Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Lazarus Factor

Episode Date: August 7, 2026

When God doesn’t show up the way you expected, it doesn’t mean He’s absent. The delay, the silence, or the disappointment may be the very place He’s drawing close, revealing His glory in a way you couldn’t have seen before.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. God still shows up at the tomb of every Lazarus. And I want to show you the scripture that that line came from today. And then I want to speak to the Lazarus in your life. Everybody in here has a Lazarus, and everybody in here has a God. And today we just want to bring these things into God's presence for a few moments. John Chapter 11 is the scripture. Welcome to our eFAM around the world.

There are tens of thousands of people right now who are joining us on their devices. And let's thank God for them as well, that this word would be received in your life. I got smart to Vita. I brought my iPad today. My Bible, I'm preaching from John 11, and I'm covering quite a few verses of scripture. And my Bible yesterday kept blowing, the pages kept blowing. It wasn't the Holy Spirit, it was the air vent. And it just kept blowing to different scriptures.

And so I brought it on the iPad today. I hadn't preached from it in a long time. And it's locked and loaded and charged. And I want to preach to you, well, it's not locked. It's going horizontal. There's some old man stuff right here. You know, every preacher gets persecuted. Paul had shipwrecks, and I have iPads that go horizontal.

It's kind of on the same level, don't you think? But we're going to look at something today together from John chapter 11, verse 1. 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 the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So 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 that God's son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Everything up until this point, by the way, makes total sense to me. We're given the name of this man, Lazarus. His name literally means the one who God helps. Have you ever had God just help you out of a mess that you got yourself into or a mess that you could get yourself out of. His name means the one that God helps. And his sister was Martha. She's the one who made the mortgage payment. His other sister was Mary. She was a good listener. And Jesus liked

going by and visiting because Martha made these incredible lemon pepper wings. He liked to eat her food. And then Mary would sit at his feet and be disciples. And there's nothing better than somebody, well, I was going to say there's nothing better than a good listener, but a good cook is better than a good listener. And if you ever find a good cook and a good listener, marry him, marry her. And Jesus loved to go to this little place two miles outside of Jerusalem, and he would often be refreshed there in his ministry travels, but now they need his help. And it says that he loved them. He loved all of them. He loved Lazarus. He loved Mary. He loved Martha. And as Lazarus sickness begins to overtake the affairs of the family, Martha issues not necessarily an invitation.

to Jesus, but a request for help. Lord, the one you love is sick. I love how she phrased it. Send him a message. Say Lazarus, no, no, say the one you love is sick because he's very busy and we need to get him here. So let's just remind him of how much he loves Lazarus and get him here real quick so he can do that healing thing that he does for us. And everything makes sense, you know, that he loves them so he would come to them and he would visit them and he would help them because Lazarus name, It means help, so it's in his very nature to expect the help that his name identifies, just like as a child of God, you call on your father and you expect him to help you, and everything up until here makes sense. But the next verse is something that I want us to talk about for a few moments today, because some of you are at a place in your life that doesn't make sense anymore. And it's that I want to speak to.

It says that He loved them, that Jesus loved them. He really loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. 6. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. And that's what I wanted to work on together today, because it would be one thing if the Bible said he loved them, but he stayed where he was two more days. Because that would mean that he couldn't come. He had other people to help. But it says this interesting word, so, So he stayed where he was two more days. That means that verse six flows directly from verse five.

He loved them so he did not come when they wanted him. I want to talk about this today from my heart. I'm going to title this message, The Lazarus Factor. The Lazarus Factor. And Lord, I just pray that you would enable me to preach this word beyond my human understanding or my oratorical abilities. God, I pray that something would go forth from this pulpit today that would call forth from the hearts of your people the kind of faith that makes the difference.

In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. You may be seated. Spoiler alert, Lazarus dies and gets resurrected in John Chapter 11. I didn't want to leave you in suspense too long. But you ever think about how different people have different love languages? They have a book about it, The Five Love Languages. I'm so thankful that God gave me a wife that one of her love languages is physical touch.

