David Hughes - Pascuas La Prequela

**Rumbling, static noises** **Loud explosion** **Distant sirens** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Beep** **Rumbling, static noises** **Thank you for watching!** **Rumbling, static noises** **Silver and gold** **I'd rather have Jesus** **Than silver and gold** **No fame or fortune** **No riches untold** **I'd rather have Jesus**

**Than silver and gold** **Smile for me** **If you're thankful for Jesus** **Can you smile for me?** **If you can smile for me** **Can you just smile for me?** **Happy Easter Church by the Glades** **Beep** **Oh come on** **Say** **Open your eyes, lift your head high** **Know that your Jesus is on the way** **So fly, I'm still alive** **I made it through another day** **Whatever I lost is not the end** **There's no whatever hidden no more** **He'll do it again** **He'll do it again** **He'll do it again** **Let the church say amen** **Oh, while we stand to our feet, Church by the Glades** **Everybody in the room, stand to your feet** **You sing it out, say** **Melodies from heaven** **Rain down on me** **Rain down on me** **Yeah** **Melodies from heaven** **Melodies from heaven** **Rain down on me**

**Rain down on me** **Rain down on me** **It's your turn, say** **Be with your arms and hold me close** **Rain down on me** **Rain down on me** **Fill me with your** **Fill me with your precious hold me close** **Rain down on me** **Rain down on me** **Now it's your turn, you say** **Rain** **Hey, all my fellas say** **Rain** **Hey, if you hear me say** **Rain** **Everybody say** **Rain** **Lady** **Rain down on me** **Rain down on me** **Hit me higher** What I need You for is praise, praise, praise, praise, praise Melodies from heaven, praise God on me You made me see the church That's the problem with church these days. Church isn't supposed to be all this celebration and joy. It's time we get the hip-hop and the tick-tock out of the churches. If you leave church feeling good, then you didn't do it right. These young folks need a lesson in what church is really about. The concept of God was necessary in ancient times. Science disproved religion a century ago.

Faith is nothing more than an illusion. There is no need for God. God is simply a crutch for weak-minded people. You're always so behind, loser. Get a life. You're nothing to me. Why do you try? Now when you look desperate it's not that special. You're forgetful. That outfit was made for you. You feel sorry for your face. Get a life. Why do you try? Now when you look desperate it's not that special. You're forgetful. That outfit was made for you. Get a life. I call you Jesus. I call you, I call you healer. Risen and reigning in power. Something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior. Worthy of glory forever. Something comes out of the grave. Every time I call your name. I have a king with dominions over death. He holds the keys in his holy nail-scarred hands. He is the healer that has crushed the serpent's head. I'm resurrected. Great I am. I call you Jesus. I call you, I call you healer. Risen and reigning in power. Something comes out of the grave. ♪ Out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪

♪ Chains break, dry bones break ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The gates of hell shake ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Chains break, dry bones break ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The gates of hell shake ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, Jesus ♪ Come on, you sing. ♪ Oh, death is now your slave ♪ ♪ And where, O grave, your victory? ♪ ♪ Where, O death, is now your slave? ♪ ♪ And where, O grave, your victory? ♪ ♪ Where, O death, is now your slave? ♪ ♪ And where, O death, is now your victory? ♪ ♪ Death is coming, life, death is coming, life ♪ ♪ Death is coming, life, in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ You're a hero, you're blessed, you're weighted in power ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior ♪ ♪ Glory and glory forever, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave, every time I call your name ♪ Come on, you sing it out. ♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer ♪ ♪ Risen and reigning in power, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ Come on, you sing it out.

♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer ♪ ♪ Everything the mercy of God can do ♪ ♪ If you knew me then, you'd believe me now ♪ ♪ He turned my whole life upside down ♪ ♪ Took the old and he made it new ♪ ♪ That's just what the mercy of God can do ♪ ♪ Now I'm alive to tell the story how I've overcome ♪ ♪ By his goodness and mercy and the power of his blood ♪ ♪ I'm so glad that my freedom wasn't based on what I've done ♪ ♪ But his goodness and mercy and the power of the blood ♪ The power of my Savior's blood, oh, was the cross made for me that my Savior carried? Oh, I've been made free by the mercy of God. Was the grave meant for me where my sin lay buried? Now I stand redeemed by the mercy of God. Was the cross meant for me that my Savior carried? Oh, I've been made free by the mercy of God. Was the grave meant for me where my sin lay buried? Oh, I stand redeemed by the mercy of God. Now I'm alive to tell the story how I overcome by His goodness and mercy. And the power of His blood, I'm so glad that my freedom wasn't paid for what I've done. But it's goodness and mercy and the power of the blood. It's goodness and mercy and the power of the blood. God can wash away my sin. Come on, lift it up, sing.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, gracious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Oh, water from Thy flow. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Come on, every voice. You sing, sing. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Well, I don't always feel it Yeah, but that's when I need it the most So I'ma keep on singing Till my soul catches up with my song There's times when my hands go up free And times that it costs, oh And there's days when the praise comes out easy And days that it takes all the strength I've got Oh, I wrestle with the darkness But I'm trying to reach for the light Yeah, the struggle keeps me honest And it breaks down the walls of my pride Cause faith isn't proving like gold Till it's been through the fire Oh, my head, heart and hands are feeling heavy That's when I lift them just a little higher And I bring my heart, heart, heart there Been through hell, hallelujah Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

And I bring my storm, toss, torch there Story to tell, hallelujah Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Cause God, you've been patient God, you've been gracious Faithful, whatever I'm feeling or facing I'll bring my heart, heart, heart there In Israel, hallelujah Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh I'll bring my heart, heart, heart there Been through hell, hallelujah Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh And I bring my storm, toss, torch there Story to tell, hallelujah Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Cause God, you've been patient God, you've been gracious Faithful, whatever I'm feeling or facing I'll bring my heart, heart, heart there In Israel, hallelujah Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh It was an early Sunday morning For three women still in mourning Wondering who will roll the stone away for us As they walk towards the tomb of Jesus But oh, when they arrive They can't believe their eyes They see an angel in the same spot Where they saw their Savior lowered in the ground But now their Savior's nowhere to be found Which begs the question Where's their Savior now? And the angel answered He's alive He is not here He has risen today Come into the tomb See where his body lay And do you know why the stone was rolled away? Not to let Jesus out But to give us a way in So we could bury all our sin and shame And leave our burdens in his grave So for anyone that's holding on to faith Anyone that wants their life to change You don't have to wait another day Because today the stone is rolled away From the grave He rose

Won't you sing it to your feet as we praise our music here With the mighty triumph of Christ He rose He rose out of the earth From the dark of day And he lives forever With his name to the grave He rose He rose Hallelujah My heart will sing of the King Who forgave me And He suffered to save me He rose the stone away from the broken grave In the name of Jesus Christ Hallelujah Hallelujah He is alive He rose ♪ Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming in ♪ ♪ The mighty triumph over this world ♪ ♪ Heroes rising up from the dark, no name is better than You ♪ ♪ Thank You, Lord Jesus, thank You, thank You, heroes ♪ ♪ Heroes, hallelujah, heroes, heroes, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Heroes, heroes, heroes, heroes, hallelujah ♪ I know it is dangerous, but we wish for a risen King. I know it is dangerous, but we wish for a risen King. Oh, what's up, Church by the Glades? I'm going to start this way off. My doctors make me do cardio,

and I've been doing it a lot with weights, and every day they've got to add more cardio to take care of my heart, so I'm going to do this. My doctors are very good at it, and I'm doing it, so in my gym, there's a whole row in The Athletic Factor of machines, so I'm doing cardio in the elliptical, and it's not a favorite for me, but when I go to the gym, it's quite late in the afternoon, I'll select one, not on the extremities, like on machine number four, and I'm there doing my thing, and a new one comes to the gym. I'm almost the regular one, but I see a new one, and this guy, this guy, that guy, that guy picked this machine right next to mine. There's like a dozen machines nobody wants to pick, so he goes, and that guy picks this machine right next to mine, and that guy, that guy, everybody makes all kinds of noises around, all kinds of noises, he sweats profusely. That guy, that guy, who's that guy? That guy right there is putting up my personal space. God,

