Well, we have a very special guest speaker.
You are going to love him this morning, then you're going to hear him later on tonight
at 6 p.m. at a comedy concert, Tivo the game, come to the concert, live tonight.
You won't want to miss it.
This morning he's going to do something a little bit different for you than the concert
tonight.
This morning, our guest speaker is going to explain the Bible passage for today.
Bob Stromberg has been a stand-up comedian for years.
You've probably seen him on stand-up specials on cable television.
He's also a playwright.
He co-wrote the play Triple Espresso, which is played to packed houses literally all over
the planet, has broken a house records at theaters from San Diego to Dublin to Frankfurt.
He's also a popular author, written books like Why Geese Fly Farther Than Eagles and
some wonderful children's books as well, and it is really a blessing to have Bob Stromberg
here today.
I'm going to give him a big Twin Lakes Church welcome this morning.
Thank you today.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for inviting me here.
I'm from St. Paul, Minnesota.
I talked to my wife this morning, 13 below zero this morning without windshield, and
she said the windows were rattling all night long, so it's 25 below zero, so I am happy
to be in California this morning.
Really looking forward to this evening.
I hope that you'll all come back.
We're going to have a great time.
I promise you.
Now, which game is second today?
Packers.
Packers and the Giants.
Yeah.
I was going to say, if it was the other way around, you don't even need to Tivo it.
So, inspiring to be here today, especially at the beginning of this mission's week.
It was so great to see these missionaries here today, and I've been inspired and really
given a vision, but partly from a long conversation with Renee, I'm thinking maybe I need to make
a career change.
He said there's a real need for missionaries in Fresno, and apparently there are many,
many lost people in Fresno.
Not spiritually lost, they're just lost, which is the reason.
When I publish a read to you, and my joy to read to you today, a great scripture text.
This is from John chapter 11.
I'm actually going to do something which I don't think happens all that much in churches
these days.
I'm going to read to you 44 verses today, which is unusual.
And so, I would ask that you, as I'm reading, I'm going to read it rather quickly for time's
sake, and I would just ask that you really try to hang in there and listen to the words
that are being spoken, rather than letting your mind fade off in other directions, which
is so easily, which happens so easily.
John chapter 11.
Now there was a man by the name of Lazarus, who became seriously ill.
He lived in Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.
Lazarus was the brother of Mary, who poured perfume upon the Lord and wiped his feet with
her hair.
So the sister sent word to Jesus, Lord, your friend is very ill.
When Jesus received the message, he said, this illness will not end in death.
It will bring glory to God, for it will show the glory of the Son of God.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard of Lazarus, Lazarus' illness, he stayed where he was two days longer.
Only then did he say to his disciples, let us go back into Judea.
Rabbi returned the disciples, only a few days ago the Jews were trying to stone you to death.
Are you going there again?
There are 12 hours of daylight every day, are there not?
He replied, Jesus, if a man walks in the daytime, he does not stumble before he has the daylight
to see by.
But if he walks at night, he stumbles because he has no light.
Jesus spoke these words.
Then after a pause, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going
to go wake him up.
And this his disciples said, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll be all right.
Actually Jesus has spoken about his death, but they thought that he was speaking about
falling into natural sleep.
This made Jesus tell them quite plainly, Lazarus has died, and I am glad that I was
not there for your sakes that you may learn to believe.
And now let us go to him.
Thomas, known as the twin, then said to his fellow disciples, come on, then let us go
and die with him.
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the grave four days.
Now Bethany is quite near Jerusalem, rather less than two miles away.
And many of the Jews would come out to see Martha and Mary to offer them sympathy over
their brother's death.
When Martha heard that Jesus was on his way, she went out and met him while Mary stayed
in the house.
If only you had been here, Lord, said Martha, my brother would never have died.
And I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask from him.
Your brother will rise again, Jesus replied to her.
I know, said Martha, that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.
I myself am the resurrection and the life, Jesus told her.
The man who believes in me will live even though he dies.
And anyone who was alive and believes in me will never die at all.
Can you believe that?
Yes, Lord replied, Martha, I do believe that you are Christ, the Son of God, the one who
was to come into the world.
Saying this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, whispering the masters here and
he's asking for you.
