Andy Stanley - Under The Circumstances (Part 1)

July 19, 2025 | 30:10

Your Move with Andy Stanley — to help people make better decisions and live with fewer regrets.

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Your Move with Andy Stanley | Andy Stanley - Under The Circumstances (Part 1) | July 19, 2025
  • ...
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  • Andy stanley: hi, everybody.
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  • Welcome to "your move," where we help you make better decisions
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  • And live with fewer regrets, i'm andy stanley and i'll be
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  • Your guide.
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  • Every once in a while, somebody asks me why i'm a christian.
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  • And my answer is simple.
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  • I say, "because following jesus has made my life better, and
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  • Following jesus makes me better at life."
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  • Now, it's not always easier, but it sure is better.
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  • And why it's better is what we're talking about today right
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  • Here on "your move."
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Andy: a tragedy or a sudden change of circumstances, either
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  • Yours or the circumstances of somebody you love, has caused
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  • You to doubt god, has caused you to be angry at god, has caused
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  • You to wonder if maybe god is angry at you, cause you to lose
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  • Your faith, cause you to walk away from faith.
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  • As strange as it might be to hear this from me, i actually
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  • Understand that, and i don't blame you.
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  • And if i were you, maybe it would be me too.
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  • And that's what we're talking about today, and that's what
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  • We're gonna talk about for the next couple of weeks in this
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  • Series that i've entitled "under the circumstances: holding on to
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  • God when it appears that god is no longer holding on to you."
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  • We've all been there, and if we--if you haven't been there
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  • Yet, you're probably gonna be there eventually, regardless of
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  • Your--what you believe about god, regardless of your faith
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  • System, regardless of your religion.
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  • It's so strange when bad things happen and circumstances go the
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  • Wrong way, there's something intuitively, or i should say
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  • Instinctively, i think, in human beings for whatever reason we
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  • Look up like, "what's going on?"
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  • We just--it's like, "if there's anybody out there, to whom it
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  • May concern, what in the world is going on?"
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  • That's what we're gonna talk about.
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  • Because that's in you, that's in me, that's in all of us.
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  • And to start at, you know, the lowest of the low rungs on the
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  • Ladder, i wanna begin by--with a statement that maybe it might
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  • Perhaps be the most insensitive statement ever uttered by anyone
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  • At any time.
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  • And the reason i would take it to that extreme is because this
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  • Statement actually comes from the lips of jesus.
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  • As we're gonna discover today, jesus actually went out of
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  • His way.
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  • He went out of his way, risked his reputation to create a
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  • Scenario that included pain, sorrow, grief, sickness, anger,
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  • And ultimately death.
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  • And the reason he went out of his way to create this scenario,
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  • The reason he did this, as hard as it is to believe, it's quite
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  • The story, is to assure us that god the father is aware and that
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  • God our heavenly father cares and that he is with us in it and
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  • He can see us through it.
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  • So here's how the story goes: one of jesus's closest friends,
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  • One of his supporters, somebody who had hosted jesus in his home
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  • Many, many times, became sick.
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  • He had two sisters.
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  • He lived with his sisters, or they lived with him.
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  • And they send a servant to find jesus.
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  • The sisters send a servant to find jesus.
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  • And when the sisters show up, you know--well, excuse me, when
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  • The servant finds jesus and jesus's apostles, the servant
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  • Says to jesus, "jesus," this is amazing because jesus recognized
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  • From whose home the servant came.
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  • The servant says to jesus, "jesus, the one that you love is
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  • Sick and his sisters are requesting that you would come
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  • Back to bethany and do what you've done for so many people:
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  • Heal their brother."
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  • And of course he would.
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  • I mean, jesus had healed strangers.
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  • And the disciples--the apostles get up to leave, and jesus's
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  • Like, "sit back down.
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  • We're not going."
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  • And he sends the servant back to bethany.
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  • And jesus stays there, where he is with his apostles, for two
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  • Days and waits for his friend to die.
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  • And if you only knew this part of the story, you would think
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  • Jesus must despise them.
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  • They mu--i mean, he must be angry with them.
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  • "no, i'm not gonna go heal somebody i know because, well,
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  • Something bad must have happened."
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  • And john's like, "no, no, no.
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  • Understand jesus actually loved these people."
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  • Then two days later, when he gets up to go to bethany, the
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  • Apostles, his disciples, the 12, they're totally confused.
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  • You know, "why now?
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  • Why go at all?"
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  • Because last time they were there, things didn't go so well
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  • For them, in fact, they say that.
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  • They say, "rabbi, hey, a short while ago the judeans there," in
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  • Bethany, where lazarus and mary and martha lived, "the judeans
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  • There, they tried to stone you, and yet you're going back there?
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  • What if maybe you just do one of those work-from-home miracles
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  • That we've seen you do?"
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  • And jesus responds with this.
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  • He says, "our friend lazarus," there it is.
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  • "our friend."
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  • "our friend lazarus has fallen asleep; but i am going there to
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  • Wake him up."
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  • This is how casually jesus talks about death.
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  • "his disciples reply," 'cause they really don't wanna go,
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  • "lord, if he sleeps, he'll get better."
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  • I mean, and for--and of course they're thinking, "how do you
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  • Know he's asleep?
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  • But hey, you know, you're jesus.
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  • This is the kind of stuff you do.
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  • So jesus, if you're confident that he's asleep, then maybe the
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  • Fever broke, whatever it might be.
