Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 591 | The Greater Blessing - Part 1

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591 | The Greater Blessing - Part 1 · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast
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  with Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
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  boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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  Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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  are on our website at watwm.org.
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  We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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  who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Those that wait upon the Lord receive the greater blessing.
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  But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
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  They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
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  and they shall walk and not faint.
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  That's Isaiah 40 and verse 31.
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  Life's circumstances will try to push you ahead of God, and perhaps even your
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  own tendencies will try to move you in front of the plans that God has for you.
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  But join us in this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  as Kim takes us on a journey through the scriptures to discover the reward for
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  waiting on God and allowing Him to have His perfect way in your life.
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  Patience is a virtue, and we all know that for some of us, it's a virtue we don't possess.
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  And a lot of times in life, I think that lack of patience causes us a lot of
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  issues and a lot of troubles, but never any more so than it does when we're
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  impatient with God's plan for our life.
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  In Jeremiah 29, 11, he explains to us that he has a plan for us,
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  to prosper us, to give us a hope, and to give us a future.
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  In John chapter 11, we watch how he orchestrates and plans for his friends,
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  Mary and Martha, as he is dealing with the death of their brother, Lazarus.
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  And as we look at this passage of scripture, Woman at the Well Ministries is
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  going to spend several lessons devoted to this chapter.
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  You can also look on our website and you'll see a book that we have produced
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  that is a study in John chapter 11, and it's a study waiting upon the Lord.
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  These are all practical things that we can glean from John chapter 11 to help
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  us be able to position ourselves in such a way that our faith is increased And
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  we're able to just stand when he says stand,
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  to move when he says go, and have the full assurance that we are doing exactly
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  what God would have us to do and being where he would have us to be.
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  But not just doing it out of obedience, but we're doing it because we love him
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  and we understand that he knows what is best for us.
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  In Romans chapter 8 and verse 28, he says that all things work together for
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  the good to them that love the Lord, to them that are called according to his purpose.
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  And we can say that, we can quote it, we can know it.
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  All of these things are available to us, yet we have a hard time living it.
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  Mary and Martha are two very different people, but they are the same kind of people that we are.
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  And we have an opportunity to take a glimpse into the scriptures,
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  to see someone else who walked and talked with Jesus, who was close to him,
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  who knew him, and who reaped the rewards of waiting on God.
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  In John chapter 11, what we see is that Mary and Martha were friends with Jesus,
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  as was Lazarus and Jesus is
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  gone away and Lazarus falls
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  sick and Mary and Martha they
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  know what to do because they're so close to Jesus Christ
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  that the first thing they want to do is get a hold of him because they understand
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  he can make the difference but Jesus isn't there and time passes and Jesus still isn't there.
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  And Mary and Martha each deal with this in two different ways.
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  They have their own ideas about what they're going to do that Jesus is not there.
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  And Jesus appears on the scene, but one of them feels, and many that are around
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  feel, that it's four days too late because Lazarus has already been dead four days.
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  But I want you to hear me. Jesus is on time, in time, every time.
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  And his ways are not always our ways, but his way is the right way.
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  And when jesus shows up on the scene lazarus
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  is dead now you're going to see that
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  mary and martha still believe in jesus christ i want you to think about your
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  own lives and i want you to begin to wonder and i want you to determine whether
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  when things go the way you don't want them to if you still believe?
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  Or do you have a circumstantial faith?
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  Do you realize that God is God and that you are his servant,
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  or do you believe he is a puppet on a string?
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  Lazarus lays dead four days. In fact, they say he stinketh.
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  And Jesus cries out with a loud voice, and up from the dead wrapped in his grave
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  clothes Lazarus comes forth,
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  up until this point no one had been raised from the dead people had seen Jesus
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  go about doing good they had seen Jesus go about healing the blind healing the lame,
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  healing the sick but no one had ever seen Jesus raise the dead but on this particular day,
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  because of the long waits,
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  Between Lazarus being sick and Lazarus dying and the miracle,
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  Mary and Martha received the greater blessing.
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  As we begin to look at this lesson in the first of a several part series,
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  I want you to really keep in your mind the concept of the greater blessing.