the great God of heaven, the God who made the universe with one word, the God of the Bible, is that guy, that kind of God. He will get all up your personal space, if you allow him to, but in beautiful, wonderful ways, God's highly relational God, and the last part of our presentation, thousands upon thousands of names, and when you saw in the initial presentation, all the names, we've been praying for you guys, to orchestrate the events, and God has orchestrated the events to welcome you to this room right now, and to meet you in a very real way. So, what are we talking about? It's Easter celebration right now, in this service. Easter is not just the most important miracle in the Bible, the resurrection of Christ. It's the most important event in human history, the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. When that happened, everything, for everyone, never changed, every man,

every woman, every man, every child, who ever lived, has a possibility in heaven, of forgiveness and a relationship with God, due to the empty tomb of Jesus. It's the greatest miracle, but it wasn't the first time he did it, it wasn't the first empty tomb, the first time that he emptied it. I want to do something, I want to take you to a story, before the story, I always cover the Easter story, but there's a story that happens in John chapter 11, I love this chapter, if I had time, I would go to everything, and if I had time, I would go to my favorite miracle, and of course, it would be the first resurrection, but I have a second election, which is going to be John 11, I want to do a study, verse by verse, because the miracle described here, has 44 verses, so I'm only going to give you

the elementary, we have a great verse, I love when Jesus says and promises in John chapter 11, verse 25, he says, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, even if he is dead, yet shall he live. So, my promises before you right now, before your Monday, in the morning, before your wedding, for your marriage, the money. This is going to stay with me." And he made that promise because he did the same thing. for your marriage, for your marriage, I love this because that guy, they talk about that guy who always makes you miss the movie when you're watching your favorite story, he shows up there. Not just, for example, it's the end of the series, and that guy who says, ah, he says, ah, this and that, they die. That guy, that guy who makes you miss everything, I'm going to be the bad guy and I'm going to make you miss the story. But where's the land? And what happens here, what Jesus does, in verse 43, he says, he calls out loud, he says, Lazarus, come out. Read the highlighted words. The dead man came out with his hands and feet wrapped around his face, and a sweat around his face. And he said, take off the grave clothes and let him go. And that's kind of weird. Jesus has just raised someone from the dead. He's been dead for the best part of the week. And Jesus speaks resurrection life in Lazarus. But when Lazarus comes out, you may not be familiar with this ritual of the Jews of the first century, but they did not mummify, but they wrapped their

dead in cloth, in rags, like a mummy. So when Lazarus came out, he was wrapped from the tip of his head to the tip of his toes. He was coming out like this. So Jesus says, well, let him go. Jesus, you had resurrection power. He could have changed his clothes, he could have just broken his fingers and taken him out in an Armani suit or something like that. But he says, let him go. You let him go. Unwrap him. And here's a detail in the Bible that has a purpose. I think all the details have a purpose, a reason. You can be touched by God with resurrection life. You can be saved and still not walk in freedom. You can be saved and still have bindings. You can be saved and not be there if you're not walking completely, if you're not taking small steps. We have habits, patterns, cycles that hold us back, that wrap us up. I'm imagining that his sisters and his people would be there, and they took the time to unwrap him. It takes time after you're saved to unwrap you from habits, attitudes, and these things. So in the series that begins exactly after Holy Week in both churches, in both campuses, it's about breaking bad habits and bad cycles. I need to break my addiction, for example. It's not something that, for example, losing weight or making my credit card pay completely, because I always try to do it and it never works. And because I always look for the same kind of man. Ah, Pastor, but he doesn't have a job, but he has great abs. So why if you come from a dysfunctional family? I don't believe in generational curses, but I believe in generational dysfunction. If you come from a family where no one graduates, where no one keeps a job, where marriages don't stay together, we can free ourselves from that. So it takes time to unwrap this. So if you're here for Holy Week, and this isn't, this comes one or two times a year, thank you for being here. But think about coming back. Give me four weeks. If it's a four-week series, give me four weeks to unwrap some of the bindings that you have in life. Whether you're a Christian or not, these habits are transferable, and you could have more freedom in your life. So come back. I mean, it's four weeks. Why? Because good habits are hard to keep, and bad habits are hard to break. So come back to get ourselves completely free. And this is the end of the story. In verse 25, the best of them, by the way, I have these Metta glasses that we're giving them in all the services. Someone said to me, is this a bribe? Yes, absolutely, yes. But guess what? When Lazarus was on his toes, and they had him unwrapped, where did they start? Lazarus was there, everything was wrapped around him, and maybe they unwrapped his hands and said, but his face was covered and he had been dead for four days.