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  • We don't wanna disturb things in bethany.
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  • Let's just stay here."
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  • "so then he told 'em plainly, 'lazarus is dead, and for
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  • Your sake.'"
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  • And here's the statement.
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  • Here's the thing that i don't know if, when john's writing
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  • This, he's like, "do i really put these words in the lips
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  • Of jesus?
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  • I mean, we're trying to convince, you know, people that
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  • Jesus's who he claimed to be.
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  • This is terrible."
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  • I bet he debated whether or not to include this, but he did
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  • Because it's true, in fact, it's statements like this next one
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  • That cause me to believe in the authenticity of the gospels.
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  • They can be trusted.
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  • Because in literature, one of the way that people who navigate
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  • And evaluate literature determine whether something is
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  • True or not, anything that makes the hero look bad is generally
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  • True because nobody would add that later or make it up.
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  • "for your sake," he says, "i'm glad i was not there."
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  • And they're thinking, "because?
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  • And you better have a good reason."
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  • He said, "i'm glad i was not there so that you may believe."
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  • Now, at this point in the story, this is kind of funny after
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  • The fact.
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  • You remember in "winnie the pooh" the character eeyore?
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  • Remember eeyore was kind of the negative, the downer?
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  • And in a lot of narratives, there's always, like, the
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  • Downer person.
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  • So thom--so jesus has one of those with his apostles.
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  • It's thomas, the downer person.
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  • And so, thomas, when he finds out they're actually gonna go to
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  • Bethany anyway, he says, "well," i love this, "let us also go,
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  • That we may die with him.
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  • Lazarus is dead.
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  • If we go to bethany, we're gonna be dead.
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  • We're just all gonna be dead.
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  • Come on, guys.
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  • Let's all go to bethany, and let's just die with lazarus.
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  • This is not going to go well.
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  • The end is near for all of us."
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  • I think thomas is saying, "john, john,
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  • You don't have to put that in there."
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  • Like, john's going, "come on. this is what happened, right?
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  • These are real people."
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  • Back to jesus's statement: "i am glad i was not there, so that
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  • You may believe."
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  • But here's the question.
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  • Don't leave early. this is so important.
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  • Believe what?
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  • And this is so important.
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  • Let me put it this way: what is so important for them to believe
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  • That he would let a friend die while the friend's sisters
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  • Watched and waited for jesus to show up to save the day and
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  • Jesus doesn't show up and save the day?
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  • What could be so important for them to believe that jesus would
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  • Allow these circumstances to play out the way they did?
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  • And the answer to that question is related to the answer to this
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  • Question: who is "you?"
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  • In other words, "i'm glad i was not there, so that you
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  • May believe."
  • 00:07:52.957 --> 00:07:54.325
  • Well, obviously, part of the "you" was the 12 apostles
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  • Traveling around with jesus.
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  • But again, john wrote this many years after the event, and john
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  • Wrote this many years after the resurrection of jesus.
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  • And the "you" here isn't just the "you's" in the story.
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  • The "you" is you and you.
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  • And those of you whose faith has been crushed by circumstances.
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  • And those of you whose faith is being crushed by circumstances.
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  • Jesus is saying, "i've allowed this tragedy to play out the way
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  • It has, so that you--anyone who hears this story and knows what
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  • Happened--will believe."
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  • Will believe. will believe.
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  • So jesus engineered--think about it.
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  • Jesus engineered a heartbreaking set of circumstances to address
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  • Our "where's god when we need god?" circumstances.
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  • That's what this is.
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  • That jesus engineered this so that in our--in the moment of
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  • Our "where's god when i need god?
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  • Where's god when my sister-in-law needs god?
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  • Where's god when my brother needs god?
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  • Where's god when my child needs god?"
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  • In our, where's god when i need god moments
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  • Jesus engineered these circumstances, this narrative,
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  • For you.
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  • And you know who else he engineered it for?
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  • Not just for those of us who consider ourselves church people
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  • And christian people that are grappling with "where's god when
  • 00:09:12.870 --> 00:09:15.640
  • I need god, and i thought god promised, and god didn't come
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  • Through on his promise."
  • 00:09:17.875 --> 00:09:19.410
  • He also engineered this for those of you who don't believe.
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  • And for those of you who used to believe, and then life just
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  • Crushed your faith and destroyed it, je--and here's the amazing
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  • Thing about this narrative.
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  • Jesus is so brilliant.
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  • Because of what happens next, jesus is about to affirm--don't
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  • Miss this.
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  • Jesus is about to affirm what you felt when god didn't show up
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  • For you.
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  • Jesus is about to put a exclamation mark--not cross it
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  • Out--an exclamation mark beside what you felt when god didn't
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  • Come through for you or your son or your daughter or your friend
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  • Or a husband or your wife.
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  • He's about to affirm what some of you are feeling right now.
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  • But here's the amazing thing: he's about to affirm your
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  • Frustration and your anger and your grief and your questions,
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  • And he's about to affirm all of that with no condemnation.
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  • Do you remember--if you know the story, do you remember what
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  • Happens next?
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  • So they get up, and they go to bethany.
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  • Meanwhile, jerusalem--city of jerusalem is about two miles
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  • Away from bethany.
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  • So all of these mourners and all these people have come from
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  • Jerusalem to support lazarus's sisters, mary and martha, in
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  • Their grief because he's a well-known citizen in the area.
