Boy, Midwestern hospitality is a real thing. You guys are so, so kind. Uh, my name is Kyra. I just wanna give a big welcome to all of the campuses joining us, Fenton, grants Mail, and um, mid River. So thank you for being with us today, you guys. Last summer was my first time in Missouri. My first time with the Crossing family, I had heard about Midwestern hospitality. But it's one thing to hear about it, it's another to experience it. You guys blew my socks off. I had culture shock. I come from New Jersey. Uh, you guys were so kind. I got so many handwritten letters sent to my office in Liquid Church in New Jersey, emails, dms. I mean, you guys were sharing with me stories about how God is showing up in your lives and it was an awesome privilege to bear witness to all of that. And so I wanted to start my time with you guys today just giving you some honor because you guys have been bragging behind your back. Everywhere I go now I say there's an awesome church in Missouri. It's called The Crossing. You must Go. And I'm so inspired by our pastoral team, everybody from your senior pastor Greg, to Pastor Judy, who is a great friend of mine, pastor Angela, one of your campus pastors to Pastor David and of course Pastor Tim and everybody else who I've met you guys, your pastor's heartbeat for this congregation. It's a family to be loved. And so we're just, I'm just really inspired by them. Uh, like David said, I am from New Jersey. I get the enormous privilege of serving as the executive pastor at Liquid Church. Uh, it is a very similar church to the crossing. We have seven locations across the northern central part of New Jersey, very close to New York City. So pray for us. It is not an easy missions field. In fact, we call ourselves liquid because New Jersey is one of the most spiritually dry regions in the country. And we exist to bring thirsty people, the living water of Jesus. And we have been doing that, thank you. We have been doing that for the past 17 years. Now, I am not originally from New Jersey. I actually was born and raised and lived for over 30 years in Puerto Rico. I grew up in a Christian household. My mom and my dad were co-founders of the church that I grew up in. I was born on a Tuesday late for a prayer meeting. It was that kind of a childhood. And I grew up in a Latino Spanish speaking Pentecostal church. And that is where I learned about God and his power and his holiness. And it's also where I discovered that Jesus is Puerto Rican. All right? We called him Jesus. And I would grow up and here, which means I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But that sounded way better in Spanish than in English. I don't know what you thought. Uh, by the way, have you guys heard about the argument between the Apostle Paul and the disciple Peter? Uh, Paul and Peter were arguing about what is the language that we're all gonna be speaking when we go to heaven? And Paul was saying, it's gotta be Greek. I mean the New Testament was written in Greek and Peter was like, no, it's gotta be Aramaic. I mean, Jesus's first language was in Aramaic. So they go back and forth, they're arguing, finally they get to heaven themselves. Jesus is at the Parly gates. He turns around and greets them and he goes, Ola. So to this day, I believe Jesus loves everyone, but Latinos are his favorite. Come on somebody. Now, for the past 12 years, I have been living in my, with my family in New Jersey. I have a picture that I wanna show you that is my husband Jose. He's 47 years old. My daughter Gabby is 16, she's entering her junior year, this freshman or this September. And then my son Andy is 13, he's in seventh grade. And then there's me. Every service has laughed. And I'm like, why do you laugh? I got married very young. I don't know what's so funny about that. Uh, but my husband, Jose and I, we actually celebrated 21 years of marriage last month and we gave ourselves the gift of going for the first ever time to marriage counseling because you guys, we are in the sandwich generation. Have you guys heard of this? This is not a new thing. Uh, we care for his aging dad. So my husband's father is 96 years old and he has dementia. And as you guys can imagine, all of that is very challenging with, you know, you're emotionally, physically, financially, all that stuff. And then on the other side, we're raising two wonderful kids. Our kids are wonderful, but they're growing up in a post-Christian digital anxiety written world. And that is not an easy task for a parent. Like I said, my daughter Gabby's going into her junior year, the great project of my life for the next two years will get to get that kid to launch and into the college that God has for her. And then my son Andy has down syndrome. I spoke about him last, uh, last year when I came, and he's going through puberty. And that's challenging enough. But when you add in some of the developmental delays and his lack of vocabulary, well it's been an interesting process in my household, I'll say that. And so we were like, listen, let's just go to the counselor. We need some new tools for our parenting tool build. I think she has some good tips that she can give us. So on our way to the counselor, I told my husband, you got the list of everything we're gonna talk about. And he is like, I got it. Don't worry. We're gonna look good as a unit. And so we go there and we're talking to her, you know, we're kind of sharing like some of the joys and the sorrows and some of the challenges that we're facing and asking her for her advice. And so at the end of it, she kind of takes off her glasses and she looks at me and she says, you