I want to see in that case, I want to see, I want a vision, I want to see the sky again, I want to see the faces of my family, my friends. The vision is what takes you to your freedom. We are going to show you how to see your life when you are in Christ. So it's a gift with a purpose. I'm taking too long. Here's the rest of the story from the beginning. Here it says, a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, a town where his sisters Mary and Martha were. The sisters sent news to Jesus that he was in a distant place. Lord, the one you love. You're going to find this theme of love over and over again. But we have this family and Jesus loved this family. He loved Lazarus. There's all different kinds of families. This is not a typical family of a mom, dad, three kids, a golden dude, and a minivan. They were three brothers. There's no mention of spouses. There's no mention of parents. There's no kids. It seems like there's a lot of things missing in this home. But Jesus was present in this home. He was loved in this home. Jesus was involved in this home. This is the central piece here. We see it in the scriptures. They built a room for him near Jerusalem. And where he did his ministry, he stayed there. Because, well, it was a dangerous place because of the political intensity. And he stayed in the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. They loved him.

Not just him, but all the disciples. They took care of him. They fed him. They took care of him. They took care of him a lot. They took care of him financially. They honored him privately, personally. But the tragedy also came to this home. Lazarus was sick. He wasn't a flu. He was sick to death. So they sent a notification to Jesus. Now, the next verses leave me perplexed. You're going to see them on your screen now. Look it up in your Bible or see it on the screen. It says, Jesus loved Martha, and his sister, and Lazarus. But when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he, you would think he ran, he packed his bags, and he hurried, and he went to his sister, and he said, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, and he stayed.

He loved them one way, he loved them one way. He stayed, though he was desperately sick. If you're new in the church, I am a person that I'm going to tell you, I love to preach the good news of the gospel. There's a lot of good news, and I like to talk about the miracles, of the answered prayers, of the testimonies, of the liberations, but if you're upset with God because God hasn't come to your situation, and you've asked God to be that guy, and God hasn't appeared. In this sermon, I'm going to preach to so many people that came here in the Holy Week service, because you guys did a great job inviting people, a great job inviting people, but the main types of people that I'm going to focus on are some that when they needed God and they sincerely asked God to help them, God didn't show up. The second person is someone

that's here, that you believe in God, but he's not here. You say, thank you, preacher, I don't believe you, I'm here because I love my mom, and my mom asked me to come. That's wonderful, so let's applaud these people. They're people that don't believe in God, but they're here because they love their mom, but since they're here, let's be open, let's have a conversation. But for the first person, the first type of person, what do I do when I ask God to help God and he doesn't show up when I need him? They loved him, and this is something big, they reach out to Jesus, and he takes two more days. Why would he do this? I'm so intrigued, why would Jesus do this? What was he doing? Whatever he was doing, he kept doing whatever it was, and whatever it was he was doing,

