Praying through a Crisis – Sermon by Tony Evans

Whether you see it coming from far away or it just hits you out of nowhere, finding yourself face-to-face with a crisis is the kind of unwelcome experience nobody wants to be in. But in the midst of the financial, medical or mental chaos, Dr. Evans is here to remind you to ask yourself a very important question: “How can my crisis bring God glory?” In this lesson, be reminded of God’s power and ability to turn even the darkest of circumstances into that which will bring Him praise like you never could have imagined.

faith must always precede sight

once you put sight in front of faith

you’ve negated faith

faith is based on what you do not see

if you’ve got to see it first you won’t

see it

the euphemism of walking in the bible

means to live according to because

you’re moving with the mind of christ

you’re not just doing that on sunday

morning when it’s church time because he

wants to know that you want him so if

you’re in distress don’t let that drive

you away draw you near

closer

so that you like jacob and say i’m not

gonna let you go

until you answer me so welcome to the

file

[Music]

when you get close and want to live for

him want to please him want to honor him

want to exalt him want to draw near to

him then heaven opens up and he lets you

find him

he lets you find it

welcome to the fire

a crisis

is when you are overwhelmed

by negative

events

or situations

or circumstances

causing you to feel helpless

or hopeless

it is where the events that are

overwhelming you

are beating at your well-being

whether it’s a health crisis

family crisis

monetary crisis

mental crisis

it’s beating you down

and

there isn’t a solution

clearly in sight

where do you go when your life is in a

crisis in other words

none of the places you look to

to resolve it

can help you

that’s our situation

in

john 11.

