Miracles of Jesus, October 11th, 2026

I've been at fellowship from the first day it started at the Anthony School, met my husband there. We got married early and raised four children, and now we have eight grandchildren. When I was 40 years old, my heart started racing like crazy, just out of the blue, I started feeling really bad. Well, I had a condition called SVT, super ventricular tachycardia. They gave me medication. I took it twice a day. It slowed my heart down for the most part, but it slowed my whole body down. My quality of life was not great. It was real hard to get up in the morning. I was sluggish and tired all the time. My husband and I, you know, we were active in our four kids' lives. I couldn't run if I needed to. I couldn't dance anymore. I couldn't walk upstairs. So fast forward to July the 20th, 2008. A friend invited me to St. Andrew's Church. They were having a night service, a praise and worship service. The pastor said, "Turn to the person next to you and tell them your prayer request." And so I said, "Well, I'm always praying that the Lord will heal my heart, but I don't think you will." But I think that's my prayer request. All of a sudden, I felt a warm, wonderful sensation. I don't know how to explain it, but I remember it. In the next morning, I woke up and I was feeling terrible. And I took my pulse and it was 42. That is so low. If you have a normal sinus rhythm and you take the heavy medication that I was taken, that's going to slow that heart rate way on down. So I called my cardiologist that I went to, you know, regularly for my condition. And he was a believer and I said, "I think God might have healed me." And he said, "Well, let's see." They did the EKG and all the things. And he said, "You have a normal sinus rhythm." He said, "Let's come back in six months and see." And then I did and it was a normal sinus rhythm.

He said, "Shannon, you don't ever have to come back again." I just kept taking my pulse every, like, minute. I know God healed me, but Lord, did you heal me? I mean, you know, I believe, help me to believe. And so I'm forever grateful for that. So my heart's healed, I've been praying for the Lord to heal me from my fears. I was afraid to fly in airplanes. I used to be afraid of elevators. I was afraid of tall buildings. I was afraid of staying by myself at night. I was afraid of being put to sleep in the hospital. I was afraid of germs. I was afraid that my husband would die or my children would die. I tried not to fear, but I couldn't do it on my own. And I didn't want to be like that. I wanted to be, you know, courageous and unafraid, but I could not help how my feelings were. My life is so much better being unafraid. And the Bible says, "Do not fear more than I think anything." I'm not sure, but it's a lot of times. I am not afraid of anything. Not only did he save me, miracle number one, he healed my heart number two, and then he delivered me from all my fears, number three. I just want to say thank you, Jesus. I love him so much. I mean, I've loved him since I was a little girl, but my love for him now is so much greater. And I trust him so much, and he's been so faithful to me. And we've been through hard, hard times, but I know he's there because he's been there for me all along. Psalm 105 says, "Tell about the wondrous acts of the Lord has done for you." Seeing his praises, tell everybody about what he's done, his marvelous deeds.

And so that's what I'm doing. Praise God. Listen, Church, to those of you here in the worship center, to those of you in the chapel. If you haven't met Shannon, I promise you, when you meet her, you'll see that she is just the same way on that video. As she is in person, her love for Jesus, her love for the Church, her love for God's people is infectious and we celebrate her for sharing that story. Praise God for the healing of her body and for our team for capturing that story. So can we celebrate again and praise God for that testimony of God's faithfulness and his power to heal? Well, Church, this is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad to end it. Again, good morning to those of you here in the worship center, to those of you in the chapel, to those of you viewing us online, so glad that you are worshiping with us today. My name is Justin Billson and I'm one of the four teaching pastors here at Fellowship and we're continuing, rather concluding, our series on the miracles of Jesus today. And so I want to invite you to join me in John chapter 11. That's where we're going to be today. John chapter 11 is where we're going to As you're turning there, I do want to say how godly proud I am of our church. And not just because of the things we do, I'm just godly proud of our church in general, and I don't know if you're like me. I love not in an arrogant way, but I love to brag on what God is doing in the life of our church across all seven campuses. And I love the way this past Wednesday, we were here on campus, my family, and I'm a wife and my children to see hundreds