he doesn't even mention it in the story. We see this here, we're talking about the fact that if John, who's here, The disciple who was not there with Jesus, yes, God put him in the place of Mary, and Lazarus, and Martha, and he was recording this part of the story during the days in which Jesus had stayed where he was. And here, Lazarus had a fever that was increasing, he was weakening. And they said to him, Lazarus, wait, don't give up. I know that Jesus is on His way and has heard our message. He loves you. He's coming for you. Hang in there, resist. Jesus doesn't show up. What do you do when God doesn't show up? This is something very strange to talk about, but there are times when you say, God, I need you. Hurry up, Jesus. I'm running out of time. Hurry up because my divorce is over next week. Hurry up because the doctor says that this is critical, or they say that this is out of business. They say that there is an exit notification at the door of my house. I need you now, Lord. And He doesn't show up. He didn't show up.

What He was doing, He kept doing what He was doing. And when He shows up, when He shows up, He shows up and the healing is lost, the funeral is lost, everything is lost. But God knows things that we don't know. He, the maker of the universe, lives out of time and space. He has a reason. Jesus knows, and He knows the rest of the chapter, but Martha and Mary don't know. And for their defense, nobody wanted to go back to Judea and Bethany, those were dangerous places because the opposition was violent. So the 12 disciples, if you read the text, they didn't want to go either. They said, Lord, this is risky. They said, they're going to kill you if you go back. They don't want to go. So in verse seven, Jesus says, I'm going to go back and touch my friend Lazarus. He says, no, he's probably dead. And Jesus says to them, Lazarus is asleep. I'm going to wake him up. And then in verse 12, they respond. His disciples said, Lord, if he's asleep, he will get better. I'm honored to have in the room to preach the gospel of the magical word. I hear a way better story, by the way. Pastor John Wilkes-Hydes of Vegas is going to be there. And I've read this story, one of my favorite stories, many times,

and I probably have two dozen sermons. It's one of my favorite miracles in the Bible. It's just an incredible miracle, right? But this verse, verse 12, fascinates me because it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense, right? It, wait a minute, you've got the flu and you're asleep, and that could be something that restores you. But if you're definitely sick in a critical way, before people die, they go into a coma. They go to sleep, and then they die. But look at this verse. His disciples responded, Lord, if he's asleep, he will get better. If he's asleep, he will get better. Do you know where this came from? I had to look hard on anything, because to look for an idea, it's not a biblical idea, it's not a Hebrew idea, it's a Greek idea. He had a God who was called Asclepius. He was not a very well-known God, like Athens or any of the others. He was a common thought among the Greeks, that if you worshiped this God, or you offered him a sacrifice of money, he would give you a dream, and there would be your remedy, or your healing. It was not a Jewish idea. But the disciples, they weren't Jewish, they were Galilean, they weren't urban centers,

they were more diverse. They were the Galileans of the Gentiles. So, they'd been mixed up with people, and somehow their disciples had this idea that it wasn't biblical, that if you slept, you'd get better. And it came from the pagan Greeks. They even called it superstition, but they called it science. It was the medical science of the time. The Greeks were the ones who knew about this, about philosophy, about theater, about democracy, and it all came from the Greeks. They were people of science. So, this God reveals itself to you when you sleep. So, this was science. If you have a scientific worldview, I like science, I don't hate science. And when I was a little kid, I wanted to be a scientist, and I wanted to be someone intelligent. But we have a lot of scientists, people with a PhD, in our churches, with different disciplines, and I respect scientists. In fact, I think, that you can easily reconcile the Bible and good science, because they're both true. Science is looking for the truth, and this, and the Bible is the word of God,

