Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
October 16, 2016 - W1642

This weekend is going to be a pivotal moment for all of us. It's a defining moment for the church, and every single one of us has a part in it. We have a part to play. God can do it all. How many of you know that God can do it? He doesn’t need our help. But He wants it.

We each have a part to play in the miracle. The question is, what is your piece of the miracle?

Today I want you to turn to John chapter 11. Now, pretty much the whole chapter 11 of John is dedicated to the raising of a man named Lazarus who had died. He was the brother of Martha and Mary. Lazarus gets sick and is sick for a while, and Jesus is nowhere to be found. We're going to read verses one through verse seven, and we're going to take a look at this message called: “What's Your Piece of the Miracle?”

We read: "Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, 'Lord, the one you love is sick.' When he had heard this, Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.’ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days....’" (John 11: 1-6)

It confuses me because the Bible says He stayed two days longer. It seems like He didn't care. Can you imagine the confusion? It says He loved them, so He stayed away two days longer. I don't understand. He loves them, but He delays. Why?

Because Jesus saw a bigger picture. He said this isn't about sickness. This is about the glory of God. He sees the bigger picture. This sickness is not unto death but is for the glory of God. You want Him to fix sick before it gets too uncomfortable, but He’s not going to fix sickness, He says, He’s going to fix death. Do you understand? You want Him to fix the now. He wants to fix your future. You want a little bit of relief. He wants to bring redemption. You want Him to give you a little mend. He wants to give you a big miracle.

Sometimes we want God to come to us at the point of sickness, so that it will be convenient for us. But He waits until the death point because, at the sick point, we can still put some medicine and prescription on this. But when God waits for the death point, nobody can get the credit except God. God gets the glory. Do you understand that? This is for the glory of God.

God has something bigger, a bigger plan. Because God loves this church, sometimes He's going to delay and He's going to wait for a bit because something deeper is happening in you and me. It's not just to remove inconvenience. Could He remove the inconvenience of no parking? Absolutely. But He says but there's something greater at stake. It's something happening in our hearts that He wants to make sure takes root.

I remember when I was in high school I was playing basketball on a Friday night, and I broke my leg. And because we lived in this little town called Trail, there was no hospital; it was closed by the time I got home. I had to wait for Monday for the clinic to open up. It was so painful, I had it up on ice but I was taking some pain medication so it was comfortable. While it was up there on a pillow, everything was fine.

Well, Monday was a holiday, so I had to wait until Tuesday. So Tuesday I went into the clinic on some crutches because I couldn't put any pressure on the leg. The doctor took a few X-rays so he could see exactly where the bone was cracked.

He said, "You know, you've been delayed for a while in coming here, so it's calcified a little bit." I said, "Can you just give me something to keep the pain away?" He said, "I could, but it's probably never going to have its full use if it heals like this because it's not set yet."

So I asked, "What do you mean?" "Well,” he said, “we're going to have to set it." I said, "What are you talking about? All I want you to do is take the pain away." He said, "Yeah, I could give you some pain meds, but I have to set it." I still didn't understand, so I asked, "What are you saying?" He said, "Well, I'll tell you what, this will be a little uncomfortable for you." (He lied!) And he said, "This will pinch a little." (He lied a second time!) And then he started talking about my boots. (I had some cowboy boots on.)

So he says, "Oh, I like those boots," and he's touching my leg like this.... "I like those boots…” and then, whap! He set my leg— by breaking it again! I finally peeled myself off the celling, and I was crying by this time. And he says, "That's all. Now it's set. Everything is fine. I'm going to put a cast on it." And I said, "You touch it again, and I'm gonna kick you with my good foot!"

So he put a cast on it, and he said, "Wayne, if I would have left it as is and just gave you comfort, it would have been more convenient, but you would have missed the full usage of your leg the rest of your life. I'm actually setting your leg and putting it in alignment so that when the healing does come it will be a lot better.”

I'm wondering if God wants to get some things done like this. He's saying, “I'm going to do something deeper in this church because I love you. I'm not going to come at the point of convenience and just make it better. You're going to have a part to play in all of this, and in the long run, it will be far better.”

The Bible says, “When Mary reached the place where Jesus was she fell at his feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ And when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled and then he asked, "Where have you laid him?" "Come and see, Lord," they replied. (John 11: 32-34)

The shortest verse in the Bible is, "Jesus wept." (John 11: 35) This is the shortest verse in the Bible, but probably the most powerful, isn't it? It tells us that Jesus loves us deeply and that everything that He does is for a reason because He loves us.

I was thinking, God, how come you always give us facilities that are inadequate? We've been in this position 21 years now. I'm just wondering if God had a lot to do by planting some churches and developing a movement. He wasn't so concerned about parking. He was more concerned about people. He was less concerned about our equipment. He was more concerned about our evangelism. Maybe this is our defining moment. He shows up and He says, “You have a piece of the miracle.”

Jesus’ weeping shows us His love. Accordingly, the Bible says, "Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him.’ Now some who were naysayers said, ‘Could he who have opened the eyes of the blind man kept this man from dying?’ [Couldn't he have just snapped his fingers and made it more convenient?] Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. '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 in there four days.’

Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?' So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 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.' When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet were wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.' Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him." (John 11: 36-45)

Now, did you catch their piece of the miracle? I just read right over it. Do you remember when he went to the tomb and there was a stone laid against the tomb? What did he say? He said, “You guys go move that stone.” That's your piece of the miracle. Don't you think God could have just said, “Stone, move!”? But instead He said, “You go move the stone.” That was their piece of the miracle. And then He said, “Lazarus, come forth!” Lazarus came forth, and he looked like a mummy. Did you catch that?