Do you know how happy that makes me? What a blessing. I'm so glad her love language is an acts of service. I much prefer physical touch. Amen. You know what? God's love language is trust. If you were to ask me from just study.

the Bible for however many years I've been studying since I was 16, how does God receive love? He loves to be trusted. More than he even loves to hear you sing, and I'm not saying you don't have a great voice. He loves when you trust him. More than he even loves when you wear a cross around your neck, he loves when you trust him. More than he even loves, and I probably shouldn't say this as a pastor, but more than he even He even loves when you come to church. He loves when you trust him on Tuesday. He just loves

to be trusted. One of the most difficult things I think in our life is that we often equate love with comfort while God equates love with trust. If we are not studious and if we don't give attention to the scriptures, we will conflate and confuse our human definition of love with a divine love, a love that is not simply an action but in essence of who God is. I don't know about your first job, but I would put myself out there as maybe having the most interesting first job in the whole room because my first job at age 15 was to work at Petrest Cemetery and cremation service. And I'm proud of that. I did those funerals with dignity. And I lifted 180-pound bull mastiffs.

That's part of how I learned to, you know, preaching dead churches was... Because right after my ministry of burying dogs and cremating dogs, I had to go preach at Baptist churches. And, you know, the atmosphere could sometimes be real similar. Some of the churches. Don't be hateful. I'm just telling you about my experience. It was a good job. And people often judge me when I tell them, because you remember, we're not.

We used to go out there on the way to the mall, I'd tell Eric, I just need to stop by real quick and take care of these dogs real quick. And you could tell who your friends are when you stop by the crematory on the way to the mall, who your friends are, but some people would judge me. You tell them that you cremate dogs and they look at you like you deal drugs. It was a service with dignity. I'm again very proud of the fact that I was 15 years old with a job that paid $150 a week. Yeah. And I got my own beeper. Yeah, I don't know nothing. And you know what? I think that one of the worst jobs would have been to be the PR manager for Jesus Christ.

To have to explain his actions or to have to give a press conference for Jesus, especially when John Chapter 11 says things like he loved them. He received hospitality from them, but when it came time for him to help them, he stayed away two extra days because he loved them. It's an interesting construct, and we come to find in all of our lives the difference between God's job and our job. See, God's job is outcome. Your job is process. Can I preach a little bit to the three people who are awake? The longer that you think you can control outcomes in your life, the more frustration you are going to experience in this journey of faith. And many of us were taught starting out that faith was a way of controlling outcomes. It was like, if you pray this and do that, then you can expect this.

But everybody in here has a Lazarus. The Lazarus factor is the thing in your life that made the formula fall apart. The Lazarus factor is the thing in your life that caused you to question the very nature of faith. And start to see at this point in this passage that faith is rarely a form of manipulation by which we get God to keep our schedule. I've got news for you. God will not be manipulated. God will not be moved just because we get uncomfortable in a situation. And I hate to break it to you, but faith is not a means of manipulation.

It is a patience with mystery. The kind of mystery that can say on one hand, God can do anything. But in that very same breath that you say God can do anything, there is something in your life right now that God will not do, that you see in his word that he did for somebody else, but he has not done for you yet. I'm simply trying to say that everybody, in here has a Lazarus. Everybody in here has something that was supposed to be done. If God

really loved you, he would. If God really saw you, he would. If God was really strong like they say he is, he would. If God really had all power in his hand, he would have. Because we confuse God's love with proof in circumstantial evidence. We never really get to the foundational core that the love of God is not always proven by the way I feel his presence. The love of God is proven by the way I deal with his perceived absence. The love of God is not only proven in the times where I thank him for my blessings. The love of God is proven in my life where I cannot feel him, but by faith I praise him because he is God, even when I don't sense God, he is God.

And I wonder, is there anybody who's willing to give God a praise by faith in God? this place today at Gaston, at Blakeney, at Ballanty, at UC online. Give him a praise if you don't praise him for what he does but who he is. And they didn't have text messaging, so when Martha sent the message to Jesus, you need to get here quick. The one who you love needs your help. She would have to wait several days, two days to be exact, from the time the messenger got there until the time he got back. But there was one problem when the messenger started coming back to Bethany. He was by himself. He was supposed to bring Jesus. You know how it is when you see the person you didn't want to see

and they don't have the person with them that you really wanted to see? Where is he? She sent him a message and Jesus left Martha on red. You have been left on red. Honestly, I only became familiar with this phrase a few months ago, there was somebody I was ignoring and I ran into him in real life. He goes, bro. I'm like, praise the Lord. Brother. You know, I get real fake when I have to see somebody face to face that I don't like.