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  • So there's lots of people.
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  • So mary and martha are in the home, and they're grieving and
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  • They're crying, and there are these mourners, and a servant
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  • Shows up at the door and says, "mary and martha, the rabbi is
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  • On his way.
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  • He's coming down the road.
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  • He'll be here in just a few minutes."
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  • And you remember maybe what happens next, right?
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  • Martha decides she's gonna go see him.
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  • And when she does, she expresses what many of us have expressed
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  • And what many of us are expressing right now because god
  • 00:11:06.383 --> 00:11:08.652
  • Has not come through or seemingly not come through
  • 00:11:08.652 --> 00:11:10.821
  • For us.
  • 00:11:10.821 --> 00:11:12.156
  • She is not happy, and here's what she's thinking: "after all
  • 00:11:12.156 --> 00:11:14.525
  • I have done for you!
  • 00:11:14.525 --> 00:11:16.127
  • I have fed your 12 hungry mouths, plus yours, any time you
  • 00:11:16.127 --> 00:11:20.030
  • Guys show up and all the people who follow you.
  • 00:11:20.030 --> 00:11:22.166
  • I have hosted you. i've been hospitable.
  • 00:11:22.166 --> 00:11:24.535
  • I have done everything. we've believed in you.
  • 00:11:24.535 --> 00:11:26.470
  • We followed you. we've supported you.
  • 00:11:26.470 --> 00:11:28.139
  • We put up with the grief of the religious leaders who think we
  • 00:11:28.139 --> 00:11:30.474
  • Should separate ourselves from you.
  • 00:11:30.474 --> 00:11:32.977
  • And when we needed you most, when your friend needed you
  • 00:11:32.977 --> 00:11:35.045
  • Most, you didn't show up in time."
  • 00:11:35.045 --> 00:11:38.883
  • And she says exactly that, and john records it.
  • 00:11:38.883 --> 00:11:42.787
  • "martha said to jesus, 'if you had been here, my brother would
  • 00:11:42.787 --> 00:11:49.860
  • Not have died.'"
  • 00:11:49.860 --> 00:11:55.166
  • Translated, "this is your fault!
  • 00:11:55.166 --> 00:12:01.272
  • Because you could have kept this from happening."
  • 00:12:01.272 --> 00:12:05.176
  • Look up here.
  • 00:12:05.176 --> 00:12:06.510
  • And in this moment, we are all in the story.
  • 00:12:06.510 --> 00:12:13.284
  • In this moment, this story intersects with my story.
  • 00:12:13.284 --> 00:12:17.888
  • It intersects with your story.
  • 00:12:17.888 --> 00:12:19.390
  • If you have ever leveraged tragedy to make the point that
  • 00:12:19.390 --> 00:12:23.093
  • God doesn't care and god isn't there, if you've ever leveraged
  • 00:12:23.093 --> 00:12:27.064
  • Disappointment with god or something that's happened to
  • 00:12:27.064 --> 00:12:28.899
  • Someone you love and you step back and you say, "you
  • 00:12:28.899 --> 00:12:30.901
  • Know what?
  • 00:12:30.901 --> 00:12:32.269
  • If there is a loving god, that wouldn't have happened.
  • 00:12:32.269 --> 00:12:33.604
  • God would have stepped in.
  • 00:12:33.604 --> 00:12:34.972
  • If god could have, god would have.
  • 00:12:34.972 --> 00:12:36.340
  • And since god didn't, god must not even exist or not the god i
  • 00:12:36.340 --> 00:12:39.944
  • Was taught to believe in and trust as a child."
  • 00:12:39.944 --> 00:12:43.113
  • And jesus--this is what's so brilliant: in this moment, jesus
  • 00:12:43.113 --> 00:12:45.816
  • Goes out of his way in this occasion to draw a circle large
  • 00:12:45.816 --> 00:12:50.187
  • Enough to include you and to include me because we are all
  • 00:12:50.187 --> 00:12:57.761
  • Represented by mary and martha in the story with our
  • 00:12:57.761 --> 00:13:01.832
  • Disappointment and our frustration and our anger with
  • 00:13:01.832 --> 00:13:05.402
  • The god who could have and should have but didn't.
  • 00:13:05.402 --> 00:13:12.476
  • You are included in this story, and here's why: because your
  • 00:13:12.476 --> 00:13:16.013
  • Story is included in the grand story of god's good news of
  • 00:13:16.013 --> 00:13:19.450
  • Great joy for all people.
  • 00:13:19.450 --> 00:13:22.253
  • Jesus arranged this for people like you and for people like me,
  • 00:13:22.253 --> 00:13:28.125
  • That perhaps we might believe or believe again.
  • 00:13:28.125 --> 00:13:33.264
  • But that's the question.
  • 00:13:33.264 --> 00:13:34.598
  • Believe what?
  • 00:13:34.598 --> 00:13:35.966
  • You know, "i'm glad i wasn't there, so that you
  • 00:13:35.966 --> 00:13:38.002
  • Might believe."
  • 00:13:38.002 --> 00:13:39.436
  • So jesus goes on into bethany, and he--when martha finds out
  • 00:13:39.436 --> 00:13:45.576
  • That--when mary finds out that he's coming with martha, she
  • 00:13:45.576 --> 00:13:48.445
  • Goes out to see him as well.
  • 00:13:48.445 --> 00:13:49.813
  • And she unloads on him in the same way.
