"_______ Come Forth"

“_________ Come Forth!”

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

OPENING: - There are 37 recorded miracles of Jesus in the Bible John 21:25 states “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen”. Now I could run down a rabbit hole and give a list of things associated with the number 37 in the Bible but that really is not of much importance, but I will say this that 3 + 7 = 10 and 10 in the Bible represents Divine Order – the phrase “God said” is found 10 times in Genesis 1 the testimony there are 10 commandments given at Mount Sainai, law, responsibility of God 10 plagues that struck Egypt, therefore I truly believe that the reason only 37 miracle are recorded because it is the Divine Order of God

Of the 37 miracles recorded perhaps the miracle performed by our Lord which most stick out in the mind of most people is the raising of Lazarus from dead who had been dead and buried for four days.

Now there are many many ways I could go with this message on today, but I want to teach today on something God showed me during my studies on this week!

In this account of Lazarus, which is given to us in John’s Gospel alone we need to understand that John stated that his purpose for writing this book was to persuade others John 20:31says, “But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name”. So we see that the Gospel of John was written to convince people that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and to inspire belief in him, ultimately leading to eternal life; its primary purpose is to present Jesus as divine and to evoke faith in his identity as the Messiah. Unlike other gospels, John focuses heavily on the philosophical and theological concepts. Understanding that let us look at this subject __________ Come Forth!

PRAYER

SCRIPTURE: - John 11:1-46.

Vs 1-6 “Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore, his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 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. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was”. Understand when a persons named is mentioned in scripture there is something about that person’s character, their actions, their performance or lack of performance that God truly wants us to pay attention to. Here we have named 3 people Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Remember the number 3 in scripture represents fulness, Father, Son, Holy Ghost the Fulness of the Godhead, Past, Present, Future the Fulness of Times, Death, Burial, Resurrection the Fulness of the Gospel, Justification, Sanctification, Glorification is the fulness of Salvation. Martha represents the more traditional religious person that is concerned with rituals and making sure things are done a certain way we sing 3 songs have pray read the scripture then take up the offering, she is committed to the responsibilities of the church life and lives a consecrated and religious life although possibly a little stauncher on responsibility and religiosity than relationship. Mary represents those who are a little more radical, hungry and thirsty for the Word of God longing to be 1 Corinthians 15:58 steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. She goes against traditional religious thinking desiring to seek more of Jesus, her praise and worship is different than what most people are used to, she is not concerned with where are we going to eat after church, she asks who is having service now.

Then there is Lazarus who I believe represents what the Church today is supposed to be when it comes to doing what it was designed to be but as we shall see has died. WATCH THIS: - The name Lazarus comes from or is the masculine name of Eleazar which is a combination of the Hebrew words El (God) and azar (to help) Eleazar therefore means God helpeth or God has helped. In Exodus Chapter 28, Eleazar who was one of the sons of Arron was consecrated into the priesthood. Then in Numbers Chapter 19, Eleazar was made charge of the sacrifices of the children of Israel this was the job of only the Priests that were consecrated to perform this particular duty. So the job of Eleazar was priest Lazarus whose name comes from Eleazar represents the Priest, the Priesthood, the 5-fold ministry – the Prophet, Apostle, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher. Martha is the Traditional church, Mary is the more Radical Kingdom minded church, Lazarus represents the 5-fold Ministry of the Church.