Hear the Voice of the Lord,” Come Forth “
John 11:1-11 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 When Jesus heard that, he said,
This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
7 Then after that saith he to his disciples,
Let us go into Judaea again. 8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day,
he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. 11 These things said he:
and after that he saith unto them,
Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go,
that I may awake him out of sleep.
John 11:38-44 38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave.
It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead,
saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people
which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
I love the story of Lazarus: I believe that Lazarus and his situation or condition “and” his resurrection, is so powerful, because it reminds us, “that it's not over, till God says it's over” It ain’t over till it’s over…
It reminds us that God can do anything
It reminds us that God works in the darkness
It reminds us that man's, Impossibilities
Are God's Opportunities, Praise the Lord
It teaches us that God is not glorified by our sin or sickness and disease, but he is glorified, by our deliverance, our healing, our freedom, our resurrection and our salvation.
Hear the Voice of the Lord,” Come Forth “
Here, word comes to Jesus, Lazarus is sick; But Jesus waits 2 days to respond:
It could just as easily been 12 years, like the woman with the issue of blood. Or 38 years, like the man at the Pool of Bethesda.
The point is: it doesn't matter,,, it doesn't matter how long or how wrong or how strong: It is all the same to Jesus.
It's the same power that heals a headache, that drives cancer, out of your body..
It’s the same power that heals a pulled muscle,,, that drives demons out.
After 2 days Jesus says, Now, Let’s go wake Lazarus up, Jesus is even reluctant to speak of Lazarus as dead, he simply says:
he's asleep and I'm going to wake him up.
Because as far as God's power is concerned there is no difference. Just, hear the Voice of the Lord and Come Forth ….
Somebody here today needs to know:
Your case, is not, too hard for Jesus.
It may be too hard for doctors,
But Dr. Jesus will take your case.
Jesus is the healer…………
Another thing this story shows us is:
It’s never too late.
Never give up
Never quit
Never quit praying,
Never quit confessing,
Never quit praising God.
Never quit believing.
You're closer than you think,
You’re on the edge of a miracle.
This story also shows us: Sometimes God delays, in answering our prayers,,, why?
So God alone,, Gets the Glory.
For many years the church has used this portion of Scripture to refer to, what they have called, the Lazarus generation.
Because Lazarus represents a hopeless cause, an irreversible situation, a condition beyond repair. That which has gone beyond the hope of no return, and that, which from all natural evidence, is dead and buried.
That’s what it meant, when they rolled the stone across the door: It meant, It’s over,
It’s passed, it’s decided, it is, what it is,,,
And it’s never going to change.
But I feel something pushing me here:
Cause you can't refer to the story of Lazarus and end at the tomb, because the whole message of Lazarus is one of redemption,
Of resurrection, of healing and wholeness
And deliverance, a message of HOPE.
At the voice of Jesus: Lazarus is raised from the dead and the end becomes a new beginning, Where death had reigned, life begins again. God is not finished with you:
Today is the first day of the rest of your life
You may be bound, you may be full of demons, you may look dead, and act dead, you may look like you’re beyond hope…
But At the Sound of His Voice, I SAID..
At the Sound of His Voice, Bound Set Free
At the Sound of His Voice, Demons Cast Out
At the Sound of His Voice, Hopeless Have Hope
At the Sound of His Voice, Broken Healed
At the Sound of His Voice, Captive Set Free
At the Sound of His Voice, Blind Eyes Opened
At the Sound of His Voice, Dead Are Raised
At the Sound of His Voice, People Are
Saved, Sanctified, Filled with the Holy Ghost
This generation: Is not unreachable, they are not beyond hope, they are READY for Jesus
But the answer is not in religion, it’s not in philosophies, or traditions of man: It’s not in ideas, churchanity, or these semi religious songs, where there’s no difference between singing to a girlfriend or singing to Jesus.
Just like Lazarus: They Must hear His Voice
John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you,
The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God: and they that hear,,, shall live.
