Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 596 | The Greater Blessing - Part 6
Transcript
- 0:07Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast
- 0:10with Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
- 0:14boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
- 0:20Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
- 0:26Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
- 0:30are on our website at watwm.org.
- 0:34We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
- 0:39who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
- 1:03Those who wait upon the Lord will receive the greater blessing.
- 1:06Isaiah 40 verse 31 tells us, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
- 1:13They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
- 1:17and they shall walk and not faint.
- 1:20Life's circumstances will try to push you ahead of God, and perhaps even your
- 1:24own tendencies will try to move you in front of the plans that God has for you.
- 1:29But join us in this program of Woman at the Well Ministries,
- 1:32as Kim continues us on a journey through the scriptures to discover the reward
- 1:37for waiting on God and allowing Him to have His perfect way in your life.
- 1:43Hello, and thank you for joining us in this sixth lesson of our six-part series
- 1:49on John chapter 11, beginning at verse 1 and moving all the way through through verse 46.
- 1:55And what a journey it has been up until this part. We just got to the place
- 2:00where Jesus has said, take away the stone.
- 2:03And Martha, the sister of him that was dead, he says, but he's been dead for
- 2:10four days. And then she added, he stinks.
- 2:14And here we are. The crowd is gathered around. The people are watching.
- 2:21Jesus has wept. He has fully understood the task that lay before him,
- 2:28the burden that's upon him.
- 2:30His relationship with all the people is clearly seen.
- 2:35We see his love for Mary and Martha. We see his love for Lazarus.
- 2:39And we see his love for the people as he begins to lift up God and allow them
- 2:45to see who he is and the power rests upon him.
- 2:50Let us pray as we begin this final few steps through the journey of John chapter
- 2:5611 till we see the greater blessing.
- 3:00Our kind and most gracious, your heavenly Father, Lord, we're just so privileged
- 3:03that you're allowing us to read your word.
- 3:06We're so thankful that you've given us these promises, that the lessons that
- 3:10you've unfolded for us in John chapter 11 are real and they're relevant,
- 3:15and they give us life, and they give us hope, and they give us a glimpse into who you are.
- 3:21Lord, we're thankful that you love us and that our relationship with you can be personal.
- 3:25And that you came to seek and to save those which were lost,
- 3:29and that I was one of them, and that you paid the supreme sacrifice,
- 3:32the ultimate payment for my sins and that you laid your life down that I might live forever.
- 3:37Lord, I pray that all of us as we read through this passage of scripture would
- 3:43be motivated to serve you more, inspired by who you are and that we would be
- 3:49a brighter light than we've ever been before,
- 3:51Lord, and that you would help us to learn to stand in your presence,
- 3:54to be in the center of your will and allow you to unfold the blessings in the
- 3:59very order and sequence and magnitude that you have planned for us.
- 4:02Lord, watch over us and protect us. Be with us and give us the words that you
- 4:07would have us to say that our lives would be forever transformed as we see your presence.
- 4:13With us today all these things we ask
- 4:16in thy most precious and holy name we pray and all of god's people
- 4:19said amen i can hardly contain
- 4:22myself because you see i know the greater
- 4:25blessing waits for those that love the lord i
- 4:28know that the greater blessing is sitting out there for
- 4:31all those who have called him savior who have
- 4:34allowed him to save them from their sins because the
- 4:37greater blessing my friend is on the other side the
- 4:40greater blessing is a life eternal in heaven with Jesus Christ where the sun
- 4:45never sets where he is the light where the streets are of gold and the river
- 4:49of life runs where old acquaintance are absolutely renewed because we're known
- 4:54as we were known over there and those that have gone on before us who have walked
- 4:58The walk of faith who has showed us how to live this life down here.
- 5:03They'll meet us on the other side and they'll say, welcome home, my child.
- 5:07And we'll spend eternity in the presence of God. I understand the greater blessing
- 5:12waits for those who know the Lord and that this journey we're walking on down
- 5:17here, filled with his presence, filled with his blessings, filled with his love and his grace.
- 5:22That as marvelous as it is, the way that we can comprehend how we can talk to
- 5:27him and have him in our life, how we can feel him, how he makes a difference
- 5:31in our every day is nothing compared to what we have waiting on the other side.
