John 11:14-15

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

From Background Notes [BN] for August 4^th & 5^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Doubts don’t get resolved through denial. We do not discover hope by saying that death isn’t real or that death is only an illusion. Death is quite real, and often leaves families at their wits end trying to make ends meet. As Christians we shouldn’t be in the denial business. Jesus wasn’t.

He knew Lazarus was dead and openly affirmed such in his remarks to Martha. She might cling to religious certainties to deal with death, and yet Jesus doesn’t think that’s enough, and so he places the focus on what he will do about death, not on the denial of death. [BN, 3]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am, 5:30pm