What's up, man? What's been going on? He's like, I've been texting you. You left me on red. You got a new number or something like that? No. Did you get my message? Yeah, I got it.

And then I faked a heart attack. You know, I didn't know what to do. Hey, Jesus, the one you love is sick. Hey, Jesus, I'm depressed. Hey, Jesus, I can hardly breathe right now. Hey, Jesus, I feel all alone. Hey, Jesus, I need to know how to make this decision. Hey, Jesus, I need you to show my husband how to stop being in a child.

how to stop being crazy. Hey, Jesus, I need you to do for my kids what Prozac can't do and calm them down. Hey, Jesus, I need you to straighten this out, and Jesus left Martha on red. Have you ever been left on red by God? Have you ever prayed a prayer that hit the ceiling? Have you ever prayed a prayer that bounced right back? Have you ever prayed a prayer that came back to you with such velocity that you barely got it out of your mouth?

before you had to stare at the same situation back in your face, and he left them on red because he loved them. Not because he was busy, but because he loved them so much, he didn't come. I don't know what to do with that. Humanly speaking, my love language is presence. I love you, pastor, but you don't come. You don't love me if you don't come. That's how I feel about it. People will say things sometimes, we're there with you in spirit. I appreciate that.

But there with me in spirit doesn't help me move these boxes. Huh? There with me in spirit doesn't cook chicken noodle soup when I have a cold. Talk to me, somebody. There with me in spirit. And then people are real annoying. They'll give you cliches and think that's supposed to comfort you. Well, if God put it on you, he won't give you any more than you can bear.

They always got a scripture for you, you know? That's why when I sent you the scripture the other day, I said, delete this if you don't want to see it right now, because sometimes the scripture is annoying. I love how you look at me when I say stuff like that. That's how I know I'm preaching good, because you give me that face. It's the face that you make when you thought it, but you would never say it out loud. is over. Take your mask off and admit for a moment. Come on, y'all, this is my job to say the stuff that you're thinking anyway so you don't think you're going to hell for thinking it. You can

have great faith and still be frustrated. You can have great faith and still wonder sometimes. What the? One day I'm going to put out a whole CD called Honest Worship. And it's going to have songs you love like, you're never going to let, never going to let me down, except that one time. You're never going to. It's going to have adlips like, you seldom lost a battle except when I was 14 and you're going to sing about the real situations. The one you love is sick. And we often conflate God's love with the circumstances of our life. Now, if you look to the circumstances of your life for the proof of God's love, you are looking for love in all the wrong places.

So Jesus says one of those things that could sound like a cliche on the surface. He says, this sickness will not end in death, but for the glory of God. Well, hallelujah. Do you know what I mean? God is your provider, but he's not paying my rent. The stuff you won't say. In fact, when we put this online, let's put the stuff you wish you had the guts to say. But Martha, Martha said it.

And I want to show you how she responded because everybody has a Lazarus. Everybody has something that God was supposed to do for you, that he did not do, What I love about the Bible is that it gives us the insight of hindsight. The insight of hindsight means I know why John wrote the book of John. Because at the end of it, he says, the reason I wrote all of this was that you may believe. And he organizes his gospel account. Now, if you ever read the Gospel of John, it reads differently than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Those are called the Synoptic Gospels.

It means optic, you know, like see with, sin, sin, sin with, see, with. They saw with one another. John's on a whole different wave. John takes seven signs that Jesus did, seven statements that Jesus made, and then he organizes it not as it's happening, but after it happened and after he has the insight of hindsight. So he addresses who Jesus is with a knowledge of what he came for after he saw him do all that he could do. The insight of hindsight is really powerful, but we don't live our lives with the insight of hindsight about every situation. I would like to suggest to you that Mary and Martha, who were mourning the loss of their brother Lazarus in John Chapter 11, never read John Chapter 12. That's just a guess, especially since John didn't write it until AD 85.

Jesus died in AD 32. So that means they didn't get to read chapter 12 while they had to live out chapter 11. Who am I preaching to who is in chapter 11 today? Let me show you something if you're in chapter 11. It's in verse 2. It's in parentheses. Now, I want to caution you, be very careful to never put a period where God put a parentheses. What do you mean by that?