know, your unique parenting journey is a long grief. And I wonder if anybody here can relate to that. Maybe you're not a parent, but you are relating to this idea of grief. When we talk about grief, immediately our minds go to, well, someone we love has passed away. But that's not the only kind of grief that we go through in life. That is one type of grief. The reality is most of life is full of loss and full of grief. Some of you have dreams that have died at some point in your life. You had a dream, whether it was to start your own business, whether it was to get married, whether it was to have children. And at some point those dreams have faded and they've kind of gone away. And you're sensing the loss of what that means. Some of you graduated your kids this summer, your kids graduated from high school or college. And while that's a good thing, you're also mourning the loss of influence that you have over your kids. It's waning. Some of you, every time that you change a job or you move into a new home, or you move into a new city, that's loss. You're excited about the new, but you're also grieving the old. And then there's what we call catastrophic loss. A spouse has an affair. You go through a divorce, you give birth to a child who has special needs. Uh, you go through infertility, you experience a miscarriage, someone that you love dies. My question to you this morning is what loss or grief are you mourning? Because that is what I wanna talk to you for the rest of our time this morning. And I wanna handle this topic of grief with care because I know that there are two types of people listening to this message. First group of people, you're actually going through ambiguous loss. It feels hard to define, but the loss is the the feeling that you feel the most. And then there's the other group of people who God wants to use you to comfort someone that you're in a relationship with who you know is in a grieving or in a mourning season. And so today what I want us to do is we were gonna join Jesus on one occasion where he experienced tremendous grief. Jesus had a friend, his name was Lazarus. Lazarus dies. There's a funeral and he responds with a lot of emotions. So join me in John chapter 11. It says, now a man named everybody say it with me, Lazarus, or like I say it, Lazaro was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Now Mary, Martha and Lazarus were siblings who were part of Jesus' inner circle. So obviously you guys know that Jesus had his 12, the 12 disciples. But in addition to his disciples, there were a few other people who were part of Jesus' inner circle. And Mary, Martha and Lazarus were siblings whom Jesus had a real friendship with. They all lived in Bethany. Jesus would often go to Bethany on his travels to rest. Martha would always cook, she would always do, in my Bible, she's Puerto Rican. And that's where she cooks. And Jesus would go and he would, you know, put up his feet and he would rest. But on this occasion, an unexpected illness comes to their home. Their brother, Azar is, is sick. We don't know with what it could be a fever, difficulty breathing, a heart attack. Bible doesn't say it only says that he was sick. It says, and so because an unexpected illness comes into their house, the sisters sent word to Jesus. Lord, the one you love is sick. This is a major health crisis. And everybody here can relate to that. They come unexpectedly, right? Like literally, I was about to hop on a plane and I was on the phone with one of my good friends back home because her child, adult child has been in and out of the hospital. We don't know with what it could be ulcerative colitis, it could be Crohn's. But she has been in and out of the hospital for really long stay. She got covid, they had to put her in isolation, surgery, not surgery. We've been praying back and forth for Jesus's healing touch to be over her life. And I was on the phone asking her, how's Kenna? That's what Mary and Martha are doing. Their brother is sick. And so they reach out to Jesus and they send him a text in other a message. In other words, they send him a text and they, their first instinct is to call Jesus because Mary and Martha, they're friends with Jesus. They've seen that Jesus has healing power. They've seen him do some miracles. So they say, somebody call the great physician Dr. Jesus, come and help because the one you love is dying. Now here's the problem. 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, what is Jesus saying here? What Jesus is saying is that in life we will go through things that we will not understand. In other words, not everything we go through in life has a discernible purpose at first, especially when it comes to suffering and grief. And that is underscored even more with the reality that God doesn't do what we want him to do when we want him to do it. Because how many of you have God on your timetable, right? Understand God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are higher than our ways. And that is what's happening here. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister in Lazarus. Verse six says, so when he heard that Lazarus was sick, what do you think Jesus did? Dropped everything and ran to Bethany, told his disciples, boys, we gotta go to Bethany. We gotta go help Lazarus. That's what you think that he would do Instead, the Bible says, when he heard meaning Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was. How long church? Two more days. And then he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. I want you to circle the word loved or highlighted. If you're using your Bible app, it is not romantic love. It is a love that is born out of a deep affection. Jesus has a real friendship with these guys. And I don't know about you, but when somebody I love calls me and tells me, I need you, come home, I will drop everything that I'm doing in order for be to be there for them. Like I legit have a ringtone for every member of my family. It doesn't matter where I'm at. If I'm in a meeting, if I am at the gym, if I am driving, I will always answer their call because I love them and I wanna be there for them. And I'm sure that you do the same thing, which is why Jesus's response to Martha is so strange. Mary and Martha, they're crying out to their friend Jesus. They're saying, Jesus, we need your help. The Bible actually tells us that Jesus loved them, but instead of going to them immediately, Jesus stays put for two more days. He lets 48 hours go by. And if it were me, I'd be like, Jesus, don't you see how serious this is? I mean, don't you care about Lazarus? Jesus, if you love him so much, where are you at? Right? And on his arrival, when he finally got there, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb. How long? Church? Four days, guys, 48 hours later, finally Jesus shows up and it is too little, too late because ERUs is gone. That is the evidence that Jesus is Puerto Rican, he's late, and when the time comes and he's finally there, Martha is sad, but she's also mad. I mean, can you imagine if it were you, how you would feel that your brother is getting sicker? You're reaching out to your friend Jesus, who you know can actually heal him, can help him. He doesn't come. He makes you wait. And by the time he comes, your brother is dead and you are in shock over what just happened. You are in pain over the grief that you're feeling, but you're also really mad. And so Mary, Mary, she mourned Martha. Martha got mad. Remember she was Puerto Rican, all right? And so Martha, she goes to Jesus and it says, when Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. Let me speak to the men in the room for one second. Men take it from a sister. If a woman comes out to meet you instead of waiting for you at the door, oh you in trouble. All right? And so Martha, you know she goes out to meet Jesus because she's upset. She's not Martha anymore. She's Marta. All right? She's mad Marta. And so she goes to Jesus and she says, Jesus, why didn't you come? When I called you Jesus, I sent you a text and you left me on red. Jesus, I am. I am upset. I don't understand. She's sad and she's mad and she ain't letting Jesus into the house this time. She said, by the time Jesus got there, Lazarus had been dead for four days. And you can just hear the pain in her voice when she talks to Jesus. Verse 21 says, Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. Ooh, snap. Can you feel the sting of her accusation? Martha's upset. She's like, Jesus, I called you for help. You didn't even come to my house. Oh, you came when I cooked, but you didn't come when I cried. You didn't come to the hospital. My brother got sicker. My faith got weaker. Where were you? If we're honest at some point, all of us have been Martha at one point. I mean, have you ever gone through something with the Lord where you just can't figure out what he's doing? Lord, if only you had been here in this crisis, we have a lot of Lord if only, don't we Lord, if only you had been here, my child wouldn't be sick. Lord, if only you had been here, I'd still have my job. Lord, if only you had been here, my dream to open up a business would still be alive. Lord, if only you had been here, my marriage wouldn't be on life support. Lord, if only you had been here, I wouldn't be alone and I wouldn't feel depressed. If you've ever been there, if you've ever felt like Martha has has been feeling in this moment, Jesus says to you, I love you even when I am late. I didn't do what you wanted me to do. I didn't do it when you wanted me to do it. I didn't do it according to your timetable because I love you too much. I love you, Martha. I love you, Mary. I love Lazarus. I didn't come when you called, but I love you even though I'm late. And the question that I wanna ask you is, can you love God? Even when he's late? Guys, we do not have God on our own timetable. And I don't like that God, that Jesus isn't on my watch. I want him to come when I call. But the Bible says again, God's ways are higher, his thoughts are higher. And often Jesus has a purpose in mind that we cannot see in the moment. And I came here today to tell somebody that's struggling that God loves you even when he's late. He didn't do what you wanted him to do when you wanted him to do it, but Jesus has something even better planned in mind. He says, Martha, I love you. And I came today because I have something bigger than a miracle in mind. You called me to do a healing, Martha. Oh, but I came to give you a resurrection. Amen. Church, God's plans for our lives are always better than what we can think or imagine. How many of you know God doesn't set his clock on our watch? Just because it's too late for you does not mean it is too late for Jesus. In fact, I want you to turn to your neighbor because I don't want you to forget this. If you forget everything else, it's fine. Don't forget this. Tell them, talk to your neighbor and say God loves you even when he's late. Now turn to your second choice and tell them God loves you too. Even when he's laying Church. The key is that you gotta trust Jesus like Martha, trusted Jesus. Because even though Martha is very hurt and she's very sad and she's confused and she's upset because she doesn't understand what happens, she actually lets it all out. I just love this about Martha. She's just so real. There's no way that she's gonna hide how she's really feeling from Jesus. She goes to him and she says, Jesus, I don't understand. I called for you. You didn't come, you didn't help. She can actually like even hide her own grief. And I think that she can't because grief is evidence of great love. There's nothing weak about feeling lost or grief. It just means that you care that you love someone, that you love something very much. It's only when you're cold or apathetic that you stop caring about people. And can I just pause this story and step out of it for a minute? 