it's the truth, so the truth never hates the truth. So if you're a scientist, and you can reconcile this with the biblical vision of the world, what is difficult is bad science, and secular science does a good job, in my humble opinion, over the years, of seeing how much bad science has been in history, and we've believed that things are true and they're facts, and now we know that they're bad science, a geocentric vision of the universe, things like these incredible documents, medical science, and it's like the one where they put blood on your head to bleed you out, and that was a long time ago, and David, yes, science has evolved, but in the 40s, or the 50s, or the beginning of the 60s, when there were cigarette sales, that they used to have the doctors, the dentists, to have a healthy vision of smoking, we see this, and we see that it's bad science, that it's something terrible. So now we believe right now in a scientific dogma, and in a few generations, it's going to be bad science. So stay with me, people who don't believe in God, who don't, a person who gives me a few seconds to change their idea a little bit, I have this, I have the blessing of pastoring two churches, and this church, we have Church by the Glades, the best church on the planet, but I also pastored First Baptist for Rutherford Hills,

a great church in the city, and we see God do great things there. It's a beautiful property, this is one of the mini buildings, and it covers a full block of the city, but the oldest building is from the 47, it's near the corner, say you don't believe in God, you're just a garble about that beautiful place, and I ask you, hey, how did that building get there? Who's responsible for it? And you say, well, there was a builder, a building contract, and I ask you, have you seen it? Did you know it? Did you see it with your own eyes? It's probably dead, it's from the 47, but you recognize, logically, that a building required a builder. The universe, the universe, multiplied millions upon millions of times more sophisticated and sophisticated than a building, and the science would say, everything came from nothing. Nothing produced everything, the universe came from nothing, and nothing produced everything. Those scientists at one time observed, not the universe producing everything, not the universe producing everything, not a single time,

but you're believing that everything came from nothing, the science is based on observation, and we've never seen that nothing produces something. So one of the minds of science, atheists, as time went on, they became believers, because this mathematical precision of a designer led them to the idea that nothing was the origin of everything, but that nothing has ever produced everything. So science and God, they go together, but we also have bad science, don't let bad science make you miss a good God. I have to go back, do you see this story, this story of Lazarus? I don't understand if the resurrection of Jesus is a great story, that's Hollywood, the backbuster, what makes all the noise, but what does Hollywood do now when they have a great movie? What do they do? Like 25 sequels that come out, right? How many sequels do they have? 3,000, right? And they just run from sequel to sequel to sequel. And then, if they run out of sequels, what do they do? They make a prequel. John is the prequel.

John, look, we think it happens within two weeks of the resurrection of Jesus. From the empty tomb of Lazarus to the resurrection of Jesus is the great event. what happened. So this happened, boom, boom. This is the prequel. It's the prophetic, historical prediction of what Jesus was going to experience. I like it when Jesus finally tells his disciples, makes them understand what's going on, because we've thought it's something metaphorical, but he tells them in verse 14 and 15, he says, I'm glad I wasn't there. This is one of the things that Jesus has said that is most surprising. Let me break away from these additional words. He says, Lazarus is dead and I'm glad. That's what he's saying. Lazarus is dead and I'm glad. That would be the worst letter of condolence of all time, the letter of condolence of Hallmark. Dear Martha and Mary, Lazarus is dead and I'm glad. This is not that Jesus is unkind or that he's not careful, but Jesus being honest to death. The scholars, the scientists, we don't have an answer to death. Death is the final game. There's no victory. Death terrifies us. And this is Jesus talking to death, like it's not a big deal. And then it's almost over. Jesus finally gives them, he gets there, where he is, he gets there late. And once he appears in verse 21, Martha tells him, if you had been here, my brother, you would not have died. But, I like this, but I know that even now, God will give you what you ask. You see, here we see these two ideas. I like the honest faith. I like this kid-friending faith. This is a very bipolar belief. She believes, but she blames. If you had been here, she believes, but she blames. She's bitter, but she believes. She's broken, but she believes. She's upset, but she believes. It's been a little bit brutal, but she believes. You don't have to have a perfect faith. And by the way, Mary didn't even show up because Mary had an attitude. She was upset. Bring your attitude of the church. If you're upset with God, come. If you've had a bad week, come, show up. If they fired you, show up. There are more fights that occur in the way of the church, and it doesn't matter. Come, show up. Because here, when we get to verse 43, it's a powerful way of speaking. When Jesus saw Mary crying, with her negative attitude, he saw her crying, and he was deeply moved. Let's look at this, one of the strongest verses. He's upset. He's upset with Martha or Mary. He's upset with death. And those are the verses that we have. And he's so upset that he continues.