The sad thing today is that: There are not many places where Jesus Voice is being heard. We’re hearing all kinds of errant doctrine, and all kinds of self-help gurus,
and gracism, life teachers or life coaches:
We don’t hear very many Pure & Simple Undiluted, Unadulterated Preachers of the Gospel anymore. We Must Hear His Voice.
When Lazarus Hears the Voice of Jesus he is resurrected: When this Generation hears the Voice of Jesus, they will also be Resurrected.
They might rise from the dead with green hair, with tattoos, with piercing all over their bodies, and they might even rise from the dead not sure if they are male or female.
But the Church has to be ready to loose them and set them free. We have to have enough of the love and compassion of Jesus to look past their past and equip them for their destiny.
I’m not talking about endorsing all this weird stuff: I’m talking about loving the person enough,, to deal with, the weird stuff,,
in order to loose them, into their destiny.
Now, I’m going to take this story to another level: You might want to check your seat belt and make sure you’re buckled in……..
I Believe, that if we were honest about it:
We can see that Lazarus also represents this generational church, we are living in today
Lazarus represents the church that has fallen asleep, spiritually lifeless, dormant, shut in and powerless. Lazarus was sick before he died. The church has become sick, she has become sick by mixing with the world, The spirit of worldliness has poisoned the church.
Sin, is poison, and has poisoned the church.
Sin kills, sin steals, sin destroys, sin weakens,
Sin makes us cowards, Sin Poisons
Pro 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion.
Sin separates us from God
Sin robs us of our Power
Lazarus was sick, and By and Large today:
The Church is Sick,,, Because of Sin
Isa 1:5-6 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. He whom thou lovest is sick: Listen, God Still loves the church:
Gambling, social drinking, fornication, adultery, pornography, homosexuality and perversion, are poisoning our churches.
If you want to know why the church today, for the most part, is powerless: it's because she's been drinking poison, deadly poison.
Statistics say: between the ages of 18 to 30 77% of professing Christian men view porn, at least monthly, 36% of them daily and
32% admit there addicted to it
12% think they may be addicted to it.
It's estimated that 9.4 million women,, view porn monthly, and 13% of women,, admit to accessing porn at work. Every minute 184,000 dollars is spent on porn, 10-14 Billion Dollars a year, is spent on pornography.
And here's the part that really bothers me:
It's How many Christians are watching these sex charged Sitcoms on TV: men kissing men and women kissing women and justify it by saying it’s just comedy and they're just actors. And then watch movies that glorify sexual domination and perversion.
Or go to the casino and gamble all night and maybe have a couple beers or a few shots of liquor and then come in on Sunday and raise their hands and sing worship songs and wonder why they don't experience the Glory and the Power of God the rest of the week.
I'm afraid that we're becoming the people Jeremiah was speaking about in ….
Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not ashamed at all, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall ,,,when I visit them they shall be cast down.
…and the people in,,, Malachi 3:14-15
You have said: It is foolish to worship God and obey him. What good does it do to obey his laws, and to sorrow and mourn for our sins? From now on, as far as we're concerned, "Blessed are the arrogant"
For those who do evil shall prosper and those who dare God to punish them, shall go free.
You may not hear those exact words:
But that is the message that is coming from many pulpits today: What are you saying ?
I'm telling you that the church is asleep and many would even go so far as to say its dead:
But The Good News is,, that Lazarus was raised from the dead. Even though he had been sick and died, that wasn't the end of the story. From a human perspective and natural perspective, when they rolled the stone over,
in front of the cave,,, that was announcing,
its over,,, its finish,,, it's done. There's no possibility of any change,,, forget it.
Don't pray anymore, don't fast anymore, don't confess the promises anymore, let it go.
How many, are glad right here, this morning
That Somebody, didn't let it go.
Somebody held onto God
Somebody kept praying
Somebody kept confessing God’s promises
Somebody kept believing.
I'm talking to Somebody, right now …
You were just like Lazarus, you were dead and stinking in your mess. But God !!!
But God, didn't write you off:
Some of you were angry, some were violent, some were fornicators, some were alcoholic's, some were drug addicts, some were thief’s, some were prostitutes, lesbians, homosexuals, and some of you even told people,,, just leave me alone, let me go to hell, at least “I” know
I'll have some friends there.
