Rise

John 11:1-44

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Dead.

He was Dead.

Past the Point-Of-No-Return

Beyond Hope of Healing

A poster child of unanswered prayer

Underscoring God's Silence

Against this macabre backdrop

Mary and Martha mourned

the Loss of their Beloved Lazerus

Soaked in the Almighty's Silence

And the Loudness of Anticlimax

Friends, in response,

Surrounded the sisters

with flimsy songs of the Sweet By-and-By

While Jesus came on the scene

to deliver a Powerful Here-and-Now

The world's thirst has grown too great 

to be slaked with Sunday morning sentimental slush,

Man's Very Real Need

for The Bread of Life

can no longer be placated 

with potlucks, pithy pulpits, and polished prose

When the Rubber meets the Road

and men need Miracles,

The Beloved of God better Know their God

and be ready to offer

Resurrection

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"...my speech and preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the Power of God."

-1 Corinthians 2:4-5