“LAZARUS LIVES AGAIN!
YEAH! CHURCH - MARCH 13, 2022
Doing Life with Jesus”
Today’s Lesson - “Lazarus Lives Again!
Video Story/Resource:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dca8SSxXCmM (Saddleback Kids – Jesus Heals Lazarus)
Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead!
Jesus received word that his good friend Lazarus was very sick. He could have healed him right away, but God had a different plan…
John 11:17-44, NLT – “17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” 28 Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” 29 So Mary immediately went to him.
30 Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. 31 When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. 32 When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38 Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. 39 “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” 40 Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” 41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” 43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
Mary & Martha believed that Jesus could heal their sick brother Lazarus; but after he had died, they thought there was nothing Jesus could now do for him. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah and someday in the future everyone who believed in him would be able to live again in heaven. They believed that people could experience new life spiritually, but on earth, when it came to physical life, dead was dead…there was no coming back from that! …or was there?
Jesus surprised everyone by first telling them to remove the stone that stood at the front of the tomb. Lazarus had been dead for four days; his decaying body would really stink by now. Jesus then surprised them by shouting, “Lazarus! Come out!” But that would not have compared with the surprise they were all in for when Lazarus walked out, still wrapped in burial clothes, very much alive once again. Jesus proved he was God’s Son and had power not only over sickness, but also over death.
Engage:
• Mary and Martha’s brother, Lazarus, was very sick. What did they want Jesus to do?
• Jesus delayed coming to see them. Why?
• When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already been dead for four days. What did he do?
• Lazarus came back to life. What did this miracle prove to all of those who witnessed it?
Weekly verse:
John 11:25, NLT – “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.”
2022 Theme verses:
Colossians 2:6-7, NLT – “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”
Prayer – Dear God, thank you for showing us that Jesus had power over death. Just as he could raise Lazarus, we can be confident that Jesus is able to bring us to live in heaven with him someday. Thank you that we can know that there is life in heaven after we die when we choose to follow Jesus.
~ Pastor Jane