now let’s set the stage

lazarus is sick

and we know from the story

he’s sick unto death

because

it would only be

a few days later he would die

so he’s not just sick

he’s seriously

sick

and

whatever medical

help there was was insufficient to

resolve the problem of his medical

crisis

so what martha and mary did the sisters

of lazarus

is they went to jesus

they sent word to jesus you and i would

call that today they prayed

they sent word

to jesus

jesus

our family member has a crisis

this is a life and death crisis

and we’re crying to you

to resolve the crisis

now i want you to observe something

we’re told

in verse

3

some of their prayer requests the one

whom you love is sick

we’re told in verse 5

now jesus loved martha

and her sister

and

lazarus

so evidently spiritual people get sick

they had a love relationship jesus loved

them and they loved jesus yet he still

got sick

so don’t ever let anybody tell you just

cause you have trouble means

god is far away

or you’re not in fellowship with god

they’re in fellowship with god but he

got sick

so they prayed

they sent word to jesus

the one whom you love

is sick

and it’s serious

jesus sends back a word

this sickness verse 4 is not to end in

death

but for the glory of god so that the son

of god may be glorified

that’s pregnant with theology

he says

first of all i’ve got good news for you

bad as it is

this sickness is not unto death

but god wants to get something out of it

so let me give you and me and us

theology and whatever the sickness is

you’re facing

the scenario of the crisis that you will

face

god will allow things

in our lives

that are not preferential to us but are

glorifying to him

this sickness is not unto death but it

is for the glory of god

so one of the questions you must

ask and answer in prayer when you’re in

when i’m in when we’re in a crisis is

you must answer the question god what

glory

do you want from my crisis

but i got a problem

my problem is verse six

when he heard he was sick he stayed two

days longer in the place where he was

come on jesus

i just told you

my brother is sick

and you even know

it’s not unto death because you told me

he’s not going to die

and you’re not going to hurry up

has god ever delayed on you

when you in a crisis

you need him right now

and he’s hanging back

for two more days

he’s not moving like you need him to

move want him to move feeling he should

move cry for him to move he’s not

moving he stays two days but it gets

worse

where jesus was and where martha and

mary were two miles apart

so not only does he delay he he delays

any close

now i can understand if you cross town

and he sent you the son of god i

probably won’t even understand that but

but at least in your humanity if you’re

on the other side of town you got to

take a donkey i got you

it’s going to take a minute to get but

you’re down the street jesus

if you don’t want to walk get a ride but

you can you can you can get a horse or

donkey a carriage or get your 12

disciples to carry you you two miles

away

you close

and you don’t come

and you delay two days

after i pray because they’ve already

talked to jesus they’ve already put up

their prayer requests

the story gets more interesting

after two days jesus tells his disciples

let’s go to judea let’s let’s go guys

then he says something else a new term

for christians verse 11

he said to them

our friend because remember lazarus is

close to jesus our friend lazarus has

fallen asleep but i go so that i may

awake him out of his sleep

verse 13 now jesus had spoken of his

death

but he doesn’t say he died he said he’s

sleeping

this is a different terminology this is

new

the word sleep is only used of

christians in the bible

it’s not used as general public only

used of christians

so christians sleep

whether god brings you back in this life

or takes you to the next life you’re

only transferring consciousness

you’re not losing existence

and you’re transferring that

consciousness in the will of god this is

new terminology

but here’s what

messes me up can i tell you what messes

me up

one thing messed me up be two days come

on jesus hurry up

second thing messed me up is two miles

you close

but the next thing that messes me up in

verse 15 is and i am glad for your sakes

that i was not there come on now

how are you going to be happy about it

there are two sisters

martha and mary

and both sisters have the same question

but they approach the question

differently

martha raises the question in verse 21

martha said to jesus lord if you had

been here my brother would not have died

verse 32

therefore when mary came where jesus was

she saw him fell at his feet saying lord

if you would have been here my brother

would not have died those are the exact

same words

both sisters which means they have

discussed jesus

wait a minute let me make sure i’m being

relevant anybody here ever been felt

god has let you down

god where were you god

don’t you care

how could you be this close

stay two days longer

and be glad

doesn’t make sense

she lets her emotions

appropriately respectfully but clearly

be enunciated in her prayer because