When Mary heard this, she sprang to her feet and went to him.
Now Jesus had not yet arrived at the village itself, but was still where Martha had met
him.
So when the Jews who had been comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and
go out, they followed her, imagining that she was going to the grave to weep there.
When Mary met Jesus, she looked at him and then fell down at his feet.
If only you had been here, Lord, she said, my brother would never have died.
When Jesus saw Mary weep and noticed the tears of the Jews who came where he was deeply moved
and visibly distressed.
Where have you laid him?
He asked.
Lord come and see, they replied, and at this Jesus himself wept.
Look how much he loved him or marked the Jews, though some of them asked, could he not have
kept this man from dying if he could open that blind man's eyes?
Jesus again deeply moved and went on to the grave.
It was a cave and a stone lay in front of it.
Take away the stone, said Jesus.
But Lord said, Martha, the dead man's sister, he's been dead four days by this time he'd
be decaying.
Didn't I tell you, replied Jesus, that if you believe you would see the wonder of what
God can do, then they took the stone away and Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father,
I thank you that you have heard me.
I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of these people standing
here so that they may believe that you have sent me.
And when he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, Lazarus come out, and the dead
man came out, his hands and feet bound with grave clothes, and his face muffled with a
handkerchief.
Now unbind him, Jesus told them, and let him go home.
Let's pray.
God, I thank you for your word.
I thank you for calling us together.
I thank you for every single person who is seated here today.
I pray that you will speak to our hearts.
I pray that nothing that I say or do would get in the way of your truth being heard this
morning.
And I pray this in the strong name of your son, Jesus, amen.
I had heard this story about Lazarus from the time I was a very little boy, four, five,
six years old, having grown up in the church, and I'm very thankful for my heritage.
But I would also say this that for those of us who have heard these stories for 50 years,
it can be a problem because it's hard to come to these stories fresh.
We already know them.
We know how they begin, we know where they're going, and we know what the ending is going
to be.
So it's hard to read them again and come to the story fresh when we're having our own
time in the Word.
So it's so important, if that's your problem, as it is with mine, that we understand the
context of the story.
But we understand what happened before this story started, and what's going on in the
middle of this thing, and where the whole thing is going.
The context for John 11 that I just read to you begins in John chapter 10, where Jesus
and the disciples are in the city.
And Jesus is speaking the truth about his Father God, and he was, and they were almost
stoned to death.
They weren't actually stoned, but maybe a few of them flew over their heads.
It was very, very frightening.
There's a lesson to be learned here.
At any point in our lives, whether you are the youngest person here in this room or the
oldest, at the point in our lives, when we say, from this moment on, I am standing up
for God's truth.
In every situation, I am speaking on his behalf.
I'm not backing away anymore.
At the point that you say that, you can count upon people wanting to stone you, either literally,
as happens in some countries around the world, or at least figuratively, count.
It's a scriptural promise.
You will be hated when you stand up for God's truth.
You'll be loved in here, but you will be hated out there.
This is what happens.
Jesus speaks for his Father on his Father's behalf, speaking the Father's truth.
And the disciples got really scared, because they were standing as they often did up on
the platform, kind of watching, because they liked to be up there where they could see
things going on and to feel a part of what Jesus was doing, and they're watching the
facial expression.
I don't know if you've been to a stoning, but often you see this.
You watch, and when Jesus said something on behalf of his Father, the expressions changed,
and the disciples saw that.
And then they noticed.
It's kind of weird, but this always happens.
You notice that somebody will disappear down into the crowd and pick something up, or at
least ascend again, and then there's nudging going on.
And they got out just in time.
In fact, it said they slipped.
They weren't stoned.
They slipped through their midst.
I would love to know what that means.
Slipped through their midst.
What does that mean?
They escaped.
We understand that.
But what does that mean?
They slipped through their midst.
There's a big crowd there.
How'd they get away?
I mean, it might have been a Star Trek-ian kind of thing, where Jesus said, hold hands
with your guys, and they beamed away.
I am not a theologian, but I know that's not how it happened.
I know that.
You know how I know that?
Because those kinds of events happened in Scripture fairly often.
And when they did, when they do happen in Scripture, they are always described vividly.