and almost thousands of people scattered across this campus to see people sitting on the floor, writing notes on the wall to see grown men carrying armfuls of dolls and play-doh, stuffing them into bags, and to seeing all of our church campus this building. And not just here, we know across all of our campuses to participate in this initiative that we have set for this ministry year, which is to care for the kids, the families, and the workers in DCFS. And so thank you so much for the ways that you showed up, whether you dropped off a pack and had to leave, whether you stayed and were able to pack some packs, or whether you helped us to make sure that we got them set up. Thank you for what you did. And I also, and they didn't ask me to do this, but can you do me a favor, can we celebrate our missions team for coordinating all of this together? And all of the West Little Rock staff for pitching in to help to make sure, because the ways in which, and we heard the feedback from you all about how smooth it went to make sure that everything that you needed was there. Our missions team and the rest of our staff helped to make sure that that was easy and seamless. So I wanna just thank God for them,

for the work behind the scenes that they did to make this possible. I want you to know that this is the first step of the initiative. The second step is that we need your help on October the 17th, because we wanna distribute these packages, these backpacks to the families, to the kids who need them. And so we're gonna be canvassing the state of Arkansas on this coming Saturday. So there's a graphic on the screen there. You can scan the QR code. You can go to our website and sign up. We need as many hands as possible to distribute these packages to these families, to these kids and to the workers. What I'm excited about is that at most of, if not all of the locations that we're going to, throughout the state, there will be local churches that will be there in addition to us who will be connecting with these families so that we can make sure that as we're giving them these packs filled with Bibles and prayer cards, that they can get connected to a local church in their area so that they can be loved and cared for and supported. So again, would you make sure that you mark that date on your calendar and help us, we would love for you to be a part of wherever we're going throughout the state

because we want to make sure that we get those into the hands of those that we pack for and those who need it. So thank you for doing that. And we're excited about what God is going to do through that initiative. All right, well, let's go to John chapter 11. I'm going to walk through verses one through 44, but I want to read verse 38 through 44 just to lay the foundation for us today. So again, we'll walk through the entirety of the story, we just want to read these few verses to lay the foundation. Verse 38 says, "Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb." It was cave in a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone, Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. When he said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. A man who had died came out.

His hands and his feet bound with linen strips. And his face wrapped with a cloth." Jesus said to them, "I'm buying him and let him go." It's the word of the Lord to us today. As we finish this series on the miracles of Jesus, she'd been walking through over the past six weeks. I wanna talk today about the miracle of resurrection, the miracle of resurrection. Let's pray over our time in the word, Father. Thank you and your word is life and light to us. So as we approach this word, would you speak? The hearts are ready to receive what you have to say. Would this word challenge us? Would it encourage us? Would it sharpen us? Would it convict us in the areas that we need to grow? Let this word come alive in our hearts and let us be better today. and in your word, thank you that your word is truth. And it gives us the guidance that we need for our life. We're all in different places and spaces on our journey with you, but thank you that you speak to us. And Lord, we await what you have to say. We would be remiss, Lord, if we did not pray for those in the Gulf, those who have lost maybe belongings, damaged homes, Lord without power, maybe even some churches I would imagine today without power, struggling to try to figure out how they can care

for their members and those within their communities. Lord, we do pray for them and thank you that part of being a family of faith means that we don't have to know them to pray for them. And so Lord, we lift those who have been impacted, maybe even some in this room have family members who may have been and so Lord, we lift them up to you and you would be their peace, that you would be their strength and thank you that you provide exactly what they need, that even in these hard times that they would continue to look to you. In Jesus' name, amen. Church of passage before us in the Gospel of John chapter 11 is a profound passage because it displays the sovereign power and authority of the suffering servant who changes a hopeless situation in the lives of ordinary people. In the text, Jesus meets a family that is in the midst of their grief and it gives them hope through the miracle of resurrection. Today, as we are concluding this series, we approach one of the other miracles in the Gospel accounts, one of the famous accounts which is this story, this narrative account of the resurrection of Lazarus. So we find ourselves, John positions the reader now here in the story at the tomb of Lazarus to see this miraculous moment. Before we go into verse 38 to 44 to see this moment, let's go back to the beginning of verse one

