May 17th, 2026 - Sunday Message

Devotional

Day 1: The Sickness That Glorifies

Lazarus lay fevered in Bethany. His sisters sent word to Jesus: “The one you love is ill.” Jesus stayed two more days. He let death win. He let grief pierce Mary and Martha. He let a tomb seal shut. All to show death’s true enemy. [09:04]

Jesus didn’t call sickness good. He called it conquered. Every illness – physical, relational, spiritual – becomes a battleground for God’s glory. The One who walked toward Lazarus’ decay walks toward your hidden wounds.

What brokenness have you sealed off like a tomb, believing even Jesus wouldn’t touch it?

“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany… So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’ 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.’”
(John 11:1,3-4, NIV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to reveal one area of hidden pain where He wants to display His glory.

Challenge: Write down one struggle you’ve kept private. Place it where you’ll see it daily.

Day 2: “I Am the Resurrection”

Martha met Jesus on the road. “If you’d been here…” Her accusation hung like burial cloths. Jesus didn’t defend His delay. He declared His identity: “I AM the resurrection.” Not “I bring” or “I teach” – He IS resurrection. Breath in bones. Dawn after midnight. [14:22]

Jesus didn’t soften death’s sting with platitudes. He absorbed it. Every funeral you’ve wept at, every diagnosis that shook you – He stands in those moments as Life Himself.

When have you substituted theology about Christ for direct reliance on His life-giving power?

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’”
(John 11:25-26, NIV)

Prayer: Confess aloud three times: “Jesus, You are my resurrection.”

Challenge: Tell one person today: “Christ conquered what frightens you most.”

Day 3: Tears Before Tombstones

Jesus wept. Not delicate tears – the Greek says He groaned aloud. He saw death’s vandalism: Martha’s clenched fists, Mary’s puffy eyes, a world gasping under sin’s curse. His tears affirmed their pain mattered. His next breath would shatter the tomb. [16:35]

God doesn’t spiritualize your grief. He enters it. The Man of Sorrows still kneels beside hospital beds, divorce courts, and gravesides – weeping before working.

Where have you assumed God is indifferent to your anguish?

“When Jesus saw her weeping… he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled… Jesus wept.”
(John 11:33,35, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for specific moments He wept with you.

Challenge: Call someone grieving. Say: “I’m not here to fix anything. I’m here to weep with you.”

Day 4: Lazarus, Come Forth!

Four-day-dead Lazarus heard his name. Not “Rise” or “Live” – “COME OUT.” Grave clothes fell from resurrected limbs. The crowd gasped. Martha’s “if only” became “He is!” Death’s stench became resurrection’s perfume. [19:48]

Jesus shouts your name through sin’s suffocation. His command breaks addiction’s wraps, depression’s shrouds, shame’s bindings. You’re called from death’s closet into light.

What grave clothes still entangle you despite new life?

“Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.”
(John 11:43-44, NIV)

Prayer: Name three “grave clothes” Jesus wants to remove today.

Challenge: Memorize Romans 6:11. Whisper it when temptation strikes.

Day 5: Ending Well Through the I AM

Lazarus died again. But his second death was mere doorway. Jesus’ “I AM” echoes past every grave. Your final breath becomes His victory cry. To end well isn’t about noble last words – it’s clinging to the One who said “I AM” before Abraham drew breath. [23:24]

Eternal life isn’t future tense. It’s present possession. Every Christ-follower lives backward – from resurrection certainty to today’s struggles.

Does your daily living reflect fear of death or confidence in the Life-Giver?

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
(Romans 8:1-2, NIV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to replace one fear of mortality with resurrection hope.

Challenge: Write your epitaph as if Christ’s resurrection defines your legacy.

Sermon Summary

John 11 sets the scene in Bethany, where Jesus loves Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and where sickness threatens to become the final word. Jesus says the illness is “for the glory of God,” not because God delights in pain, but because the Son will be shown as Lord even over death. The text moves the story from signs to glory, from wonders that point to who Jesus is to the place where his authority over life and death is openly displayed. Death, the last distortion of God’s good world, is finally brought into view.

Jesus delays two days. The delay is not neglect; it is the timing of God that confronts the fear that death gets the last say. When Jesus arrives, Martha’s ache puts words to what many feel: “Lord, if you had been here…” Jesus answers with a claim that shifts the ground beneath her feet: “I am the resurrection and the life.” The claim does not wait for the last day to have power. The person of Jesus brings resurrection life into the present, and Martha answers with a clear confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

Mary falls at his feet with the same sentence, and the grief of the crowd breaks open in front of Jesus. The tears of Jesus are not confusion about what is coming. Jesus weeps because he stands face to face with the wreckage sin has done to God’s good creation and to the people he loves. His tears say that the Father’s heart is not indifferent to death’s chokehold.

At the tomb, Jesus refuses to let the stench of four days make the verdict. “Did I not tell you that you would see the glory of God?” He prays to the Father to make it plain that the authority at work is divine, not borrowed. Then he cries with a loud voice that reaches into the dark: “Lazarus, come out.” The word of the Son walks into the grave and walks a man out of it.

The doctrine is simple and searching: life outside of Christ is certain death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. The same Jesus who weeps with the broken also calls the dead by name. The end of life is no longer a cliff; in Christ it becomes a doorway. The call lands personally: if Jesus is the resurrection and the life, then the only way to end well is to begin now with him, step out of death’s grip, and live.

