Sermon 3/08: Roll The Stone Away

Read John 11: 38-44

We all know and believe that Christ is Lord. Indeed that He is the resurrection and the only way to salvation. What we ignore sometimes is Christ’s call for our opening our hearts to Him for Him to cause a resurrection within us.

What are we saying? In the verses right before our scripture reading we see Jesus reiterating that He is the resurrection!! Verse 25,26 … 25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

In as much as the sisters believed that Jesus was Christ they implied to Him that had He been there the Lazarus would be alive! Verse 21"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But was Christ there? Indeed He was!! Look at His conversation in verse 11 to 15… 11After 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."
12His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." 13Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

When Jesus ‘finally’ arrived Lazarus had been dead four days!!! But still He went to the tomb and ordered the stone to be rolled away! How many of us have been in dead situations… for days? Your relationships, career, finances etc DEAD!! How often do we feel Jesus alienated from our situations? Its as if He is bila heart for what we are going through! The fact is that Jesus is never away. He is always there. Nothing takes Him by surprise. You see as Christians we have turned Romans 8:23 to a sort of cliché!! … that all things work together for good for they that love the LORD… but my dear brothers its ALL things working TOGETHER… your experiences, your dead moments, your alive moments, all moments… not for you but for Him. Remember Colosians 1:16 all things were made BY Him FOR Him !!

Next issue. When Christ finally got to the tomb He said… take the stone away. Martha’s response was "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." How many of us has Christ approached to cause a resurrection of our hearts (returning to our first love etc) and we consciously and unconsciously protest that there is a bad odor!! What could be bad odor you ask. May be its your pervasion, or corruption, may be it this bad relationship that you have been unable to get yourself out, may be you are struggling with drugs or pornography… the odor of your heart could be just about anything… and yet Christ states… take the stone away !!! brothers and sisters, watu… lets hear Christ’s call and take the stone away. Rev 3:20,21 says… 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Believe in your heart, confess with your mouth and let Jesus cause His resurrection for you today AND forever.

AMEN...

Preached By Pappa At The Mwafrika ChatRoom On Friday 30th May, 2008.