  • 00:13:49.813 --> 00:13:51.749
  • "if you had been here, our brother wouldn't have died."
  • 00:13:51.749 --> 00:13:54.718
  • She's weeping, weeping. of course she is.
  • 00:13:54.718 --> 00:13:57.521
  • Now she's weeping because she's lost her brother, and now
  • 00:13:57.521 --> 00:14:00.124
  • There's the anger and the frustration of being in the
  • 00:14:00.124 --> 00:14:02.459
  • Presence of the very person who could have kept this
  • 00:14:02.459 --> 00:14:05.029
  • From happening-- can you feel that?
  • 00:14:05.029 --> 00:14:07.131
  • Isn't that what we would have felt?
  • 00:14:07.131 --> 00:14:08.632
  • Isn't that sometimes what we do feel?
  • 00:14:08.632 --> 00:14:10.734
  • Then john says, "when jesus saw her weeping, and the judeans who
  • 00:14:10.734 --> 00:14:14.405
  • Had come along with her weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit
  • 00:14:14.405 --> 00:14:19.276
  • And he was troubled."
  • 00:14:19.276 --> 00:14:21.145
  • To which, you know, the reader is thinking, "well, if you're
  • 00:14:21.145 --> 00:14:24.481
  • Deeply troubled and moved in spirit, then, i mean, if this
  • 00:14:24.481 --> 00:14:27.451
  • Bothers you that much, why didn't you show up and keep it
  • 00:14:27.451 --> 00:14:30.187
  • From happening?"
  • 00:14:30.187 --> 00:14:31.922
  • And then they lead jesus to the cave where lazarus is buried.
  • 00:14:31.922 --> 00:14:37.728
  • The text tells us that he stands in front of lazarus's tomb, and
  • 00:14:37.728 --> 00:14:42.066
  • "jesus wept."
  • 00:14:42.066 --> 00:14:45.703
  • Why?
  • 00:14:45.703 --> 00:14:47.504
  • Because mary and martha were weeping.
  • 00:14:47.504 --> 00:14:52.676
  • Mary and martha, who blamed him, were weeping, and he enters into
  • 00:14:52.676 --> 00:14:58.782
  • Their pain and their frustration and their loss and their grief,
  • 00:14:58.782 --> 00:15:04.054
  • And he weeps.
  • 00:15:04.054 --> 00:15:05.422
  • And he doesn't just--and it's not that his eyes were moist or
  • 00:15:05.422 --> 00:15:07.458
  • There was a tear, he was weeping in such a way that the entire
  • 00:15:07.458 --> 00:15:10.861
  • Crowd could see him being moved by emotion, which was not
  • 00:15:10.861 --> 00:15:15.065
  • Normally appropriate for a man to show in public.
  • 00:15:15.065 --> 00:15:18.168
  • And there's the man, the rabbi, and he's weeping in such a way
  • 00:15:18.168 --> 00:15:21.271
  • That it is public and everybody's looking at jesus.
  • 00:15:21.271 --> 00:15:24.775
  • And while it's true that jesus could have kept this from
  • 00:15:24.775 --> 00:15:27.311
  • Happening, as we see throughout the story, jesus had a different
  • 00:15:27.311 --> 00:15:30.414
  • Agenda in mind.
  • 00:15:30.414 --> 00:15:34.151
  • He had you in mind and he had me in mind and he had your
  • 00:15:34.151 --> 00:15:39.923
  • Sister-in-law in mind and your father in mind.
  • 00:15:39.923 --> 00:15:43.927
  • And jesus steps up, and then he does the unthinkable again.
  • 00:15:43.927 --> 00:15:46.797
  • Now we're introduced to a whole new wave of emotion.
  • 00:15:46.797 --> 00:15:50.467
  • And jesus says, "remove the stone."
  • 00:15:50.467 --> 00:15:55.172
  • Moving the stone in place was not a casual endeavor.
  • 00:15:55.172 --> 00:15:58.642
  • The stone is up above the hole, wedged with--is held by
  • 00:15:58.642 --> 00:16:02.946
  • Something that's been there for a long, long time.
  • 00:16:02.946 --> 00:16:04.782
  • They remove the wedge, and the stone actually rolls into place,
  • 00:16:04.782 --> 00:16:08.285
  • And gravity is holding it wedged in covering the front of a tomb.
  • 00:16:08.285 --> 00:16:11.989
  • And it's supposed to stay there for a long, long time.
  • 00:16:11.989 --> 00:16:14.525
  • Maybe forever.
  • 00:16:14.525 --> 00:16:15.859
  • Or until they decide to remove the stone to take out the body
  • 00:16:15.859 --> 00:16:18.162
  • Or the bones and put the bones in an ossuary.
  • 00:16:18.162 --> 00:16:20.497
  • But this is a done deal.
  • 00:16:20.497 --> 00:16:22.866
  • You don't remove the stone, and you certainly don't remove the
  • 00:16:22.866 --> 00:16:26.170
  • Stone on that day.
  • 00:16:26.170 --> 00:16:29.573
  • I mean, there was a gasp in the crowd when jesus announced,
  • 00:16:29.573 --> 00:16:33.410
  • "remove the stone."
  • 00:16:33.410 --> 00:16:34.745
  • And now they have a decision to make: "do we trust the rabbi who
  • 00:16:34.745 --> 00:16:41.852
  • Showed up late, who missed the opportunity, who missed
  • 00:16:41.852 --> 00:16:46.323
  • The funeral?"
