Sometimes it’s hard to be thankful when it seems like God didn’t come through for you.
Sometimes we pray for something that we would like and it doesn’t always happen the way we would like or in the time frame we would like.
Sometimes we want God’s will to be like our will.
Illustration ---------- Jimmy’s Ranch
When Jimmy was a little boy, he wanted to be a cowboy.
He spent countless hours in front of the television, watching reruns of Gunsmoke and Bonanza.
He just knew that someday he would live on a ranch, wear a big cowboy hat, and ride the range just like all his cowboy heroes.
When he was seven years old, Jimmy said, "Dad, I want to be a cowboy when I grow up. Will you help me be a cowboy?"
"Sure, son," said his dad, smiling down on his little cowpoke.
As the years went by, Jimmy grew into a fine young man. As you might expect, he outgrew his childhood fantasy of becoming a cowboy and turned instead to girls, sports, studying, and preparing himself for a career in the business world.
One day Jimmy went to his father again and said, "Dad, I want to go to college and get a good education. Will you help me?"
His dad said, "College? Son, you can’t go to college. When you were seven, you said you wanted to be a cowboy.
So I bought you a ranch in Texas with 50 head of cattle!
There’s no money for you to go to college. Besides, you need to take care of that ranch. It’s all yours."
"But Dad!" said Jimmy. "I was just a child when I said that! I didn’t know then what I know now!
I don’t want a ranch! I want an education!"
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Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t answer your prayers exactly the way you want Him to? Maybe it’s because we’re like Jimmy, as God’s children we don’t always know what’s best for us.
Or perhaps you’re like the gentleman in this story...
Illustration ----------- God’s Donuts
An overweight man decided it was time to shed some pounds.
He informed his coworkers that he was going on a diet and would no longer be bringing donuts to the office.
He knew it would be hard to resist stopping at the bakery on the way to work, but he committed himself to remaining strong and resisting temptation.
His coworkers were surprised one morning to see him arrive at the office with a big box of donuts.
When they reminded him of his diet, he just smiled.
“These are very special donuts,” he explained. “When I left for the office this morning, I knew I was going to drive by the bakery, and I wondered if maybe the Lord might want me to have some donuts today.
I wasn’t sure, so I prayed, “Lord, if you want me to stop and buy some donuts, let there be an open parking place directly in front of the bakery.” As you know, parking places in front of that bakery are hard to get!”.
“So the parking place was there?” one of his coworkers asked.
“It was a miracle,” the man replied. “The eighth time around the block, there it was!”.
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Sometimes we want God to “rubber-stamp” something we have decided we’re going to do anyway—then are disappointed in the results.
There’s a story in the bible about someone who was very close to Jesus yet she was very disappointed when something didn’t happen the way she would’ve wanted.
Summarize John 11:1-46
Verse 2: Mary was the prostitute that wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair – the one whom many despised her being near Jesus.
Verse 6: Why did Jesus stay longer than originally planned—even when Jesus knew Lazarus was sick?
Has there been a time when God seemed to take His time in hearing your need?
Verse 32: Thanks for coming, but it’s now for nothing.
If you would have been here when I asked, my brother would not have died – so – thanks for nothing.
How many of you have said those words silently or aloud—and then bury your head in your pillow while soaking it with tears.
Because if God would have came to you when you needed Him—it wouldn’t have happened the way it did.
Parents divorcing, pet sick, relative sick, misunderstood…
Verse 33-35: Jesus, God’s Son, probably is recorded in these verses as experiencing and relating to us the most…
He understands hurt.
He understands losing someone important.
He understands seeing as Himself as having failed in the eyes of others.
Jesus wept—real tears—real hurts.
Verse 36: Others were amazed at how Jesus had loved Lazarus as a friend—the other closest friend Jesus had was John.
Jesus knows what it’s like to have a close friend and then lose him
He understands when you’ve lost a friend by just a disagreement you’ve had, or perhaps a death of a friend—He understand SEPARATION from someone close.
Verse 37: Others were quick to place blame on how He had failed His friend –
Those he was closest too, seemed like He ignored the most
Who have you ignored who’s closest to you?