to see how John lays the foundation and sets up the story. So if you have bulletin in front of you, you'll note that I divided this text up into four sections to help us break it up to make sense of the story. So the first section is verses one through 16. Verse one through 16, the reader is introduced to two sisters, Mary and Martha and their brother, Lazarus, who it is said live in the village of Bethany. And based on the way that John describes them, it would seem that the readers are possibly even familiar with these two sisters, mainly Mary because John says that she is the one who wiped Jesus's feet with her hair. It's possible that these two sisters are known within the village and John tells the reader that it was their brother, Mary and Martha's brother, Lazarus, who was ill. Lazarus was loved by Jesus, Jesus loved him and his sisters and they sent word to Jesus about his condition and when he received the news, he said that yes, this is the one I love, but this illness will not lead to death and God will be glorified through this. That's what he says in verse four. And then in verse six, notice that it says that he remained where he was for two more days. I gotta be honest, church, this seems odd to me because why if Jesus loved Lazarus and loved Mary and Martha, why would he stay where he was for two more days? If you really love them, why wouldn't you go immediately?

The answer to that question is actually revealed in the next section, verses 17 to 27. The Bible tells us that Jesus arrives with his disciples into the village of Bethany and they are told Jesus is made aware that Lazarus has now been dead for four days. It's important to understand that that four days is specific, it is intentional and to the Jewish, to the Jewish Christian reader who would understand the context of what that means, they know that that is important. Why is that important, Justin? It's important because in their context and culture, they believe that the soul or the spirit hovered around the body that had died for a maximum of three days in an attempt to try to reenter the body. But after the three days and the fourth day had taken place, that is when the body would start to show decomposition and an odor would start to set in and in their minds by the fourth day, the position they had was that the situation was irreversible by human standards. So that means that when Jesus showed up, there was no doubt in anyone's mind, it was clear that this situation was irreversible. It was four days Jesus knew and he heard from the people that Lazarus had been dead for four days. the situation was absolutely irreversible by human standards. But Jesus shows up.

Jesus shows up, he meets this family. He meets these sisters. They are now within that seven day traditional Jewish mourning period. They are within seven days of their mourning. And the Bible says that when Martha hears news that Jesus is outside verse 20 and 21, look at what she says, she goes outside and she says to Jesus, Lord, and I want to be careful not to read a tone into the text, but she says, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now notice it would be one thing if we stopped there. We could assume that she's frustrated with Jesus only, but keep reading verse 22 says, but even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. I want to pause here for a second because I love how relatable her response is to Jesus. Because it's this tension that she's wrestling with on one hand, she is most likely disappointed with Jesus because he should have showed up earlier because he showed up earlier Lazarus wouldn't have died. But she also knows that Jesus has a unique, has a divine connection with God that no one else has and no one else can do what Jesus can do. So if anyone can help, Jesus can. The Bible says Jesus looks at Martha in her grief and he says to her, your brother will rise again, but not just in the resurrection to come,

not just in the final resurrection, which is what they believed. No, Jesus says he will rise in this present age because Martha, guess what? I am the resurrection and the life. That's what he says to her. And then in verse 27, she responds with this powerful, gospel truth, she says, I believe you are the Christ, the son of God, and she believes in him. And yet she is still her and her sister and even the people around are wrestling with the reality of grief because Lazarus is dead. But verse 28 through 37, we see that Jesus is so moved by their grief that he wept with them. That's verse 35. You may remember, if you grew up in church, like I did as a child, I would always, my grandmother would ask the kids in Sunday school to pick their favorite verse and I would always try to show off and say, I memorize my scripture, just to what your scripture, John 11 and verse 35, Jesus wept. And she would always roll her eyes at me because she's like, that's what you memorize. You're old enough now to memorize more than two words, Justin, but Jesus wept. He wept at the tomb of Lazarus. And can we pause again just to acknowledge how beautiful is it that we have a Savior who will weep with us?