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  We don't know what's best for us.
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  If things were done the way we wanted them to be
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  oftentimes we would find ourselves in a world of hurt
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  we don't understand what tomorrow
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  holds but those of us who know
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  christ as savior know who holds tomorrow it is
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  for this reason that we must place our faith in jesus
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  and allow him to have full reign of our lives then
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  and only then can we reach our potential and jesus
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  tells us what our potential is because he says that
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  he came to seek and to save those which were lost and then
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  he said i've come to give you life that you
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  might have life more abundantly he has
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  for you a wonderful life it may have trouble it may have chaos it may have strife
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  there may be struggles in it but he has for you a wonderful life perfectly designed
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  laid out just for you but we get ahead of ourselves,
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  and we get ahead of God, and we begin to insert into this path that he's made for us our plans.
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  We begin to tell him what we want to be.
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  We begin to tell him where we want to live.
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  We begin to tell him what we want to do, and then suddenly a little dark cloud
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  comes into our life, and we begin to tell him how to fix it.
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  You better believe that Mary and Martha thought that Lazarus should have been healed.
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  The concept of him being raised from the dead had not entered their mind at that moment.
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  But they received the greater blessing because God's will and his work was done.
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  I think many times in our life we shortchange ourselves from the blessings of God.
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  Because we limit what he can do.
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  And our sights are so much lower than what his are.
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  He said, I have not seen.
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  Ear have not heard. Neither has it entered into the heart of man.
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  The blessings that God has for you them that love him.
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  When we make plans, we are dependent on what we know. And let's face it,
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  folks, we don't know a lot.
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  When he makes plans, they're structured on what he knows and what he can do.
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  And there is no limit to what my God can do.
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  There's no limit to what he can give me. Because all things are under his feet.
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  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the hills thereof.
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  Oh, it's time that we dream and dream big Laying our lives and our hearts in
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  the hand of God This, my friend, are the lessons we're going to learn from John
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  chapter 11 Shall we pray?
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  Our kind and most gracious, your heavenly Father, Lord We just thank you for
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  this, another opportunity to come before you We thank you for this precious
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  passage of scripture that you've given us that we might be able to really understand
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  what it means to trust you and to obey you.
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  And Lord, to just live in your moment, moment by moment.
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  Lord, we ask that you would just touch our hearts and you would just move our
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  minds in the direction that you would have them to be.
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  And Lord, we pray that our lives would be more of what you'd have us to be as
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  we finish the study of John chapter 11.
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  Heavenly Father, we pray that we would just have an increased sense of faith
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  and that we would just allow you to have your perfect will and your perfect way in our lives.
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  Lord, I thank you that you are interested in the details of my life.
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  And I thank you that you've orchestrated down to the seconds of the days that I have on this earth.
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  And Lord, I pray that I would just have the ability to just lay my life in your
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  hands and that you could just play me like a violin, Lord, and that the music
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  you would hear would be a sweet savor to your ears.
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  Lord, I love you and I thank you for the greater blessings. I thank you that you know more than I do.
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  I thank you that you're the one that's in charge, and I thank you for the blessing
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  of the freedom of the liberty that there is in the truth of Jesus Christ.
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  Lord, I love you, and I praise you, and I thank you. And all these things we
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  ask in thy most precious and holy name we pray.
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  In John chapter 11, we see in verse 3 that the trouble of Lazarus has taken place. He's sick.
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  And the very first sign of trouble, the sisters sinned for Jesus.
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  And in verse 3, I want you to hear what he says. he
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  says therefore his sister sent unto him saying lord
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  behold he whom thou lovest is
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  sick as we begin this opening lesson on john chapter 11 there are some precepts
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  that we must set one of those is that there is a personal relationship between
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  jesus christ and mary between Jesus Christ and Martha,
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  between Jesus Christ and Lazarus.
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  And I want you to see that those that were around knew of this personal relationship.
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  Mary and Martha knew that Jesus loved Lazarus.
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  It wasn't a secret relationship. It wasn't a hidden relationship.
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  It wasn't a of Lazarus' imagination.