'cause I wanna give you guys some of my best pastoral coaching, and I'm gonna speak directly to the people I said. God may want to use you to comfort someone who you're in relationship with and who's hurting. Let me tell you what you should never, ever, ever do when you're talking to someone who's hurting and that is never minimize another's pain. There's two words in your vocabulary that you should eliminate stat when you're talking about or to someone who's hurting. You know if a couple comes to you and tells you we're going through infertility and we really want a baby, the words that you should never say is at least in that. At least you have each other. Or if someone comes to you and tells you my, you know, my father died of a heart attack at 45 years old, the words that you should never say is at least he didn't suffer. Guys, that's not the point. The person who is hurting in the moment is coming to you not looking for a solution. They are looking for support. All you have to do is give them the gift of your presence and help them carry their pain. That is what Jesus is modeling to us here with Martha. Alright, on pause, we're gonna go back to Martha. Uh, Martha sad. She's mad. She lets it all out in the presence of Jesus. And what I love about this story is that in this moment, something snaps inside of Martha's souls because even though she's disappointed with God, I want you to see what she boldly tells Jesus in verse 22 it says, but say it with me, church, these two words, even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask. I love those two words, even now, because Martha, she had an even now kind of faith. Jesus, I'm mad Jesus, I'm sad, I'm confused. I don't understand why this is happening. But even now when my eyes see something that doesn't want to be real, even now when my faith is still looking at you, even now I can see that you have the power to raise my brother from the dead. She says, Lord, you didn't do what I wanted you to do. You didn't do it when I wanted you to do it. But even now, even as I see my brother is in the tomb, I believe you have the power to raise him. And the question that I have for you church, is do you have an even now kind of faith in the situations that you're navigating today that don't look like you wish it would? Look that says, even when I can't see it, I know that God is working. Even when I don't feel it, I know that God is working. I'm not gonna lose my faith. I'm not gonna lose my hope. My cancer cells may still be in my body. My child may still be struggling with depression or anxiety. My marriage will still be, may still be a life support, but I'm not gonna lose my faith. And even though I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, I'm still gonna declare even now that God is good, even when life is bad, do you believe it Crossings family? That is the hope that we have in Jesus. Jesus says to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this Martha and Martha says, yes Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the son of God who is to come into this world. Guys, do you understand what is happening in this moment between Jesus and Martha? Jesus is confronting Martha with a question, do you believe that I am who I say I am? Do you believe this? In this moment when what you wanted and the dream that you had and the hope that you had and the prayer that you had did not come to pass? Do you still believe it? And Martha's like, yes Lord, I believe I believe it. Even though it didn't happen what I wanted to happen. I still believe it. Why? Because Martha believes that Jesus is who he says he is. So this is a beautiful confession of faith that Martha is declaring in front of Jesus. And what I love about this story, this is one of my favorite Bible passages by the way, is that we're about to see a picture of how Jesus is actually fully God and fully human in this moment. Because up until now there's been all these tears from Martha, all these emotions from Mary and Martha, and we don't really know where Jesus is at emotionally in this moment. Is he stoic? Is he like trying to step outside of that moment? Where is he? We're gonna about to see a full picture of Jesus's humanity because he's about to meet Martha's tears in anger with tears in anger of his own. Verse 33 says, when Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, read it with me church, a deep anger weld up within him and he was, what's the word? Deeply troubled. Where have you put him? He asked them and they told him, Lord, come and see. Then Jesus wept. The Bible I think is softening it here because the original Greek word for what took place is omi. OMI means to quake with rage. Which begs the question, why is Jesus so angry and who's he angry at? And the answer is, Jesus is angry at death. He's angry at the tomb. Jesus is looking at his friend Lazarus in the tomb and he's saying, this is not the way that it was supposed to be. We were created to be