Verse 38: Jesus felt the pain inside from knowing when people talk about you and are disappointed in you.
They talk about your shortcomings, about how you don’t quite measure up to everyone’s standard.
1. REMOVING THE STONE - Verse 39:
God will not do a miracle in your life by what you are to do by obedience
We are to “remove the stone” that has sealed our faith and separated us from our relationship with God.
Maybe you’ve been hurt or discouraged in the past from something God didn’t come through to you and your faith has been sealed away in your secret room.
Maybe you’re afraid to remove that stone because others may smell the stench inside you from keeping your hurt entombed as others were thinking of Lazarus.
It’s only when we decide to remove the stone from our cave is when you’re able to witness and experience the miracle of God’s love and reviving of life.
Maybe you have a stone that’s keeping you entombed. Maybe it’s time for you to “remove the stone” as Jesus commanded.
2. COME FORTH - Verse 43:
Once our stone has been removed, then we can clearly hear God’s voice that speaks to our inner-most being.
Upon hearing His voice, we take that first step toward His voice and love that we feel.
This is why we have an invitation at the end of each message we give…to allow you to take that first step.
Something inside just seems to naturally rise up like something that you’ve been missing for a long time—that emptiness calling out to you to be filled.
Not through cheap thrills, Not through fast times.
That which was dead in us, now becomes alive as we come forth toward His calling.
3. UNBIND AND LET GO - Verse 44:
After responding to His calling, we find ourselves still clothed in the rags of death that once bound us.
Those rags could be the friends you hang with, the habits you’ve taken on, the activities you’ve involved yourself with—anything that has bound you.
The things that slowly wind around us until we’re completely shrouded like a mummy from living in the darkness of our cave.
As we come to Him, Jesus commanded them to “unbind Lazarus and let go”
Jesus issues that same command today to us so we can become alive again and enjoy life once again.
4. OTHERS WILL SEE AND BELIEVE - Verse 45:
Just as others believed in Jesus by raising Lazarus from the dead, others will see and believe in Jesus by witnessing your change and new life.
We can then understand His purpose for our prayer request as Mary did with Lazarus.
Jesus already knew that God granted Him the authority to raise Lazarus from the dead for a testimony to others.
That’s why He took His time in getting to Lazarus—God had told Him when the time would come.
Mary’s statement to Him didn’t make Jesus work any faster or slower—it was just a human emotion Jesus experienced by crying.
There are instances in the Bible where people have changed the mind of God by their crying out to Him.
God already knows your request to Him and has begun preparing you for it—on His time—and it may seem like you want to say “Thanks for Nothing” because you can’t see it right away.
Illustration --------------- An Altitude Problem
A few years ago, a couple of adventurers tried to become the first to circle the globe in a hot air balloon.
They took off from St. Louis, Missouri, rose to 24,000 feet, and started eastward across the Atlantic Ocean toward Africa.
The prevailing winds carried the balloonists on a direct course for Libya, which was a big problem.
Libya is ruled by a dictator who hates Americans and doesn’t want American balloons flying over his country.
There was a pretty good chance that the balloon would be shot down if it crossed Libyan air space.
This brings up another big problem.
Hot air balloons aren’t easy to turn. In fact, they can’t be turned at all. They’re at the mercy of the wind.
But they can find different winds. This is done by changing altitude.
At a higher or lower altitude, a balloonist can usually find a crosswind blowing in a different direction.
So the quick thinking adventurers started letting hot air out of their balloon and dropped 6,000 feet.
At that altitude, they found a wind that was blowing south rather than east.
Once they were safely to the south of Libya and its missiles, they heated up the balloon, rose almost 10,000 feet, and caught another wind that was blowing eastward toward their destination.
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The way that you give thanks to God determines the amount of faith you place in Him for your request—When we say “Thanks for nothing”—we are saying, my belief in you was for nothing.
Jesus said, “Ask what you wish in my name and I will do it.”
Is your gratitude factor holding you back from receiving what He truly has for you?
