What Jesus Did

Jesus told [###], "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, ###?"

—John 11:25-26 NLT

Key Thought​

You will never perish! Did you catch that promise embedded in Jesus' words? Jesus says: 1) Lazarus will be raised (right then); [1] 2) those whose bodies die will be raised to live again; and 3) for those of us who believe in him, our true selves...

 

Jesus told [###], "Your brother will rise again."
"Yes," [###] said, "he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day."

—John 11:23-24 NLT

Key Thought​

For everyone who dies before Jesus returns, there is the ultimate resurrection day. That will also be the day when Jesus comes in his heavenly glory and reveals the Kingdom of God in its fulness and perfection. For Christians, it will be a day of joy, victory, celebration, and glory. It is a day to cherish and...

 

When ### got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But ### stayed in the house. ### said to Jesus, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask."

—John 11:20-22 NLT

Key Thought​

Wow! ### spoke words that actually were greater than her understanding and her faith. Jesus would and could give her whatever he asked from the Father. Sometimes we let the evil one deceive us into thinking that...

 

When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss.

—John 11:17-19 NLT

Key Thought​

Did you ever notice that Jesus is the Lord over hopeless causes? Can you think of a funeral he attended that he didn't "ruin" by raising the dead person to life? [1] Remember the time he provided a picnic for more...

 

Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go [to Judea], too — and die with Jesus."

—John 11:16 NLT

Key Thought​

Martha and Mary will soon be challenged to believe in what they cannot understand. Before the sisters face their challenge, however, the disciples of Jesus must follow even though they don't understand but know they are risking their lives to follow. They are our examples. Do we have faith to follow in the face of danger and confusion? Do we...

 

Finally, [Jesus] said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea" [where ### was very sick].
But his disciples objected. "Rabbi," they said, "only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?"

Jesus replied, "There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light." Then he said, "Our friend ### has...

 

So although Jesus loved ###, ###, and ###, he stayed where he was for the next two days [even though ### was very sick].

—John 11:5-6 NLT

Key Thought​

Most of us will face the long dark night of the soul when it seems as if God is absent and our prayers are nothing more than wasted breath. If God doesn't respond when we want him to respond, his delay in acting seems uncaring. We can feel abandoned and unloved by the God on whom we depend and for whom we seek to live. I claim no...

 

[When Lazarus, their brother, was sick, ### and ###] sent a message to Jesus telling him, "Lord, your dear friend is very sick."
But when Jesus heard about it he said, "Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this."

—John 11:3-4 NLT

Key Thought​

Sometimes we have no answers, and all we can do is cry out to Jesus and ask for his help! We don't know what he knows. We can't see to the end of...

 

A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick.

—John 11:1-2 NLT

Key Thought​

While John tells us this story of Lazarus' sickness and death in today's verses and the following verses, this story is part of a much bigger story. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus are Jesus' disciples. Jesus knows them and loves them...

 

Once again [the Jews] tried to arrest [Jesus], but he got away and left them. He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile. And many followed him. "John didn't perform miraculous signs," they remarked to one another, "but everything he said about this man has come true." And many who were there believed in Jesus.

—John 10:39-42 NLT

Key Thought​

Isn't it amazing the power a godly legacy has on the hearts of those who loved the...