It's Not Over Until Jesus Says It's Over

We thank you, Lord, For you are good, Lord, For you are in this place today. Lord, Father, God, . I pray, Lord, Father, God, that every person that's walk in this room, Lord, God, may walk out of here having a different, understanding of who you are. Lord.

Open our hearts today, Lord, to receive what you have for us.

Lord, We need you, Father, now more than ever. Help us understand your timing, Help us understand your purpose through it all, Lord God, . We love you, Lord. We thank you, Lord.

In Jesus' name, we pray.

Can we all say, : Amen, Praise God. Church. Good morning church. .

How's everyone doing today?

That's good, Amen. Can I just start off by saying something? It's not over until Jesus says it's over. Amen.

Now, I don't know how you just received that this morning, but go ahead and tell the person that's to the left or to the right of you: "It's not over until Jesus says it's over".

Amen, Amen. I woke up this morning today and I went for a walk and I heard thunder And then I felt two raindrops and I was like: "Let's go, it's raining today". But then everything just cleared out and it was a false alarm. So welcome to Arizona.

It's always an honor for me to be up here preaching the word of God.

What a What a better place than to do it in my home church. I want to thank, Pastor Matt and Hannah Rose for this opportunity. It's always an honor for me to just be up here and continue my calling. It's been about a year since I was last given the opportunity to preach.

Pastor Matt wasn't here.

I think he was out on vacation- and today he's here and he's looking at me and the tension's building up and it's like when the principal walks in the back of the room and the teacher all of a sudden like "Oh, yo". Nonetheless, I'm just happy to be here church And for those of you who don't know me, my name is Adrian. I may look familiar as I'm part of the ushering team back there with my brother Lawrence, And I'm also part of the praying team up here And, like I said, it's been about a year since, since I was last up here, and a lot has changed. I've seen, I see a lot of new faces.

So I'll go ahead and just introduce myself just a little bit.

Let you guys know about myself. I'm originally from California. My wife and I. We moved out here about 4 years ago and God has us here for a purpose.

The reason why I came out here was to help my father's business grow.

We are in the candy business and distribution business And since we're in the series of miracles, I'll be honest with you guys. It's a miracle- we're even in business Like volume has dropped tremendously to where it doesn't match, like the whole payroll logistics. It's just not matching. But I believe God is doing something in the middle of it all, whether he's focusing on our response or how we respond as a family or whatever it is.

But thank God, payroll's still going out, families are still getting paid.

We are readjusting the business part of it. I think that's also important. But nonetheless, I thank God for that. Earlier this year, God opened the doors for a career of mine.

That it's been a dream.

I got hired through the city of Tolleson. I'm a fireman. Praise God for that, . And it's an honor to just be a first responder and be there for these people.

I told the Lord: God, if you open doors for me in this career, I promise you that wherever I step into, you are walking in there before me And I am.

My mission is to change the lives of these people And I believe God heard my prayer and I believe that's why he opened that door for me. It took 10 years for God to truly see my heart and my intention And God said: "I think it's time" And I'm very happy there. I'm adjusting to the new career, I'm adjusting to everything, So I praise God for that. And lastly, I have a beautiful wife here.

I have a, I have a son, Santiago and Sofia.

Last year in September, my wife and I we were talking, we were looking at our family situation. We had a boy, we had a little girl and we were happy with that. We started looking far beyond the future, Like I think we could provide, we could put them in the school, It's going to make sense. We, we got a decent-sized house and we were just planning our future.

And then we just kind of both agreed like "Yeah, I think we're done having kids".

Within that time frame, I made it my mission to like: I want to pray with my family each and every night, Like I want. I want to teach my son how to pray, I want to see my kids see my wife and I pray, And I think my son caught on to that very quickly, cuz it's a couple days later. He's like: "Dad, I want to pray". I was like "All right, son, Go for it" And it was something like "Lord Jesus, I thank you for this day, I thank you for mommy and for daddy, And I pray for mommy to have a baby".

.

I can't make this up. This is my wife here. And then we both open our eyes like "What", Like, Like, does this guy know? We ain't, we ain't doing that anymore.

You know, Fast forward to now.