- 5:36But I know what happens in John chapter 11 as we begin to read his word and
- 5:41we see that Mary and Martha, they were obedient.
- 5:44They loved him. They were loyal, they had a personal relationship with him.
- 5:49Jesus loved them. People are watching, and they're moving in the right direction.
- 5:54And as they'd seen people healed before, they'd seen the presence of God make the blind see.
- 6:00They'd seen the lame walk. They'd seen those with diverse diseases healed.
- 6:04They'd seen him as the great physician, but nobody had seen him as the resurrection and the life.
- 6:10But right now, in just a few moments, as we walk through the scripture,
- 6:14we're going to see Jesus the resurrection and the
- 6:17life believe a style this and he's going to
- 6:20show you that though you were dead in your trespasses and
- 6:23sin that you're going to be alive and well because jesus
- 6:26is alive and well and he's still in the soul-saving business
- 6:29and though lazarus lay in the grave four
- 6:33days and the stink of the world and the sin and death is upon him jesus christ
- 6:38the resurrection and the life he's coming and he's going to look upon him and
- 6:44if you turn to john chapter 14 and i believe it's in verse 5 thomas says to
- 6:49him how can i know the way and in john.
- 6:53Chapter 14 and verse 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth,
- 6:57and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
- 7:01And then you see, over in Ephesians chapter 2, and I believe it's in the first
- 7:06verse, he says, And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
- 7:11I'm telling you, my friends, every last one of us are Lazarus.
- 7:15And when we think about the greater blessing, when we see that those that wait
- 7:18upon the Lord receive the greater blessing, We can't help but understand in
- 7:23our heart and our soul that we receive the greater blessing because we all,
- 7:27just like Lazarus, were dead.
- 7:29And then Jesus passes by and he says, I am the resurrection and the life.
- 7:34Though he were dead, yet shall he live. And then Jesus passed by my heart one
- 7:40day and I was a sinner in need of a savior.
- 7:43And he said that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
- 7:47But he said, I offer unto you, Kim, a free gift, and it's by grace that you're
- 7:52saved, and it's not of works.
- 7:54And God said, I love you so much, Kimmy, that I'm going to send my son,
- 7:58that he might die on a cross of Calvary, that you might live.
- 8:02If you'll believe in me, you'll have eternal life. And God commends his love
- 8:07toward me, in that while I was yet a sinner.
- 8:11Christ died for me, and he saw that the wages of sin were death,
- 8:16but the gift of God is eternal life.
- 8:19And as I sit there, little Lazarus of the age of six, the Lord God Almighty
- 8:24revealed himself to me, and I gave him my heart, and then I had life,
- 8:30and I had life more abundantly, and life eternal.
- 8:33There's a greater blessing waiting on Mary and Martha, and it's not unlike the
- 8:39greater blessing waiting for you.
- 8:41Oh, if we'll just give our life to Jesus Christ and we allow him to have full reign in it.
- 8:47I have not seen and ear have not heard the wonders he has in store for those who believe in him.
- 8:54As we begin to read in John chapter 11, verse 40, he says, Jesus saith unto
- 9:00her, said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God.
- 9:05He spoke to her back in just a few verses before.
- 9:10He began to speak to Martha. She ran out to him and he said, believe us how this.
- 9:15And Martha believed and she understood. And he's beginning to call back to her.
- 9:20My words are truth and you can believe on him and you can bank on him.
- 9:25Because when I say it, I mean it. And I can back everything I say and I will.
- 9:29And he says to her, he says, if you'll just believe, you're going to see the glory of God.
- 9:36Friends, I can't say it any plainer. I can't say it any better.
- 9:41The word of God has said, if you're going to believe on me, you're going to see the glory of God.
- 9:48Friends, if you believe on Jesus Christ as Savior, his glory is revealed in
- 9:55you. and there springs up within you a river of life that's everlasting.
- 10:03And in John chapter 4, the woman at the well is face to face with Jesus.
- 10:09And it is my absolute prayer that right now you're face to face with him.
- 10:13That you can see him in all of his glory and you realize that he come just for you.
- 10:18That he shed his blood just for you. And that his grace is sufficient.
