Rise Again (Easter 2022)

Confidence and Disappointment

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” - John 11: 21-22

Being familiar with someone is a wonderful thing, you get to see behind the curtain of a person. You get to know their strengths and weaknesses and all the knowable reasons they do things. It takes time and attention to get to know someone enough to have confidence in who they are and what they will do. Disappointment comes when your priorities differ, although your confidence in the person tells you they will act according to familiar comfortable patterns.

Martha’s disappointment and her confidence were both on display, real and raw. On one hand, her grief was palpable as she expressed scathing disappointment, placing the blame for Lazarus’s death squarely on Jesus. And then in almost the same breath, she expresses her confidence in Jesus’s character and his power. She was remarkably familiar with Jesus’s compassion for people because she had seen it repeatedly. And now that Jesus had arrived, things would somehow change for the better.

I wonder, how much confidence do we have in Jesus? Jesus is now continually with us through the Holy Spirit, so we’ll never have to say, “If only you were here”. He is also no less compassionate and no less powerful. Every power is subject to him as he sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and he proved his eminent compassion on the cross. I’d therefore suggest we should have enough confidence in Jesus to last a lifetime.

Disappointment can come when our expectations diverge from the Lord’s plans. Unfortunately, we don’t know God’s plans most of the time. Martha didn’t know Jesus was going to use the death of Lazarus to accomplish one of the most astounding miraculous feats in scripture. God doesn’t owe us an inside track to what he’s up to. He wants us to simply trust and obey.

Martha was about to witness something spectacular! I wonder, are we expecting to witness God’s power at the end of our frustrations as well? We have to trust that God is at work for our good and his own excellent purposes. Think about all the things he’s done to make it easy to trust him. We have a gorgeous latticework of promises; we have been given the victorious ending of creation’s story; we have the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us, and the supernatural living Word that declares God’s heart for us throughout the ages. Not to mention everlasting life in complete perfection. I think we can trust him, how about you?

Jonathan Duncan

by Jonathan Duncan

Halftime Conclusions

I make no bones about it, I am a diehard Denver Bronco fan! Go, Russel Wilson! Like any fan, I’ve suffered through disappointing seasons and painful games. It looked like the game on October 15, 2012, was going to be one such game. The Broncos were down 24-0 at the half and their team looked overmatched. I thought about turning the game off, but boy am I glad I didn’t. In the second half of the game, Peyton Manning led the Broncos to score 35 unanswered points and the Broncos won 35-24… to the glory of God. :)

I learned a valuable lesson that day. Never draw an ultimate conclusion in the middle of the story. Never assume you know the ending in the middle. What I’ve noticed is that we have a tendency to do that in life as well - and every time we do, we limit what we think God can do. Jesus didn’t want his disciples to do that, so when they heard that Lazarus was sick, he told them, “This sickness is not to end in death.”(John 11:4, NASB) That word “end” means, “to terminate or reach its final conclusion.” Jesus didn’t say, “Lazarus won't die…” what he said is, “death won’t be the end.” It’s like Jesus is calling his followers not to turn life off in the middle of the story because there is a glorious ending that they could never imagine.

On Sunday, we made the point that because of what Jesus has done we can remain confident in the middle of the story because we know how the story ends. What a great truth. It doesn’t mean we'll always know exactly what Jesus is doing in our lives. It doesn’t mean we will live free from pain. It doesn’t mean everything will eventually work out this side of heaven.  It means we are assured that resurrection is our final reality and ought to give us hope in the often painful middle of our story.

We live in the middle, but take heart, friends, we know the end! I don’t know all that you’re walking through today, but I want to encourage you to take a moment to remember one day Jesus will “wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things, have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) That’s our end, so let’s remain faithful and confident in the middle.

Ryan Paulson
Lead Pastor

by Ryan Paulson

When Jesus Waits

“So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” - John 11:6

This has always struck me as an interesting little anecdote. On hearing that his good friend Lazarus was gravely ill, Jesus waits for two days. It doesn’t say that Jesus needed to work on something for two more days. It doesn’t tell us that Jesus couldn’t leave for some other important ministry reason. It is written with absolutely no excuses, as if Jesus, the great healer, just decided to get a little rest in while his friend slowly passed away. I’ve often thought that this might not be the best example for us when trying to “live like Jesus.” When a crisis hits, when someone really needs your help, this passage might not be the best place to turn with the question WWJD? What would Jesus do? Because what Jesus does here is not what we would or should do.

You see, Jesus isn’t giving them a lesson on Pastoral Care. He’s got a much bigger lesson in store for them! In verses 14-15, Jesus explains exactly what that lesson is when he tells his confused disciples plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.” Did you catch that? Jesus is glad that someone died?! Now, clearly, he isn’t glad because his friend died, or he wouldn’t weep about it later. Instead, he is glad because of the opportunity his death will give him to teach us something way more valuable than momentary happiness. You see, in this scenario, Jesus could have made his disciples and Lazarus’ family a whole lot happier if he would have hurried over and healed. But he didn’t because he had a purpose in his waiting. Jesus chose to not rush in and save the day so that he could teach his followers what it means to believe. He wanted to teach them about the nature of faith.

