Roger Thrower

Bethany means HOUSE OF AFFLICTION or HOUSE OF FIGS.
I want us to receive this:
1. The Jesus enters into your house affliction and turns it into a house of fruitfulness.

2. Jesus is working in your affliction for the glory of God.
“This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

3. Love motivates Jesus to work in your life.
So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”  38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.

4. God works on his timetable.
6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 
32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

5. Death stinks.
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
Lazarus’ name means God is my help.

6. God is your help. Come out of death’s grip.
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”  44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth

7. Other followers of Jesus help unbind you.
Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Galatians 6:1-2 -Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.