My wife is due any day now And I pray. I give God glory and praise. Amen, Amen. So today we're going to be in the in John, chapter 11.

We're going to be looking at one of the most powerful miracles of Scripture And as the resurrection of Lazarus.

And now, if you're not too familiar with the story, don't worry, We're going to go ahead and just dive in, break it down. I'm going to do my best to just kind of take us there in the setting and then see how Jesus wants to speak. And I'll be honest, I thought I knew the story. I've heard it preached before.

I've seen videos of it.

As a matter of fact, I think I've seen my dad play the role of Lazarus at one of our church's plays And, although I knew the story, I was so focused on the miracle that I didn't pay so much attention to the miracle worker, And that is Jesus. So today, I just want to simply admire and I want Jesus, and I want us to see who Jesus is throughout this miracle. Amen. So we're in John, chapter 11.

And before I begin, I want to give you guys couple things Before, Yeah, I want to give you guys couple things.

The, couple stories prior to the resurrection of Lazarus. There was two in the in the in the Gospel, in the four gospels, I'm sorry. The first was Jairus' daughter. You can find that in Luke, chapter 8.

Jairus was the leader of the synagogue who tells, who fell at Jesus' feet and pleads him to come and heal his dying daughter.

The second story we could find is the widow's son, at the name It is. You could find that story in Luke, chapter 7. It's Jesus encountered at a funeral pers- procession for a widow who had already lost her husband and was now grieving the loss of her only son. Now the third miracle is the resurrection of Lazarus.

So what makes this miracle different?

Jesus intentionally waited 4 days. By waiting, Jesus removed every human possibility that no one could say Lazarus had fainted or had or was really dead. There was no hope apart from Jesus. But that's where Jesus does his greatest work, church.

When all human hope is gone, his glory shines the brightest, Amen.

So let's begin June, John, chapter 11. And it reads like this: Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. This Mary, whose brother is Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.

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" Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was 2 more days and then he said to his disciples: "Let us go back to Judea". Let us pray.

Church.

Lord, heavenly Father, we just come before you this morning and I thank you for this day, Lord. I pray, Lord God, that whatever notes you prepared for this sermon, Lord God, I pray that it may be you speaking through me. Lord, Father God, Once again, open our hearts to receive what you have for us. Lord, I thank you for this day.

I thank you once again for this opportunity.

Use me for your glory, Lord Jesus, and it's in your name we pray. Amen. So I like how John, right away, he lets he emphasizes the relationship, the sisters and Lazarus had with God. It was personal, It was a personal relationship.

It was a relationship where Jesus was welcome into their home.

It was a relationship where Jesus was able to come in and eat with them. John made that very personal. Sorry, John made that very, what's the word I want to use? He emphasized that of the relationship he had with these, with this family, And God ate with them.

God loved them.

John tells us that twice, in verse 3 and in verse 5. So what do the sisters do when they find that their brother is sick? They sent a messenger to go find Jesus and let them know that their brother is sick. Now you got to understand the time and the setting of this place.

It wasn't like the sisters could have taken out their cell phones and texted Jesus Like yo, we need you, Our brother is sick, and boom send.

No, There wasn't no transportation back in the day. It wasn't like they could send a messenger through a you know jump on a lift or Uber or something. It probably took this gentleman, or whoever the messenger was, a day or two to get to Jesus and find Jesus. Scripture says he was on the other side of the Jordan River, So it might have taken like a day or two.

So I could only only imagine the moment this messenger arrives, probably finds Jesus alongside with his disciples, probably doing God's work.

Jesus, excuse me, I know you're with your boys, your disciples, but the man you love, the man your, your boy Lazarus, like he's sick and he needs you. And the first thing that Jesus says right after that is: the sickness will not end in death. I would imagine that the messenger writes that down Like: yo, that's pretty good, That's a good message to send back. Are we, are we going?

Just What did Jesus say?

No, I'mma wait 2 more days. Like 2 more days. Like it took me like about a day to get here, Jesus, what you mean? Two more days?

It took Jesus two more days.

And I ask yourself, church, like- And I ask myself this question, like that doesn't make sense to me. If I'm being honest, If you love him, why wait? If you have the power, Lord, why delay? And I ask you, this morning, church, have you ever felt like that?