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  Jesus loved Lazarus, and Mary and Martha knew this.
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  In verse 5, it says, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
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  So what we begin to see is that he had personal relationships with each of them,
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  and no doubt each of their relationships were different.
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  And as we begin to see Mary and Martha unfold in this passage of scripture,
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  we're going to see that how they deal with Jesus is directly associated with
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  their personal relationship with Jesus.
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  And they each deal with him very differently. So we know that the relationship
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  that we have with Jesus Christ is personal and it is between you and him and it's different.
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  He is savior to all who come to know him as Lord And he is the father to all
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  that have been adopted into his family by the grace of Jesus Christ through his salvation.
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  But the relationship you have with him is personal.
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  And like any relationship, it depends on how much effort and work you're putting
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  into it, how much study time you have.
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  2 Timothy 2.15 says to study to show thyself approved unto God,
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  a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
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  You see we work on our personal relationships here
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  on earth which are wonderful and they're
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  the means in which god allows us to be loved and to
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  be comforted and to go through this world so
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  that we're not alone physically even though he said he would never
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  leave us nor forsake us so we always have him in
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  our heart but my friend they are temporal and
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  they are short lasting but that relationship you
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  have with jesus christ is permanent and is everlasting and
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  yet it is the relationship most of us neglect the most but lazarus and mary
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  and martha had a personal relationship with jesus christ verse 6 it says when
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  he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
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  I want you to see that Jesus had a plan. He could have at any moment left.
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  But you see, if he would have left at that moment and gone and healed Lazarus,
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  I'm sure that Mary and Martha and Lazarus would have all been grateful.
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  I'm even sure that there would have been people around who would have been excited
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  to see this miracle take place.
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  And I'm sure that Mary and Martha had their way and probably even Lazarus.
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  That's what they would have dictated, and that's what they would have said do.
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  But look at what they would have shortchanged themselves with.
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  They would have had a miracle, yes, but not as near the magnitude that was waiting just down the road.
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  And Jesus would have been glorified and magnified, but not even close to the
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  magnitude that he was going to be when the greater blessing was delivered.
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  So in christ time and
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  in his way he was going
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  to be glorified and lifted up far greater than our
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  plans could have made and mary
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  and martha were going to receive a blessing of much
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  more importance and of greater magnitude
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  through his plans than their
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  plans then i want you to skip down
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  to verse 11 he says these things said
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  he and after that he
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  saith unto them our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out
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  of sleep he's speaking to his disciples but my friends look at what he calls
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  Lazarus he calls him his friend the scriptures tell us that ye are my friends
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  if you keep my commandments.
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  It tells us that we are to pray without ceasing. In Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14 through 16.
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  We have the wonderful invitation to come boldly to the throne of God.
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  That we may obtain help in time of trouble.
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  And that we can come to a high priest who was tempted like as we are yet without sin.
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  Who understands the absolute complexities of your request.
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  Who absolutely understands what you feel and the torments that you are going
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  through with pain and agony.
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  Yet he endured them without sin without
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  complaint and he endured them so that he would be
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  able to be to answer your request
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  with you having confidence because you can
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  come to him knowing he understands in addition
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  to being absolutely sure he will
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  provide because in Philippians chapter four he
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  says you can do all things through Christ with strength with you and
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  then he says I will supply all of your needs according to my riches and
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  glory so he endured and he did all of
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  these things that your confidence in him might be
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  full and he does this so that as you're
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  walking through the paths of life you have
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  the opportunity to trust him and to exercise your faith the book of hebrew says
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  that without faith it is impossible to please him and you must believe that
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  he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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  Friends, as we walk through this passage in John chapter 11,
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  it's important that you keep in the forefront of your mind your faith in Jesus Christ.
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  This is an excellent opportunity for you to be introspective and really be honest
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  with yourself and come before the face-to-face meeting with Jesus Christ,
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  the God of the universe, the salvation of your soul is in him.