If they had beamed away, the Scripture would say it was as if snowflakes fell through their
translucent bodies, there was a sound of a harp, and that they were no more.
Something like that.
But that's not what happened.
They slipped through their midst, they escaped, and they're outside the city a short distance,
a safe distance.
The disciples are very happy to be out here, and they're there for several days.
When Jesus receives a message from Mary and Martha.
You remember Mary and Martha are two unmarried sisters, Martha being the eldest.
Martha was the one who one day said to Mary, Mary, I've invited Jesus to come after the
sermon on Sunday, and what I would like to ask you, I'm going to leave before the sermon
so that I have time to come home here and get mom's barbecue going, because I think
I'm a little bit better at that.
But I will leave for you on the cutting board, fruits and vegetables, if you will just slice
and dice and toss an oil in the wooden bowl when you come home.
If you will just make sure that you and Jesus get here about once so you can slice and dice
and toss an oil.
And everything worked out just the way she expected.
She heard a little ding on the door because they had a little ding thing, and she looked
and oh, good, they're right on time, it's one o'clock, and it was, oh, the whole place
smelled like barbecue, it was just wonderful.
But she notices that Mary doesn't come into the kitchen.
She's supposed to, perhaps I forgot to tell you, slice and dice and toss an oil in the
wooden bowl.
But she doesn't come in, and they had these double swinging doors, you know, between the
kitchen and the living room, and Martha would go by and she would go, and she would butt
the door and go, and then she could see in there, and every time I went, and it was making
her more and more angry.
Every time I went, ugh, she noticed that Jesus was sitting on the couch, divan, they
called it in those days, and at her feet, Mary is sitting.
And do you know what they're doing?
At his feet?
Do you know what they're doing?
They're talking.
And this makes her more and more angry, and finally, she just, boom, she butts through
the door and she says, Jesus, excuse me.
But if you want to eat, then you'll have to let Martha or Mary come in the kitchen because
she's just going to be slicing and dicing and tossing an oil in the wind bowl.
And if you want to eat, then you'll have to let her come.
And listen to this, what Jesus said.
This is just wonderful.
Listen to what he says.
He says, Martha, Martha, relax, honey.
This is a very loose translation I'm using.
Very loose.
And we assume that she did.
They remain friends because this is the Mary and Martha who send the note to Jesus.
And the note says, dear Jesus, your friend Lazarus, our brother, your friend, who you
love, underlined, is very, very sick.
Please come very, very quickly or we're afraid he will no longer be very, very sick.
We're afraid he will be very, very dead.
Now listen to what Jesus does when he sees this.
I'd read this how many times that I heard and read this story, never pick this up.
When Jesus received the message, he said, this illness will not end in death.
It will bring glory to God for it will show the glory of the Son of God.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard of Lazarus illness, he stayed where he was two days longer.
That's a pretty sensitive thing to do, don't you think?
Whoa, look at this.
He is sick.
He may not make it.
Let's hang out here a couple more days.
Only then does he say to his disciples, let's go back into Judea.
Now you can bet when Jesus said, let's go back into Judea, you can bet there was some
eye contact in that circle of the disciples back there by the campfire.
They remembered Judea, the stones of Judea vividly.
They did not want to go back into Judea.
They were very happy out here and one of the disciples spoke up, we don't know which
disciple, but I would bet about a year's pay it was Peter.
One of the disciples spoke up and said, well Lord, it's fascinating that you would mention
Judea because just last night we were reminiscing about Judea and I know we feel that it may
be considering the danger there that we should probably hang out here for a few days longer.
Jesus said, there are 12 hours of daylight, are there not?
If a man walks in the daylight, he doesn't stumble because he has the light to see by,
but if he walks at night, he has no light, he runs the risk of falling.
Well Lord, thank you for that very fascinating and might I add impromptu lesson on darkness
and light, but if we could get back to the Judean situation for just a second, no, no,
you don't understand, Lazarus has fallen asleep, so we're going to go wake him up.
