Easter 2024

“It’s not that I’m afraid of dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” — Woody Allen, Actor Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” — John 11:25-26 1. The Problem: Sickness and death. 2. The Tension: The delay. “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” — John 11:5–6 “So the sisters sent to him, saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’” — John 11:3–4 3. The Solution: Jesus’ response to the problem. “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.’” — John 11:25-26 Jesus brings a future event to the present. Jesus makes a doctrine personal. 4. The Question: Do you believe? “As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death.” — Ecclesiastes 8:8 (NIV)