she’s talking to jesus just like you and

i she hasn’t physically we have him

spiritually but it’s a conversation with

jesus in the midst of a crisis

but she does something else and i don’t

want you to miss this remember i’m

trying to walk you through this passage

theologically

because after she expresses her

disappointment

she goes on to say in verse 22

even

now

i know that whatever you ask of god

god will give to you whoa i don’t want

you to miss this

jesus verse 21 i’m hurting

because i needed you and you didn’t come

but

however

in spite of my pain i know my beliefs

and if you call on the father now as bad

as this situation is

he will still honor your request

so she marries watch this she marries

her emotions with her theology

jesus says to her your brother will rise

again

she says to jesus yeah i know i learned

theology went to eschatology class on

the last day he gonna rise

i know i know about that

then jesus hits her with another

theology can i talk some theology here

because i want to ground you i want to

root you

he says

i am the resurrection and the life

he who believes in me will live even if

he dies

doctrine is critical

but doctrine is always to lead to a

person

if all you get is doctrine

you may be heavy in the head

with information

but light on the experience

you may know about the resurrection but

never experienced one

because he says the resurrection

that’s doctrinal is tied to a person so

here’s the point

the written word

must always lead you to the living word

you need the doctrine to know what to

believe you need the person to make it

experiential in your belief

i’m the resurrection

he says at the end of verse 26 do you

believe this this is going to be

critical this is going to be this will

change your life

do you believe this

she says yes i believe you are the

christ the son of god who comes into the

world now

it’s mary’s turn

mary not coming to jesus she’s too

disappointed

and let’s tell the truth sometimes

you’re so disappointed with jesus you

don’t want to talk to him

can anybody raise your hand and tell you

you don’t want to pray no more okay okay

because he’s not moving he came too late

he should have been here yesterday

okay that kind of thing so sure once so

jesus calls her

he says mary

come on come on come talk to me now he

bids us come

she gets up quickly

because he invited her

and then she tells him verse 32 if you

would have been here my brother would

not have died

now

in verse 33 everybody’s crying we’ve got

a weeping time because

when you’re in pain

you’re going to cry if it hurts bad

enough

so now

jesus raises the question

where have you laid him

where is he buried

so they come to take jesus to where he

was buried and he stirred up verse 38

says he’s deeply moved within he’s moved

at the sin and the pain that the world

offers that creates sickness in the

first place without sin there would be

no sickness without not not personal sin

necessarily but atmospheric sin the

germs the viruses the bacterias that

infiltrate our body the toxins all of

that is the environmental repercussions

of sin and he was stirred up at what

what the crisis that they were in and

the reasons for it and so he says stay

with me here verse 39 jesus looks at

moffa and says

martha

move

the stone

martha’s response

martha

said to him

lord

by this time

there will be a stench

for he has been dead

four days remember that delay

by this time

he stinks

jesus said move the stone

she says

let me give you a lesson in mortuary

science

he’d been dead four days

rica mortis has set in

which means the cells have collapsed

when rick amortis sets in and the cells

collapse it releases a green substance

when this green substance is released

because riccomortis has set in because

the cells has collapsed that produces a

stench

because of the decay

he says

to her

did not i say to you

he said remove the stone and what what

did he tell her he said

did not i say to you if you believe you

would see the glory of god

in other words here it is

faith must always precede sight

once you put sight in front of faith

because you were from missouri

once you put sight in front of faith

you’ve negated faith

faith is based on what you do not see

if you’ve got to see it first you won’t

see it

no and how would she demonstrate faith

not by a feeling but by removing the

stone because faith is not a feeling

it’s an action

as you’ve heard me say many times faith

is acting like god is telling the truth

it is acting like it is so even when

it’s not so in order that it might be so

simple because god said so

so you move in faith even when you don’t

feel it sometimes you’re going to feel

faith-ish

you’ve got faith all over you you’re

just feeling it

sometimes you won’t ever feel faith-ish

but you can know you’re operating in

faith because you’re moving the stone so

some of us have situations that have not

changed because we’re still having

conversations and have not touched the

stone

the thing that god told us to do that we

refuse to do which keeps the stone there

which means there’s no faith no matter

how much church you have

[Applause]

