John 11:1-23

Where is he? How many times had she asked that question over the
past four days. Her only brother had come down with some mysterious
virus and nobody could do anything for him. Well, nobody except for
their friend Jesus. How many times had he reached out his hand and
blind people could see, or lame people could walk? If there was any
hope for Lazarus it would only be through his good buddy Jesus.
Granted she hadn’t actually asked Jesus to come, she had only sent
word that His friend was deathly ill. But if Jesus was the friend that he
professed to be, wouldn’t he have come? But she waited and Lazarus
got worse, and she waited, and she waited, and Lazarus died, and she
waited and Lazarus was buried. Jesus had healed the paralytic and he
didn’t even know that guy, he healed the blind man who was just some
random face in the crowd, surely he would show up for his friend. And
still the thought tormented her, where was he, surely she couldn’t
have misjudged Jesus so badly. He had eaten at their table and slept
under their roof surely that had meant something to him, or maybe
not.

And then a murmur began to weave it’s way through the crowd that
had gathered to mourn with the two sisters, the master is here, Jesus
has arrived. And Martha couldn’t help herself, she was on her feet
rushing to meet her friend. The thought that had burned in her heart
was already on her lips, John 11:21-22 (NIV) "Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died.” I don’t think it was said with a
mean or vindictive spirit, but I don’t think it was simply a statement of
fact either. I think she was disappointed and maybe she even felt
betrayed and I’m sure the question, even though unasked, could be
read in her eyes, “When you heard he was sick, why didn’t you come
then?”

Max Lucado says that “The grave unearths our view of God” And he’s
right. How often have we heard “God, if you existed my child wouldn’t
have died, if you’d have answered my prayers my life wouldn’t be
empty, if you cared my mother wouldn’t have developed cancer.”

How often are we guilty of dealing with God in that very same way, of
demanding to know why he doesn’t do it the way we want it done,
when we want it done. The experts tell us that it would have been a
day and a half walk from where Jesus heard the news to Bethlehem,
but Lazarus was in the grave for 4 days. So Jesus really took His time
getting there.
And then she said the most incredible thing, something that revealed
volumes about her character and her faith, John 11:22 But I know that
even now (that’s key, even now) God will give you whatever you ask."
Even now, she said. My brother’s been dead for quite a while, but even
now. Jesus I may not understand what you’ve done, I may not be able
to explain it, I may not like it, but even now I still believe that you are
capable of anything.
I want to cover 3 areas that I believe God can do EVEN NOW:
1) Even now God can do the impressive. I love the story of Gideon.
Maybe you don’t know it, after all it happened four or five thousand
years ago. It was during a time that Israel had come under foreign
rule, the story is found in the book of Judges. The Midianites had
conquered Israel and the people had run for the hills, literally living in
caves. Not satisfied with that the Midianites made a nasty habit out of
burning any Israelite fields they found and killing their animals.

In a situation like this who do you need? You need a hero, right? And
where do you find a hero? Well I checked the yellow pages online and
they skipped right from herbs to hobbies. But if you’re God you don’t
need the yellow pages and so an Angel was sent to a young farmer
named Gideon. Well to make a long story short Gideon raised up an
army of 32,000 men - not bad. But God said “Hey you guys could
defeat the Midianites all by yourself, tell anyone who is afraid to go
home” Well, it’s war – there’s death and stuff, if you give people the
option, there’s a good chance they’ll go home. So, 22,000 of them left
– Gideon lost 2/3 of his army. Imagine how Gideon must have felt. But
still 10,000 is better than none. But God said “Hey Gideon: you still
have too many, get everyone to drink from the stream and keep only
those who drink from their cupped hand” Well 9,700 of them knelt
down to drink and Gideon was left with 300 soldiers. To quote God in
Judges 7:7 "With the three hundred men here, I will save you and give
the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his
own place." And He did. Now that’s impressive. But not necessarily
impossible - impressive. You see, the three hundred men surround the
Midianite camp in the middle of the night each one armed with a
trumpet, a clay pot and a torch. On a prearranged signal they blow
their trumpets and smash their clay jars, wave their torches and yell
“For the Lord and for Gideon.” Well the Midianites were sleeping, so
they woke up, panicked, turned on each other, beat each other silly,
and retreated.

