Three Observations From John 11 (by Bobby Thompson)

 It is hard to believe, but our blog has well over 600 posts.  These posts stretch all the way back to 2007.  From time to time, we like to re-post something from the past.  This is one of those posts.  It was written by Bobby Thompson and was originally posted in September of 2007.


John 11 records the familiar story of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead. Most people know the details of the events in the story, but have you ever stopped to think what we can learn about God through the words and acts of Jesus in this account? Here are three short observations and maybe you can think of more:

1. God is working in our lives for His glory.

If you look at verses 1-4 you will find two perspectives on the situation at hand. For Mary and Martha they saw a difficult and desperate situation – their brother was sick unto death. Jesus saw the situation through different eyes. He saw how the Father and the Son could receive glory in it (v.4) so he said, “This illness does not lead to death”. Yes, Lazarus did die, but ultimately Christ gave him life again in this age and in the age to come.

2. God is at the same time working in our lives for our good.

In verses five and six we read, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed two days longer in the place he was.” That is a pretty remarkable statement. What he said is essentially, “Because I love you, I am going to stay here and let Lazarus die.” This seems rather odd and unloving until we read verses 14-15, “Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.' ” You see, Jesus not only had the glory of God in mind, but also the good of his friends. He knew that they needed to trust him, more than Lazarus needed to live – Which leads into the third observation…

3. God is always working in our lives to produce faith in Him.

John 11:35 says, “Jesus wept.” Have you ever wondered why Jesus wept at this particular point in the story? I have often thought it had to do with his feelings for Lazarus or his empathy with Mary and Martha. The closer I look, it seems that he was weeping for their lack of faith. Earlier in the chapter Martha did respond in faith saying, “I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give to you.” Later however Mary came to Jesus with other Jews, and they were all distraught and weeping; It is at this point that Jesus also weeps. Surely Jesus had great affection for Lazarus and his sisters and friends, but more that anything he wanted was to see faith in God produced in them, and by application, in us also.

Extraordinary faith in God brings him great glory and us great satisfaction.

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For God So Loved the World (by Raquel Love)

Several of our teens will be competing in Word of Life's Regional Teens Involved competition in Jacksonville on Saturday, April 30.  One of them, Raquel Love, is competing in the Creative Writing - Prose category.  Below is the entry that she wrote for the competition.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)

John 3:16 has a special place in the hearts of all Christians. But perhaps no one really takes the time to understand what each word or phrase means. As each word or phrase is defined and explained below, perhaps you will find a new love for this wonderful verse.

“For God…” God is the Supreme deity. He is always there for us, whether we want Him or not. He is personally interested in us as individuals. The Bible says, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b) Even though God hates wickedness, He still desires His children’s holiness (II Peter 3:9-10). “He hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” Who is God in this passage? Is it Buddha? Is it Mohammed? No it’s God… The One and Only!!

“So loved…” This means He doesn’t like the conduct of men…He still has benevolent feelings towards them. Love is such a powerful word! There are three words for love in the Bible. One is agape, which is an unconditional, true to the nature of God kind of love. It is about who He is. (God is Love. 1 John 4:8). Another definition for love is eros, which is a physical, lustful feeling. And then there’s phileo. This is a person-to-person, brotherly love for one another. The love that John 3:16 is talking about is agape, because that’s the only kind of love that can save a sinner.

“The world…” The “world” is the ungodly multitude, the whole mass of alienated people from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ. God is not just talking about one continent; He is talking about the whole world we live in! Italy, Jamaica, Russia, Mexico, and America--He’s talking about these and more.

The all-powerful God of this world sent His only son, Jesus, to take the blame for our sins and put them on the cross for us! Now that’s amazing! Jesus took every sin of the world to the cross-- lying, cheating, stealing, and murdering. Then there are little sins like bad thoughts, grudges, poor attitudes, and other sins that nailed Him there. That’s why the death of Jesus is so important. He did that because He loves us that much! Who else would do that for all the people of the world?

“That whosoever …” Whosoever means every individual in the world.... It doesn’t matter whether they  believe in God or not. It doesn’t matter even if they don’t believe that God exists. He still loves them all equally. “Whosoever” means the very religious or the pagan who has never even heard of God!

“Believes in Him…” Believe means placing your confidence in, or trust in something. What is one thing that God can do that no one else can? God can take our sins away. Neither Buddha nor Mohammed can take our sins away. Just because mommy and daddy are Christians, doesn’t mean they can save us from our sins. Only God can save us from our sins. God is the only One! Anyone and everyone who believes in Him, and knows Jesus died for them on the cross, will live forever with Him!

“Shall not perish…” This means that when God comes to take us Christians to Heaven someday, we will not have to worry about the Wrath of Hell. We will be with God forever and ever!

“But have everlasting life.” Every person that knows Jesus as their personal Savior and knows He died for them on the cross will experience eternal life. All the Christians that will live in Heaven with God will be safe from the evil things of the world forever! That’s exciting!

God loves us! That is the triumphant message of the Bible. That is the greatest message we will ever hear. God wants us to know His love for us, so He demonstrated that love at great personal cost (Romans 5:8). God loves us! We know that because He gave his Son for us. He didn't want the power of "perish" to claim us, so He gave us the power of His love. He sacrificed so we could have life. God loves us! Don't ever doubt it. Don't let the evil one rob you of this life-giving truth. God loves you and wants to give you everlasting life!

Sermon Archives: Living Water

As you already know (hopefully), Pastor Osborne is preaching his way through the Gospel of John.  Early in the series, on September 27th, 2009, he preached a message from John 4 entitled Living Water.  You can also view the powerpoint notes.

In this message Pastor Osborne examined the Living Water that Jesus offered to the Samaritan Woman.  He concluded with the following five thoughts:

1. A sinner’s greatest need is the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
2. A believer’s greatest need is to understand and do the will of God.
3. For you who are empty – like the Samaritan woman – God is offering the incredible gift of eternal life through the blood of Jesus Christ.
4. For you who believe – like the disciples – God is offering you the opportunity to do His will and share in the joy of the harvest.
5. We have an incredible Savior – Jesus Christ – who gives us the grace to receive Him and gives us the grace to serve Him.

Seven Realities Binding True Believers to God

Sunday night, Pastor Osborne preached a message entitled Seven Realities Binding True Believers to God. He shared these seven realities from John 10:

1. Believers are His sheep.
2. Christ's sheep hear only His voice and follow only Him.
3. Christ's sheep have eternal life.
4. Christ gives eternal life to His sheep.
5. Christ promised His sheep will never perish.
6. No one, not false shepherds, false teachers, not even the devil himself is powerful enough to snatch Christ's sheep out of His hands.
7. Christ's sheep are not only held in His hands, but also in the hand of the Father.

You can listen to this sermon online at our website. The powerpoint notes are also available.