Miracles Still Happen

Miracles Still Happen

John 11:1-27

Good Morning

Like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, many people want the Lord to perform a super natural miracle, to prove He exists.

In the Gospels, as the Lord performed miracles; but they usually did not produce belief in people, even though miracles are meant to authenticate the power and identity of the miracle worker.

Even within the Old Testament, when God performed miracles for the Israelites, it did not cause them to obey Him; rather they continued to disobey the Lord even after God did the miracles.

Please open your Bibles to John 11, as we talk about how the Lord still performs miracles today, even if we are unaware.

Many people try to question the miracles of Jesus and the authenticity of scripture; because like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, they do not want to believe God still does miracles.

Hebrews 2:4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will. NKJV

I. When God delays.

Read John 11:1-6

Here in our narrative, Jesus is summoned to the home of some of His closest friends and their brother Lazarus is terminally ill.

Jesus does the unthinkable and stays where He was for two full days instead of rushing to the bedside of His friend and healing him right away.

In vs. 3, the sisters send word to Jesus to reveal that their brother was sick; but they do not tell Jesus how to handle the situation.

So many times in our prayer lives, we advise the Lord on how to fix our problems and how to answer our prayers.

Some people say, “Just claim the healing and it will be yours”

However, when Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, He taught them to say to the Father, “Your will be done”

In Laura Story’s song, blessings, it says, “We pray for blessings, we pray for peace; Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity; we pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

…And all the while, You hear each spoken need Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops, What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near.

“What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise” (Laura Story, Blessings)

When we pray, we can’t always see the big picture; but God sees the beginning and the end of the situation before it happens.

Sometimes, we want to tell the Lord how to answer our prayers

Isaiah 40:13 Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to be his teacher or counselor? NLT

We should simply make our requests known to God, and then leave the answer up to Him, because He will give what is best for His children.

The NLT of Philippians 4:6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Philippians 4:7 If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. NLT

Lazarus sickness was not only used by the Lord, it was actually planned by the Lord; so this sickness was not a lack of faith on Lazarus’ part.

The sisters send word to Jesus, “The one you love is sick”. Jesus already knew Lazarus was sick and He remained two more days.

Let’s add up the days it took Jesus to get to Lazarus; it took the messenger a day to reach Jesus; but most commentators believe Lazarus died before the messenger ever made it to Jesus.

Then there was the two days Jesus remained in the place He was; and there was one day for Jesus to travel to Bethany.

John 11:39 says Lazarus had been dead four days when Jesus arrived there.

Some may think this was cruel for Jesus to allow Lazarus to die.

Some people get angry with God over the death of a loved one, some sickness, or something else that has happened.

We hear things like, “If God were a God of love, He would not allow this thing to have taken place.”

I personally have struggled with that line of reasoning myself at times, so I understand; I have learned I am not the center of the universe and God does love me, even when I don’t understand.

God answers prayers in ways I cannot comprehend and He also sees the big picture when all I see is what’s right in front of me.