Key Takeaways

1. Sickness can serve God’s glory [09:47] God does not desire evil, yet he refuses to waste the places where evil wounds. In Jesus’ hands, even illness can become a stage where the Father’s power and compassion are seen. This reframes pain without minimizing it. Glory does not erase tears; it meets them with purpose. [09:47]
2. Delay is not neglect, but design [12:24] Jesus waits two days, and the wait hurts. The timing exposes where trust rests and makes room for a greater revelation of who he is. Faith learns to read silence as preparation rather than abandonment. Divine love sometimes moves slower so that hope can be anchored deeper. [12:24]
3. Jesus takes death off the table [13:51] “I am the resurrection and the life” is not future-only comfort; it is a present-tense claim about the person standing there. Union with him means death cannot keep ultimate custody. Dying becomes a passage, not a prison. The verdict on those in Christ is life. [13:51]
4. Jesus weeps with real compassion [16:35] The Lord who raises the dead first stands and weeps. His tears dignify human sorrow and expose death as an intruder, not a friend. Compassion here is not sentiment; it is holy grief that moves to act. The Father’s heart is both tender and unstoppable. [16:35]
5. Resurrection life starts now [19:48] “Lazarus, come out” names the shift from theory to encounter. The call of Jesus breaks into real tombs and summons real people into newness. Grace does not just promise heaven; it pulls the living into obedience, joy, and freedom today. Life answers the voice that called it. [19:48]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:05] - John 11: the hinge
[01:45] - Who is Jesus?
[04:00] - Creation, sin, and death
[05:28] - The question: ending well
[06:57] - From signs to glory
[08:03] - Bethany and the siblings
[09:47] - For the glory of God
[11:56] - The two-day delay
[12:48] - “If you had been here”
[13:51] - I am the resurrection and life
[15:38] - Jesus weeps at the tomb
[18:32] - Roll the stone away
[19:31] - “Lazarus, come out”
[21:29] - No condemnation, choose life

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
John 11:1-44 (ESV)
[Read the full chapter to grasp the story of Lazarus’ resurrection.]

Observation Questions

In John 11:4, Jesus says Lazarus’ illness is “for the glory of God.” What specific reason does He give for delaying His response to Mary and Martha’s plea? [12:24]
Both Martha and Mary say, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21, 32). How does Jesus respond to their grief, and what does His reaction reveal about His character? [13:24]
When Jesus commands Lazarus to “come out” (John 11:43), the text emphasizes He cried out “with a loud voice.” Why might the volume and authority of His call matter in this moment? [19:31]

Interpretation Questions

Jesus wept even though He knew He would raise Lazarus (John 11:35). How does His grief challenge the idea that God is indifferent to human suffering? [16:35]
Martha confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of God” (John 11:27). Why is this declaration significant in light of Jesus’ earlier claim, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)? [13:51]
The crowd worries about the “stench” of Lazarus’ body (John 11:39). What does Jesus’ refusal to avoid the tomb’s reality teach about faith and God’s glory? [18:32]

Application Questions

When have you felt like Martha or Mary—questioning God’s timing in a painful situation? How does Jesus’ delay in John 11 reframe your understanding of His care in those moments?
Jesus’ tears show He enters our sorrow rather than dismissing it. Where in your life do you need to trust that God sees and grieves with you, even when He hasn’t “fixed” it yet?
The sermon states, “Resurrection life starts now” through obedience and freedom. What area of your life feels like a “tomb” where Jesus is calling you to “come out” and live fully in His power? [19:48]
How might viewing death as a “doorway” rather than a “cliff” change the way you approach fears about aging, illness, or loss?
The phrase “I am the resurrection and the life” is a present-tense promise. What practical step could you take this week to live more fully in the reality of Christ’s authority over your daily struggles?

Sermon Clips

And so maybe this morning, Jesus is calling you by name. But you recognize that you are living a life outside of him, and instead of Lazarus, insert your name in there. He'd come out of death and come into life. And this morning, you've recognized that Jesus is calling you by name. And it's not a whisper. Right? It's not it's not a statement. He is screaming from the top of his lungs, and he's calling you out of death and into life. And it is time for you to walk out of the tomb. [00:23:16] (34 seconds)

But the power and authority to raise Lazarus from the dead, right, is the same power and authority that sent Jesus to a cross and resurrected him on the third day so that we don't have to walk in our sin and our brokenness and even the fear of death anymore. That the end of our life can end as we glorious gloriously await the promise of eternal life with Jesus Christ our Lord. [00:22:53] (23 seconds)

You see this story, the resurrection of Lazarus reminds us and shows us and proves to us that even death itself is under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. That he conquered sin and death for you and I so that we don't have to spend eternity away from him. See, the paradox of Christianity is that Jesus Christ subjected himself to death so that we can have life. [00:22:25] (29 seconds)

God, why is this happening to me? Why is my loved ones struggling like they are? Why do I experience the pain and the suffering in my life and I just feel alone. We experience this pain and brokenness of our world that we are responsible for inflicting, that we day in and day out contribute to, and we forget that even in the saddest and darkest moments of our life, we have a Jesus who will weep with us, who will cry because he sees the pain and the brokenness that you and I experience every single day. [00:17:09] (37 seconds)

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May 17th, 2026 - Sunday Message - The Heart of God