Now, listen to me, Church. God is saying you got to do what you can do so I can come in and do what I can do. Let me do the resurrection, but your piece of the miracle is to move a couple of stones. I'll take care of bringing life from death, but you got to take off a couple of bandages.

Do you understand the infinite humility of God? Would you be a part of this miracle? When we give in our commitment this weekend, every one of us has a piece of the miracle. Sometimes you say, why doesn't God just do it Himself? Do you understand the infinite humility of God saying, “Let's do this together. You do what you can do so it will release Me to do what I can do. You move a couple of rocks. I'll take care of the resurrection. You take off a couple of bandages, and I'll bring life from death. Let's do it together.”

This last summer I wanted to learn how to weld. Since I was 20 years old I've been in ministry, and so I never learned to weld. But I've always had it on my bucket list that I wanted to weld. So I bought this little welder, you know, it looks like a soldering iron on steroids. It's just a little thing with a little flame.

I was trying to practice and I thought I'd make a saddle rack for my horse. Down the street there's a guy named, Bill Swaggerty, and he's an old crotchety rancher. I asked, "Do you build saddle racks?" He said, “Yeah.” (He's quite a welder. He's a blacksmith and everything.) So I asked, "Could you teach me how to weld?" He said, "Yeah, bring your welder over, and I'll show you how to use it." So I put it in my, glove compartment, and I drove over there. I took it out and he looked at that thing, and he says, "I don't know if it will give enough heat." I said, "Oh, yeah, man, this thing cost me $19.95. This thing will weld!"

So I was trying to weld, and man, I stayed there for an hour and the thing still wouldn't get hot. So he says, "Let me use my welder." And he brings out this gargantuan transformer. A truck has to bring it in and it's like powered by a nuclear plant! When he turned that thing on it was like an atomic bomb going off and it warmed up the whole shop with this thing.

After he welded it he says, “Okay, now scrape this off here.” Then he says, “Now sand this off here.” (So I'm sanding it.) And then he says, “No, no, like this!” And he brings out this massive diamond sander. And it was done. Wow! It was just the most beautiful thing. And then he said, “Let’s paint it.” So I got a little rattle spray can. He said, “No!” And he brought out this spray gun. And then he said, “Okay, let's take it over to your house, and I'll help you put it on the wall.”

When I got home, my wife came out. I said, "Honey, look at what I made! I welded this thing with my welder here!" And Bill was so nice, he exaggerated, "Yeah, we made it together." In my heart I knew Bill had actually done most of the work but I proudly told her, "Yeah, we partnered together!"

It was the infinite humility of that man to say, “Yeah, we did it together!” And I thought that that's how God is with us in His infinite humility. Can He do all of this stuff? Sure He can! But His humility says, “Let's do it together!” You might say, “All I have is just this little part here. I'm just going to give this.” But that's good! That's your piece of the miracle, and I want you to be a part of this, every one of us.

So we illustrated that with a bridge. When you cross a bridge, it's because there is an impasse, a ravine. There are large bridges, and there are small bridges. There are bridges that go over rivers, oceans, and cliffs, and ravines. There is an impasse. But a bridge allows people to traverse what they would not have crossed before.

There is an impasse right now. There is a lack of finances to build this parking structure. But God is going to put in a bridge, saying, “If you'll take your piece of the miracle, I'll take care of the impasse. I would like you to be a part of this miracle.” This is the infinite humility of God.

When there is an impasse you have to build a bridge. Right? You can't traverse it otherwise. You've seen where sin separates man from God and Jesus is that bridge through the cross. Sin is a chasm, that's an impasse. Jesus gave His life so that impasse could be taken care of and we could have access to God.

In the same way there's a financial impasse, but God says if you'll take care of your piece, I'll take care of the miracle. You take care of your pledge. As each of us goes across the bridge we're saying, “Lord, I know we need some money, and you're going to give us a bridge over it. We're going to take our piece of the miracle and we're going to entrust it to you. We're going to move a few stones, and You take care of the resurrection.” The Lord says, “I can do that. And that cavern is no longer an impasse.”

What's your piece of the miracle? Write it down. I want to encourage you, if you're the head of a home, a dad, a mom, I'd love for you to walk the bridge.

Something happens inside for the glory of God. It's not just a parking structure. Something has to happen inside of us that is far deeper. There's a couple of stones I think you need to move. And if you do, God will take care of what you've been struggling with - things you've been hoping for, but you need to move some stones. Maybe that's what this is all about. He uses a parking structure, but it's far greater…far greater.

The scripture says without works, faith is dead. Without a bias for action, faith is just a pipe dream. It's a hallucination. It's a hope that's empty. But faith says, “I'm going to do it.” What's your piece of the miracle?

I'd like some of you to come up and go across the bridge because something inside of you needs to be moved. There are a couple of stones you need to move. The Lord will take care of bringing life from death, but you need to move a couple of stones. If that's you, then you come up to the bridge. Let's all stand together.

Study Questions

1)  Why did Jesus wait before responding to Martha and Mary’s request to be with Lazarus when he was sick?

2)  Identify a time when God responded to one of your prayers with silence. How did you respond?

3)What is the shortest verse in the Bible and what does it tell us about the heart of Jesus?

4)Why does God ask us to put our faith into action?

5) How will you respond to Pastor Wayne’s challenge?