Who will weep with us? Because he's not intimidated by our emotions. No, he feels what we feel. And the text says in verse 35, yes, that he wept, but also in verse 33 as well that Jesus displays a divine compassion. You do know the divine compassion extends beyond human compassion. Human compassion says, I feel what you feel. I am giving and practicing empathy. I feel your heart, I wish there was something I could do, but there's nothing I can do to change your circumstance. But the difference between human compassion and divine compassion is this divine compassion says, I am moved by what you feel. And I have the authority to do something about it. Jesus displays divine compassion because he's the only one that can say, not only am I moved by what you feel, but I'm the only one that has authority to do something about it. He displayed compassion. He meets these sisters and these people in their grief. And he follows the will of his father and it would seem that Jesus shows up in a moment when all hope is lost. Lazarus has been dead for four days. It seems irreversible. It seems concluded nothing can change and yet Jesus shows up and displays his power.

Because now we approach again the verses we just read a few moments ago versus 38 through 44. Jesus is now standing at the tomb of Lazarus and notice what he says. He says to those who are standing by take away the stone. Martha again hears him and says, Jesus, Jesus, please, please, this is irreversible. He's been dead for four days. And if you open that tomb and you roll that stone away, there's an odor that's going to come out. He's thinking Jesus decomposition has set in and notice what Jesus says to her. why is this important church? It's important because he is reminding her that the miraculous resurrection reveals the glory of God in and through the person of Jesus Christ. And through this demonstration, many would come to believe in him. So Jesus says, "Take away the stone." And he then looks up to the Father and he prays, and what is beautiful about this prayer is that if you study chapter 10 and chapter 11, you'll see that this prayer is the affirmation of the words he has already said in John 10, 37 through 39. What do you mean, Justin? John 10, verse 37 through 39. Jesus says, "If I am not doing the works of my Father, "then do not believe me." But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and understand

that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. Jesus prayed this prayer and he said it aloud because he needed those around him to know that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. We are one. And so after Jesus finished praying, here's what happens. He cries out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. According to verse 44, "Lazarus came out of the tomb, "and Jesus said to the crowd, 'Unbind him, "and let him go.'" And just like that, a man who was once dead was now alive. There was some miracle, there was some miracle. And many believed and were in awe, but here we see, even if you look at verse 46, the Pharisees did not believe. As a matter of fact, because of this, they plotted and planned to arrest Jesus. But we know they could not hinder, we know the story. They could not hinder the sovereign plan of God because this story, believe it or not, points ahead to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because I don't know if you know this church, but this, John chapter 11, this raising of Lazarus from the dead is the last miracle that Jesus performs before he goes to the cross. And just like we see Book ended in the Gospel of John, John chapter two, the first miracle, the wedding, at Cain of Jesus turns water into wine to display the glory of God.

And this last final miracle before he goes to the cross, Jesus displays through the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, he displays the glory of God. And not only in these two stories, but in every other story, we've looked at in this series. That's why if you remember the story of the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda, talked about the provision of the miraculous catch of fish that caused two boats to almost sink because it was so heavy. Talk about the calming of the storm on the sea of Galilee. And Jesus said, "Peace be still." We talk about the healing of the paralytic. And not only did Jesus heal him, but he forgave his sins. And even Jesus healed his enemy, the soldier, who was trying to arrest him, Peter cut off his ear. But Jesus took his ear and put it back and restored him and healed him. All of these stories, in addition to what we see in John chapter 11, they all show God's glory. And that is why I am convinced that every miraculous story has been purposed to show and display God's glory. And that's why when I look at these stories, and I think about my story and your story, I believe. And I am convinced that God, and here's the fill in the blank on the bulletin if you've got it, here is the fill in the blank that God has been working in your story to show his glory. God has been working in your story to show his glory.