- 10:24And as the scripture tells us, where sin did abound, then grace did much more abound.
- 10:30And his grace flowing freely right now the
- 10:34woman at the well speaks to jesus face to
- 10:37face and he says if you drink this water you'll never thirst again she drank
- 10:41of the water and a woman who came to the well with head bending low and empty
- 10:46water pots she ran out telling everybody she knew come see a man who told me
- 10:51all things i ever knew is not this the christ.
- 10:55And her water pots were filled to overflowing.
- 10:59Friends, when you see Jesus face to face, when you get a glimpse of who he is,
- 11:04you're filled to overflowing because he's resurrection and he's life.
- 11:10I don't know about you, but I know there is a truth.
- 11:14And that truth is life isn't dead. And life has movement. And life has action.
- 11:19And life, well, it's just full of energy. And life has potential motion.
- 11:24And life is going and going and going.
- 11:27That's what it's like when the Holy Spirit gets inside of you because you can
- 11:31do all things through Christ with strength.
- 11:33And it's you, you're not walking around on your strength. You're walking around on his.
- 11:36And you don't have to rely upon your resources because he said he would supply
- 11:40all of your needs according to his riches in glory.
- 11:42You guys who don't know Jesus are walking dead, man.
- 11:45But there's coming a day that if you'll just bow your knees and open up your
- 11:49heart and allow the Christ,
- 11:51the savior of the world to come into your life
- 11:54then you'll have resurrection in life and just like
- 11:57Lazarus oh let's move into the scriptures he says
- 12:00then they took away the stone from the place where the dead
- 12:03was laid and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank thee that thou
- 12:08has heard me do you see what he does Jesus is thanking God for hearing him and
- 12:14he's thanking him for the action that is yet to take place because he believes
- 12:19and he knows that he's God. And he said, I'll hear you.
- 12:22Ask and you shall receive. Knock and it'll be open.
- 12:25Seek and you shall find. He believes in him and he knows what God can do.
- 12:30And he says, thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord, for doing and hearing me.
- 12:35When's the last time you walked up on to the throne of God on your knees and
- 12:41said, thank you, Lord, for the blessing.
- 12:44I didn't even have to ask. Lord, supply my need. Yeah, thank them for it ahead of time.
- 12:51Jesus is thanking him for it already happening. He thanks him for hearing him because he knows.
- 12:57Oh, that's faith. That's faith in action, folks.
- 13:01And that's faith that brings action. That's faith that brings results.
- 13:06You got some problems getting your prayers answered? Maybe it's time you went
- 13:09to Jesus and said, thank you for that financial blessing.
- 13:13Thank you for the healing in my life. Thank you for taking care of that job promotion.
- 13:17Thank you for taking care of the funding, Lord. Thank you for opening up the
- 13:21speaking engagements, Lord.
- 13:22Thank you for opening up the doors that I can serve you full time and always.
- 13:26Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for thinking of me.
- 13:29A little girl in Milton, West Virginia.
- 13:31Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayers. Thank you, Lord, for watching out for me.
- 13:35Thank you, Lord, for loving me. When's the last time you did that? Jesus is walking up.
- 13:41He's getting ready for the biggest blessing ever to take place.
- 13:44Mary and Martha are sitting on the edge. The people are watching.
- 13:47Lazarus is dead in a doornail. And Jesus is saying, I'm the resurrection and the life.
- 13:53Everybody's listening. Can't you hear them? Can't you see them?
- 13:56Jesus is saying, thank you, God. And he says, if you'll just believe,
- 14:00the glory of God's going to shine round about. And the people are listening.
- 14:05Oh, but some of them are believing. And there's a rumbling in their heart.
- 14:09There's a rumbling in their soul.
- 14:11There's a rumbling in who they are. Because they know Jesus is just about to let the glory run down.
- 14:17He's just about to split the gates of heaven wide open. And God's going to show
- 14:22up because something amazing is going to happen.
- 14:25Jesus just said it. He just thanked him. He's ready for it to happen.
- 14:29And he says, I know that thou hearest me always. But because the people which
- 14:35stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. He has a plan.
- 14:41He's wanting them to see Jesus in him. What's your plan today?
- 14:45Why are you coming to the throne of God? Why are you asking him for the blessings?