You've been praying, You've been believing, You've been asking God to move And instead of getting an answer, all you hear is just silence.

Can I just encourage somebody today- And this brings me to my first point- God is still working, even when he seems silent, church, Just because you can't see him working doesn't mean he stopped working in your life. The same Jesus who loved Lazarus is the same Jesus that loves you today. Some of you are in a waiting season right now. You've been praying for your marriage, You've been praying for your children, You've been praying for healing, You've been praying for that job, You've been praying for that direction, And yet it feels like God has gone quiet.

But just maybe church, just maybe God's silence is revealing something greater than you can see.

Maybe he's watching how you respond in the middle of that silence. Maybe he's watching, maybe the, maybe, the silence is that very thing that keeps you bringing you back to his feet, Because when everything seems to be going okay, we forget about Jesus, But when things are not going our way, it's the time- and it's the only time- we run back to his feet. Maybe he's preparing you something greater than what you are asking for. Maybe his silence, church in your life, is becoming someone else's testimony and you don't even realize it.

I got the privilege of meeting a couple years ago- years ago.

They are a couple that comes here at Orbit And when I got to meet them they were telling us a little bit about their testimony. They got married at a young age. They've been married for 10 years And then they want- they've been wanting to have a family for that amount of period But for whatever reason, due to health issues, they couldn't start a family And I, when I got to meet them, they shared this testimony to me and I saw their posture- and I know Pastor Matt talked about posture, how posture is so important in the walk of Jesus church- And I was looking at them and I'm like God. I want that faith That, even though you are silent, through the midst of it all, they are still faithful, That even though you're not answering their prayers, that even though you see their heartbreaks, Lord, they are still faithful to you.

And I saw that in them and I said, God, I want that faith.

I want that faith that they carry. Little do they know. They were probably going through the worst years of their life, but they were teaching me something, something that perhaps I was missing. And today they sit here, today.

They are actually here today with their baby girl, And I give God and praise for that.

So praise God for them, . Because true worship is praising him for who he is: church. Even when your heart is breaking, It's easy to worship God when the miracle comes. It's much harder to worship while you're still standing outside the tomb, But that's where faith goes.

Church, A delay is not a denial.

Amen. Jesus wasn't late. He was setting the stage for something greater. Let's continue reading.

We're going to be in John 11.

We're going to be reading. We're on verse 8 now, And it says like this: "But, Rabbi" they said, "a short while ago, the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back". Jesus answered: "Are there not 12 hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world's light.

It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light".

After he had said this, he went on to tell them: "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up". His disciples replied: "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better". Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So when he told them plainly: "Lazarus is dead and, for your sake, I am glad I was not there so that you may believe.

Well, let us go to him".

Then Thomas, also known as Didymus, said to the rest of his disciples: "Let us all go that we may also die with him". Right away the disciples: Rabbi, why are you going back? They're trying to stone you. They will stone you.

You got to understand, church, that back in the day, stone was a form of execution.

They were trying to kill Jesus. The moment Jesus went back, it wasn't like: "Oh, there's Jesus. Let me pick up this stone and let me see if I can try to hit him". No, It was: "Let me find the biggest stone I can find, perhaps, and at the moment I see him coming- I'm trying to kill this man.

I'll send this man, A man that walked on this earth sinless, perfect, all because he loves you, And he did that for Lazarus.

He went back because he loves you, And there are some of you here today, church, that Jesus is coming back for you. The disciples said, "Yeah, but he's asleep". No, I think you're confused. The sleep I'm referring to is he's dead.

I think a lot of us here church are physically awake, but spiritually dead, And I think the Lord, because he loves you, he is coming back for you.

Hey, wake up, Wake up, church, Wake up. God is at the door and he is calling you to wake up. Hey, I haven't heard from you in a while. Hey, last I heard from you was when you got that promotion.

I haven't heard from you now.

Hey, last I heard from you was when your child was sick. Yeah, yeah, your child is better now. You, I haven't heard from you now. Yeah, last I heard from you was when your wife caught you doing something you weren't supposed to and you came to my feet.

And now you?