God does some impressive things in our lives, perhaps helping us deal
with anger, or helping our relationship with our spouse or our children.
People have prayed for work and found the perfect job. That’s
impressive. People have been sick and others have prayed for them
and they have gotten better, that’s impressive. God answers prayer in
an impressive way, but none of those things were impossible. People
have found the perfect job without praying, sick people have gotten
better without praying, relationships have been restored without God.
But, before we can move farther, we must first see that He does do
impressive things in answer to our prayers.

There are most likely situations in your life that you need to say, “Even
now I believe God can do some impressive things for me.” Maybe
you’re at the end of your rope in your marriage or frustrated with your
children and you feel like only a miracle could help, he’s still in the
miracle business. God still does the impressive. Throughout the Bible
we read how God stepped in and helped his people. Abraham, David,
Solomon, Joshua, Moses, Daniel - each one could tell an amazing story
of the impressive work that God did for them and even today there are
people who would confirm that even now, in 2004, God does the
impressive.

God has done impressive things with this church, four and a half years
ago Emmanuel’s House Church consisted of Myself, Malinda, a few
helpers, and a hamster named Hammy. Rest in peace, Hammy. Look
where we are today, impressive but not impossible. God can and will
continue to do the impressive through Emmanuel’s House Church.
When? Even Now.

2) But let’s move to the next step of faith: not just the impressive, but
Even Now God will do the improbable. Do you remember the story of
David and Goliath? It seemed like everyone wanted to whomp on
Israel at some point, and this time it was the Philistines. The story is
found in the book of 1 Samuel 17. The Israelites are on one hill, the
Philistines are on another hill and the Philistines trot out their
Champion, Goliath, and he was one big sucker standing over nine feet
tall. Throwing down a gauntlet Goliath says, 1 Samuel 17:8-9 “Choose
a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill
me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him,
you will become our subjects and serve us." Well, none of the Israelite
soldiers were all that excited about the prospect of a one-on-one battle
against this guys knee-caps. But along came David, not a soldier but a
shepherd, not an adult but a teenager and armed with a slingshot and
five smooth stones, he killed the giant and saved the day.

What would you say to that? A professional soldier armed with the
very best armaments available to him challenged by a mere boy with
little more then a toy. What are the chances of David being the victor.
Possible, but not probable. So, God not only does the impressive, he
does the improbable. Daniel surviving a night in a den full of lions,
Abraham and Sarah having a child in their nineties, Noah building a
450 foot boat miles from the nearest major body of water. Impossible
not, improbable yes.

And God does the improbable today. People addicted to one thing or
another who have tried everything to break that addiction have turned
to God and have conquered it. Possible yes, probable no. But even now
God does the improbable. Through prayer abusive husbands have
become loving mates, nagging wives have become encouragers and
impossible teens become our friends. Possible yes, probable no. But
even now God does the improbable. Cancer patients have been prayed
over and all traces of the disease have disappeared, Possible yes,
probable no. But even now God does the improbable. What are the
chances of a small Albanian nun winning a Nobel Peace Prize for her
work in India, as well as establishing hundreds of hospices around the
world. Possible yes, probable no. But even now God does the
improbable.

What are some of the improbable things that need to be done in your
life, things that just aren’t likely to happen? Need a personality
transplant – are you a real jerk - He can do that. Need self control, He
can do that. Do you have giants in your life that need to be put down,
he still defeats Goliath’s. And not only can he do the improbable in
your life, he can do the improbable in your church as well. He’s already
doing it. I mean, look around the room at each other. When you look
around, would you say it is likely that there are a few foreign
missionaries, several local missionaries, enough musicians for about 3
praise teams, artists, public speakers – we’ve ministered to people on
the streets, at concerts, at bible studies, in homeless shelters, we’ve
seen people healed, delivered, set free. We’re not talking about a
church of 500 here – we’re talking about God doing the impressive and
the improbable with people who are willing to submit to Him. God can
help us to minister in improbable ways to our community here in Royal
Oak. When? Even now.

3) But since we’ve established that God does the impressive and the
improbable, let’s talk about the final aspect: Even Now God does the
Impossible. Let’s return to our original story. Jesus’ friend Lazarus
becomes ill and his sisters send news to Jesus. As we noted before, in
the account we have, they don’t actually ask Jesus to come, but
judging by their reaction, they expected him to come. Not only did
they expect him to come, they expected him to come and heal their
brother. That much is evident in Martha’s words in John 11:21 (NIV)
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” and the
words of her sister in John 11:32 (NIV) "Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died." Now that’s pretty much laying it on
the line.