Well Lord, I know I speak on behalf of the whole John's idea, really, when I say that
considering the danger there, if Lazarus has fallen asleep, maybe we should let him wake
up all by himself, and then Jesus is forced to say, no, no, I don't mean he's fallen asleep,
I mean he's fallen dead, and I am glad this has happened because now you are going to
see how great God is, and then listen to this, because this is one of the few lines that
Thomas says in all of Scripture, for being such a famous guy, for being such a famous
biblical character, he had very few lines to memorize.
Thomas known as the twin, either ditimus is the actual Greek word, which either means
he was a twin, so he's known as a twin, or he was one of those people that people were
always going, you know, you remind me of something, Thomas known as the twin, then said to his
fellow disciples, come on then, let's go die with him, I love to know how he said it,
he didn't say it like that, he says it like that when I read it early in the morning,
they all speak like robots, they are all so boring, they aren't even human, when I don't
take the time to do the work that I'm required to do.
Thomas didn't say it like that, if he said it like that, he wouldn't have been called
Thomas the twin, even if he was, he'd be called Thomas the boring.
He might have said, come on then, go die with him, or he might have said, I don't know how
he said it, we're not giving any adverbs to describe it, but knowing the little bit we
know about Thomas, but he said, come on then, let's go die with him, they don't even get
to the city, when one of the sisters comes running out to meet Jesus, which sister might
you think, Martha came running out and listen to what she says, because she's tipped.
If only you had been here Lord, my brother would never have died, and I know that even
now you will give him whatever you ask for, your brother will rise, again, I know he will
rise on the resurrection day, I myself am the resurrection, listen, these are the words
they spoke, I mean allowing for those translation things from one language to the other, I understand
that there are those little tiny differences, these are the words that were spoken, but
I don't think this is what was being said, at least not from Martha, it doesn't take
very much getting into the story and imagining what's going on here to believe that Martha
said these words, but what she was saying is, where have you been?
That messenger said he put it right in your hand, wait four days, why didn't you come
if you had come, Lazarus wouldn't be dead.
Jesus said your brother will rise on the resurrection, great.
She goes running off and she says to Mary and she says Mary, Jesus is here finally.
Mary springs to her feet and runs out and listen to what Mary says, when Mary saw Jesus,
when Mary met Jesus she looked at him and then fell down at his feet.
Mary tell me read about this Mary, she's at his feet.
This is the Mary who wiped his feet with her hair with a perfume.
This is the Mary who was supposed to be slicing and dicing and tossing, but she was sitting
at his feet talking.
This is the Mary who runs out and falls at his feet.
Martha never fell at his feet, at least we don't read about it ever.
We never read about Martha being at his feet.
She might have been but we don't read about it, but every time Mary meets Jesus she falls
at his feet and listen to what she says, does this sound familiar?
If only you had been here Lord, my brother would never have died.
Same words that Martha said, exact same words, word for word, except perhaps when one sister
said it it was an expression of frustration and anger and bitterness that Jesus could
have been there and he didn't come and when another sister said it the very same words
it's an expression of faith and trust in Jesus.
I know if you'd been here, sadness certainly, but I know if you'd been here he wouldn't
have died.
Jesus himself wept and some of the Jews who were with Mary said look how much Jesus, boy
he must have loved Lazarus, even the rabbis weeping and others said well yes well if
he loved him so much then why wasn't he here, he kept that blind man, he made that blind
man see, made that crippled man walk surely he could have kept, Martha said he had it
like three or four days ago.
In the same group expressions of faith endow side by side.
Jesus said where have you laid him, they said Lord come and see and they took Jesus to the
dead man, it was a grave, a cave the grave was in and a stone was laid in front of it.
You'll understand the scene here, I've not been to this place that traditionally they
say is the place, I don't know how many people could squeeze in there but how many ever could
squeeze in they were squeezed in.
At this point in Jesus' ministry it was the apex of his popularity, from this moment on
everything went downtown, everything went downhill to Calvary.
This was the moment after which the Jewish leader said we got to figure out a way to
get rid of him, this is where that happens and then everything went downhill from there.
There was a multitude of people there, everywhere Jesus went at this point in his ministry there
was a multitude of people, if he went on a boat across the lake a multitude followed him
to the other side, if he went up the hill a multitude, thousands of people were often
with him, they're jammed in here by this cave and Jesus says roll away the stone, highly
unusual and one of the sisters objected to this, which sister might you think?