then

jesus raised his eyes and said

father i thank you that you have heard

me oh

there’s theology there

you’re praying through a crisis

you’re talking to god

but here’s what you want

you want jesus talking to god for you

see

you got to talk to him first

but what you want is jesus to ditto

the request

then not until it was an act of faith

jesus says to his father

i thank you

that you have

heard me

he didn’t say i thank you that you hear

me

i thank you that you heard me

which means we’ve already discussed this

crisis that lazarus is in

when they prayed the first time at the

beginning of chapter 11 you and our

father had a conversation

uh oh moth and mary they have a sick

brother they want us to do something

daddy marth and mary just came to me and

they had a conversation they wanted to

do something about their brother lazarus

so so let’s talk about how we gonna

handle this well son you know what we

can actually use this crisis as an

opportunity for me to have greater glory

so son uh son so here’s what we’re going

to do as soon as they demonstrate faith

then we’re going we’re going we’re going

to let this thing roll out because they

have did you know when you first talked

to god a year ago about that problem he

and the son have already discussed that

they’ve already discussed that

but the son

is not praying for the implementation

until faith has been demonstrated

until faith has been demonstrated so now

jesus prays i thank you you’ve heard me

i know that you always hear me but

because of the people standing around i

said it so that they might believe that

you sent me ah now we got a clue

jesus

holds off

on answering the prayer because he wants

to use the crisis to bring a lot of

people to salvation

oh

so now there is a spiritual reason for a

crisis delay in spite of a prayer being

prayed because there’s a bigger kingdom

purpose at work than just the healing of

lazarus if you’re in a crisis and god

has not moved and you’re operating by

faith all that means is the delay is

tied to a bigger point that god wants to

accomplish for his glory the uh the

amplification of the name of his son and

the advancement of his kingdom

so you keep praying to a crisis if

you’ve not heard no

then you keep praying so so jesus prays

it’s called intercession hebrews 7 24

and 25 where jesus intercedes as our

counselor he goes before us and he

delivers us out of a stinky situation

because guess what he says verse 43

lazarus

forth

so lazarus walks out of the tomb

kinda

kinda

here’s my final point

as he’s exiting the tomb

the man who had died came forth

bound hand and foot with wrappings his

face was wrapped around with a cloth

jesus said to them

unbind

him and let

him

go

hmm

wait amen

lazarus has life

but what he doesn’t have is freedom

because he’s bound

his hands were bound

his feet was bound he’s wrapped like a

mummy you rap a mummy he’s wrapped from

head all the way to the toe so he has

life

but no liberty

everybody here who’s a christian that

means you have life but not everybody

who’s a christian has liberty

you may be bound by an addiction bound

by an emotional struggle bound by a

health situation something may be

holding you hostage even though you have

life

now watch this

jesus

gave him life

but jesus did not directly give him

liberty

he said he told them

to unloose him and let him go

let me explain something

jesus christ wants to give every sinful

person eternal life

he offers life through his blood

but he sets folk free through his people

he still does it but he does it through

his people

that’s why god wants every christian to

be an active part of a local church so

that you can be unwrapped if you’re

trapped or so you can unwrap somebody

else if you have been unwrapped yourself

god never meant for you to come once a

week to hear somebody preach the bible

alone

he wants you part of a family so you can

be in the unwrapping untying and

deliverance business so that you can be

helping somebody else as somebody helps

you that’s what the church is supposed

to be it’s not a weekly event it is a

family relationship where folk are being

loosed and set free

i know there are many crises here

but i want you to pray through it

even if it’s gotten worse and not better

because i want to let you know right now

that god can turn

things around

for his own purpose

i’m sure that you would agree with me

with the statement life hurts

many times circumstances in our lives

bring tears to our eyes

hurt to our hearts

sadness to our emotions

in fact sometimes you feel like god has

missed it and he’s made a mistake by

allowing

the travail the trials

the circumstances and the pain that life

brings our way

but when life has thrown a curveball at

you

that’s not the time to run from the lord

that’s the time to run to him

that’s the time to ask him the questions

without questioning him

but ask him lord

why are you allowing me to hurt like

this this long this bad and this deep

the good news is that jesus

our great high priest knows how to cry

with us

he knows how to shed tears because he’s

felt the weaknesses

he’s felt the lonelinesses

he’s felt the hurt the pain the

rejection

and the crucifixion

that life brings our way

but he also knows how to join us in

prayer

to the father

he is an intercessor

when we talk to the father he joins us

he partners with us

to intercede alongside of us

to ask for help from heaven

to the hurts of earth

i want you to know you don’t hurt alone

you have a savior who loves you who

cares for you

who cries with you

who walks with you

and who prays with you

when you remember that as tears roll

down your eyes because

life hurts

you just remember you’re never

hurting alone

go to god in prayer

with your pain with your honesty

just know

you’re not going to him alone

[Music]

when you’re in the spirit

but the bible calls the spirit a wind

a wind it blows

my opinion nobody’s opinion when it

conflicts with god

is to be considered as truth the bible

says let god be true and every man a

liar

mother nature doesn’t work without daddy

god

that’s because truth

doesn’t just

because if it comes from god it’s truth

because god has absolute standard by

which reality is measured

[Music]

i’m standing here in alaska one of the

most glorious places in god’s great

creation and i want to invite you to

join me in our urban alternative family

for the alaskan cruise we’re going to

have a magnificent time

in god’s word and in god’s creation

we’re going to enjoy great fellowship

great fun great food and i’m looking

forward to meeting and greeting you on

our tua alaskan cruise

register to be there can’t wait to be

with you

[Music]

[Music]

you