What Do You Believe?

John 11:3-4 NIV
So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he
heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s
glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
What We Can Do:
• Value your relationship with Jesus.
• Go to Jesus on the behalf of others.
John 11:5-8 NIV
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that
Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said
to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short
while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
John 11:11-13 NIV
…he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am
going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will
get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought
he meant natural sleep.
John 11:14-16 NIV
So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I
was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Then Thomas
(also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go,
that we may die with him.”
What We Can Do:
• FOLLOW wherever Jesus leads.
John 11:18-22 NIV
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. “Lord,” Martha said 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.”
What We Can Do:
• Stay FAITHFUL to Jesus regardless of the situation.
John 11:23-27 NIV
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know
he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am
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?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
What We Can Do:
• Stop letting my limited KNOWLEDGE of God hinder the unlimited
POWER of God.
John 11:32-35 NIV
When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his
feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
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. Jesus wept.
What We Can Do:
• Understand that Jesus LOVES YOU.
John 11:38-40 NIV
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a
stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,”
said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for
he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you
believe, you will see the glory of God?”
What We Can Do:
• Don’t let DOUBT take me OUT.
John 11:41-42 NIV
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I
thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I
said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe
that you sent me.”
John 11:43-44 NIV
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 a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes
and let him go.”
What We Can Do:
• RESPOND to Jesus’ command.
• ALLOW OTHERS to HELP ME become the person God intended me
to be.