Martha said but Lord, is this necessary, it's been four days by this time he'll be decaying,
King James is wonderful says but Lord he's stinketh and Jesus said Martha didn't I tell
you if you believed you would see the wonder of what God can do and they rolled away the
stone boy he's got everybody's attention now they're just looking like this and then
he does something very unusual, he begins to pray out loud very loudly so that everybody
can hear, I have Sunday school pictures in my mind of Jesus doing that all the time praying
before large crowds, he hardly ever did it, hardly ever, when he prayed he went off to
lonely places secluded places all by himself, they didn't even know where he went to pray
and talk to his father God but not this day, he says God I know you hear me, I know you
know that you always hear me but I am saying this out loud right now so that this whole
multitude will know how great you are, boy they're looking just like this and then he
says hey Lazarus come on out and the dead man came out, I would love to know how the
dead man came out, no what to say and the dead man came out his hands and feet bound
with grave clothes and his face muffled with a handkerchief, what's that sound like to
you people, a mummy, the dead man came out like this, he can't see he's going, he's
bumping into the piano and you come back, there was big time audience response at that
moment, probably some up front went and took off, others went and you can bet more than
a few fell right upon their faces and started worshiping Jesus, the story's not done, Jesus
said you guys, here go on up there and unbind him so he can go home, can you imagine unwrapping
this man, just pray and it's the right guy, what a great story, the reason this story
is here is so that we might come to understand that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God
and that through believing in him we might have life in his name, that's what John says,
at the end of his gospel he says the reason this story and all the rest that I've written
are here is so that you may have life in his name, you may believe that he is the Messiah,
the Son of God, that's the primary reason, that this is the Messiah who not only turned
water to wine, no big deal, calm the storm, no bigger deal but no big deal, also the man
who gave sight to the blind and death to the hearing and the crippled man was able to walk
when Jesus healed him, not only that but this is Jesus who has power over death, death in
the life of Lazarus, four days dead, this is not swimming, this is dead, dead, this
is decaying dead but he also has power over death and life in our lives as well, that's
why it's written there, but there's more, there's always more in scripture, that's the
beautiful thing, there's always more in life people, if we pay attention, if we prayerfully
pay attention and say God, what would you teach me this day through your word, what
would you teach me, show me, what's a word, what's a phrase that would stand out to me
and when we do that and we take some time and I would say relaxed time to just enjoy
this story, there's no rush, you got a whole lifetime to read this stuff, read it again
and read it again and just relax and say God what would you show me, truths start to come
forward and often a pattern forms and I believe in this story we find in John chapter 11
a model for missions and each of us, this is what I believe, each of us can experience
a Lazarus miracle as we watch others by answering Jesus three calls to mission, number one,
Jesus said where have you laid him and they said Lord come and see and they took Jesus
to the dead man, don't you think Jesus could have found that dead man all by himself, absolutely
he could have, he knew these people, he'd say there are many times, Lazarus probably
said to him a few weeks before I've got a grave plot right in there, Jesus said yeah
I know that and even if he didn't know that in that culture all to this day all you need
to do to find the funeral is just listen, they hire professional weepers and moaners
and whalers, that's the tradition, that's what they do, four days, you just listen and
you just go to the funeral, that's all Jesus had to do, it was a tiny village too, he could
have found that dead man all by himself but he didn't, he said take me to them and they
took Jesus to the dead man, mission call number one, Jesus says take me to dead people, who
are the spiritually dead people in your life?