I know you hear that and say, "Well, Justin, "it sounds good, but it doesn't always feel like that." Doesn't always feel like that. Doesn't always seem like that, especially when I'm going through something hard, especially when I'm facing something difficult. How do I know that God is working in a story? You know God's working in your story because whether you realize it or not, you may have forgotten it, you need this reminder that you are living proof of the miraculous power of God. You are living proof of the miraculous power of God. But wait a minute, pause, Justin, I'm not like Shannon. I don't have a miraculous story of healing. I've never seen an experience to miracle in that way. And I hear what you're saying, but can I challenge you to consider that yes, I hear that you've never experienced a miracle of healing physically, but please don't forget that you have experienced a miracle. Really? Yes, you have experienced miracles. In fact, you've experienced the greatest miracle It's the greatest miracle. He saved you and he rescued you from your sin and he pulled you out of the clutches and the hands of the enemy. You've experienced the greatest miracle and that's why I love John chapter 11 because it is a shadow of what is to come in the story of Jesus Christ.

Do you realize that when Jesus was going to Judea, part of the reason why his disciples were afraid was because in John chapter 10, Jesus escaped from being stoned and nearly arrested because of his proclamation of the gospel and that he and the father were one. Many of the Jews wanted to stone him in Judea. So he fled, he escaped and he was staying where he was when he got the news about Lazarus. So for him to go back to Judea, which is where Bethany was, for him to go back to Judea was risking his life. So, Justin, are you telling me that Jesus risked his life to go raise Lazarus from the dead? Yes, he did, but please don't forget that not only did Jesus risk his life to raise Lazarus from the dead, but he gave his life to raise you and I from the dead. Okay, Jesus stands at the tomb of Lazarus in John chapter 11 and he tells them to take away the stone wide so that Lazarus can come out, but isn't it interesting in Matthew 28 that this stone is not rolled away so that Jesus can come out. The stone is rolled away so that the women and the disciples can go in and hear the angels say that he is not here. And isn't it also interesting that Lazarus comes out with his linen strips and the face cloth, but Jesus left his behind as evidence

and proof that he is not here? All I'm trying to get you to understand is that this story is pointing ahead, that something greater, someone greater is coming and the good news of the gospel is that when we see this story, when we see Jesus standing in front of this tomb and he speaks to this dead man and calls him by name, here's the good news of the gospel. The crucified Christ died with you in mind and today the risen savior calls you by name. The crucified Christ died with you in mind and today the risen savior calls you by name. If you are dead spiritually, if you've not placed your faith in Jesus Christ, the scripture is clear, you are dead spiritually. But I know someone, we see someone in this text, in the person of Jesus Christ who has the power to call those who are spiritually dead from death to life in him. As a matter of fact, you're sitting next to someone who had that same call that Jesus called us by name and we are now living in new life with him. And we have hope, we have hope in Christ's hope, not just in this life, but hope in the next life. And that's why even Paul says that when we lose someone naturally in this world and they've died in Christ that we do not grieve without hope because we know that we'll see them again. And I do have to acknowledge, because maybe for someone hearing this message

about the miracle of Lazarus' resurrection, maybe it hits different for you because maybe you can't help but think about the person in your family, the person you love that died, that passed away and you're wrestling with that tension and that grief, but I need you to know that even in the midst of your grief, you don't have to walk alone. That's why I just, I wanna pause and let you know if you are wrestling with grief, whether it's recent or it's been years and you're still trying to figure out how to work through it, don't do it alone. We've got a wonderful class that meets on Wednesdays called Griefshare. You can jump in at any time if you wanna know more about it. Let's stop our Connections Center. You can also email our care team, [email protected]. I wanna make sure that you know that if you're walking to grief, you do not have to walk alone. We wanna be the church that walks alongside and with you in your journey. So church in this story, you see the divine compassion of Christ, see the sovereign power of savior through this miraculous resurrection and we celebrate the text and yet also we have to lean in for just a moment and acknowledge this internal tension

