WALKING WITH JESUS.

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

John 11:5 [NIV]

3  Ways We Learn To Walk With Jesus In Close Relationship.

1. Choose Posture Over Performance.

38 As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Marth opened her home to Him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said.

Luke 10:38-39 [NIV]

8 Come near to God and He will come near to you.

James 4:8 [NIV]

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

Psalm 42:2-4 [NIV]

17 “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”

Revelation 3:17 [NIV]

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:4 [NIV]

20 “Go, My people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until His wrath has passed by.”

Isaiah 26:20 [NIV]

40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed — or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:40-42 [NIV]

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men,they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Acts 4:13 [NIV]

2. Choose To Draw Close In Disappointment.

1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (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.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

John 11:1-3 [NIV]

20 When 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. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

John 11:20-22 [NIV]

12 Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around.

Proverbs 13:12 [MSG]

23 Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” 28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.”

John 11:23-28 [NIV]

32 When 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.” 33 When 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. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

John 11:32-35 [NIV]

5 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

Psalm 126:5-6 [NIV]

10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life….”...19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

1 Samuel 1:10-11, 19-20 [NIV]

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.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 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.” 43 When He had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”   

John 11:39-44 [NIV]

3. Choose To Pay The Price To Let Go Of Control.

1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

John 12:1-3 [NKJV]

4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

John 12:4 [NKJV]

15 Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost.

2 Corinthians 2:15 [NCV]

4 What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.

Psalm 8:4-6 [NIV]