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Here is part 2 of the 3-part video series on Kendra Graham’s Women’s Bible Study. If you missed video message part 1, click here to view now.
We have posted the three-questions below the video to coincide with the video content.
After watching the video, instead of sharing your three-questions, Kendra would like you to comment with a sentence or two on the following question: When have you felt the presence of God in the middle of tears?
Video 3 will be featured next week Tues. March 10.
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Click here to watch the video if it does not show up in your browser.
Please open your Bibles to John 11:33-40.
Kendra Graham NOTES from John 11:33-40
WHAT DOES IT SAY? THE FACTS ONLY PLEASE.
In this step you need to list the outstanding facts of the passage. DON’T get caught up in the details, just list the facts. Do not paraphrase. Use the actual words of the passage. This is God’s Word, a lot of times this step seems tedious to some, but I urge you, as we read, and say and write God’s Word, it begins to sink deep into our hearts. If you just pick one fact out of the verse, write it down and meditate on it.
FACTS:
Verse 33: When Jesus saw her weeping & the Jews, He was moved in spirit and was troubled.
Verse 34: Where have you laid him? Lord, Come and see.
Verse 35: Jesus wept.
Verse 36: Behold how He loved him!
Verse 37: Some said “Could not this Man who…. also kept this man from dying?”
Verse 39a: Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”
Verse 39b: Lord, there will be a stench.
Verse 40a: Jesus said, “Did I not say to you…”
Verse 40b: “… if you believe you will see the glory of God.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? THE LESSONS.
Look for a lesson to learn from each fact. What are the people doing that they should be doing? What are the people doing that they shouldn’t be doing?
Is there a command to follow? A promise to claim? A warning to heed? An example to follow?
LESSONS:
Verse 33: We do not pray to a God who does not understand our burdens! Jesus felt the burden of pain, hurt and separation, before He removed it. Jesus compelled… with compassion…to go and face the hurt first, and look at and see the pain death brought to those He loved, then we would do something about this terrible separation of Lazarus in death. True compassion is more than just words. One who truly has compassion will be able to be kept away.
Verse 34: Jesus is broken, hurting and weeping probably for different reasons than the rest of the crowd. The family He loved did not believe His Word that was sent, “It is not unto death”, they buried Lazarus. Four days dead was believed in the Jewish culture to be beyond hope, that person is gone. Jesus asked to see the place of separation where Lazarus is laid, separated by the curtain of death. Here…in death, with our loved ones separated we begin to understand one drop of the pain of separation that God felt that day in the Garden of Eden, when His handmade creation was separated from Him by sin. Jesus drawn to “come and see”us, to live among us… so He can die for us, to fix the separation death brings with it.
Verse 35: Jesus wept. Love sometimes weeps. We serve a God who cares about your tears and weeps with you. Jesus didn’t laugh at the tears; scold the fact there were tears; mock the tears, put her down because of the tears; or chide her for having little faith in her tears. There is NO CONDEMNATION in Christ. The hurt it takes in our lives to see our need for Jesus hurts not just us, but we pray to a God who understands that burden of pain. WE were NOT created to carry that burden…so He came Himself to make it right. Jesus weeps for your heart; your heart cost Him His. Jesus weeps with those who weep.
Verse 36: The love of Jesus is genuine, real tears, real pain, He really loves you and did everything He could to show you His love. This story is about the love of God, not the cruelty. Believe it.
Verse 37: Could not Jesus have healed Lazarus? This is now the question of the multitude. Mary and Martha brought the same question to Jesus. The answer is yes, Jesus could have shielded the ones He loves from the suffering they must endure…Jesus could have shielded Himself from feeling the same pain of the death of Lazarus and the pain of unbelief of those who were closest to Him, and should have by this time, now believed…Jesus was leaving in a week, and those closest to Him still did not believe? Jesus could have shielded them all from it, BUT, it was through this period of suffering that Mary and Martha, the disciples, the multitude and you and I can SEE the personal love of God. God allows things in our life to SQUEEZE the belief out of us…not to prove to Jesus that He is who He said He is, but to prove to YOU that His Word will stand and that YOU believe.
Verse 39a: REMOVE the thing in the way, in your life preventing God’s glory from being seen. Often that “thing”has been there quite a while and has been rotting…you know what it is.
Verse 39b: Jesus loves stinkers.. He is not surprised at the baggage you have…it does stink, but it has been killing you…Jesus, the Good Shepherd has come to bring LIFE and to bring it more abundantly (John 10)… He did NOT come to make sure your past kills you and rots you from the inside out.
Verse 40a: REMEMBER the words of Jesus…they are words of LIFE
Verse 40b: There is purpose in the pain. The whole point of suffering and pain is to see the glory of God IN it…to see that suffering and dark time redeemed.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ME NOW? APPLY IT…. TODAY.
Take the lessons you learned and put them into the form of a personal question that you would ask your spouse, or a friend or your son or daughter.
As you write the questions, listen for God to communicate to you through His Word.
*Do not rush. Do not write things down just to have something on paper, this step takes more time that you may think. This is where Scripture meditation becomes real, this is where you begin to hear that still small voice speak to you, and place His finger in your life and begin to direct your paths…. this day, and the next, and the next. Do you trust Him enough to put into place that which He is moving you to?
Verse 33: Jesus is pursuing you, pleading with you, coming for you, caring for you, do you see Him? How has Jesus showed up in your life? Do you see Jesus as full of compassion or cruelty? Do you have a misunderstanding about God’s love? What do you think God’s love should look like? How should He work? Are you glad in the end you serve a God who’s thoughts are higher than your thoughts and ways are higher than your ways and will not stay away, especially in the hard times when you have questions and pain?
Verse 34: Do you realize God understands the separation death brings more than even you do, so He came, and did something about it? Have you praised God in your weeping because now we can say and believe that death is swallowed up in victory because of the cross?
Verse 35: When were tears shed that you thought no one saw and no one cared about? Did you know Jesus weeps with you and understands that visceral pain of life? Are you weeping? Did you know you do not weep alone?
Verse 36: When will you believe that the love of God is not theoretical, mystical, or magical but real? Will you let the love of God come into your God shaped soul and fill you? All you have to do is believe in Jesus, and ask.
Verse 37: When have we wanted to shield the ones we love from the suffering they must endure? Do you see there is purpose even in the suffering of life and you don’t suffer alone or with a God who doesn’t understand and plead with you to bring it to Him?
Verse 39a: Is there something in your life that God is asking you to move out of the way so that He can work in an amazing way?
Verse 39b: Have we praised God for the fact that He loves our stinky selves full of mistakes, messes and all?
Verse 40a: Are you in the Word of God?
Verse 40b: What do you want? The choice is yours. Do you want to hold on to the pain, shame and misery so that you have something to raise your fists about to God and so that you can complain about His injustice? OR .. In spite of the pain, are you willing to LOOK for God IN IT, so that you may believe He loves you more than anything? What do you want to see, really?
LIVE IT OUT!
Hold yourself accountable to LIVE OUT in your daily life that which God impresses upon your heart. Write it out, sign it, date it and claim the transforming power of God’s Word and His presence in your life.
Oh, that you would be compelled to BELIEVE because of the relentless Love of a LIVING, LOVING Savior!!!!
Homework: John 11:41-45
Get stuck? www.annegrahamlotz.com and Anne will walk through the Three Questions with you and help you along!