Now you're doing nothing. Church, we got to wake up. We got to stop living in sin. We got to understand that the time is running out And some of us still continue to live as if we had, as if we're going to wake up, as if God is going to continue to wake us up Church.

You don't understand that that might not have, that that might not happen anymore, That the moment you walk out of here, that might, this might be the last chance.

Jesus is trying to wake you up. He's trying to let you know that he loves you. He's trying to let you know that I have a purpose for you, That that my plans for you are greater. That is who Jesus is.

Jesus tells us here in this verse, to make my second point, That's how Jesus reminds who he is.

He's a loving father. We got to wake up. Church. Some of us are- I, I have been, have been just keeping something inside and we're having a hard time letting it go.

Enough is enough.

Church. I told the, the, the young, the young adults couple months ago that we live this life as if we're waiting for something to happen, As if I want to continue living this simple life, and I know God is going to touch me and I know God is going to change me one day, but I'm still going to continue living this simple life. Church, stop living this way. You do not know that.

I lived that way before, Where we're just living a simple life and we're just pretending that our maturity is going to get closer.

Our matureness is what's going to get us closer to the Lord Church. We don't know that, Like I said, today might be the last day. Jesus is trying to wake you up The moment you walk out of these doors. You don't know.

Take this time, take this opportunity to accept the Lord church.

In verse 25, it says: "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, if he dies, will live. Everyone who, Everyone who lives and believes in me, will never die". Following Jesus means eternity.

That's right. Being apart from Jesus church can set us really, really away from him. So look at yourself today, church. Reflect on yourself, Dig deep, Dig deep inside your heart.

What is it that you got to let go? What is it that keeps holding you back from receiving what God has for you? Be honest with yourself. Enough is enough.

The Lord God is at the door, and we see it through all social media.

We see it on the news. This world is getting more wicked day after day. We are either part of this world or not. Church, Make that decision today.

Amen, Are you with me?

Yeah, . Praise God. So by now Jesus had arrived after Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. Martha and Mary both questioned Jesus: "Lord, if you had been, if you had been here, my brother would not have died".

Jesus' response: "Your brother will will rise again".

And in verse 35, we see the shortest verse in all of Scripture And it says: "Jesus wept". Even though he knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead, he still felt the pain of losing a friend. He didn't remain emotionally distant. He shared in the pain.

You see, cuz that's the Jesus we, That's the Jesus we serve, That although we've been asking and praying for something and he sees us crying day after day, he still shares in that pain, just as he's did with the family of J- J- just like he did with this family, Because that's the loving God that we serve.

If we swi- if we continue reading through John, chapter 11, we're going to jump to verse 38 and 40, and, 38 through 44. Where's the button? I was just like Lazarus man. I was dead in the tomb.

We read in there where Jesus said: "Roll away the stone".

And the man said: "But, Lord, he's been dead 4 days and he stinks by now". Brother, I stunk, But there's so many OF YOU. YOU'RE IN THE same spot that I was. You're in the tomb, man, And you're dead and you stink.

BUT Jesus SAID: "ROLL AWAY THE ROLL AWAY THE STONE".

AND RIGHT NOW HE'S CALLING OUT TO YOU AND HE'S SAYING: "LAZARUS, come forth". If that video didn't make you feel some type of way, then I don't know. Church Verse 38. Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.

It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone" he said. "But, Lord", said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for 4 days". Then Jesus said: "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God".

So they took away the stone.

Then Jesus looked up and said: "Father, I thank you that you have that. You have heard me. I knew that. You always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me".

When he had said this, 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. Jesus said to them: "Take off the grave, Take off the grave of clothes and let him go". Right away we see that Martha responds. She believes, but she still doubts.

She says there will be an order.

Isn't that us, church? We trust God until he asks us to move the stone. Sometimes the greatest obstacle isn't God's power, It's our unbelief. Yeah, that's right.

Jesus says: "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God". Some people have been carrying stone for years. That stone may be unforgiveness. That stone may be an addiction.

What's your stone like today, church? What's that stone that needs to be removed out of your life today? And if I could get the guy with the keys up here, it'd really help make this all spiritual: Amen. But what's your stone like, church?

You see, La-.

