We celebrate 95 years of God’s faithfulness! City First Church is a legacy church, and all glory goes to Jesus Christ! Pastor Jeremy encourages us by unpacking the story of Lazarus, where we see how Jesus’ delay was actually a setup for a miracle. Hope is knowing God is still there, even when the whole situation feels wrong. Jesus doesn’t just offer hope… He IS hope!
Notes 📓✏️:
An Overcoming Hope – Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt
Love Him or hate Him, you cannot ignore Jesus.
The HOPE that Jesus could change their life.
Jesus doesn’t just offer hope… He IS HOPE!
Dorothy Sayers wrote:
“To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.”
People did whatever they could to find Jesus because when they found him, they found real life!
John 11:3b (NLT); “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”
John 11:5-6a (NLT); “So, although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.”
Hope is knowing God is still there, even when the whole situation feels wrong.
“Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
“Jesus you could have done something.”
“God doesn’t always move the mountain, but He always helps us climb over it.”
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NIV); “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
John 11:25-26 (NLT); “Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
Our hope doesn’t come from “repaired” situations.
Our hope only comes from the person of Jesus.
Romans 8:28 (Msg); “That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”
John 11:39 (NLT); “But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
John 11:40 (NLT); “Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”
John 11:43-44 (NLT); “Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
Romans 4:17b (NLT); “…the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.”
Discussion Questions 📝❓:
- What does it mean to be an outsider with influence in today’s culture, and how can we apply this in our daily interactions?
- In the sermon, Pastor Jeremy mentioned the importance of loving our enemies and living out the teachings of Jesus above political debates. Why is this perspective so vital for Christians today?
- According to Jeremiah 29, God instructed His people to seek the peace and prosperity of the cities they were in exile in. How can this apply to our own lives in our communities today?
- How does the concept of being model citizens as Christians relate to our participation in politics and elections, according to the sermon