I mean that some things in your life will make sense after the fact that don't make sense right now. And John chapter 11, verse 2 is very interesting, because it says not only did Mary cook for, not only did Martha cook for Jesus, but Mary worship Jesus. Give me verse 2. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. The only catch is this. That didn't happen until John chapter 12. That happened after what we are about to read. That happened after the revelation that Jesus was about to give. But the writer puts it in chapter 11, because if you do not see yourself worshiping in John chapter 12, you will not have the strength to wait in John

chapter 11. I don't know who this is for, but God said this morning, I want you to see yourself in John chapter 12. I want you to see yourself worshiping. I want you to see yourself grateful. I want you to see yourself restored. I want you to see yourself better. I want you to see yourself free. I want you to see yourself delivered. I want you to see yourself healed. I want you to see yourself with a testimony. Come on y'all. High five, twelve people tell them I read the next chapter. I found out it doesn't end death but for the glory of God. I speak that over your children. Your children will worship the Lord.

Your children's children will have a legacy. You will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Shout if you believe it. Now shout if you want to believe it, but it's kind of hard right now. God liked that second shout better than the first one. They say you've got to see it to believe it. God says you've got to believe it to see it. And what I love about it, y'all's it out.

Jesus has to break it down. You know, this is for those of us who are in the remedial class. And for the advanced students, the honor Christians, you can make your grocery list while I share this. But for the rest of us, the disciples, even the ones who follow Jesus, Even the ones who had the most exposure to him were constantly confused about his motives. And they doubted the outcome because they had not yet seen the cross. Even at the cross, most of them went home because they had not yet seen the resurrection. He's the God of the outcome.

He's the God of the outcome. I'm not. The reason I need that in my life is because all I can do is sow the sea. I was reading one scripture where Jesus said that we should pray to the Lord of the Harvest. For a long time, I read it just thinking about how we should pray, but then I thought about the fact that he called God the Lord of the Harvest. The harvest represents the result. The seed represents the process.

He's the Lord of the Harvest. He's the God of the Outcome. But I'm the Lord of the Seed. I decide what I sow. I decide what I withhold. He's the God of the outcome. And the only thing that's difficult for us in reading this passage is that we have the insight of hindsight.

The disciples didn't. So he said to his disciples, verse 7, let's 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. What they didn't understand is that Jesus was invincible until his assignment was complete. He wasn't going to die until it was time to die. He wasn't going to die on accident because there was a price on his head. He would only die at that penultimate glory moment where God was revealing and releasing the salvation that he brought him to earth to carry.

But they didn't know that. And see, we don't know that. You don't know when you're going through what you're going through, why you're going through what you're going through, but you're going to find out that this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God. So Jesus answered, verse 9, are there not 12 hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by the world's light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble for they have no light. Well, that clears it up.

Are we going to Judea or not? Are we going to help Lazarus or not? I know you feel this way when I preach sometimes. It's like, that's cute. But it's not any more clear. Because I still don't know what to do. So after he had said this, he breaks it down a little further, verse 11. Y'all enjoying this Bible study today?

After he said this, he went on to tell him, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. He means he's died. He's speaking symbolically. But the disciples are kind of literal. He says, he's fallen asleep. I'm going to wake him up. His disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he'll get better.

Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead. Make it plain, Jesus. Because I will always see things on the surface. See, everybody in here has a Lazarus, but I'm not just talking about a person that you've lost. Everybody in here has a Lazarus, but it might not be a relationship. Your Lazarus might be something in your character that you thought would be fixed by now.

And you send a message to Jesus saying, come over here to Bethany and see about me. over here and break these chains off of my life so I can serve you. Everybody in here has a Lazarus. I'm not a rookie pastor anymore. I've been at this about as long as my oldest son has been alive. And one thing I've learned is everybody has a Lazarus. Some people's Lazarus is buried so deep they forgot about it. It no longer even registers anymore because we've learned how to move on from the event,

but we never process the disappointment. And the Lazarus factor says that how you process the disappointment determines whether it becomes faith that propels you or fear that paralyzes you. So when they sent word to Jesus and he didn't come when they wanted, now they have a decision to make. If he did not come when we want him to come and did not do what we wanted him to do, does he still love us? This is the Lazarus factor. I know that he loves me, and I am no longer looking for proof of that fact. I am living from the proof that he loves me. This love is not based in just what he did.