that possibly this text may bring up. Because for some who may be hearing this message for the first time, the story for the first time, maybe there's a part of you that questions or wonders, did this really happen? I mean, it sounds good, it sounds cool. Justin, but did it really happen? Whereas my son was asking me this week as we were talking about the message. He said, "Dad, is this like Thriller?" No, no, no. Good question, but it's not the same thing. And again, I don't fault him for asking and making the connection because in a child's mind, the idea of someone dead coming back to life. I get it, it seems, are the worldly. So there are many who may argue in question the validity of this story, but those are not the people I wanna talk to, those who I wanna talk to today, are those who would look at this story and even reflect on Shannon's testimony and say as wonderful and as beautiful as that is, here's the question that keeps mulling over in my mind, Justin. The question is this, if God can do it for them, then why not me? Or let me push the question further, if God did it for them, then when will he do it for me? Or, here's another question I believe some of us may have asked at some point, is there something wrong with my faith

that he did it for them, but not for me? Friends, these are honest questions. I wish I could give you answers, but I cannot give you answers, but here's what I can't do. I can give you something to think about. Go back to verse 36 and 37, we'll put it on the screen. After Jesus weeps, verse 35, Jesus weeps, and notice what happens in verse 36 and 37, the Bible says it gives us two different responses in the text. It says that the Jews said, see how he loved him, Jesus, talking about how Jesus loved Lazarus. But some of them said, could not he, who opened the eyes, some of them said, could not he, who opened the eyes of the blind man, also have kept this man from dying? Now I gotta stop here, because this intrigues me, it intrigues me, because these responses, believe it or not, are more relatable than we probably ever imagined. Because one group sees the love of Jesus, but the other has the perspective that questions his character. One group sees Jesus displaying his compassion, and has the perspective of seeing his compassion, while the other wrestles with trying to understand why Jesus could but did not. When I saw that I was reminded, and I thought about and I realized I said, this is the same tension that many of us face when we wait and pray for a miracle. Because yes, we see and celebrate and praise God for what he is doing in our lives and in the lives of others, but we also struggle with this tension of wondering why God doesn't or didn't intervene when we thought he would.

Or maybe he did intervene, but it's not the way in which we wanted him to. That is a real tension, and it's hard to live with. And I've been there, and maybe you're there, and if you are there, may I encourage you to know that if you are feeling that tension, it is not an indication that your faith is weak or that you have a lack of commitment to God. But here's what I believe. I believe that this tension is an expression of how our faith matures as we learn to trust God while living with unanswered questions. Just to say that again, okay? Our faith matures as we learn to trust God while living with unanswered questions, which again is hard to do. Because if you're like me, I need to know, I need to understand. Because when I know, when I understand, it makes sense to me. But here's what I am learning in my journey with the Lord, that knowledge, that need to understand, that need to know. It reveals this tendency in my flesh to trust more in what I know than in the one who knows all. In other words, let me say it like this. There are times when I have to acknowledge that the real reason why I want to know and understand is because it makes me feel more secure and safe. But then I'm reminded that I don't put my security and safety in what I know. I put it in Jesus Christ. And that's why I recognize that when I don't have answers to the questions or when I get the answers to the questions, but I don't like the answers, I realize that the reality is I cannot change my circumstance, but I can't adjust my perspective. I cannot change my circumstance, but I can't adjust my perspective. And that's why verse 36 and 37 blessed me this week,