He says, where have they put him? And come and see, Lord, he says. And here is the shortest part of the Bible. He says, Jesus cried. I've tried to understand this my whole life, but this is God. This is the unlimited, most powerful maker of the universe. In all his power, he is not a partial God, but a total God. In Colossians 1, he says that Jesus made all the things that are seen and that are not seen, not to subdivide the two of the Trinity. He's the God who made the universe. He's God. He's Jesus, powerful. But this powerful God, like the ancients of mythology, like Rome, who was powerful, Zeus, the great God, and all of them, all kinds of them who were mean and capricious. But our God cries with people when people cry. And it's not like a little tear or like, it's something, it's a strong cry. He knows that he's going to lift up Lazarus. And this, and he hurts and cries. And he's upset. It's a repression more and more of the time. It's like, don't you dare, cut that out. Death, how dare you? How dare you take it out? How dare you break their hearts? I'm the Lord of life and death. Again, I know it's not Holy Week, I know this is a prequel, but the prequel is very good. And I've studied more of this sermon than anything I've studied in years. I've left more stuff in my kitchen to bring up a four-hour sermon. I've studied all of these studious preachers. And the best thing I got from someone from the 10th grade who said, Dad, it's great that Jesus can do this. He says, when Lazarus, Lazarus, because the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.

And we're the sequel. We're the sequel. Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and he loved us. And the Bible, again, this is a love story. How many times do you read the whole chapter? It says that God loved them, that Jesus loved them, that they loved him. How many times do you say, I don't know, but here's the king of the universe crying because he loved them in the prequel. Then he beat death in the blockbuster. There was death in the main movie, but we're the sequel. And you don't have 90 seconds to give your life to Jesus in this Holy Week. How many can see how much he loved them? Did you see how much he loves us? He left the glory of heaven to come to earth. Do you see how much he loves us? He will be the maker of the universe to be an undefended baby. See how much he loves us. See how much he loves us. Someone who had to live all this time, obey their parents, learn a trade, live like us. Born in a poor family without influence. See how much he loves us. He spent three years healing, teaching people.

Some people believed him. Others tried to destroy him. See how much he loves us. He poured into 12 disciples. He taught them to bring his message to the world. But they constantly had to argue with him. And they still denied him and abandoned him when they needed him the most. But see how much he loves us. And even though he never sinned, he only did God's will. He was betrayed, falsely accused, arrested, and was mocked and led to die the most painful death. See how much he loves us. He hung on a cross. Gave his life for your sin. He refused to lash out. He refused to lower himself from the cross, to protest. And with one word, an angel from heaven would have come to his defense. But see how much he loves us. See how much he loves us. And he said, Father, you have forsaken me. And then he could have stayed there for eternity. But for three days, the doer was in death, separated from the love of the Father. So see how much he loves us.

And then on the third day, on Easter Sunday morning, he's defeated death once and for all. He arose from the dead. He's reigning for ever. He's at the right hand of God, on a mount of glory, undefeated in victory. So if you confess with your mouth, with Jesus' Spirit, and believe in your heart, you may be saved. See how much he loves us. I don't care what part of the Gospel, or the prequel, or the main film, or the sequel, it's a love story that God wants to write with you. So I'm going to say a prayer. My prayer partners, if you don't want a religion, if you want a relationship, a romance with God, come and be a person saved. I'm not talking about my church, or a denomination. I want you to join the family of God so that you can see how much he loved you, that he died on a cross, that he suffered for you, so that he took the sin of the world for you, for me. Father, we thank you for the message of Holy Week,

everything that goes before and after the week. Holy, you are God. Thank you for loving us. And we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.