Sometimes this love is proven by what he chooses not to do. Jesus said, I'm going to wake him up. And I love Thomas' fate. Watch this. He says, Jesus says, verse 15, I'm glad I was not there, so that You may believe, but let us go to him. And Thomas, also known as Didimus, said to the rest of the disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. What great faith.

Jesus says, I'm going to wake him up. And Thomas says, let's go die. The Lazarus factor is the faith to follow him anyway. This message is from my heart today because we all have a Lazarus. And whether that's a dream that didn't play out the way that you thought it would play out, or whether that's a way that you saw the most important relationships in your life materializing, you know, the starter kit version of Christianity that you started with. And now you're having to understand the fact that he loved them and he was still late.

God's never late. You never read the Bible. You just memorized the cliche. Jesus was late. I started to say he was fashionably late, but actually he was functionally late. It means he showed up late because of his love, because there was something about his character that they would not see if he showed up at the sick bed. He had to show up at the tomb so they could see something about him, not a new thing that he was, but what God is. doing in your life right now. He is going to show you his glory in a way you've never seen before. He's going to show you his demonstration of power in a way you haven't experienced it yet. And I know it's really difficult to stay in that place of faith. In fact, the Bible

says in verse 17 on his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now, this is significant to the Jewish audience. for which John intended this gospel account. They believed that within the first three days of death, the spirit could return to a man. It was a sort of superstitious belief that was common to Judaism in the first century. But Jesus waited until after their time period

expired to reveal his glory. I wonder, is God waiting past the point of your expectation so his strength can kick in with a new velocity? I feel your spirit, God. He showed up after 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. So they came to comfort Martha and Mary because that's all they could do. There's only so much people can do for you.

Even if they mean well, there's only so much your friends can do for you. Stop worshipping people. People can only do so much for you. Don't make them an idol. They are not your God. People can be a gift, but they cannot be your God. There are some things in my life that only Christ can do. There's some things I appreciate the help, I appreciate the prayers, I appreciate the well-wishes, but I need Jesus for this job.

This is a big one. I need the master. I need the healer. I need the great I am. I need the bread of life. I need the light of heaven. I need Jesus. I need Jesus.

Verse 20, when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. But Mary stayed home. We all have different ways of dealing with disappointment. Some of us get under the covers. I love Martha. She met him at the gate. Oh, you want to show up now. Welcome to Bethany.

The same Bethany you came to to eat my cooking. You came when I cooked, but you didn't come when I crept. It's good to see you. It would have been really good to see you about two days ago. It's good to see you. I appreciate the comfort. I appreciate the peace. But why didn't you just keep it from happening so I wouldn't need the peace?

The stuff you won't say. But Martha would. Oh, yes, she would. The significant thing is not even what she said. It's the fact that she showed up. She comes to Jesus at the gate. us at the gate. And this is funny because every other time he's been to Bethany, she let him in the house. Not this time. I love how God will come as far as we let him in our life. And she

met him at the gate. This is just a story about a man named Lazarus, but it's really a story about whatever you brought in here today that died on you. It's really a story. People say sometimes that when you preach, you shouldn't make the Bible about the people. It's about God. A woman named Mary. A woman named Marry. A woman named Marry. Martha, a man named Lazarus, a man named Jonathan, a woman named Rachel. I wish I had time to do every name in the house, but some of y'all got hard to pronounce names and you'd be embarrassing me. He deals with her individually, and she says exactly what she means. Lord, you're still Lord.

I love how she shifts the perspective from Lazarus to Lord. I love how she still has this understanding. Watch this. You didn't do what I wanted you to do, but that didn't change my understanding of who you are. I want to preach this kind of faith. So when he stays two more days instead of running to see about what you need him to see about, you won't change your mind about who he is. If you would have been here, she said, my brother would still be here.

If you would have been here, like you used to come here, when you needed a place to stay, and you didn't want to go on Airbnb. I'm not cooking for you this time. I'm upset. And she offers Jesus an honest assessment about what she expected. The most godly prayer you can pray is the most honest prayer you can pray. The most honest prayer you pray will be the most godly prayer that you pray. So she says, I expected you to come.

