Why Does Life Have To Be So Hard?
Real People (part 1)

When I was really hurting, I prayed... Psalm 116:3-4 CEV


? God’s Plans May Hurt Me

1Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”


 4When he 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.” 5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. ... 	John 11:1-6 NIV


? My Trust in Him Needs To Grow
11he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” ...14So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”	John 11:11-15 NIV



? I Find Out What I’m Made Of

 16Then Thomas ... said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” 	John 11:16 NIV


? I Need to Grapple with the Truth

 17On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ... many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
 21”Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
 24Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Martha moans, Yeah yeah, at the end we’ll ALL rise. I know that.

 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”... 	John 11:17-27 NIV

? I Discover the Depth of God’s Love for Me
 32When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34”Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
 35Jesus wept. 36Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39”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 there four days.”

 40Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”... 45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.... 	John 11:32-46 NIV



So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too. 
Because of Lazarus, many ... were starting to follow Jesus. 
They were putting their faith in him. 
John 12:10-11 NIrV




God has put us together as Ridgewood to:

Get Out the Good News
Gladly Glorify God
Grow More and More Godly
Give Our Gifts Generously
Gain Genuine Grace-Filled Friendships