People who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, they are spiritually dead, Jesus says take
me to them, do you see them in your mind, sure you do, God's Holy Spirit puts those
pictures right in your mind, who are they, Jesus said take me to them, couldn't he go
all by himself, why do I have to help you Lord, can't you go all by yourself, you put
them on my mind, you can go, hardly ever happens, I can think of about three stories I've heard
in my whole life where Jesus went to somebody all by himself, amazing stories by the way,
hardly ever happens, why, because it's our job, Jesus said you take me to those people,
mission call number two, Jesus says roll away the stone, why did Jesus say roll away the
stone, well it's pretty obvious isn't it, I mean if he didn't say roll away the stone
Jesus could stand outside the tomb and go Lazarus come on out, Lazarus come forth, what's
Lazarus going to do, he can't hear, there's a big stone in the way, he can't get out,
I had a junior high school boy say to me one time after I shared this message, he goes
you know I don't really agree with what you said, I said really why, he goes well because
I was thinking you know about how in those days the stone, it wouldn't have been very
like cut real close, there would have been little cracks in the air, I'll bet you the
wars could have, he would have been able to hear and respond, I said well great so what's
he going to do, they come out there, bop himself to death two times in one week, that's a bad
week right there, no Jesus said roll away the stone so that Lazarus can clearly hear
my words and respond, you ever notice you take, you answer that first call to take Jesus
to dead people, you share your faith with these people, you ever notice sometimes they don't
get it at all, they don't understand their need, they're not understanding the stories
that you're telling, they don't get what you've done in your own life, they don't get it, it's
like they can't hear Jesus speaking to their hearts and that's what's happening because
there are stones in the way, stones are anything that gets in the way of a person being able
to hear Jesus speaking to them, what might those stones be, well persistent sin, some
people get a hold of a sin and they just hold on, keep practicing that sin, it's like a
huge stone that gets in the way, Jesus is going to be speaking they can't hear, addictive
behaviors of almost any sort can be huge stones, abuses from the past that many of us deal
with that quite naturally lead to distrust and anger and bitterness, huge stones need
to be rolled away or we can't hear Jesus talking to us, in the world at large probably the
biggest stone is poverty, any missionary here in the third world countries will tell you
you don't go into an African village where people are hungry and they don't have proper
clothing and they don't have proper housing, shelter and they have no medicine so they're
terribly sick, you don't go in and say hey don't you know how much God loves you, won't
you accept Him into your heart, they can't hear that until that stone is rolled away,
when the stone is rolled away and they've experienced that love of somebody helping
to roll that stone away, they respond to Jesus, I've worked to sponsoring kids through Compassionary
National for almost 20 years, 100,000 kids last year for the first time gave their life
to Christ for the first time, you go boy that's a lot of kids especially when they're sponsoring
slightly less than a million kids worldwide, 10% gave their life to Christ, well the reason
is they had that stone of poverty rolled away from them, they were sick little kids and
now they're healthy and they're going I want this Jesus who did this for me, number one
take me to debt, oh by the way if poverty is the biggest stone in the world then prosperity
would be the heaviest stone in the world and don't we know that, the more we have the more
difficult it is for us to hear Jesus talking to us, especially when He's saying I want
you to give away a good amount of this, give it away, boy we don't want to hear that, it's
a heavy heavy stone, needs to be rolled away if we're to respond to Jesus' words, to hear
His words to us, Jesus says number one mission call take me to debt people, number two roll
away stones, some of you would say I can't do that, I can't roll away those stones, I'm
not a counselor, I don't know how to do this, you pray for your friend, you pray and you
pray and you pray and you hold on to that friendship and you serve and you pray and Jesus will
bring other people into the situation and that stone will roll away, then Jesus says
I will speak the words and give them spiritual life, you have no power to do that, I find
that comforting, I like that idea, I can't give anybody spiritual life, all I can do
is take Him to debt people, I can roll away stones, He speaks the words, it gives spiritual
life to people's hearts, but then He says your job's not done, Jesus said unbind Him
so He can go where, home, mission call number three, keep each other unbound, unbind one
another, every day I find myself pulled back toward that sinful grave that stinks to high
heaven, but I find myself pulled that way and so do you, and when you see me, Bob Stromberg
messing around with the stuff of sin, it's your job to say to me, Bob, what is that around
your ankles, just some grave clothes, well what are they doing there, I was just by the
doorway there, I don't ever go all the way in, just around the door, no no no, if you're
wrapped up in the stuff of sin, believer, if you are wrapped up in the stuff of sin,
you cannot walk toward Jesus, if your face is covered with the stuff of sin, you can't