You did everything you could,, to roll the stone,, in front of the door. But God !!!
God loved you too much to give up on you.
God loved you, when you hated yourself and everyone around you,, and he came right up to your stinking cave and called your name.
He came right into your mess…
God is not afraid your mess…
Mess doesn't stop God's love…
Mess won't stop God's power…
Some of you are in a mess right now:
But Jesus is right here, calling your name
Some of you feel like you've gone too far, you've done too much, you can never be saved, you can never be free,
But that's why this story is in the Bible:
To show you the resurrection power of Jesus
To show you His love and His power
To show you that His love and His power
is greater than any Stone that sin has rolled across your life & tried to block your future.
His love and His power will come to you right where you are. A crack house, A bar, A house of prostitution, or a dead dry Church House
It doesn't matter: the Holy Ghost will come to you and Jesus will Call Your name.
The church, like Lazarus, is loved by God, and also like Lazarus, the church has become sick, Spiritually sick, Lukewarm, indifferent, materialistic, carnal, worldly, poisoned by sin
The easy thing to do is just to roll the stone over in front of the cave and say it's over:
The church is dead, she’s lost her power: she's played the harlot and now she's dead
She has no anointing, no authority, and no power. Just like Samson, she has laid her head in the lap of Delilah and like Samson, While he slumbered, he was shaven and shorn of his power and didn't even know what happened, then they found him,
they bound him and poked out his eyes.
But again that's not the end of the story: Samson's hair began to grow again.
This speaks of a new consecration,
of repentance of Resurrection Power.
And Samson killed more Philistines in the hour of his death, than he killed throughout his whole entire life time.
Lazarus come forth, There is a call going forth to the slumbering church, Come forth
Slumbering church, wake from your slumber
Wake from the seducing spirits that have lulled you to sleep, Wake from the sleep of worldliness and pleasure seeking, Wake up and Take up, your cross, and follow Jesus
A lot of people have written off the church.
They say the church is no longer relevant
They say the church is dead
They say the church has no power
They say it’s just a religious institution
They say it’s just dried up old bones
But I came to tell you this morning: something is getting ready to happen
In fact it's happening right now !!!
All over the world people are hearing the Voice of the Son of God.
All over the world people are hearing the Voice of Jesus Christ
All over the world people are hearing the Voice of the Holy Spirit
And people are waking up and coming forth.
All over the world, the dry bones are hearing the Word of the Lord
The Wind of God is blowing through the Valley of dry bones and through the Tombs
Resurrection power is here, the Church is returning, to a Book of Acts, Anointing.
Jesus is not coming for a beat up, bruised up, broken down, dried up, lukewarm, half in, half out, can't tell the difference between the church and the world,,, bride.
He's coming for a holy separated consecrated fire baptized; Holy Ghost anointed, without spot or wrinkle, victorious, overcoming, conquering bride. Hear the Voice of the Lord
Just like the children of Israel went out of Egypt with a high hand, the church is going out of this world with a high hand.
Can you hear the Voice of the Lord today
To come forth in resurrection power
To come forth in divine health
To come forth in holiness and righteousness
To come forth into a fresh anointing
To come forth into greater authority
To come forth in Victory
Hear the Voice of the Lord !!!!!
For the next few minutes I want us to bury our face in our hands and cry out to God
To Hear His Voice like our lives depend on it. Because they do, We Must Hear His Voice
The church is being called to,” Come Forth”
The Church is Waking Up….
And we’re coming forth….
We’re coming forth, with a Fresh Fire
We’re coming forth, with a new Commitment
We’re coming forth, with a new Zeal
We’re coming forth with a new Passion for Holiness and Clothed with a New Mantle of Might and Power,,, Resurrection Power
Hear the Voice of the Lord !!!!!
“ COME FORTH “ Aman, Aman and Aman
Special thanks to a great man of God and a wonderful friend, Pastor Terry Sisney.
My name is William Poovey, and I pastor at Bethel Church in Olar, SC. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a lot of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
William Poovey