  • 00:16:46.323 --> 00:16:48.158
  • And besides that, everybody in this audience knows, because of
  • 00:16:48.158 --> 00:16:51.562
  • How much time has gone by, lazarus is not gonna look
  • 00:16:51.562 --> 00:16:54.531
  • Like lazarus.
  • 00:16:54.531 --> 00:16:55.899
  • After three days in that environment, the whole body
  • 00:16:55.899 --> 00:16:57.501
  • Begins to deteriorate beyond recognition.
  • 00:16:57.501 --> 00:16:59.570
  • These funerals happened quickly.
  • 00:16:59.570 --> 00:17:03.073
  • And martha reminds jesus of this, and she reminds him of
  • 00:17:03.073 --> 00:17:07.644
  • Something else as well.
  • 00:17:07.644 --> 00:17:08.979
  • Remember what she said?
  • 00:17:08.979 --> 00:17:10.681
  • "by this time, lord, there is a bad odor.
  • 00:17:10.681 --> 00:17:14.151
  • I mean, this is a bad situation, and now you're about to--i
  • 00:17:14.151 --> 00:17:17.354
  • Mean, are you kidding us?
  • 00:17:17.354 --> 00:17:20.224
  • You are so late.
  • 00:17:20.224 --> 00:17:21.625
  • There's a bad odor, for he has been in there four days, lord.
  • 00:17:21.625 --> 00:17:27.731
  • You weren't a day late.
  • 00:17:27.731 --> 00:17:29.333
  • You weren't two days late.
  • 00:17:29.333 --> 00:17:30.868
  • You didn't simply miss the--his final moments with us as we held
  • 00:17:30.868 --> 00:17:34.138
  • Him in our arms.
  • 00:17:34.138 --> 00:17:36.340
  • You are four days late."
  • 00:17:36.340 --> 00:17:41.078
  • And jesus says, "remove the stone anyway."
  • 00:17:41.078 --> 00:17:45.782
  • It's about to become horrible.
  • 00:17:45.782 --> 00:17:48.652
  • Insult to injury.
  • 00:17:48.652 --> 00:17:50.354
  • Can you imagine this emotion?
  • 00:17:50.354 --> 00:17:52.489
  • "do we do this or not?"
  • 00:17:52.489 --> 00:17:54.791
  • And then this is my favorite part of what happened: jesus
  • 00:17:54.791 --> 00:17:58.562
  • Begins to pray.
  • 00:17:58.562 --> 00:18:00.898
  • And he prays out loud, so loud everyone can hear his prayer
  • 00:18:00.898 --> 00:18:04.835
  • Because he wanted everyone to hear his prayer.
  • 00:18:04.835 --> 00:18:07.571
  • And my friends, he wanted us to hear this prayer.
  • 00:18:07.571 --> 00:18:12.376
  • So as they're beginning to remove the stone--this took
  • 00:18:12.376 --> 00:18:14.645
  • Maybe an hour, maybe longer-- here's what jesus prays so that
  • 00:18:14.645 --> 00:18:19.249
  • Everyone can hear.
  • 00:18:19.249 --> 00:18:20.584
  • So that john could record it.
  • 00:18:20.584 --> 00:18:21.952
  • So that we could read it.
  • 00:18:21.952 --> 00:18:23.687
  • "then jesus looked up," because isn't that what we do in times
  • 00:18:23.687 --> 00:18:27.057
  • Of grief?
  • 00:18:27.057 --> 00:18:28.859
  • "father, i thank you that you have heard me."
  • 00:18:28.859 --> 00:18:34.364
  • He'd already been praying.
  • 00:18:34.364 --> 00:18:37.434
  • "i knew that you always hear me, but i am saying this--or i said
  • 00:18:37.434 --> 00:18:41.872
  • This for the benefit of the people standing here."
  • 00:18:41.872 --> 00:18:45.776
  • The people navigating circumstances that is slowly
  • 00:18:45.776 --> 00:18:49.213
  • Crushing their faith.
  • 00:18:49.213 --> 00:18:50.581
  • The people navigating circumstances in the past that
  • 00:18:50.581 --> 00:18:52.916
  • Totally crushed their faith.
  • 00:18:52.916 --> 00:18:55.652
  • Circumstances that are too hard, too heavy.
  • 00:18:55.652 --> 00:18:57.721
  • Wondering if god cares.
  • 00:18:57.721 --> 00:18:59.089
  • Wondering if god hears your prayers.
  • 00:18:59.089 --> 00:19:00.424
  • Wondering if god is angry with you.
  • 00:19:00.424 --> 00:19:01.992
  • Wondering if you did something wrong.
  • 00:19:01.992 --> 00:19:03.360
  • Wondering if you could have done something right that would have
  • 00:19:03.360 --> 00:19:05.395
  • Kept these things from happening.
  • 00:19:05.395 --> 00:19:07.631
  • Or maybe wondering if all of this is just fiction, stories,
  • 00:19:07.631 --> 00:19:11.134
  • Children's stories to keep us in line.
  • 00:19:11.134 --> 00:19:15.172
  • He says, "i knew that you always hear me, but i said this for the
  • 00:19:15.172 --> 00:19:19.409
  • Benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe."
  • 00:19:19.409 --> 00:19:24.681
  • And once again, believe what?
