But what about in real life- have you ever had a close friend die? If not, imagine how you would feel as he lay dying. Imagine your tears if he was a devoted friend to you. What if he had even saved your life before? Imagine your parting words. Imagine being deeply moved. If only you could bring him back to life. But that only happens in the movies.
Today, we are going to watch the emotions of Jesus at the death of his close friend Lazarus. It's a powerful scene underscoring the genuine humanity our Savior. He weeps with those he weeps. He fleshed out the ancient prophecy "In all their distresses he too was distressed" Is.63:9. Isaiah also called him "a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering" Is.53:3. The God-Man groans with your struggles in this world of suffering and death. He experienced that also, but to the nth degree.
The miraculous sign of raising Lazarus from the dead is the last of the seven miracles that John selected to prompt people to believe that Jesus is truly the Christ. Remember this key verse? "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presences of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" John 20:30-31. Do you remember some of the other miraculous signs John recorded to point people to life in Christ? Here they are in order-
Turning water into wine- ch.2
Healing the royal official's son- ch.4
Healing the invalid by the pool- ch.5
Feeding the 5,000- ch.6
Walking on the water- ch.6
Healing the blind man- ch.9
And now, the raising of Lazarus from the dead ch.11
This last miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead is the climax of these miracles. The feeding of the 5,000 illustrated that Jesus is the bread of life and the healing of the blind man illustrated that Jesus is the light of the world. Now the raising of Lazarus will illustrate that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. This climactic miracle of life from death is also the turning point of the book, setting the stage for the certain death of Jesus by his enemies.
1.- Read John 11:1-46. It's a long narrative (story), so simply pick out a favorite verse and share some of your thoughts regarding it. If you want to dig further, you always have your online David Guzik commentary to consult- http://ift.tt/1Klblme,
Spock was a true friend of Captain Kirk, who ended up rescuing him from death. And Jesus was the true friend of Lazarus who truly rescued him from death. Friendships take time to build. Today, take time to contact your wingmen (your fire team brothers) and find out how they're doing. Based on the scoreboard totals below, find out one or two areas that you and they want to work on improving. Then keep each other in prayer to that end. I'll ask you tomorrow if you talked with your wingmen :)
2.- See below
Announcements
I want to welcome my friend, Mark Lauber to M3. When he was a student at MBI, he came faithfully to a young adults class I taught on Sundays. He has been involved in lots of ministry and leadership experiences over the years. He's now married and lives on the Northside of Chicago. Expect to be enriched by Mark. And happy birthday yesterday Mark!
We had a great outdoor meeting at Jack's yesterday. First we watched the end of the Bear's game. Ugh! It was agreed that next meeting, Sunday Oct.18th, we will start our meeting at 3:00, but any that want to come earlier to watch the game are invited. We'll probably throw in for pizza :) So reserve that date now for our next meeting. And thanks to those of you in the area who did what I asked and let me know in advance that you couldn't make it to the meeting. That was very responsible of you.
So how did we do last week? Squad 5 regained the lead and their fire team 1 is still the team to catch. But a few other fire teams are also doing well. I also want to commend the vast majority of you who were Unstoppable all last week. Way to go! You made a goal to be unstoppable for the month of September and you're working toward it. For those who slipped, remember the very good advice of J.C.Penny, "When you fall down, get up." This is your week.
3.- What are two areas you want to work on improving on our GREAT areas of spiritual growth and impact? What's your strategy for accomplishing such? Strive to score at least 25 points per week.
I shared at yesterday's meeting, the BEST way to help yourself or another grow
Begin by Blessing God for the areas you see on the scoreboard they doing well in.
Evaluate- How do you think you did? What 1 or 2 areas do you want to strengthen?
Strategy- What's your strategy to strengthen such?
Targeted Time- When should we talk again to review our progress?
| G | R | E | A | T | Tot. | Team Av. | |||
| Squad 1 | 30.85 | ||||||||
| Eddie Morales | U | R5 | 10 | 4 | 27 | 6 | 6 | 53 | |
| Fire Team 1 | 40 | ||||||||
| William Dyckman | U | R1 | 8 | 3 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 33 | |
| Phil Raymond | U | R1 | 11 | 9 | 34 | 6 | 1 | 61 | |
| Ismael Andrade | U | R2 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 26 | |
| James Schmidt | U | 7 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 40 | ||
| Fire Team 2 | 18.6 | ||||||||
| Gary Remson | U | R1 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 28 | |
| Luis Ortiz | U | 5 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 13 | ||
| Alex Dyckman | U | 6 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 15 | ||
| Squad 2 | 21.33 | ||||||||
| Sam Vargas | U | R3 | 20 | 3 | 11 | 15 | 5 | 54 | |
| Fire Team 1 | 31.5 | ||||||||
| Oscar Nunez | U | 9 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 0 | 34 | ||
| Lou Ojeda | U | 5 | 1 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 29 | ||
| Fire Team 2 | 16.25 | ||||||||
| Israel Fuentes | U | R1 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 28 | |
| Dave Ramirez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Dave DeBoer | U | R1 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | |
| Tim Dearborn | U | 12 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 23 | ||
| Squad 3 | 24.5 | ||||||||
| Robert Roman | U | R1 | 32 | 1 | 26 | 13 | 0 | 72 | |
| Fire Team 1 | 20.5 | ||||||||
| Vince Diaz | U | R1 | 5 | 2 | 25 | 3 | 1 | 36 | |
| Nic Palhegyi | U | R1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 13 | |
| Mike Dunn | U | 8 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 22 | ||
| Rich Petre | U | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| Fire Team 2 | 32.5 | ||||||||
| Osiris Alday | U | 8 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 5 | 42 | ||
| Ed Lake | 4 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 23 | |||
| Squad 4 | 31.5 | ||||||||
| George Rabiela | U | R1 | 19 | 7 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 97 | |
| Fire Team 1 | 26.33 | ||||||||
| Dave Heidekruger | U | R2 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Michael Gonzalez | U | 7 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 28 | ||
| Chuy Cervantes | 5 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 26 | |||
| Fire Team 2 | 36.66 | ||||||||
| Rich Guardiola | U | R1 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 46 | |
| Mark Estrada | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 15 | |||
| Horacio De La Torre | U | 14 | 11 | 5 | 15 | 4 | 49 | ||
| Squad 5 | 37.28 | ||||||||
| Jack Rogers | U | R5 | 50 | 3 | 42 | 8 | 4 | 107 | |
| Fire Team 1 | 50.33 | ||||||||
| Roger Vinlasaca | U | R1 | 55 | 0 | 25 | 5 | 0 | 85 | |
| Armando Hernandez | U | 36 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 44 | ||
| Jose Billegas | U | 7 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 22 | ||
| Fire Team 2 | 27.75 | ||||||||
| George Doherty | U | R1 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 30 | |
| Andre Vargas | U | 6 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 25 | ||
| Lemmy Lukudu | U | R1 | 15 | 4 | 10 | 13 | 5 | 47 | |
| Kevin Long | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 9 | |||
| Squad 6 | 33 | ||||||||
| Mike Berry | U | 7 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 33 |
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