God the Finisher...
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· 372 viewsGod is the ultimate finisher. He does not start anything He cannot finish. If He said it, it shall come to pass. If He started something in you, He will finish it.
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The Omniscient God
The Omniscient God
“Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
The Beginning and the end… First and Last… Alpha and Omega…
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
The Omnipotent God
The Omnipotent God
“Even from eternity I am He,
And there is none who can deliver out of My hand;
I act and who can reverse it?”
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?”
He is the God who formed the foundations of the world with the words of His mouth.
From the breath of His nostrils were the stars cast forth and hung in their place.
This God moves and Angels stand at attention.
When He speaks, creation springs forth…
He is awesome.. He is powerful… He is unparalleled… He is unprecedented..
He has no rival… He is not challenged…
He is all powerful… He is all knowing…
Omnipotence + Omniscience = the perfect finisher
God the Finisher
God the Finisher
Our Text:
Our Text:
Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
Context:
Context:
Jesus has been teaching and doing miracles.
He receives word that Lazarus is sick… but says:
This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.
He waits two more days before telling the disciples,
Lazarus has fallen asleep… He is dead. I am glad for your sake I was not there so you may believe…
When He gets there, Martha comes running out to Him, but Mary stayed in the house.
Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
“Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Does your doctrine distort your perspective?
I know the resurrection... Jesus says I AM the resurrection!
You know religion, but you’re missing the point!
“I go to church every Sunday” but you’re missing the fact that you ARE the church!!
“Well I read the Bible” but you’re missing the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us!!! Do you know HIM!?!?
Don’t let your religion get in the way of your relationship with Jesus...
What happens when the assumptions about what church should look like that are in no way reflected in scripture?
Carona & the Church building… The synagogs belonged to the Jews.
Get out of what you think Church is supposed to look like!
Wednesday night… What does revival look like?
Martha’s religion blinded her perspective.
How many answers have you missed because it doesn’t look like you expected?
Jesus didn’t look like they expected…
Martha tells Mary that Jesus is calling for her and Mary comes to Jesus. At this point we find out why she was still in the house…
Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
She blamed Jesus! After all, He sent a word to the centurion’s servant and healed him. Why could He not do the same thing for Lazarus?
Have you ever felt that way?
God, you did it for the early church, why are you not doing it now?
God, you healed the sick, open blinded eyes, and cleansed the leper, so why did she still die of cancer?
God, if you’re all powerful why won’t you stop the abuse in the world?
If you had been here, my brother would not have died!!!
Look at Jesus’ response:
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
2. You are not alone...
Jesus is deeply moved…
He is touched by the feeling of our infirmity…
In v. 35, JESUS WEEPS…
He is moved by their grief.
He is moved by your brokenness
He is moved by your pain…
He stands in the midst of the journey with you…
He has instructed us to stand together as one Body…
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
We are to be one body, unified in joy but also unified in grief.
and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
Let’s get to business... Where have you laid him?
Lazarus was dead, mourning and sorrow abounded, but you have to get through death to experience resurrection.
That’s why the same power that raised Jesus from the dead can reside in you because the same resurrection power that went through Jesus is the power that resurrected you.
We have been buried with Christ... (through death experience)
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
That’s why you can’t scare me...
that’s why I refuse to worry...
That’s why i’ve got peace in the midst of the storm
Peace that passes understanding....
I’ve already died!
Maybe the reason you stress about everything happening in the news is because you haven’t died!
You love your life too much to lay it down and die to yourself...
if you haven’t laid it all down, you’re not saved!
It’s time for you to get saved!!
Lay it all down.
You’re not saved because you go to church or because your parents are Christian.
You’re not saved because you volunteer at the food bank.
You’re saved when you lay down your life at the feet of Jesus, giving it all up!
Lay it all down.
All your struggles,
all your imperfections,
all your doubts and fears,
all you hate and all you love!!
Cast your cares on Him!
Resurrection power will revive what was dead in you, but first you must die!
Die to your self,
Die to your desires
Die to your passions
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
The only way to experience resurrection is through death!
Mid stream call for salvation…
Where have you laid him?…
So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
Lazarus death is a preview… Stone and all…
Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
Remove the stone… I’ve heard enough… I’ve cried enough… I’ve waited long enough… Remove the stone.
Four days… He’s not asleep… He’s not just swooning… He’s so dead he’s smelling…
We are past the point of no return… We are past healing at this stage…
Lazarus is gone! All hope is lost!
But Jesus shows up on the scene…
Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Did I not tell you?
Have I not already declared?
Is there anything too hard for me?
If I set it in motion, who can stop my plan?
“For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
I’m a good starter. I like to begin things, but I have a hard time finishing…
When God starts something you can be sure He has planned the end from the beginning…
If He said it, it shall come to pass…
God is a finisher!
Jesus knew before anyone else what the plan for Lazarus was!
Did I not tell you?
The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand,
It may not look like you imagined…
It may not be what you expected…
But God’s plan will prevail!!!
Mary and Martha both told Jesus.. If you had been here…
How many times have you advised God on the situation as if He didn’t already know what the best course of action was?
If you had been there!!.... If you had given me that job… If you had kept me away from those people… If you had done something different!!!
If you had been there, my brother wouldn’t have died!
Job had a similar response when God allowed him to be sick and in ruin… God answered like this:
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
“Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
“Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
“On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
When I made a cloud its garment
And thick darkness its swaddling band,
And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,
And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
And here shall your proud waves stop’?
“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
“It is changed like clay under the seal;
And they stand forth like a garment.
“From the wicked their light is withheld,
And the uplifted arm is broken.
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea
Or walked in the recesses of the deep?
“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
“Have you understood the expanse of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.
For 5 chapters, God responds in kind to Job…
Who are we to think we can somehow disrupt the plan of God?
If God sets it forth, it shall come to pass!
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Jesus knew Lazarus’ end from the beginning.
When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
God knows your end from the beginning!
He knows the number of hairs on your head…
Before you were formed in your mother’s womb He knew you…
If He promised it, it shall come to pass!
God is a finisher!
Here’s what we have to remember…
Our story is meant to reflect His glory…
When we are there for one another… When we support the body… When we seek first His kingdom…
We reflect His glory!