  • 00:19:24.681 --> 00:19:28.685
  • "i'm glad i was not there, so that you might believe."
  • 00:19:28.685 --> 00:19:32.856
  • Believe what?
  • 00:19:32.856 --> 00:19:35.826
  • And here it is.
  • 00:19:35.826 --> 00:19:37.294
  • And this is a big "it."
  • 00:19:37.294 --> 00:19:40.297
  • "that they may believe that you sent me."
  • 00:19:40.297 --> 00:19:47.771
  • Okay.
  • 00:19:47.771 --> 00:19:49.106
  • Jesus, you're telling me-- you're telling us that you
  • 00:19:49.106 --> 00:19:51.575
  • Engineered this entire scenario, this entire event?
  • 00:19:51.575 --> 00:19:56.680
  • You engineered this because this was all about who sent you?
  • 00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:01.385
  • Jesus would say, "yes."
  • 00:20:01.385 --> 00:20:02.919
  • Well, jesus, is that such a big deal that it's worth all of this
  • 00:20:02.919 --> 00:20:06.657
  • Drama and all of this pain and all of this grief?
  • 00:20:06.657 --> 00:20:10.093
  • Jesus would say, "yeah."
  • 00:20:10.093 --> 00:20:12.396
  • And here's why: because--this is so important--if the father
  • 00:20:12.396 --> 00:20:18.435
  • Sent the son to show us--we talk about this all the time.
  • 00:20:18.435 --> 00:20:22.406
  • I don't know if this has gotten from your head to
  • 00:20:22.406 --> 00:20:23.907
  • Your heart yet.
  • 00:20:23.907 --> 00:20:25.242
  • If the father sent the son to show us what the father is like,
  • 00:20:25.242 --> 00:20:30.013
  • Then you can rest assured that the father weeps with you in
  • 00:20:30.013 --> 00:20:37.554
  • Your pain, regardless of your blame.
  • 00:20:37.554 --> 00:20:41.725
  • And this is jesus's point.
  • 00:20:41.725 --> 00:20:43.060
  • If the father sent the son to represent the father, then you
  • 00:20:43.060 --> 00:20:46.096
  • Can know with certainty that god's circumstances are not an
  • 00:20:46.096 --> 00:20:49.166
  • Indicator of god's absence or god's silence.
  • 00:20:49.166 --> 00:20:51.468
  • But you can rest with--you can live with a certainty that god--
  • 00:20:51.468 --> 00:20:54.638
  • And the assurance that god has entered into your pain with you
  • 00:20:54.638 --> 00:20:57.407
  • Because this is what the son did, and the father sent the son
  • 00:20:57.407 --> 00:21:00.644
  • To demonstrate his love and his compassion and his care for you
  • 00:21:00.644 --> 00:21:05.916
  • And for me.
  • 00:21:05.916 --> 00:21:07.284
  • And this is most--maybe more important: if the father sent
  • 00:21:07.284 --> 00:21:11.988
  • The son, if this is what jesus wants us to believe, if this
  • 00:21:11.988 --> 00:21:14.391
  • Whole thing was arranged to prove the fact that the father
  • 00:21:14.391 --> 00:21:16.927
  • Sent the son, if the father sent the son and the father has the
  • 00:21:16.927 --> 00:21:21.064
  • Power to do what the son is about to do, there's hope.
  • 00:21:21.064 --> 00:21:26.470
  • There's the assurance of god's presence and the assurance of
  • 00:21:26.470 --> 00:21:29.606
  • God's promise about your future and the future of those that
  • 00:21:29.606 --> 00:21:35.145
  • You love.
  • 00:21:35.145 --> 00:21:36.513
  • And so jesus takes a deep breath, and he calls out loud,
  • 00:21:36.513 --> 00:21:40.117
  • Not because somebody couldn't hear him that needs to hear him,
  • 00:21:40.117 --> 00:21:42.486
  • But because he wanted the crowd to hear him.
  • 00:21:42.486 --> 00:21:44.321
  • "and jesus called in a loud voice, 'lazarus, come out!'
  • 00:21:44.321 --> 00:21:50.694
  • And the dead man came out."
  • 00:21:50.694 --> 00:21:53.864
  • And i'm absolutely confident there were people in the
  • 00:21:53.864 --> 00:21:56.466
  • Audience who passed out in that moment.
  • 00:21:56.466 --> 00:22:01.071
  • "therefore," this isn't a surprise.
  • 00:22:01.071 --> 00:22:04.307
  • "therefore many of the judeans who had come to visit mary, and
  • 00:22:04.307 --> 00:22:07.778
  • Who had seen what jesus did, believed in him."
  • 00:22:07.778 --> 00:22:10.747
  • Oh, yes, they did.
  • 00:22:10.747 --> 00:22:12.783
  • And what did they believe?
  • 00:22:12.783 --> 00:22:15.085
  • They believed exactly what jesus wanted them to believe: "oh,
  • 00:22:15.085 --> 00:22:17.788
  • My goodness.
  • 00:22:17.788 --> 00:22:19.156
  • No mere mortal can call a man who's been dead for four days
  • 00:22:19.156 --> 00:22:23.760
  • Back to life.
  • 00:22:23.760 --> 00:22:25.095
  • Clearly, this man has been sent to us by god."
  • 00:22:25.095 --> 00:22:30.233
  • So what he says can be trusted.
