful that the Bible paints a broad picture of suffering. The word in the Greek is pathema, which just means, you know, something that we're facing. It's a hardship or a pain, and it's broad on purpose because God wants to make sure, you know, whatever it is you're going through. You know, sometimes we do, like the. Like the Richter scale. Like, well, this was a 10.0, and this was, you know, a 1.3. God's not like that. Whatever we're walking through, any of the agony, pain, trials and suffering. The Bible uses lots of words. God puts this broadly out there so we can know no matter what it is, he wants to meet us in it. Isn't that amazing? Just a picture of the goodness of God. So whether your situation's like Mackenzie, I mean, losing Both parents at 21 years old, can you imagine, I mean, what that would have felt like? Or maybe today your suffering looks like pain, Maybe relational pain or physical pain. Maybe it's an illness. I think a lot of us, maybe every one of us, have walked through recently disappointment. Maybe it's betrayal or just the results. Your suffering is the results of a bad decision you've made, the circumstances that have come from that, or even your suffering through temptation. No matter what we go through personally, one of the things we also experience is suffering as others walk through pain and we all know that is a different kind of suffering. Especially, come on, parents. Where are you at when your kids are going through something? Come on. Y' all know what I'm talking about. That's just a. That's an intense level of suffering. The big idea is this. God wants you to know today, no matter what your suffering looks like, he wants to meet you. You can experience his goodness in the middle of that. Amen, everybody. Come on, y' all believe it out there today. We're gonna teach it today. But I want you to have faith. Your heart's open today. All of our hearts open to answer this question. How do we experience the goodness of God in our suffering? Right in the middle of it where we are today, how do we experience the goodness of God? So if you have your Bibles today, I hope you do open up to John chapter 11. It'll be in your app as well. Or you can, of course, as always, follow along on screen, but we're actually going to work through pretty much the entire chapter of John chapter 11. And this is a fascinating chapter. I have a few fun facts. I love this kind of stuff. Maybe you do. Just good to have context of what we're going to study today. John 11 is the account of the miracle of the resurrection of a guy named Lazarus. Fascinating. This is actually the most detailed and complete miracle of Jesus recorded in the gospels. And you're going to see today why it is so complete and detailed. It's so intentional. God has purpose in every single word we are going to read today. It's the seventh in the book of John. There actually are seven miracles or seven signs. This is the seventh of those seven signs revealing that Jesus is. Come on, somebody. The resurrection and he is the life. Can I get an amen right there? That's our God. That's who he is. Also, just again, fun fact contains the shortest verse in the Bible. And so we're gonna get our Sunday school badges today. We're gonna memorize a verse. Y' all ready for this? Are y' all ready for it? All right, John. Everybody say John 11:35. Jesus wept. You just memorized the Bible verse. Give yourselves a hand clap of applause. All right? So. So, yeah, praise God. And then here's the big idea. The key that I want us to have in our hearts today to unlock the power of this truth is the word believe. And John intentionally says that word eight times in this story. And so again, if you got your Bibles, we'll start in verse one. John chapter 11. It says now A man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick was. Was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters, we'll come back to this a little later on in the message. It's both of them, Martha and Mary. The sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, the sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory, so God's son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, Jesus got on his horse and ran there or his donkey and got there as fast as he could. Jesus took off sprinting and he ran to the side of this man that he loves. Now, what does it say? He stayed where he was for two more days. We're going to wrestle with that in just a minute. And then he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. So I want to pause right here in the story. We'll come back to the text, but I want to pause right here in the story. And again, in your app, you have these points. There are three important things for us to believe. We want to kind of work towards what do we do? You know, answering that question, how do we experience God's goodness? I promise we're going to get there today, but we got to secure ourselves, especially in this topic, with what we believe. If we don't know what we believe, especially in suffering, we're going to get blown around like the wind by just the pain of life. And so I want to start with verse one and kind of pull out a truth here. And the Bible says, now a man named Lazarus was sent. And here's the truth. Go ahead and write it down. We're going to talk about it. God is not the cause of our suffering. And we got to have this truth or we can't go any further than this. Jesus hears about this sickness, but he did not cause this sickness. And in fact, Romans 5 tells us this is an important truth church, that all sickness, all