Did you not get the message? You left me on red. You left me in my hurt, and Lazarus kept getting sicker and sicker, and my faith got weaker and weaker. And at first I thought, well, just surely he's been detained, but then I found out you didn't come on purpose if you would have been here, if they would have raised me, if they wouldn't have abused me, if you would have stopped it, if you would have prevented it, if you can do all things, why didn't you do what I needed you to do that I've seen you do for others?

I saw you heal people. I saw you touched lives. I saw you take better care of people who treated you worse. But you have confused my love with conformity to your agenda. if you would have been here, Lazarus would not have died. And then something takes over, Martha, and I'm praying it'll take over us today, because everybody in here has got a Lazarus. Everybody in here has got something that you just bury, or you're in the process of burying. And there's a funeral going on at the same time that faith is trying to be born in your heart today, but something kicks into Mary's spirit. And she's like, if you would have, then we could have. But look at verse 22. But I know that even now.

And I want somebody to shout right now. Just say now. Now. God is present in this moment. God is with me in this season. God is for me in this moment. God is with me in this season. Shout now.

Now, I know that devil has been trying to keep you at the graveside. But let's bring our disappointment into the presence of God for a moment and declare that even now he is sovereign. Even now He is holy even now he is good even now he is working even now he's showing up Even now God will give you whatever you ask And Jesus said to her your brother will rise again and Martha answered I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day And Jesus said you're missing the point I am the resurrection and the life You keep trying to prove my presence by what I do, but I want you to see who I am, so I didn't do what you wanted me to do, because I needed you to see who I am.

I am a friend that stick it closer. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. Question, question, next verse, next verse. And whoever lives by believing me will never die. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Do I believe what, bro, preacher? Do you believe what I just said?

And she answers, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah. Now it's two things in the text, Elaine. One says, your brother will rise. one says I am the resurrection she says I believe that you are who you say you are I don't even know what you're going to do

but the Lazarus factor is that thing inside of you that somehow knows he is God I believe that you are it sure would have been nice if you had but even though you didn't you are

even though you didn't you are even though I wish you are even though I hoped you are even though I hoped you are even though he died you are even though it happened you are even though that's over even now I believe you are and God brings us to these points to see what we'll we do with our disappointment. She met him at the gate, and she confessed faith in him, even in the absence of the miracle that she so desperately needed. I believe that you are, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. And after verse 28, she had said this. She went back and called her sister Mary a sigh. The teacher is here, she said, and he's asking for you.

And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now, Jesus, I love the Bible. Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. He will stand where you need him to stand, and he will come as far as you invite him. So listen what that means. If you choose to keep God at a distance, he stood at the gate. And Mary was mad, too. I love how they were both mad, but they still got a miracle.

I don't know how this is going to go over, but give God an angry praise. Mary fell down at his feet, not in faith, but in frustration. But she came to him, and everybody followed her out there. Everybody that came around, Aunt Margaret, just started with the letter M, Mary, Martha, Margaret. She said, verse 32. She reached the place where he was and saw him and fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you have been here, brother would not have died. Jesus saw a weeping. The Jews who had come along with are also weeping. He was deeply moved in spirit and trouble. When he saw her pain, he participated

in it. The Lazarus factor is not only that God gives miracles in desperation. The Lazarus factor says that he is with us in the pain of disappointment as well. And he asked, Martha, do you believe this and he asked Mary for a location. Where did you lay him? Take me to that place. Not the place that you let everybody else see. That place. That place where you kind of buried your belief in God. It was a rejection, that place. It was a loss, that place. It was a betrayal. That place. It's a place where you feel exhausted, and it's sometimes a place where you're embarrassed of it. It's not the rooms in the house that you show the guests.

It's the other rooms. That place. What I couldn't figure out was why did Jesus wait when he could have come and spoken a word? And if he could have come and spoken a word, why didn't he just speak it from a distance? He didn't even have to come to Bethany to heal Lazarus. But I think he wanted us to see that he likes to come close to what other people would push away. Everybody has a Lazarus. Everybody has a turn that your life took that you didn't see coming and that God didn't prevent.