imperfect harmony with my Father. We were created to live in a perfect world where death and dece and sin and sickness would never separate us from God. We would live without brokenness. But that's not a reality. And it grieves Jesus. There's sadness and there's anger in Jesus, which is why he weeps. You guys know what the shortest verse in the Bible is? It's Jesus wept. Say it with me, church Jesus wept. That is your memory verse of the week. Congratulations. You just uh, learned a memory verse. What's my point guys? In Jesus Christ, we have a savior who sympathizes with our pain. We have a savior who enters into human pain and weeps with us. He does not weep because he lacks faith. He weeps because he's full of love. Understand Jesus weeps with those who weep. Can I tell you that? Um, right before hopping on a plane here, a friend of mine reached out. Her name is Meg. She has four kids. She just gave birth to her fourth child in March. She reached out and she said, Hey, I need some new clothes. You know, after giving birth, wanna go shopping? I was like, of course. And we went shopping and she's, you know, in the fitting room and I'm handing her stuff and I said, Meg, how's baby Drake? That's her newest baby, four months old. And she said, you know, things aren't going that well. And I said, well, what's going on? And she says, there's something wrong with Drake's eyes. And we took him to the doctor because we weren't sure if it was just a matter of that he can't focus. But the doctor sent me to a neurologist because he believes that Drake has a condition where most likely he will be blind. And I'm in the middle of getting the appointments with the neurologist and she starts telling me the story right there in the loft fitting room. And she starts to cry and I drop everything that I had in my hand and I go to her and I just hug her. And I said, Meg, I'm so sorry. I had no idea what was happening with baby Drake. I'm gonna be praying. And she said, you know, this is the hardest thing that I've ever gone through. I've had four kids and I have to tell you that even if Drake is blind, the only thing that matters to me is that he would know and follow Jesus. And because of that faith that I have in Jesus, I know that Jesus is weeping with me. I feel him at times holding my hand and I just have to continue to declare God's goodness and care for my family. When you were sitting in the oncology room and you got that cancer diagnosis, Jesus wept with you too. When you signed the papers and it was finished and you were single again. Jesus wept with you when you held that test out in front of you and there was no pink line again, Jesus wept with you. God weeps at human suffering. He's deeply moved when his children suffer. If your heart is broken, God's heart weeps with you. He weeps over those who've lost jobs. He weeps for people who are depressed and struggling with anxiety and he weeps for people who've passed away, which is why Jesus meets Martha's tears with tears of his own. You don't have a God who is distant. He's not somewhere up in the sky, unmovable and implacable. It's the opposite. You have a God who weeps for you, which is why Jesus wept for Lazarus. Even though he knew in 10 minutes it's all gonna be okay because spoiler alert, if you know the story, I mean think about it, you guys, when you and I go through a hard thing and we're suffering and we don't know when it's going to end or even how it will turn out, would you actually think that Jesus would would say, everyone calm down. Like if you know that it's like you and I, we don't know how things are gonna turn out. We don't know when it's in. Jesus does. And he doesn't actually go into that pain and trauma. He says, Chicos relax. Everything's okay. Don't worry. It's all gonna be good. I'm Jesus. No. He actually enters into their pain. He enters into their trauma. He enters into their own grief. Why? Because he is perfect love. And Jesus would never close his heart to anyone, not even for 10 minutes. He doesn't say, well, there's not much point in entering into all that trauma and all that grief. No, he goes there. He's been there in Jesus Christ. We have the most mature person that ever walked the earth. And he cried when people who he loved were suffering. And after crying, Jesus says, now I'm gonna do something about this. In verse 38 says, Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across his entrance and he said, roll the stone aside. But Martha, the dead man's sister protested. She said, Lord, he's been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible. I just love Martha. In other words, Jesus laster stinks. He's been in the grave for four days. His body's decomposing. You don't wanna go there guys. Can I state the obvious? There are things in life that plain old stink seeing people that we love get sick, stinks seeing relationships fail, stink seeing babies who are four months old potentially go blind. It stinks. It stinks When people lose jobs, when they battle depression, when they go through miscarriages, it all stinks. But God says, I see that your situation stinks, but I am making all things new. And so Jesus says, did I not tell you, Martha, that if you believed, you will see the glory of God? So they roll the stone aside and then Jesus shouted, Lazarus come out because Lazarus has been dead for a while and dead people can't hear that well. So Jesus shouts. Lazarus come out, scream it with me. Lazarus come out and can you imagine the joy of the moment, someone who has been dead, there's been a funeral, they placed the body in the coffin, they seal the cave, and all of