suffering is the result of sin entering into the earth. So this is not a result of God. Suffering, sickness, trials, temptation, all those are a result of a fallen earth. And so this is the big idea here. And I have some props to help us today. All the way back to the beginning of time. We know that in Genesis chapter one, we know that God created the heavens and the earth, and he Made everything perfect. We have this picture of the garden where Adam and Eve have a perfect relationship with God. There is beauty and there is again relationship, intimacy, all of those things. But we know in chapter three, that old serpent enters in, right? And at least the way I learned it back in Sunday school was it was an apple tree that gets involved. And there's a temptation that leads to sin. And now sin enters into the story. Now, here's the really amazing news. God did not leave us in our sin. Anyone grateful for that? In fact, the whole Old Testament, if you want to get some context, or even to help you as you read the whole Old Testament Church, is the story of God's rescue mission to earth. And then we get into the New Testament, the four Gospels, and we see Jesus born in a manger. We see Jesus live those 30 years and then do three years, his last three years on earth of ministry. And then he went to the cross. He shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins and to destroy death. Come on. He went into that grave, and three days later, he came out of that grave. Anybody grateful today for the resurrection? Now, here's what's so important. This is redemption. We are now redeemed. We're living here on earth, but this is not the end of the story. All right? We are still living on a fallen earth, but we have redemption. We have the power of the Holy Spirit, the end of our story. I got really good news, everybody. We've already experienced redemption, but restoration is coming. Jesus promises he will return. He will come from the clouds. Come on. He'll have that sword in his hands and he will restore. Revelation 21 says he will make all things new. Can we put our hands together and thank God that we know the end of the story, our eternity with Him? But catch this right now. We live right here. And a great way to think about this is even in a construct of history. You know, the cross was like D Day in World War II where we took back the beachhead. And really the victory was won that day. But we still had to walk out that victory. There was still a period of time before what was called V Day, Victory Day. And this is exactly where we live as we experience suffering here on fallen earth between what theologians call the already and the not yet. And this is just to help us today. And it'll be more of this in your notes today. But what does that really look like in the already not yet free from sin's penalty? Anybody grateful for that? But yet we still feel sin's pool, which we all would agree with that. We are righteous in Christ, yet we still battle the flesh. We are children of God, yet we still wrestle with insecurity and identity. We have the peace of God, yet we. Obviously, many of us, have experienced this face, anxiety and depression. We are healed, yet we still experience sickness in our bodies. God has already overcome the world, yet in this world, we still face trials and temptations. God is not the cause of our suffering. It's the result of living on a fallen planet. And listen, I have these props here because I'm going to preach the rest of this message in the reality that we all live in between the already and the not yet. So now to verse 4. Jesus says something so powerful, and these truths build on each other. This is y'. All. This is not milk toast. This is. This is a mature teaching and we need it because we're walking through some real stuff. I have sat this week with so many different people walking through suffering right now. And I feel that as a pastor in this moment. And we need something solid to put our feet on. Jesus says in verse 4, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory. God promises our suffering. Write it down. Will not be wasted. Can I get an amen? This makes us very different. Christianity is one of one. It's important for us to recognize this. This makes us very different from any other worldview or religion out there. There's kind of three basic kind of worldviews out there. One is the secular worldview which we are facing in America in 2025 in a huge way, which says, you know, suffering is meaningless because if there is no God, there is no redemption. So just make life about comfort. Don't we see that everywhere we look? It's just that kind of like, man, just make whatever it takes to be happy do that. I mean, old school. We don't use this anymore. But that's like the YOLO mindset, like, you only live once. Just go for it. Second school of thought is this kind of moralistic religion idea. And we gotta be careful because Christianity can become this if we're not careful. That says, you know, suffering is all about payback. It's all about God's punishment. Can I preach something? Today? The wrath of God was satisfied on the cross. We are no longer under the law. We are under grace. I need a little more applause out there than that. That's a big truth. And there are even people today in Christianity teaching something very different. That is not true. That is. That is heresy. Come on. God's grace is there. God is a good guy. We are underneath his grace. Our decisions have consequences, but those are not punishment from God. That's a result of us living where