Jesus called out Lazarus by name: "Come out". And I believe in my heart that Jesus is calling you out by name today. You know who you are. You know who you are church.

You know why.

I know God is calling you, Cuz it's that guilt that you feel when you continue living in sin And you just can't seem like why this happened, like I want to continue this way, and it's God calling you. Church, Young man, young woman, father, mother, child. Allow God to remove the stone out of your life today. And I want to open up this floor this morning.

And if that is you this morning, .

God has been speaking to you through this sermon. God is telling you: "Hey, there's not a lot of time left". Someone told me the other day. He said, cuz I- I was expressing how I feel, I feel like God, God's pushing me for his kingdom.

I feel like I got to go.

I got to go, I got to. I just can't stop. Like I got to tell the world about Jesus. I was feeling this way.

This person told me: "Then go, cuz only Jesus know how much time you have left on earth, Adrian.

So if God is pushing you cuz, you might not have much time left". And I go back to that previous point. We got to stop living like we have all this time in the world. Church, And then we'll come to the feet of Jesus.

Let me hit rock bottom and then I'll come to the feet of Jesus.

Don't wait till that happens. I lived that life. . It's not pretty, It sucks.

Allow God to open up your heart this morning.

God's not done with you yet. . I want to share a quick testimony that will tie in a little bit to this. I was, coming from a drive.

I was driving, my manager called me. He's like: "Hey, dude, it's my son's birthday. . I have a delivery.

I got to go make it at Sam's distribution.

You think you handle it for me". Yeah, no problem, I went, took care of it. On my way back I got off the off-ramp on the I-10, . Right there on Litchfield And I see a pickup truck, The guy's pushing it, The, the wife's in the car, in the in the passenger seat, And I'm with this big box truck and I'm like: "If I stop right here I'm going to cause a lot of traffic".

So I made the, I made the right, and then I'm like I'm hesitating, I'm like "Screw it", Put my emergency lights on, hit the brake, started helping this gentleman push the truck.

By the time I got to the, the of the truck, I had a seen, a homeless man at the at the exit, at the off ramp, But by the time I got to the back of the pickup truck he was already there. I was like, "Damn bro, where'd you come from? Like I was quick". So we started pushing the truck And then we got.

We got to the to the light on Tezel Road, making a left into that Rudy's, And the man jumped on his truck, started his truck and left, Didn't say thank you, Didn't say anything, And I felt bad for the, for the guy that was next to me, Like like "Damn bro, like at least a thank you, or here here's a couple bucks, you know".

So then what I do? I take out my wallet And I'm like, "Damn, I got, I got nothing". And I was like "Well, bro, God bless you". So I dabbed him up And then we went our separate ways, .

But he had a posture, He had an attitude like "It's okay, man, Like God, God, God's going to get us".

And I was like, "Okay, amen to that, bro", Like God will get us back for our good deeds. So I got back in my truck And when I got back in my truck I looked in my rear mirror and then and I saw him And God told me: "You're going to pay him back" And I'm like, "Okay". So I parked the truck, I go and get him some food at Rudy's and I pay, pay. You know, My point is here, church.

I called him.

He crosses the street And I said, "Hey bro, God put this in my heart to give you this, But he wants me to tell you that God's not done writing your story". You see, church, God is not done writing your story today, this morning. Don't be ashamed of what you've done in the past. Don't feel like God cannot forgive you.

Bring it to his feet today.

Amen, Praise God. So I'll close this out. . Go ahead and bow your heads.

Lord, heavenly Father, we just come before you right now, Lord God, And we thank you for this time.

We thank you for this moment, Lord, And I pray, Lord, Father God, that if there's anybody in here, Lord God, who has not accepted you as their Lord and Savior, Lord God, today might be the day, that they may receive what you have for them today, Lord, Father God, that they may be, that they may remove the stone, Lord, Father God, out of their lives. Lord Jesus, Lord, Father God, you are good And you always be good Lord, Father God. So if there's anybody here who has not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior on the count of three, raise your hand. Nobody's watching.

One: Jesus was calling you today.

Two: Jesus wants to remove the stone out of your life. And three, take that step of faith. God is calling you by name today, Amen.