see His light, you can't go home, and that's our whole job to go home together, to live
in eternity with God, we're not very good in the church, we haven't been very good in
the church at rolling away, excuse me, at keeping each other unbound, because very often
we've said, hey who am I to judge, I can see she's messing up her life, but I'm sinful
too, so I'm not talking about judging, I'm talking here about loving, it's your job
and my job to keep each other unbound, three mission calls of Jesus, take me to dead people,
roll away stones, and unbind, say those to me once everybody, take me to dead people,
roll away stones, and unbind, all by yourself, okay my list may be twice that loud, here
we go, ready, I was kind of hoping that you might remember this for the rest of your life,
so let's get our bodies involved, use your left hand, here we go, ready, three mission
calls of Jesus, may we respond to those calls, and in the process may we experience that
Lazarus miracle in the lives around us, God bless you, thanks so much, amen, would you
pray with me, let's all bow our heads and close our eyes, and I want to lead you through
a three stage prayer based on what Bob just taught us, first Jesus says take me to dead
people and I want you to think of some people in your life who spiritually are dead, and
you know what, I'll bet you know people who would even identify themselves that way, they
would say man, I'm just dead inside, I'm spiritually dead, just in a moment of silence, pray for
those people by name right now, and if you can't think of somebody, ask God to bring
somebody to name, to mind, Father I pray that every single one of us would have the courage
to in a gentle respectful way introduce Jesus to people who spiritually are dead and need
to know Him, and now think of the stones in their lives, maybe addiction, maybe abuse,
maybe sorrow, and I want you to pray specifically for people that you know that need to have
stones rolled away, just in a moment of silence, pray for them right now, Heavenly Father I
pray that you would help us to help them through recovery ministries, through counseling,
through Bible studies, and other ministries here available through Twin Lakes Church and
other places, help us to roll stones away for people in our lives, and now grave clothes,
maybe you came here this morning and you're going that's great that we're reaching out
around the world, that's great that we're reaching out here with short term trips and
missionaries and Bob called us to do that, but I am bound up in sin right now, I am bound
up in sorrow right now, I've got a hurt, I've got a hang up, I've got a wound, and it's
really hurting me, and you need to be unbound, I just want to pray for you, God I pray that
those who feel bound up this morning would today be set free by Jesus Christ and would
know that Jesus loves them and wants them to be able to walk home, and God I pray that
you would give them the courage to even come forward this morning after the service so
that a pastor can pray for them that they would be unbound as people have in all the
services so far this weekend, Heavenly Father thank you for this message, help us to reach
out for Jesus Christ in whatever field and neighborhood and place we find ourselves in
in our lives because we've got good news to share, bless this world outreach week to
your glory in Jesus name, amen.
I tell you what it is so wonderful to hear from people who have careers that are not
just you know professional pastors but they've got a career in some other field and yet their
heart is just on fire for God and I hope that if there are any young people here today that
are interested in theater, live theater performing, you have just heard from a man who's really
luminary in the last few years in that field who loves God with all his heart and let's
thank Bob Stromberg again for sharing with us this morning.
And I hope you come back tonight to hear Bob's comedy concert, you're not going to believe
your eyes it's going to be fantastic, well as we close the service we're going to worship
God through the offering and we're going to sing a great song about the freedom that we
have in Jesus Christ.
If you're a guest, you are our guest, we don't charge for church, this is not like the admission
price for coming through the door, this is just the way that our normal regular members
and attenders give to what they see God doing here through Twin Lakes Church.
Enjoy the worship time as we close with a song about freedom in Jesus Christ.
Let's sing together right now.
Let's sing it out.
Through you the blind will see, through you the mute will see, through you the dead will
rise, through you our hearts will praise, through you the darkness flees, through you my heart
will sing, I am free, I am free, I am free to run, sing it, I am free to run, I am free
to run, I am free to dance, I am free to live for you, I am free to live for you, I am free
for you, I am free for you, I am free, I am free to run, through you the blind will see,
through you the mute will see, through you the dead will rise, through you our hearts
will praise, through you the darkness flees, through you my heart sweet, I am free, I am
free to run, I am free to run, I am free to dance, I am free to dance, I am free to
live for you, I am free to live for you, I am free, I am free to run, I am free to dance,
I am free to live for you, I am free to live for you, I am free, I am free, I am free
to dance, I am free, I am free to dance, live for you I'm free to run, I am free to dance,
I am the resurrection, I am the life I am the resurrection, I am the life
I am the resurrection.