- 14:49Do you want the people to see Jesus in you today? Or do you just want something for yourself?
- 14:54Jesus is thanking God for hearing him. And he knows that he hears him.
- 14:58But he's coming and he's asking him, Lord, let the people see you in me.
- 15:03Lord, be glorified in me. Lord, let it happen. Break the sky wide open.
- 15:08Come on down, Jesus. I'm ready, God. Let the people see it.
- 15:12Oh, we don't do that because we might throw a fit.
- 15:16If you were just where I was at right now, you would see God is all around.
- 15:20And there's lots of fit thrown going on right now because Jesus is here.
- 15:25And God is glorified. But we're just so dignified that we just don't let God be glorified.
- 15:33And we wouldn't dare let someone see us get all excited and out of control about Jesus.
- 15:41Oh, but God, he's ready to come.
- 15:46Jesus is thanking him. Jesus' motive is that people would see him.
- 15:51You know, you've got to be a little different for Jesus to be seen in you.
- 15:56He says to be a peculiar person, zealous of good works. That means you're going
- 16:00to stick out in a crowd of the world. And sometimes we're not willing for that,
- 16:05And then we wonder why our prayer lives sound like, Oh, Lord, bless me.
- 16:09Give me a raise. Take care of my children. Give me a good car. Help me get to work.
- 16:15Lord, I'm sleepy now, so I'll chat with you tomorrow. Wake me up.
- 16:19See ya. And then we want to know why there's nothing happening.
- 16:23That's not a prayer. That's a check off of a list and a bunch of words that
- 16:26didn't get past your ceiling.
- 16:28Friends, prayer is a condition of the heart. It's an attitude.
- 16:33He was praying in the will of God. The Bible says in the book of John that if
- 16:38you ask anything in my name, you'll get it.
- 16:41Buddy, that don't mean tacking on Jesus' name at the end of your prayer.
- 16:45That means sitting in the will of God. That means knowing exactly who he is
- 16:50and being perfectly content.
- 16:54To stand at his feet, to bow at his knees, and humbly claim that he is God,
- 17:01regardless of the circumstances regardless of the situation,
- 17:06regardless of what is the seeming outcome and thanking
- 17:09him for answering your prayer before the
- 17:13prayer has ever crossed your lips oh we're here folks can't you see the people
- 17:20gathered they're all around Lazarus is dead he's stinking people are scoffing
- 17:26man thought you could heal the blonde why didn't you do something for this poor boy,
- 17:31Mary and Martha unhappy with the results but completely satisfied with the Jesus Christ they know.
- 17:37Jesus having a personal relationship with God isn't that wonderful we can fully
- 17:42know God because we can fully know Jesus,
- 17:45and I can't really get my mind around it it's God the Father, God
- 17:48the Son and God the Holy Ghost are all three in one and the word
- 17:51was made flesh and I get to carry God around with me all the time I
- 17:53get to carry Jesus around with me all the time I can have breakfast
- 17:56with him if I'm reading my Bible while I'm eating it I can have
- 17:59lunch with him if I open it up and read my Bible while I'm
- 18:02with I can have dinner and snack time I can have a good old evening with just
- 18:06me and Jesus with my legs up on the couch and the light shining down and the
- 18:10light shining inside of me it's just so fun to read the Bible at night because
- 18:14you can just see the light shining in you and out of you oh friends he said
- 18:18that the world was made flesh and it dwelled among men.
- 18:22You can spend time with Jesus. Look what happened in this chapter when they spent time with Jesus.
- 18:28He says, and when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
- 18:39Did you see he called him by name? He had a personal relationship with Lazarus,
- 18:44and he called him by name.
- 18:46He said, Lazarus, come forth. I believe in my heart of hearts that he said,
- 18:50come forth to every single person.
- 18:52Ever died would have split the scales wide open but it was personal because
- 18:56this was between lazarus and jesus he said lazarus come forth now i want you
- 19:03to think about this here you are,
- 19:05he's in a cave they've rolled the tomb away the stone away people come to see
- 19:11how mary and martha are going to hang out and do this people come just to see
- 19:15what what jesus is going to do now if he couldn't couldn't heal him what's he
- 19:18supposed to be doing now they come to see the show,
- 19:21Oh, but there were some who come because they believed.