The truth is, whether we like it or not, faith and waiting go hand in hand. Jesus knew he would not be around forever in the flesh to fix all their problems at the drop of a hat. He knew most of life, especially the life of faith, involves waiting and hoping for what we don’t quite see yet (see Hebrews 11:1). Sure enough, we often find ourselves waiting for justice, waiting for reconciliation, and waiting for healing. In fact, most of the time we are still waiting. I don’t know about you, but most of the time when I pray for healing, it doesn’t seem to come. At least not yet. And not here. But I think Jesus’ point is we can’t hold him to our timeline. You see, faith is not just the belief that Jesus can, but the hope that he will one day when he wants to, on his timeline. And sure enough, we can have confidence that he will because he did. We know the same power that raised Lazarus from the grave, and the same power that later raised Jesus from the grave will eventually raise our feeble bodies, giving us ultimate healing. But until then we wait. Let’s be thankful that we can wait with confidence.

Josh Rose
Teaching Pastor

by Josh Rose

Suffering and Glory

It’s super hard and usually feels downright impossible. I’m guilty of it, and I know many of us could raise our hands and join the “guilty” club.  Our minds know the Truth, but our hearts really struggle to align with our heads when it comes to tragedy, loss, or struggle.  It’s hard to let the Truth breathe when what we’re feeling wants to suffocate us.

We all know tragedy, loss, or struggle in some way, shape, or form.  We cannot escape the experience of it living in a fallen world.  Maybe it’s the death of someone that feels like their heartbeat is the same as ours, or it’s a diagnosis that is changing the trajectory of life as we know it, or maybe it’s watching a loved one hit rock bottom.  No matter the tragedy or struggle we find ourselves at the end of our rope, with uncontrollable tears, or anger, asking the “why”?  Why God do I have to experience this gut-wrenching awful thing.

And God gently says….it’s for His glory (John 11:4; Romans 8:28).  I don’t know about you, but I know for me, it makes me shift.  It forces me to shift my perspective.  God doesn’t want us to deny the struggle or the hurt.  He wants us to run to Him and pour our hearts out.  But I think our perspective matters.  Let me explain…

My family went through a tragic loss a few years ago.  In an effort to help our kids process the loss, we shared with them the sadness that we felt and that it was ok to feel those emotions.  And we also said that we know God works everything together for our good.  So even though this felt like a loss to us, we were gonna keep our eyes open to see what God was going to do.  We were going to be on the lookout because God said He would bring good from it.

Something about that has stuck ever since when I encounter tragedy or loss.  I am hurting and aching and run to Jesus and tell Him I hurt, and that I am going to wait and be watchful of what He’s going to do through it.

When we shift our perspective we can begin to see all kinds of amazing things that we might have missed had we not been looking.  Things like loved ones coming to Jesus, restored relationships, a better opportunity than we could’ve imagined, a deeper relationship with Jesus in our own lives, a revealing of something we were missing, clarity on a decision, the ability to encourage another soul that is hurting. The list could go on.

Our peace in the midst of the storm is to know that God will ultimately work all things together for good.  So let’s stay watchful and see what God will bring.  (Psalm 27:13-14)

Bonnie Nichols
Women’s Ministry Specialist

by Bonnie Nichols

Growing Through the Pain

John 11: 1    “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha . . .”

Jesus had a special friendship with Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus (which means God’s helper). He didn’t drop everything and run to them immediately but stayed in the place where he was for two days, then he went back to Judea much to the consternation of his disciples who reminded him that the Jews had tried to stone him there. Jesus had his own perfect timing as does his Father and he had a plan that would end up bringing God glory. He knew what would happen to Lazarus and that Mary and Martha’s faith and trust would be increased along with many others when he raised Lazarus from the dead.

We might assume that IF God really loves us, our lives would be free from pain, whether physical or emotional. We also might grow impatient with Him when our prayers aren’t immediately answered the way we think they should be. If we pray for healing according to his will, shouldn’t we or whoever we are praying for be healed? I think most mature Christians know that God’s ways are higher than ours and his timing isn’t ours. He sees the big picture and holds all the pieces of the puzzle of life, we only see our tiny part of His big plan. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

In Pastor Ryan Lunde’s message a couple of weekends ago he said, “How else will you experience God’s comfort if you are not hurting?”  He also said, “Hurting is a powerful opportunity to trust.”  And trusting through hardship or pain grows our faith, doesn’t it? However, no one seeks pain or wants to deal with it, I know I don’t!

Some have experienced more pain than others, but when you reflect on those times can you see how your faith grew stronger, how God was glorified, and how you matured in your Christian walk?

I think God uses certain painful times that we go through to give us more compassion and empathy for people down the road we might then be able to help through a hard time. Having cancer gave me many opportunities and still does to minister to people who are going through a serious illness. To listen to, pray with and encourage them is a privilege. It’s also resulted in some very special friendships. I’m so grateful for those opportunities and friendships though cancer was a sometimes painful and scary journey.  My faith and trust in His plan carried me through the hard times, God comforted me and gave me special peace.

If you are hurting in any way, we are here to help you walk the rocky path you find yourself on. You can email [email protected] or call the church and ask to speak to the Pastor on Duty or our Care & Counseling Department. We have many good listeners and we are here for you!.

Deb Hill
Executive Assistant

by Deb Hill