a sudden Jesus shouts, Lazarus come out and he comes out. The Bible says, the dead man came out his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. And Jesus told him, unwrap him and let him go. And many of the people were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. Can you imagine the joy Church? Martha and Mary did not have any other option, but to agree that what they wanted for their life was good, but what Jesus had planned for them was way better. Do not miss it what you want in your life. It is good. But what Jesus has planned for you is always better. If Jesus had met Mary and Martha's expectations, he, they would've gotten to witness a healing and that is good. But instead, God exceeded their expectations because his plans are better. And instead, they got to witness a resurrection and suddenly all of their grief and all of their pain and all of their hurt and their anger and their tears and their pain had a purpose. And that's what God wants for you too. If you've lost someone you loved, I want you to know that Jesus gives you comfort today. If you're sick and healing hasn't come, Jesus offers you hope. If you're hurting, Jesus offers you healing. How can I say that? How do we know that? Because in order to give Lazarus his life back, Jesus would have to lose his own to reverse the effect of death and sin and and and sickness. Jesus would have to experience his own death on a cross church in Jesus Christ. We have a God who is so committed to ending suffering and sickness and death that it took it upon himself and died in our place out of his great love and mercy. Jesus was willing to come into our world, to enter into our pain and our human experience and into our human emotions. And he took it all upon himself, all of our sin and our sickness and our disease and our death so that we could have the hope of the resurrection. Understand first Lazarus, then Jesus, then you church, first Lazarus, then Jesus, then you, do you believe this crossing family? If you do make some noise and give God some praise, come on First Lazarus, then Jesus, then you. This is the only way that you survive the inescapable grief of what it means to live life in a broken world where people that you love die, where divorce comes and takes place. Only if you have the unshakeable hope of the resurrection, can you survive grief in this world. Martha had that hope and she believed that. Do you believe that? Remember Jesus's words to Martha? He said, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? Martha and Martha said, yes Lord, I believe, and you know what? She experienced a resurrection. So my question to end our time together is what do you say? Do you say yes, I believe. Do you say maybe? Or do you say, I'm not so sure? You know, grief is only fatal when there is no faith. The hardest funeral for a pastor to do is when the person who dies had no faith, because what are you gonna say? Fred's a great person. Fingers crossed he's in a better place. Guys, don't you dare have a fingers crossed kind of a faith. This is a moment where Jesus is actually asking you, do you believe this? That whoever lives by believing in me will never die? Do you believe this? It doesn't mean that you have to have everything figured out. That's not what faith is. Faith is trusting God with what you do know and then trusting him to fill what you don't know. But what it does mean is that we get to experience the promise of resurrection in heaven when we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. He's making all things new. What is happening today to you even if you don't see what you want to see, even if God is not moving at the speed with which you would want him to move, even in that process, even now in the here and the now, Jesus is making all things new. Do you believe that crossing? Lemme pray for you. Father, I thank you just for your word in John 11. Lord, this is such a rich, beautiful story that continues to fix our eyes on Jesus as the life, the way, the truth and the resurrection. I pray right now for every person in the room, Lord, I know that you know them intimately well. Their situations, their seasons of life, the things that they're struggling with, the things that they've been praying over sometimes for years, sometimes for months that they still haven't seen come to pass. If there's any decrease in faith, I pray that you would strengthen their faith. I pray that the fiery darts of the evil one who would want to come and put doubt in their mind and sow disunity that you would protect them from that. And instead that your spirit would continue to increase their passion and their zeal to spend time in your presence asking and and believing for the ones that they love. Father, for the ones who are also not sure what they believe, I pray that you would reveal to, you would reveal yourself to them, that they would come to know the Jesus, that Martha knew in that moment, that there is a Jesus Christ who loves us so much that entered into this world to come and die for us so that we could have restored relationship with the Father. I thank you for this beautiful truth. I thank you for your love, and I just pray a blessing over this congregation, Lord. I mean, they experience the breadth and the depth of your love for them, for their children, for their marriages, their relationships, their dreams, and everything that makes them who they are. And I pray that out of that great love that would go out and be a blessing to Missouri Lord in their communities and in their spaces where they work. I pray all this in your son's name and everyone says with me, amen.