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  And to stand there and really take a look at how much you believe,
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  to really take a look at how strong your faith is, to begin to see Jesus for
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  who he is, to understand how his every move is focused on you, his child,
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  to understand that everything he did, he did for you,
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  to begin to increase that trust you have in him,
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  that you may walk hand in hand with the God of the universe because he loves
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  you and he is knocking on your heart's door asking you to fellowship with him
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  in revelations chapter 3 and he calls you friends.
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  He tells us a greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
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  He has absolutely positively explained to you his love for you.
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  And he has established that relationship. And as a child of God,
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  you have entered in to a personal relationship with the God of the universe.
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  As we skip through the scriptures we see in verse 14, he says,
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  then said Jesus unto them plainly.
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  Lazarus is dead you see when he spoke to the disciples in verse 11 that he was sleeping,
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  i believe in my heart of hearts that he knew that he wasn't going to be dead
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  for long because he already had the plan and he knew he was going to come and
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  raise him but when he made that terminology,
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  the disciples thought he was just
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  taking a nap and i want you to see that
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  jesus wants you to understand and so
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  he plainly comes back and says to his disciples he's
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  really dead jesus wants you
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  to know the truth as his follower and as his disciple he wants you to understand
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  what is going on around you he doesn't want you to live in chaos he's not the
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  author of confusion he doesn't want you to live as if you are blind because he is the light.
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  And his word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.
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  We need to spend time with Jesus Christ in prayer and in his holy word.
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  This is how we get to know him. This is how we have that personal relationship
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  with him that Lazarus and Mary and Martha had.
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  You see, Jesus walked among Larry, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.
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  But for me, he is the word. because the Bible says that the word was made flesh
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  and dwelt among us and walked among men.
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  So I can have a personal conversation with the God of the universe.
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  In fact, we are as we're looking through John chapter 11 and we're ingesting
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  his scriptures and we're looking at what he has to say.
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  We're getting to know Jesus and Jesus is
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  getting more of us as we open up our heart and our mind
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  and we shove out the world and we place in his goodness
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  and his mercy and his grace and his love and the
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  truth of his word we're spending time
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  with jesus in the morning in your quiet
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  time when you get up and you have your cup of mountain
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  dew or coffee or tea or whatever it is you drink and you're sitting there at
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  the table and you're opening up the word of god and just you and him are reading
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  and you're praying you're spending time with jesus just as real and just as
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  sure as Mary and Martha and Lazarus did.
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  But why is it we don't do it? Don't you realize that's how that personal relationship is strengthened?
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  Don't you realize that's how you and God spend time together?
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  Don't you realize that when you shut his Bible, you've told him to leave?
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  How many times have you started reading the word of god or thought about reading
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  it and decided not to do it because you saw a different show was coming on or
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  someone came in or it was getting late.
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  Do you understand what you've just said? Is Jesus not tonight?
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  Come visit me another time.
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  We wouldn't do that to our brothers and sisters even. We wouldn't do it to our
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  neighbors. We wouldn't do it to a stranger.
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  They knocked on their door and wanted to come in and talk to us.
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  We would talk to them. But we'll shut that Bible many times.
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  In fact, we'll invite everybody to our house for a cookout. Jesus doesn't even get an invitation.
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  We invite him to our house for Thanksgiving dinner, and Jesus doesn't get an invitation.
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  We might say a little blessing over our food, but seldom does any family read
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  his word before the dinner table.
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  Friends, Mary and Martha and Lazarus had a personal relationship with him.
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  That personal relationship was because they spent time with him.
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  And the blessings that come through the remainder of this chapter are heavily,
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  heavily linked to that relationship.
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  As we pick up this lesson in the next series, we're going to begin in chapter
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  11, and we'll start speaking in verse 15.
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  But I want you to understand in this lesson the importance of that personal
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  relationship with Jesus Christ.
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  There is a greater blessing for those
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  that trust him and love him the bible says in isaiah chapter 40 and verse 31
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  but they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount
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  up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint thank you.
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  Welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast with Kimberly Miller,
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  where we believe that every man, woman, boy, and girl must come to Jesus just
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  like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
• 24:15
  Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
• 24:20
  Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
• 24:24
  or on our website at watwm.org,
• 24:28
  we invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
• 24:33
  who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.