I Am Alive For God! I Am Prepared For Eternity

Intro

Good morning and Happy 43rd Anniversary to all of us. I hope many of us witnessed the glory of God in our church as we watched last Saturday, October 30, 2021 our virtual anniversary here in our GA church. With our anniversary theme “Triumphant Hope”, I know that everyone already had our own victory since then. And we all know what happened the last days only after that anniversary, COVID-19 here in Philippines is already defeated by our Great God! With the lower restriction at Alert Level 2, we are now allowed to have 50% capacity and that means more people could come here on our church, isn’t that amazing!

And coincidentally, today marks the 1st Sunday of November and our church has a new theme for this month “I am Alive, I am prepared for Eternity! And our theme verse is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” Behold the old has gone and the new has come in our nation as we gladly welcome the new normal brought about by this pandemic. But this will only be an assurance for those who are with Christ! And that everything may become new as the old has already gone.

Sometimes we think and hope that the old situations before the pandemic would soon be back again to its normal. But God is telling us, it will never be the same again after this pandemic. Remembering the people who have been the casualty of this pandemic, the lost loved ones, the lost jobs, the lost business, the lost relationships etc., it seems that it will be never be the same again. But the good news is that before the pandemic, we have a God who never left us, and soon after this pandemic, we still have a God who are still with us and ready to shower us with new things in life!

If many of us felt that they were dead during this pandemic season, God wants us to know that we need to be alive again just like before. Let us declare this morning that…

I Am Alive for God! Ako ay Buhay para sa Diyos!

John 11:17-44

Can we shout this declaration? As I study our theme, God brought me to the story of 3 siblings in the Bible and all of them had a very special moment with our Lord Jesus Christ! I am talking about the lives of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. The first time we heard their story is found on Luke 10:38-42 where we can see that Jesus and His disciples visited their home. Martha chooses to do all the preparations so that Jesus and His disciples can be accommodated well. But her sister Mary chooses to sit down at Jesus’ feet and hear Him speak.

But the story of the 3 siblings became colorful and notable during the time of Lazarus illness and soon died. Let us read it from the time Jesus came to Bethany as soon as he heard that Lazarus died.

17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” 28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”