  • 00:22:30.233 --> 00:22:32.669
  • What he's promised can be trusted.
  • 00:22:32.669 --> 00:22:34.704
  • Who he says our heavenly father is can be trusted.
  • 00:22:34.704 --> 00:22:37.574
  • And if the father is like the son, and the son is
  • 00:22:37.574 --> 00:22:40.243
  • Demonstrating the love and the compassion and the concern of
  • 00:22:40.243 --> 00:22:42.679
  • The father, then there's hope even in the darkest of our
  • 00:22:42.679 --> 00:22:47.584
  • Nights, in the most dire circumstances.
  • 00:22:47.584 --> 00:22:51.488
  • "i'm glad i was not there, so that you may believe."
  • 00:22:51.488 --> 00:23:00.130
  • I'm glad he wasn't there either, because now i can believe he's
  • 00:23:00.130 --> 00:23:06.770
  • Here with me and he's there with you.
  • 00:23:06.770 --> 00:23:09.706
  • And he included us in the story so that we can face tomorrow
  • 00:23:09.706 --> 00:23:15.445
  • With confidence and hope knowing that we are part of the story of
  • 00:23:15.445 --> 00:23:20.484
  • God's good news of great joy for all people.
  • 00:23:20.484 --> 00:23:23.687
  • I'm glad he wasn't there either because now we know.
  • 00:23:23.687 --> 00:23:27.591
  • Now we know that circumstances are not an indicator of god's
  • 00:23:27.591 --> 00:23:33.463
  • Absence or a lack of concern or a lack of compassion.
  • 00:23:33.463 --> 00:23:37.868
  • I mean, think about this: if the empathy and the compassion and
  • 00:23:37.868 --> 00:23:44.741
  • The concern of the son reflects the empathy and the compassion
  • 00:23:44.741 --> 00:23:47.344
  • And the concern of the father, then what the apostle peter
  • 00:23:47.344 --> 00:23:54.985
  • Would later write is true, and peter was there and saw this
  • 00:23:54.985 --> 00:23:57.287
  • As well.
  • 00:23:57.287 --> 00:23:58.655
  • And then peter, after this, after the resurrection, suffered
  • 00:23:58.655 --> 00:24:00.924
  • All kinds of things and lost his friend.
  • 00:24:00.924 --> 00:24:02.492
  • He lost james, the brother of jesus.
  • 00:24:02.492 --> 00:24:03.860
  • He lost james, the other apostle.
  • 00:24:03.860 --> 00:24:05.962
  • There was so much confusion, and yet, at the end, peter is like,
  • 00:24:05.962 --> 00:24:08.431
  • "hey, but you don't need to put your eyes on any of that.
  • 00:24:08.431 --> 00:24:10.700
  • Don't confuse your life with the love of god.
  • 00:24:10.700 --> 00:24:13.003
  • Don't confuse life with god.
  • 00:24:13.003 --> 00:24:14.738
  • Don't confuse the circumstances of life with god's love and
  • 00:24:14.738 --> 00:24:17.674
  • God's concern."
  • 00:24:17.674 --> 00:24:19.009
  • Peter would say, "i know better. i've seen better.
  • 00:24:19.009 --> 00:24:20.510
  • And there is hope for you."
  • 00:24:20.510 --> 00:24:22.012
  • And he writes to christians in the first century, he says,
  • 00:24:22.012 --> 00:24:24.414
  • "here's the right response: humble yourself.
  • 00:24:24.414 --> 00:24:26.783
  • Humble yourselves, therefore, under god's mighty hand," that
  • 00:24:26.783 --> 00:24:29.519
  • Is, surrender yourself to your loving and compassionate
  • 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:32.255
  • Heavenly father, "that he may lift you up," there's hope, "in
  • 00:24:32.255 --> 00:24:37.360
  • Due time."
  • 00:24:37.360 --> 00:24:38.962
  • And then this: "cast," that is, throw upon.
  • 00:24:38.962 --> 00:24:42.332
  • "throw all of your merimnan," and i used the greek term
  • 00:24:42.332 --> 00:24:45.535
  • Because there is so many english terms packed in this
  • 00:24:45.535 --> 00:24:48.605
  • Powerful word.
  • 00:24:48.605 --> 00:24:49.973
  • He says, "i want you to cast all of your worry, all of your
  • 00:24:49.973 --> 00:24:52.676
  • Cares, all of your anxiety, all of your anger, all of your
  • 00:24:52.676 --> 00:24:56.279
  • Frustration, all of your angst, all the stuff that you bring--
  • 00:24:56.279 --> 00:25:00.283
  • Are afraid to bring to god at times."
  • 00:25:00.283 --> 00:25:01.718
  • He says, "no, your heavenly father can handle it."
  • 00:25:01.718 --> 00:25:04.521
  • You bring all of that, and you cast your cares on him, because
  • 00:25:04.521 --> 00:25:07.591
  • When you do, you honor him with your pain and you honor him with
  • 00:25:07.591 --> 00:25:11.728
  • Your frustration and you honor him by saying to him, "i am in
  • 00:25:11.728 --> 00:25:15.198
  • Need, and i believe that you can do something about it."
  • 00:25:15.198 --> 00:25:17.901
  • And peter says, "i've seen this.
  • 00:25:17.901 --> 00:25:19.436
  • I've witnessed this.
