{"id":14617,"date":"2021-03-07T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T05:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john_11_1-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-03-07T16:16:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T23:16:42","slug":"john_11_17-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john_11_17-31\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Wants Your Personal Trust, Not Just Your Intellectual Assent"},"content":{"rendered":"

John 11:17-31 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 11:17-31.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

John 11:17-22 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17-22:\u00a0\u00a0Martha was probably disappointed that Jesus did not arrive before her brother Lazarus passed away.\u00a0\u00a0But when Jesus arrived on the scene, even then she still had hope in Jesus: \u201cI know that even now God will give you whatever you ask\u201d (v22).\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you have Jesus in your life, you have hope that is even greater than death and disappointment.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

John 11:23-27 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”<\/em>
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 23-27:\u00a0\u00a0The Pharisees and other Jews believed that at the end of the world (\u201cthe last day\u201d \u2013 v24) all of God\u2019s people who had died would together rise from their graves.\u00a0So when Jesus promises Martha that her brother will rise again (v23), Martha thinks Jesus is referring to this popular belief in an end times resurrection of all of God\u2019s people (v24).\u00a0\u00a0Yet Jesus clarifies that he is not talking about what would happen to Lazarus in the end times. Rather, Jesus was talking about what was possible right now because Jesus was there and because Jesus\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0the resurrection and the life (v25-26). Jesus was not content for Martha to have a general belief about theology.\u00a0\u00a0Even more, Jesus wanted Martha to have a personal faith in him.\u00a0\u00a0Put another way, Jesus didn\u2019t just want Martha to have a general belief in resurrection and the afterlife, but a personal belief in Jesus, that \u201cI am the resurrection and the life\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In verse 27, Martha expresses her personal faith in Jesus specifically.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What we really believe deep down is often revealed in our most difficult moments.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The faith Jesus wants to see in us in not simply a general faith in a set of theological beliefs (for example, a general belief in God, a general belief in heaven and the afterlife).\u00a0\u00a0 Rather, Jesus wants to see in us a faith in a Person, in Jesus himself.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0That is how you access the power of resurrection and the gift of life that Jesus\u00a0is.<\/em><\/p>\n

John 11:28-31 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 28-31:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Notice how quickly Mary responded upon hearing that Jesus had arrived \u2013 \u201cshe got up quickly and went to him\u201d (v29).<\/p>\n

Also, verse 31 tells us that the people mourning with Mary thought Mary was going to the tomb of her dead brother to mourn.\u00a0\u00a0These people may have been relatives or friends of Mary, or they may have been professional mourners, as was common in Mary\u2019s time.\u00a0\u00a0Whatever the case, when Mary runs out of the house, those other mourners follow him.\u00a0\u00a0Little did they know that Mary was not running to the tomb of her dead brother, but to the feet of Jesus, who is life personified (v25).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0In our most heartbreaking and difficult moments, may we go to Jesus, knowing that he is the one we need more than anyone else.\u00a0 Others around us will take notice when we go to Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, You are the resurrection and the life.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that You don\u2019t want me to stay simply on the level of intellectually assenting to certain theological beliefs, or having a general belief in God or the afterlife.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, like Martha, You made me to believe in You personally, for You are the resurrection and life.\u00a0\u00a0Like Mary, may I run to You when I\u2019m in my most difficult moments, knowing that I need You more than I need anyone else or anything else.\u00a0\u00a0May others follow me to Your feet when I do.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 11:17-31.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

John 11:17-22 (NIV)\u00a0
\n17\u00a0\u00a0On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.\u00a0
\n18\u00a0\u00a0Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,\u00a0
\n19\u00a0\u00a0and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.\u00a0
\n20\u00a0\u00a0When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.\u00a0
\n21\u00a0\u00a0“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.\u00a0
\n22\u00a0\u00a0But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”<\/p>\n

On verses 17-22:\u00a0\u00a0Martha was probably disappointed that Jesus did not arrive before her brother Lazarus passed away.\u00a0\u00a0But when Jesus arrived on the scene, even then she still had hope in Jesus: \u201cI know that even now God will give you whatever you ask\u201d (v22).\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you have Jesus in your life, you have hope that is even greater than death and disappointment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14617"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14618,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14617\/revisions\/14618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}