because it gives us two perspectives. And here's the question, Church, which perspective will you choose? Which perspective will you choose? Will you choose to only focus on what you lost? Oh, will you choose to celebrate what you have left? Will you choose to focus only on what is wrong? Oh, you choose to look for God's grace at work. Again, this adjustment of perspective does not always remove the tension, but it does teach us, you ready for this? It does teach us how to trust in the tension and to develop a godly, of tension, Lord, I believe, and yet I have these unanswered questions and I need to know and I want to know why and when and how long and how much longer and why or why not. You may get the answers, you may not on this side of heaven, but here's what I know. We have a Savior who meets us where we are. It's up to those who are still, even after these six weeks of praying and believing in this series and hearing all these messages about miracles, maybe as the series closes, you are still waiting and still praying and still believing and still struggling to hold on to hope. You're facing a hard situation or you're living with unanswered questions. Here's my prayer. It's one of your pastors, one of your teaching pastors. Here's my prayer for you. I pray that you would see the divine compassion of the Savior who says to you that I move by what you feel and I have the authority to do something about it. I pray that you remember, dear brother, dear sister, you are living proof of the miraculous power of God because you were saved from your sin. I pray and here's the film to blank. I know you're waiting for the last one. When is he going to get to this film to blank? I pray that you gain a godly perspective. I pray that you gain a godly perspective and know that you have a choice. The circumstances may not change on this side of heaven. We pray that they do. We pray that they change, that they get better, but they may not change this side of heaven. But if it doesn't, I pray that you gain a godly perspective and that you choose. It is a choice, a daily, moment-by-moment choice I choose to look for, to focus on, to see God's grace and his abiding presence in my life. I love this last line as I learn to embrace the tension and still trust. We read it again. I pray that we choose to see his grace and his abiding presence in our lives as we learn to embrace the tension and still trust. Let's pray. Father, thank you.

Thank you for the needed reminder today that you call us by name. This is you call Lazarus back from the dead. You have called us from death to life. I thank you if there's someone here today who is spiritually dead in their sins. You are calling their name. Thank you, Lord, that you call their name. You've not forgotten about them. You love them. You call them to yourself. Thank you, Lord, that you show us through this story that you are the Savior who is not intimidated by our grief, who is not intimidated by our tears, who does not shun us away or point the legalistic finger at us when we wrestle with our emotions. But you meet us. You weep with us. But you do not weep without understanding. You do not weep hopelessly. No, you weep while still knowing fully what is to come. And you remind us that we have hope in you because you know the way ahead. You are the resurrection and the life, and nothing is a surprise to you. You know the way that we take and you are in full control. Or thank you. Thank you that even in the midst of tension, I know that in our Christian walk, Lord, we don't always like to live in tension. We want things to be easy. We want things to be smooth. We want things to be steady. Lord, there are some rough days that we have. There are some hard days, hard days in our marriage, hard days in our singleness, hard days with our children, hard days in our body, hard days in our mind. There are hard days, hard months, hard seasons. Lord, help us to trust you. Help us to trust you when we don't always understand. Help us to trust you when we don't always agree with the decision that you make. Help us to trust you when we don't see the full picture. Help us to trust you. And to be able to sit in the tension, even if it doesn't fully go away, even if we still wrestle and understand or want to understand why. And even if we don't get the answer on this side of heaven, or even if we don't get the answer we like, or we thank you that our trust is in you. We know that you are good, that you are sovereign, that you are faithful. We know your character. You are holy. You are otherworldly and you love us. And so Lord, we know that all that you do is for your glory and it's for our good. It may not always feel good, but it's for our good. And you continue to shape us into the image of your son. So Father help us to trust you even when we don't see, even when we don't understand. Help us to trust you. And we thank you that you are in control. And you still work miracles. Thanks again for listening to the Word of God. We are blessed to reach you throughout the week through whatever platform you're listening on.

If you're needing prayer or you want to talk to someone about your walk with Jesus, reach out to us at fellowshipar.com/contact. Have a great week. (upbeat music)