Now you would think that with expectations like that and knowing
Jesus the way we know him that he would have rushed to be with the
sisters, or maybe knowing that he wouldn’t have made it in time did a
God thing and zapped Lazarus back to health long distance.

John 11:5-6 (NIV) Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6
Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two
more days. Now I don’t know why Jesus waited two days, and I’m not
going to pretend I do. What we do know is that when Jesus heard the
news his friend was already dead and ready to be buried.

And then he came. But Lazarus had already been in the grave for four
days. And even though it would appear that Martha had reprimanded
Jesus for not being there sooner, that’s not at all what’s going on: she
basically tells him “It’s not too late because even now you can perform
a miracle.”

Could you do that? Standing next to your brother’s filled-in grave could
you express that type of faith in God? You see her statement was not
only saying that she believed that Jesus could raise her brother, but
that she would trust him even if he didn’t. A woman was talking to her
friend whose young son had cancer and she made the comment:
“Perhaps God will be good and heal your son,” the reply from the
mother was, “God is good whether he heals my son or not.” That is
what Martha was saying. Even now, I believe that you can do
anything.

But the story doesn’t end there, because Jesus goes to the tomb, let’s
read John’s account. John 11:38-44 (NIV) Jesus, once more deeply
moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the
entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha,
the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he
has been there four days." 40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that
if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" 41 So they took
away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you
that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I
said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may
believe that you sent me." 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a
loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his
hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his
face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
Now before we write this off to “well He was God, He can do those
things,” let me point out to you that Jesus said that we would do even
greater things – and He was specifically referring to miracles, if we
would simply believe.

This guy’s been dead five days, in the grave four days and he’s
brought back to life. That is impressive, that is improbable, and that is
impossible. Dead people don’t come back to life - that just doesn’t
happen. But it did happen, and it can still happen with God. You see it
is the reality of what the Angel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:37 “For
nothing is impossible with God," and Jesus summed it up when he said
in Luke 18:27 "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

