Easter 2012

(Revelation 1:18) (NLT) “I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”   (Romans 8:11) (NLT) “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”   Is there anything in your life that is dead, or is in the process of death?     (John 10:10) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.   Signs of Emotional Death:   1.    Exhaustion   2.    Emptiness   3.    Enslavement   (Revelation 1:18) (NLT) “I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.” (John 11:1-3) 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.” (John 11:4-6) When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.   (John 11:7) Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” (John 11:11-15) After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will 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, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” (John 11:16) Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”   (John 11:17) On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.   (John 11:20-23) When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” (John 11:24) Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (John 11:25) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”   (Revelation 21:5) And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”   Key #1: Believe