we live here on planet Earth. And then the last kind of school of thought is just really sad. It's called fatalism. That's a horrible word in itself, which basically just means the story's already written. It's like the Titanic, like, it's going to sink. So just the best thing you can do is rearrange a few deck chairs and enjoy yourself on the way down. But thank God that we follow Jesus. And thank God for what we believe, which is that Christianity says suffering is redemptive. We do not deny the pain or glorify it. We believe God transforms it. And here's a second memory verse for us today. All right, you got one. Jesus wept. Here's the second one. It's a little longer, but you need it. I need it. Romans 8:28. This is what we believe in all things. God works for the good of those who love him, who've been called according to his purpose. Now, just to build some faith here today. All right, we're gonna move on. Who out there at every location, online, even if you're by yourself right now, who has seen the goodness of God? Who can Testify to Romans 8:28? Come on, put your hands together. Let's build faith today. So, hey, look at me. He's done it before. In your current suffering, he will do it again. And maybe you're like, I've never experienced that. That applause was meant to build your faith. God will meet you right where you are in your situation. It will not be wasted. God will get glory from that situation. Here's the final kind of truth. And this one, y', all, this is like we kind of went from milk to solid food. Y' all ready for some, like, steak? This is big. Says when Lazarus. You know, he heard Lazarus was sick. Jesus stayed where he was for two more days. Write it down. God's timing and suffering rarely matches our timing. And I got it. I got to dig into this for a moment. And I have been praying for this to be a revelation way beyond my ability to communicate it. That God. That the truth of this idea would jump off of the pages of the Bible into every heart of every single person, which is probably all of us who are walking through a trial or suffering right now. There are three things I'm going to have us do a little true or false game for a moment. There are three truths or Possibly false in this text that I want us to pull out. Number one, is Lazarus sick? True or false? Come on, a little louder. Is Lazarus sick? True or false? All right, the next one. Is Lazarus, loved by Jesus. True or false? Next one. Jesus stayed where he was two more days. True or false? Look at me. They're all three true at the same time. At the same time. In your trial right now, you need to know this today. Jesus knows about your suffering. He sees the sickness. He sees the suffering. You need to know today, you are loved by God. Go back to part one of this series. He went to that cross with you on his heart. It was for the joy set before him your life that he went to that cross. And the third thing is true as well. Hear me today, church Jesus, timing is perfect. Pastor, I don't understand this timing thing. I got maybe bad news for you today. I don't either. Here's why. Isaiah 55. For my thoughts. God's is God. My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways. My ways declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. We are serving a God, thank God, that is bigger than all of us. And we have to trust that his thoughts are bigger. His thoughts are higher. Pastor Chris always says that we would answer our own prayers the exact way God does if we knew everything he did. And that is so true. God just has a different perspective. Amen, everybody. All right, so that's the reality of where we live. God didn't cause our suffering. It's not going to be wasted. His timing is perfect. All right, so back to our text. Anybody love the Bible out there today? Man, I love the Bible. I can't be honest with you. I just. I could talk about Jesus forever. He is so, so good, this story. Thank God for John, chapter 11. I'm going to skip a few verses here. There's a really funny story. I mean, I like to, like, kind of diss on the disciples, but if you really honestly look at it, the disciples are like a mirror for all of us. They're always having these funny conversations with Jesus that look a lot like our conversations with Jesus. They're so confused by this whole situation. He's. Lazarus is sick. They're not going to help him. And Jesus starts talking about it, you know, that we are gonna go there. And then they're like, we can't go to Judea because if we go there, we're gonna die. And Jesus is like, well, we're gonna go there. Cause Lazarus is asleep. And they're like, well, if he's asleep, he'll be okay. Like, this is the funniest thing ever. And then basically, Jesus just kind of shuts down the conversations. Like, we're going, all right, we're going to him. And this is where this is gonna become very practical for us today. So lean in here. Receiving today what I'm about to share from God's word. If you're in suffering, these next passages are gonna help us right where we are. Verse 16 says, Then Thomas. And everybody knows the label that Thomas has given in history. What is that? What is it? He's doubting Thomas. But can I tell you right here in this context, this is Thomas shining moment. It says then Thomas, who is also known as Didymus, which just means twin, said to the rest of his disciples, let us also go, that we may die with him. Listen, I know that our guy Thomas ends up being a doubter, but he's also a ride or die friend. Because most of us, y', all, we would like, we're going to die. We're going