God still does the impossible today. People can change their behavior,
but only God can change their hearts. What have you been told is
impossible in your life? Can you say with Martha Even now?
Say this in your mind with me: I can do ALL things through Christ who
strengthens me.
But wait a minute – I can fly like Superman if I want to? You’re
missing the whole point! What is it in your life that is in the will of God,
that you know God would be pleased about for your life, but you have
written it off as impossible – because you’ve listened to men, because
you’ve listened to demons, because you’ve listened to everything but
the voice of God telling you “I will do that if you will only trust me to.”
See, it’s about having your will submitted to His. When you love the
things God loves and hate the things God hates and you are in
constant communication with your Savior whom you have a deeply
intimate personal relationship with, then suddenly there are things in
life that are cooler than flying like Superman, but no less impossible.
Have I ever seen someone put a cape on and fly and do it in the name
of Jesus – no, I can honestly say I haven’t. But I have seen a woman
with a scar stretching from her neck to about halfway down her arm,
and I watched the scar physically disappear before my very eyes as I
prayed for her healing both on the inside and outside. I prayed for my
friend Dan O’ Donnell to be raised from the dead, and don’t you dare
tell me that I didn’t have enough faith – it was his time to die, because
we have all been appointed a time to die, and that was his. But as I
was praying, I felt convicted by the Holy Spirit that I was praying for
the wrong person, and I asked God who I should be praying for, and
he told me to pray for the guy in the car who lived through the car
wreck – he told me that even though it was hurting me so much, He
would help me grieve the loss later, but right now I need to switch my
focus because God is in the business of using bad situations and
bringing good out of them. He said to pray for this other guy in the car,
an unbeliever, that He could see the truth of what God wants to do
with his life. At that very moment, Dena Schultz looks over at me and
says “I think we need to switch our focus and start praying for so-and-
so. The next day we’re watching the news and there’s so-and-so on
the news, jumping and rejoicing and showing the “foolishness” of God.
News reporter says “why are you happy when your friend is dead?” He
says “Jesus saved my life. He saved me in more ways than one, and
you’d be happy too if your life was spared so that someone who
already knows Jesus could go and be with Him and you could get a
second chance at life.” Now, a guy getting saved after a car accident
that he should have died in? That’s not impossible, God chose to do
the improbable and the impressive instead that night – BUT it all
started with me believing that God could do the impossible. I said,
“raise my friend from the dead, God, I know you can do it.” He said,
“Luke, thanks for submitting your will to my will, but that’s not my will
tonight, will you submit to my will and pray for someone else even if it
hurts you to do so?” “Luke, thank you for believing me to do the
impossible, now let me show you my plans for the night, so that you
can be in line with them.” You know what all of this looks like without
an intimate relationship with God? It looks like praying a bunch of stuff
against His will, getting mad that He doesn’t do what you want, never
noticing or caring about what He is doing (never turning on the tv set
to see that man proclaim the gospel out of a tragedy), pouting and
getting bitter at God because you don’t get your way….that’s what it
looks like without an intimate relationship with your Savior. So you’d
better have one. Sometimes not having that relationship can look like
a false faith, where you are trying to build up faith in a God who can
do anything, but you have no relationship for a foundation to stand on,
so you start believing Satan’s lies. Like when Satan told Jesus to jump
and have the angels catch Him – that would have been miraculous,
right? But Jesus was in line with His father and knew it wasn’t His will.
Or when the voice of Satan is heard through some people by the cross,
saying to Jesus “you saved other people, now come down from that
cross and save yourself” – that’d be miraculous, right? But again,
Jesus could see past it and stayed in His Father’s will. Sometimes we
think we are seeing a miracle of God, but it’s really from the enemy,
and the only way to have discernment and know the difference is to
have a personal relationship with God. Only God can create. Satan can
not create, he can only distort what is already created. There’s a story
that illustrates this: Satan argued with Jesus one time about who had
the greater power! Satan said, ’I can do anything you can do only
better.’ Jesus replied, ’Ok, prove it, go ahead and try creating a man.’
Satan said, ’No problem,’ as he reached down and picked up a handful
of dirt and began to mold and shape it. With that, Jesus slapped his
hand and said, ’Get your own dirt!’ If we’re going to go to this next
level of faith, this believing God to do the impossible, we have to know
when it’s God rather than the enemy and we have to be able to discern
God’s will, and the only way to do any of that is to have a very close,
personal relationship with Him. That’s where it all begins. It really is
about being in the will of God and submitting to the will of God. I
wanted to pray for my friend in that car wreck, but that wasn’t the will
of God that night, and I was close enough to Him to know that. God
shut that door. And when God shuts the door, don’t try to get in
through the window. The will of God never will lead you where the
grace of God cannot keep you. He will give you everything you need if
you will just give up your right to take matters into your own hands
and trust Him to do the impossible. During Gladys Aylward’s harrowing
journey out of war-torn Yang Chen during the Communist take-over,
she faced one morning with no apparent hope of reaching safety. A 13-
year old girl tried to comfort her by saying, "Don’t forget what you told
us about Moses in the wilderness," to which Gladys Aylward replied,
"Yes, my dear, but I am not Moses." The young girl replied, "Yes, but
God is still God." That’s the faith of a child that we are told to have.
And faith that small, even as small as a mustard seed, will move
mountains if it be God’s will. God still does the impossible.

What would you have God do with Emmanuel’s House Church? Can
you see it as God sees it? Can you see it, not as it is, but as God would
make it? Close your eyes for a minute and answer this question, if E’s
House could be anything and do anything without taking into
consideration any human limits. Forget about money, buildings, staff -
what do you believe God can do with this church? Because even now
God can do the impossible. Whatever it is you see in your mind, I want
you to ask God to change it to fit in His will for this place, and then I
want you to pray it with all of your heart. If your brain just can’t seem
to get past human limitations of what is possible and what is not based
on OUR strength, then I want you to pray a simple prayer for a while
that goes like this: Lord I believe, help my unbelief.
Prayer: Jesus, we offer up our bodies to you as a living and holy
sacrifice of worship. We bring our entire lives to the altar of sacrifice
today. Jesus, there are things in our lives that we have bought into the
lie of believing will never change – Lord, we lay those at your feet in
worship, and we trust you to do the impossible. Lord, we thought you
only did miracles in the olden days. We repent, and lay that down at
your feet in worship. We thought we could invoke your name to do our
will instead of humbly submitting to you, we thought we could call on
you to do the miraculous when we don’t even know you. We repent,
and we want to know you. We want to call you Abba, Daddy. We want
to love the things you love, and hate the things you hate. We lay down
all the parts of our lives and all the sections of our hearts that we have
not given to you wholly and completely, and we give them to you
today, and we trust you Lord to do the impossible, and we submit to
your will in every way. Thank you for filling us with your Holy Spirit,
and may you continue to guide us and continue to guide this church.
We love you. Amen.