- 19:25And if you remember, he moved back there to verse 40.
- 19:28He said, Said not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God.
- 19:34He's already thanked God for it. People are watching. People followed Mary and
- 19:38Martha to where they are, and people are looking.
- 19:42And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with gray clothes.
- 19:46And his face was bound about with a napkin.
- 19:49Jesus says unto him, Loose him and let him go. My friends, if you're sitting
- 19:53right now and you don't know Jesus Christ as Savior, you're as dead as Lazarus.
- 19:58And he's looking at you and he's knocking on your heart's door.
- 20:01And he's saying, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest.
- 20:06And he's saying, You're a sinner, but I want to save you. He's saying,
- 20:09you don't deserve heaven, but I paid the price for you.
- 20:13It's not of your works of righteousness, but it's of my works of righteousness.
- 20:17And he's saying, I love you so much that I gave all I had for you.
- 20:20And I beat hell, death, and the grave. And he's saying, come forth.
- 20:24Let the bondings of sin be loosened.
- 20:28And they have no bounding on you anymore. Sin hath no more dominion over you.
- 20:33Sin hath no more rule over you. Be loosed in the name of Jesus.
- 20:39What he tells Lazarus he says let him go then many of the Jews which came to
- 20:45Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did,
- 20:49believed on him they believed remember when he said did I not say if you believe
- 20:56you're going to see the glory of God.
- 20:59He spoke Lazarus' name. He could have healed Lazarus. Those people were right.
- 21:04Couldn't you heal Jesus?
- 21:05Couldn't you heal Lazarus? He healed the blind. He caused the lame to walk. They're right.
- 21:13But everybody had seen him healed. But nobody had seen him raise the dead.
- 21:21Nobody had seen him bring resurrection to the dead.
- 21:25No one had seen him as the resurrection and the life. But those people gathered
- 21:29on that day, whether they were there for the right person or the wrong reason,
- 21:34whether they were there to see him in his glory or to mock him,
- 21:37they all saw the same thing.
- 21:39They saw Jesus high and lifted up. They saw the Lord God and his power displayed.
- 21:44They saw how death had no dominion, had no power, and no rule over the power of Christ.
- 21:51And scoffer and believer alike, let the glory of God shine round about them.
- 21:57And because of what Jesus did, there were many who believed.
- 22:01And my friend, my Bible says that there are acts that Jesus Christ did that
- 22:06were miraculous. And he said, greater things than these will thou do.
- 22:10And he said in this passage that because of what he did, people believe.
- 22:16My friend, you have within you the greatest story ever told.
- 22:20You have within you the greatest power to ever hold. You have within you the
- 22:26greatest gift to ever give, and you can do it.
- 22:29You can show people Jesus through your actions.
- 22:32You can show Jesus to other people through your words.
- 22:35You can give them the resurrection and the life, not because of you,
- 22:39but because of him, and his people believed because of what he did.
- 22:44But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done.
- 22:51Friends, it doesn't get any plainer than what God has revealed to us in John
- 22:57chapter 11 and allowed us to speak about these last few moments.
- 23:01It doesn't get any more true than what he's given us in his word.
- 23:07Some will believe and some of you will not.
- 23:12The word of God says that whosoever's name was not found written in the Lamb's
- 23:17book of life was cast into hellfire.
- 23:21He says, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me,
- 23:25though he were dead, yet shall he live. That's not me.
- 23:29That's him. You're Lazarus dead in your sin and your trespasses.
- 23:34He's calling you. Let it go. Let go of this world.
- 23:40And hold on to him. And when you want to get ahead of God, just remembered everybody had seen him heal.
- 23:49And I don't trivialize that. The healing hand of God is phenomenal,
- 23:55but nobody had seen him raise the dead.
- 24:01But praise be to God and hallelujah to the sacrificial lamb.
- 24:05I once was dead, but the resurrection of the life has loosed me and let me go. Thank you.
- 24:22Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast
- 24:25with Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
- 24:29boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
- 24:35Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
- 24:41Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
- 24:45are on our website at watwm.org.
- 24:48We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
- 24:53who God is and to strengthen your daily walk.