the other way. I want to go the way where I live. Thomas is like, yo, if Jesus is going to die, I'm going with him. Come on. Who needs some Thomases in that context in your life? Not the doubting kind, the ride or die kind. I know I do. And if you're going through suffering, you have never needed people more than right now. And I want to talk about small groups, but don't go there in your head to, like pastors giving a commercial. It is not about a program of our church. I know this. That testimony from MacKenzie is one of literally now 25 years in hundreds of thousands of testimonies that I was in a trial, I was in a situation, and even her story, I was alone. But when I got into community, it didn't even change automatically. But I was no longer alone. I had some ride or die people. And if you've never been a part of small groups here, we invite you into relationship. Yes, we grow. Yes, we find freedom. But the best part of small groups is we don't do life alone. Can I get an amen today? All right, so back to the text of verse 17. This is now Jesus going to Lazarus to go into this situation. It says, on his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now, Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of Their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. So we're going to get two distinct stories here, one about Martha, one about Mary, and spoiler alert, we need what Jesus ministered to them. We need not one or the other. We need both. First, it's Martha. Lord, Martha says to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha answers, I know he's going to rise again in the resurrection at the last day. And then we get this beautiful verse. Jesus says to her, no, no, no, no, Martha, you don't understand. I'm the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? Let me ask you. Church of the Highlands, do you believe this? Come on, somebody. This is what we believe. So powerful. Verse 27. Yes, Lord, she replies. So Jesus meets her right where she is. I get it. I believe you're the Messiah, the Son of God who has come into the world. Verse 28. Now, after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. The teacher is here, she said, and is asking for you. When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now, Jesus had not yet entered the village. He was still at the same place where he had ministered to Martha. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her. And the Bible is making sure we know there are witnesses to what's about to happen. Supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet. And very different. It starts the same, but it becomes a very different interaction. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? He asked. Come and see, Lord, they replied. And then we get our verse 35. Jesus wept. These are going to be practical, but I'm praying right now, you would open your heart for these last eight or nine minutes of this message to the power of the truths that we see in this text. Because these are the handles that God has given us in the middle of your situation right now. These are the ways that we can put our life, our Faith and our trust in Jesus and he can meet us right where we are. And the first one is this kind of the question, why is Jesus even there in the first place? And I just gotta highlight, it was all the way back in verse 3. Jesus is there because the sisters sent word to him. What is the first thing we do in suffering? Come on, Church. In our suffering, we reach out to Jesus. It's almost like, if you remember movies, at least I've never actually been to a doctor that did this, like where they hit your knee with one of those, like little kind of rubber hammers, you know, and you're like, your knee pops out. I've never actually. I kind of like to have that done to see if I have good reflexes. But I love the image right there of, you know what, the moment I encounter suffering, boom, I'm reaching out to Jesus. And I think it's always going to happen when the Richter scale is on a 10. But church Jesus invites us to reach out to him. If it's the smallest situation, whatever it is, it is still whatever you're going through today, he cares. And the moment you reach out to him, Psalm 34:17 gives us a promise. The righteous cry out, and what does God do? God hears, responds. He delivers. Church. I said God hears. And it's right there in one verse. It's all throughout the Bible, but I love the fact that in that text right there, Psalm 34, we see that he hears. You know that today God hears you. So reach out to him. And I love the fact that he delivers. Now what does that deliverance look like? Well, really, three things are going to happen when we pray. God's going to say yes. We all love the yes. God's going to say we're going to. It's yes, but we're going to wait for a moment. Or God's going to say, because all his promises are yes, by the way, God's going to say no. Not, not quite like that. There's a better way. But regardless, if prayer is our first response, we can know in our hearts and we're going to do this later in the service today, that God has heard us and God is moving in that situation. It's our first. Come on, we are a pray first church. It is our first response. We're even going to end the service a little different today. We're going to stay together as an entire church family. We have this every week, but I'm going to highlight it today. And we've had literally hundreds, if not thousands of people already today make their way up front at the end of the service to receive prayer. Because just like