  • 00:25:19.436 --> 00:25:20.804
  • You just bring it on and you dump it on your heavenly father,
  • 00:25:20.804 --> 00:25:24.207
  • Because you can know for certain he cares for you.
  • 00:25:24.207 --> 00:25:29.846
  • Because he cares for you."
  • 00:25:29.846 --> 00:25:36.052
  • Now, i know it's easy for me to stand up here to say.
  • 00:25:36.052 --> 00:25:39.055
  • Right?
  • 00:25:39.055 --> 00:25:40.390
  • And i haven't heard your story, but i've experienced it to
  • 00:25:40.390 --> 00:25:44.861
  • Some degree.
  • 00:25:44.861 --> 00:25:46.196
  • But more than that, i have walked with people who've
  • 00:25:46.196 --> 00:25:47.897
  • Experienced it to an extraordinary degree.
  • 00:25:47.897 --> 00:25:49.766
  • In fact, my friend shirley, who i didn't tell shirley i was
  • 00:25:49.766 --> 00:25:53.003
  • Gonna mention her name today.
  • 00:25:53.003 --> 00:25:54.638
  • I did the funeral for both of her sons.
  • 00:25:54.638 --> 00:25:56.373
  • They were both friends of mine.
  • 00:25:56.373 --> 00:25:57.707
  • One in 2020, one this year.
  • 00:25:57.707 --> 00:25:59.776
  • Her only kids.
  • 00:25:59.776 --> 00:26:01.277
  • My friend mary ann, who's here, who lost and buried two
  • 00:26:01.277 --> 00:26:05.582
  • Daughters over the course of time from the--one was a
  • 00:26:05.582 --> 00:26:08.084
  • Teenager, one was an adult.
  • 00:26:08.084 --> 00:26:10.587
  • And they didn't get a miracle.
  • 00:26:10.587 --> 00:26:12.822
  • They didn't get a resurrection.
  • 00:26:12.822 --> 00:26:16.660
  • But they are confident there was one.
  • 00:26:16.660 --> 00:26:19.796
  • And they are confident it's not the last one.
  • 00:26:19.796 --> 00:26:23.733
  • And their hope, the source of their strength, they would tell
  • 00:26:23.733 --> 00:26:28.071
  • You, is that jesus came from the father to demonstrate what god
  • 00:26:28.071 --> 00:26:33.343
  • The father is like.
  • 00:26:33.343 --> 00:26:35.011
  • And they have held on to that, like many of you have, through
  • 00:26:35.011 --> 00:26:38.515
  • Extraordinary circumstances, extraordinary pain, and
  • 00:26:38.515 --> 00:26:42.085
  • Extraordinary grief.
  • 00:26:42.085 --> 00:26:43.420
  • And you have found your heavenly father to be as faithful as
  • 00:26:43.420 --> 00:26:47.791
  • Jesus was faithful to those he loved.
  • 00:26:47.791 --> 00:26:51.528
  • And now you are invited, or for some of you, you're invited
  • 00:26:51.528 --> 00:26:55.598
  • Back, because it's been--it's just been too hard to
  • 00:26:55.598 --> 00:26:58.201
  • Maintain faith.
  • 00:26:58.201 --> 00:26:59.536
  • You are invited, or you're invited back, to cast all of
  • 00:26:59.536 --> 00:27:02.505
  • Your care and all of your grief and all of your sorrow and all
  • 00:27:02.505 --> 00:27:06.309
  • Of your anger and all of your frustration on him.
  • 00:27:06.309 --> 00:27:10.213
  • And you can know with certainty he cares for you because god
  • 00:27:10.213 --> 00:27:18.455
  • Sent the son to illustrate and demonstrate that for us.
  • 00:27:18.455 --> 00:27:24.494
  • And that's the invitation.
  • 00:27:24.494 --> 00:27:26.529
  • And that's where peace is found.
  • 00:27:26.529 --> 00:27:29.499
  • That's where grace is experienced.
  • 00:27:29.499 --> 00:27:32.068
  • That's where you learn to be able to sleep at night.
  • 00:27:32.068 --> 00:27:34.704
  • That's when you learn that you can hold on to god when it
  • 00:27:34.704 --> 00:27:40.210
  • Appears that god is no longer holding on to you.
  • 00:27:40.210 --> 00:27:46.249
  • And we'll pick it up right there next time in part two of "under
  • 00:27:46.249 --> 00:27:52.188
  • The circumstances."
  • 00:27:52.188 --> 00:27:53.656
  • Andy: hey everybody, thank you so much for tuning in.
  • 00:27:53.723 --> 00:27:55.759
  • If you'd like to watch this episode again or share it with a
  • 00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:58.595
  • Friend, head on over to the website at the bottom of
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  • The screen.
  • 00:28:00.697 --> 00:28:02.065
  • The website is the best place for you to find other "your
  • 00:28:02.065 --> 00:28:04.667
  • Move" episodes, access additional resources, and learn
  • 00:28:04.667 --> 00:28:07.437
  • More about our mission to engage culture with the teaching of
  • 00:28:07.437 --> 00:28:10.740
  • Jesus because we're convinced following jesus will make your
  • 00:28:10.740 --> 00:28:13.710
  • Life better and make the world a better place,
  • 00:28:13.710 --> 00:28:16.579
  • And now it's your move.
  • 00:28:16.579 --> 00:28:18.214
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:28:18.214 --> 00:28:25.255
  • ...
  • 00:28:26.055 --> 00:28:26.055