And as simple as this message may be, I think it may be the deepest one that you didn't see coming. you ever hear because God is saying, take me to that place. It is not a physical location. It is an emotional one. Take me to that place where you laid him, where you stopped being optimistic, where you started going through the motions, swinging an axe with no blade. Take me to that place where you just learned to manage the addiction rather than fighting it. Take me to that place where you just decided to show people a facade because you don't think they can handle what's really you in the core of your being, that place. Everybody has a Lazarus. And the question is not whether or not you have a Lazarus.

The question is, what are you going to do about it? going to do about it? Now Jesus made the trip to the tomb. And when he got there, some of y'all said you were going to memorize more scripture this year. I'm going to give you one to start verse 35. Jesus wept. So you can go home and tell somebody you memorize the whole Bible verse today. That's the whole verse. Jesus wept. How powerful that before he spoke the word, he wept. Before he demonstrates his authority, he demonstrates his empathy. He wants you to know, I'm with you while you're waiting for it. I'm with you while you're waiting for it. I'm with you. I was with you when you didn't see me. I was with you when you didn't feel me. I was with you when people

couldn't do it for you. I was with you. And he wept. And when they saw that, verse 36, many of the Jews gathered there said, see how he loved him. Look how much he loved him. And then some of the other Jews said, verse 37, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man? kept this man from dying. So now I got one voice saying, he loves you so much. And then I got another voice saying, if he loves me so much, then why? And the Bible says that Jesus, once more deeply moved, did not respond to their opinions, but operated according to his purpose.

I feel the presence of God in this place. Now watch this moment and receive it for your Lazarus in your life. It says, Jesus once more deeply moved, came to The tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. The stone across the entrance means nothing else is going in and nothing else is coming out. That's some of your hearts today. And then Jesus tells them something to do that he could have easily done without their help. Take away the stone. You know that crazy? He's about to raise this man from the dead, but he can't push the stone.

He could, but he didn't. Until the moment where you open yourself to the possibility that God can do it, your heart is a closed tomb, keeping dead things in. But here's what's beautiful. When Martha responded to Jesus' command, she was embarrassed because she didn't want to expose what was inside. She said, Lord, by this time, there's a bad odor. want anybody to see this. I don't want anybody to know this. I don't want anybody to know what's really going on in my heart. But then Jesus said something, did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God. And get ready to praise him by faith,

verse 41. They took away the stone. And Jesus looked up and said, get ready to praise him. Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know you always hear me. But I said it for you. them that they may believe, that they may believe. I sent you through trouble that you may believe. I sent you through the sea that you may believe that you sent me. And then Jesus, get ready to praise in verse 30, 43. Come on, come on. When he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, Lazarus.

Come out. Lazarus, come out. 44 when he said it the dead man came out the dead dream came out the dead date came out the dead day came out the dead place came to life the dry bones came together bone to bone here the word of the lord Lazarus come praising Lazarus in a loud voice he commanded that thing that was dead to come alive. And the Lazarus factor says, you don't always get Lazarus back, but his presence is always calling something forth.

Come on, let it sink in. You know I'm right about it. You know he's the God of the outcome. You know he's the God who is working all things together, right? You didn't forget that, did you, Martha? You didn't let your Lazarus convince you that he didn't love you. He loved Lazarus. He loves Larry Stevens Ferdick, Jr.

He loves Holly Anna Ferdig. He loved me so much that he let something die, showed up at the spot, and he's still showing up at the tomb of every Lazarus. They didn't want him to show up at the tomb. They wanted him to show up in the hospital room. And this place, I want you to know that even though it's not the place you plan to be, he's standing here. He has not forsaken you.

He has not abandoned you. In Greek, the word is ume. It means never. When he said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you? It's a double negative, ume. It means never, no never. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you that you heard us the first time. I thank you that there's nobody standing before you today who cannot declare that you are weeping

with us in our disappointment. And your word is going forth into our future. I speak to every Lazarus in this room today in the name of Jesus. I call joy forth in the name of Jesus. I call peace, purpose, and glory forth. For we know that this sickness does not end in death, but for the glory of God. The Lazarus factor, he is getting glory out of this situation. Look at me for one moment.

I'm over my time, but I've got to tell you something. It was the situation that gave the opportunity for Revelation. is doing that in your life right now. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. It's because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information.

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