the sisters prayed together, you don't have to leave here today without praying with someone. Our prayer teams would love to agree with you. In the middle of your situation, we reach out to Jesus. Now, I kind of mentioned this, but I want to highlight this next idea. So interesting and important that both Martha and Mary, who. They have a unique experience with Jesus. But their. Their language, their first. The first words out of their mouth are the same. If you'd have just been here, this wouldn't have happened. So write it down. Today in our suffering, we refuse to lose faith in Jesus. It's very interesting. They're hurting, they are confused. In church, that is all fair. In suffering, we're going to hurt and there's going to be times of confusion. Maybe that's where you are right now. But they still had faith. They never doubted who he was. If you'd have been here, they don't understand that part. But we know this. If you'd have been here, it had been a different result and in the middle of our stuff. And this is not just suffering. This is honestly the school of suffering is where we learn. This is. At the end of the day, our faith cannot be transactional. It's relational. Our faith cannot just be based on, you know, God. If you're being a good God, you do good things and you're good. And if things aren't going our way, then I'm going to lose faith. It's like transactional. Like, we'll never. Number one, that's a miserable way to live. And we'll never get through the suffering, seeing the goodness of God because we'll try to control it ourselves. Anybody else been there? If we don't trust God in that moment, we'll go and usually making things worse. But our faith ultimately has to be in him, not just in his ways. Galatians 2:20 says, I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Come on, someone grab this today. This may be the greatest faith decision you make. Today. I'm gonna put my faith in the Son of God because he loves me and he gave himself up for me. It is not transactional. Our faith is relational. Maybe the greatest example of this in the Bible is John the Baptist. You can go read in Matthew, chapter 11. This is where we have to come to in suffering. Again, this is a weighty teaching. This is a mature teaching. But I know in our desperation of the moment we're in, with our hearts open, God wants to meet us right where we are. John the Baptist, he's Jesus cousin. He's been prophesied over. He'll prepare the way. He's the same age as Jesus. He has 30 years of ministry where Jesus is waiting for those last three years. John the Baptist is ministering. He's proclaiming the way. He's baptizing people. Then he ends up in prison. He ends up in suffering. He's confused and hurting. He actually sins. After all of that, he's blood related to Jesus. The prophecy, all of it. All of it. He sends word to Jesus in his pain. He sends word to Jesus, are you the Messiah, or should we expect someone else? That's real Jesus? Answer. It's what we're going to get from heaven. He says. All I can tell you, John, in prison, the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf ear hear. The gospel is received. But I'm not getting you out of prison, John, and blessed are you. If you're not offended with me, you're gonna have to trust in me. Trust that I am good. And your timing may be different. You don't quite see the whole story that I see in the middle of it. Church. Trust me, not just into my actions, trust who I am. Prisoner in the third cell, Gene Edwards says this. You have now come face to face with a God who you don't fully understand. You've met a God who's not lived up to your expectations. That's all of us. At some point, every believer must come to grips with a God who did not do things quite the way it was expected. You're gonna get to know your Lord by faith, or you will not know him at all. Faith in him, trusting in him, not just in his ways. The question for Church of the Highlands today in our suffering is will we follow a God we don't understand and blessed are or all of us, if we're not offended with him. It's powerful. It's in our suffering. Everybody okay out there today, it's real. It's a decision. Today I sense the presence of God. We reach out to him. We refuse to lose faith. Here's the third one. In our suffering, we receive from Jesus. I've been so excited to preach this today. Two stories. We need both. Martha comes to Jesus. She comes, like, eye to eye with him. It's really interesting. Some of us are a lot like this. We just got to work it out. She starts working out people out there. She's like, I Got some questions for you, Jesus, and I'm going to take this opportunity to ask these questions. I have faith in you, but I'm a little confused right now. So we're going to have this conversation. And they have this conversation. And she ends up getting the resurrection and the life first. Praise God for that. And she's good. She's like, I got that truth. And the first thing we need, we need both of these. But the first thing we need in the middle of of our situation is we need truth. Jesus gives Martha truth. And in your suffering, in your situation, Church, the greatest practical thing we can do is walk out of this room today and attach the word of God, the truth of God to our situation. Can I get an amen in church today? Because it never fails. Never fails. So in your app, I gave you 15 or 20 more verses. Here's three that I felt led to share. Our present sufferings can't compare to future glory. The restoration Suffering will produce something. Perseverance, character and hope is on the way. And come on. Psalm 34:18. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Anybody grateful for the truth of God's word. Come on, we got to put our feet on it. We need truth in our suffering, but we also need something else. Jesus gives Mary tears. He does not scold her. She literally falls at his feet. She's crushed. I know some of us at church today are crushed. He does not scold her. He is not mad at her. And best of all, Jesus is not indifferent with her. Y' all do know that in like 10 minutes he's gonna get that guy out of the grave. I know. I haven't read it yet. Church, you do know Lazarus is coming out of that tomb. But how good is our God that he would not let her be alone in her suffering for even 10 minutes? And the God of the universe, that suffering didn't happen to him. He chose in that moment when it says Jesus wept, he literally chose to enter into the fullness of her pain. He did not stand on the sidelines, Church. Oh, come on, let him in. Today he stepped fully into her pain. And he wants to do the same thing for you today. Jesus wept in the original language is like a desk with groan wasn't small tears. He is broken because she is broken. He gives her truth. He gives her tears. In fact, the Bible tells us what did Jesus come to do? He came to bring truth and grace. And we see it here in John 11. Back to our text. Once more deeply moved, Jesus came to the tomb. Now I Know that language and the English is the same. Deeply moved. But, hey, guys, this moment, this is all. This is so good. Jesus is no longer weeping. In fact, in the original language, that deeply moved means he is literally snorting like a bull. He is furious. He is not furious with Martha. He is not furious with Mary. He is furious at death. And come on, somebody, our God is on the way to do something about it. That's who Jesus is. This is real love. The world. Not today. Not enough time. This is love. I'm gonna go do something about it. I'm gonna bring grace and I'm gonna bring truth. Watch this. I got to. He gets to the tomb. I gotta get to that tomb. Take away the stone, he says. But Lord, said Martha, the sister and the dead man, by this time, there is a bad odor, for he's been dead for four days. Can I pause right here? Why the wait? Why? Timing. In Jewish culture, they believed for three days the spirit would hover over a dead body. But. Oh, church, come on. By the fourth day, it was too late. It was over there. Hope in God's perfect timing. He arrives on the scene to prove once and for all who he is. Our God is a good God. Did I not tell you that? If you believe, you will see the glory of God. So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, father, I thank you that you've heard me. I know that you always hear me. But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe you have sent me. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, lazarus, come out. The dead man came out. His hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and cloth around his face. And. And Jesus said, take off the grave clothes and let him go. Come on, somebody. The goodness of our God. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and he is the life. He is the resurrection and he is the life. Here at Church of the Highlands, we believe in miracles. We believe we're going to lay hands on anyone today in a situation. We're going to pray for the miracle. Cancer healed. Come on. Every situation, every curse of the enemy broken. I have seen miracle. I have seen someone in a wheelchair come out of a wheelchair on a mission trip in Mexico. I have seen them with my own eyes. And we will pray for you today. We believe in miracles. But can I just highlight something here today? Even the guy, Lazarus, who came out of the grave, he died again. The real miracle wasn't what Jesus did. That wasn't the resurrection he was talking about. What he's saying is, I want to make sure you know in the middle or of this moment, you're between the already and the not yet. But I'm not leaving you alone. I am coming back from redemption to full restoration. Revelation 21. I'm coming to make all things new. Your God will wipe away every tear from your eye. Your God will make. Come on. The truth of Revelation 21 is it's not just we escape to heaven. He makes all pain and suffering come untrue. He makes everything new. A new heaven and a new earth. All those tears wiped away. I am making all things new. Church, if we believe this, we can go through any suffering. This is our future. An eternity with Him. What authority do I have to preach this today? One more verse I want to give you. I think it's verse 53. So from that day on, they plotted to take the life of Jesus. Jesus interrupted Lazarus funeral. And by doing so, he caused his own. Yeah, he took Lazarus out of that tomb. And even as he did, he knew he was putting himself in that tomb. But he wasn't going to stay in that tomb. He went into that tomb so that death would be destroyed forever. He did not end up in that tomb. Come on, three days later. We already said it. Celebrate today he came out of that tomb. He's the resurrection and the life. And because of that, you can experience that power today. You can experience the resurrection power in your suffering today. Would you bow your heads, close your eyes? Church, let's receive today. Let the Holy Spirit minister to us. I know this is a huge topic and I'm so sensitive right now to all the situations in the room. I can almost, in the Spirit, feel the weight. So let's go to the one place that we can experience the power and peace of God. His presence. Maybe you're here today, right now. Open your hearts up today. Maybe what you came to church needing more than anything is a truth to stand on in your suffering. Open your heart. Receive every heads bowed, every eyes closed. These three verses are on my heart today. Back to Romans 8, 28. In this moment you need to know in your suffering that God will work all things for the good of those who love Him. Stay in love with Him. Keep following him in your moment. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. Receive this today. Because of the Lord's great love. You will not be consumed by this suffering. His compassion never fails. They are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. In Jesus name, receive it. John 11:25 and 26. That he is the Resurrection and the life right now. God, we let you come on, everyone in the sound of a voice. We let you into our suffering. We receive that truth. We put our feet on that truth. But God, we also receive the grace you demonstrated to Mary. Do you know Jesus right now wants to step in so you're not alone in your suffering. Would you invite his presence into your situation? Maybe you haven't yet. Come on, this is your moment. Reach out to him. Jesus, we reach out to you and we invite you into our marriage, our finances, our future, our fear, our anxiety. We invite you and Holy Spirit step in and even as he does, in Jesus name right now, receive the peace of God that transcends understanding. You're still in the situation, but now you have peace. God, we receive your power, we receive your strength, we receive your hope. Today all of us are still together here at the church in this moment, every location. If you're here today, maybe the truth, and there's a truth you need to receive more than any other. Maybe this is you today and that is the truth of salvation, that God can meet you right where you are and save you today. Not going to embarrass you or call you down front, but I cannot end this service without offering you the opportunity to begin a real relationship with Jesus. The Bible says for that to happen in a moment like this, all we have to do is confess and believe. So I want to pray a prayer if that's you, even if it's a rededication. This is your moment. Just pray with me in your heart. Say, Jesus, today I confess you as Lord and Savior. As Lord I commit. Come on, tell him to follow you all the days of my life. I choose your way over my way. God, I receive you as Savior. I'm telling that you're my Savior. I confess my sin. I ask you to forgive me in this moment. And God, I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit so I can walk out of here. Change, new and living for you. God, I pray for those who just made that decision, the best decision of their entire life. Bless them today in Jesus name. God, I pray one last time for all of us as we head into our week. In the middle of our trial, in the middle of this situation, we receive your truth, we receive your grace, we receive your love and we say you are a good, good God in Jesus name. Everybody said, come on, can you put your hands together and let's celebrate. Especially those who just made the decision for Jesus. So we're going to finish out together. Please, no One moving around, except for our ushers. You guys can make your way. A few things I want to walk us through. And then we're going to have a time of worship. And as I mentioned, our prayer teams are going to come down front. And so if you came prepared to give today, you can go ahead and get that ready. You know, worship is an expression or giving is an expression of worship. It's our chance really just to honor God uniquely through our generosity. And I, just as your pastor, want to say thank you. You are the most incredibly generous church on the planet. I know you don't do that for us, you do it for God. But I want to make sure, you know, we have the fear of the Lord to steward every single dollar for his glory. And here at Grants Mill, we have actually our pastor, Chris Irwin, who's been at Montgomery for 15 years. He and his wife Rachel are getting ready to launch Prattville, our Prattville campus, February 1st. That's just another sign of your generosity in action on mission. And so thank you for being so generous. And I want to pray a prayer over you as you give in a moment. If you have that connection card for those who just made a decision today, you know, church is not an event. Church is a family. And that connection card is our way to really get to know you. It's our first step in what will be a lifelong journey of doing life together. So if you got saved today, let us know that. We'll send you next steps. If you have a prayer request, if you're going through a situation that will be prayed over, every single one of them this week, it'd be our honor to do that. You can prepare that and then we'll have the buckets pass. You can drop it there in the bucket in a moment. If you would stand to your feet, I'm gonna pray. The buckets are gonna pass and then we're gonna worship. The prayer teams are gonna be down front at every location. If you're walking through a situation, please know it would be our honor today to pray with you and to agree in faith. Jesus, we love you. We're grateful today. We just reflect now on your goodness, your grace. God, I pray a blessing over those who are giving, either in this service or even online. Bless them, bless their gift, use it all for your glory. And we just say today we love you and we're grateful for who you are. In Jesus name, amen.