that we represent your name well because you are holy and you are righteous. And we just pray, Heavenly Father, for our nation in turmoil and evil that's in the world today. We know that your kingdom is coming. We know this is not a home forever. And it seems like it's getting closer and closer for your return. And we just praise you that your promises are true and that you have promised that you will come back and take us home one day. We praise your holy name. Amen. Okay. If you would, Alex, give me a second and we'll get into the scripture. I want to go into our Catechism question first. Our Catechism question this morning is Catechism 59. I'll read the question, and if you would read the answer with me, I would appreciate it. What is required in the Third Commandment? And the answer is, The third commandment require the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works. I provided scriptures there, and since I had not talked to the pastor, Brother John, I picked a memory verse, and it may be wrong, and I made it long so we could work on it this week. and we can maybe all get to it. Malachi 1.11, if you would read that with me. My name will be among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to my name. And a grain offering that is pure, for my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord. So the third commandment says and requires the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works. What does that mean to you? We'll be there in just a minute. What does that mean to you? We come in and we say require the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word and works. How do we do that? Oh my God. Okay. That could be disrespectful. I'm sure a lot of people use that. That's not very good either. Well, unless it's in a prayer, but if it's used in a contentious situation or someone's angry, that could be something that we don't represent well. But what else is there? I mean, we can use the Lord's name in vain, and a lot of people do. You hear it on TV, friends. I've played on ball teams, and believe me, there's some words that fly. Once you let them know you're a Christian, though, they start apologizing. So you have to let them know there are boundaries wherever you're at, regardless whether it's at work, your family. Friends, wherever you're at, there are boundaries because you are a Christian and you should let them know that this is something that is disrespectful to your Lord and to your Savior. So, that's something I don't mind doing and I don't do it to embarrass anybody, but I do let them know, you know, that's not proper. And they change their attitudes. And if it slips, the first thing that comes out, I'm sorry, Bob, or whatever, you know, I remember. So that's one way. But how else? I mean, who are we? We're children of God, right? So if we represent God, how do we do that? That's the first step, isn't it? If they don't know that you're a Christian, they're not gonna respect the Lord and Savior that you serve. So you gotta stand up. What else? Speak up. Speak up? What about, I'm sorry? I'm sorry, my hearing is not good. Okay, I'm hard of hearing, sorry. Let's put it this way. Is it just in the way you walk? I mean, what you say? What about when you're home watching TV? What are you watching? What do you watch on the computer? What do you watch on your phone? Modern conveniences, one day I'll learn how to use it. I know I can get a phone call, I know I can make a phone call, that's about it. I'm learning, yesterday I got news on it, didn't know it was even on there, so my wife showed me that, that's good, she's trying to update me. So everything that you do as a Christian, in thought and deed represents our Lord and Savior. So if you are not living the way you should be, are you being reverent to the Lord's name? Are you being reverent to his word? Are you being reverent to the works that he's performed and done? So it's not just about what you say, but it's how you do it. and how you represent, and we should represent well, right? All right, any questions on that? I'm not good on these catechism questions, but God is, so that's the one that counts, okay? Memory verse we went over? All right, pastor's title last week was A Better Resurrection. Not only do I have to keep up there, but I gotta keep up here, because I hate turning around and trying to look at that. His unifying theme was, because of the son of God's humiliation and exaltation, Christians have a living hope which will not fail. If God is not a liar and his promises are true, then how can our hope fail? Think about that. Because of God's son, his humiliation, not just that he came to earth, but that he came in the form of a man. He humbled himself. He took on the form of a man. He suffered abuse while he was here. He suffered torture. He was not loved by his own people. He's not loved by those that don't know him. I didn't love him whenever I was a non-Christian, but when God changed my heart, that's when I loved him because he first loved me and he redeemed me and he made me righteous because God declared me righteous, right? So the unifying theme works well with our Old Testament, New Testament, and our sermon text. Alex, if you would, I believe, nope. Phil, you're second. Let me write this down. You're first. Go ahead. you against me, O man of God, you have come to me to bring my sin into remembrance and cause the death of my son. And he said to her, Give me your son. And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged. And he laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, O Lord my God, have you brought calamity upon the widow with whom I sojourned? Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again. And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down to the upper chamber, Okay. Elijah. Most people get Elijah and Elisha mixed up. What's the difference between Elisha and Elijah? Besides a couple of years. Who? Elijah. How about reverse that? Elijah was the one that went up in a fiery chariot. Elijah was his protege, if you want to call him that. And what did he wish for? A double portion. A double portion of the spirit of Elijah. And he got it, didn't he? like about going through scriptures is God does not cover up good and evil. And in this particular case here in chapter 17, we're first introduced to Elijah, but we're in a background here, and I put a little bit of information up here. Ahab was the king of the northern Remember the kingdom had been divided into two, the northern and Judea, or Judah. The northern kingdom had 10 tribes and Judah had how many? Two, right? There's only 12, right? And who are the tribes in Judah? The two tribes in Judah was Judah and Benjamin, right? Were they not the last two kids of Jacob? No, Judah wasn't. Judah was the fourth. Benjamin was the last, okay, after Joseph. Okay? So that's how I kind of remember those. Ahab came to power somewhere around 874 B.C., and the Bible is very explicit. He did that which was not right in the eyes of God. He was not a good king. In fact, his wife, Jezebel, most people remember Jezebel, she was not a good person. She was a worshiper of Baal. And Bel was basically a fertility god. It was a Canaanite deity. And Bel was the god of storm and rain. So it kind of makes sense the way God used Elijah when he came to Ahab because Ahab was doing evil and God was going to take and be glorified. Remember our Catechism question is, is that we're to honor and be reverent and glorify God. Well he was not, so Elijah was sent to rebuff not only Ahab, but to show that he was greater than any other god in the world at that time. Not only at that time, but now. So Jezebel was a worshipper of Baal. Ahab, he did what he wanted. If he wanted something, he took it. If he didn't like somebody, he killed them. He just did what he wanted. He had no respect for anybody. He didn't have any love for God. And he was rebellious even to Israel. Yahweh sent Elijah his prophet to demonstrate the glory of Yahweh over Baal. Now if Baal was the god of storm and rain, how did he do this? In chapter 17 verse 1 it says that Elijah was sent to Ahab and he told Ahab that we are going to have a drought. Now if Baal is the god of storm and rain, how can we have a drought? And they had a drought. There was no doubt. So it shows that he was God, and when he was confronted, Ahab, there was nothing he could do about changing what God had already had planned. So Yahweh demonstrated he alone was all powerful to Baal. He showed his displeasure to the northern kingdom. In Deuteronomy 28, 15 through 68, it lists a lot of curses and for the disobedience of Israel. And one of them was drought. But it's worth reading that, I put it up there so you can go back through and look through that. God does not take and let sin run rampant. He is a holy God, and he is going to correct people, he is going to chastise, and he is also going to put people out of power, and he will, if necessary, kill them. Another thing that Yahweh did is he sent Elijah into the center of Baal worship. And that's the widow that was living in, I hope I say this right, Zephath in Sedan. This was the center of Baal worship at this location. The one thing that God showed is that he is a God of time and space. He is not limited by these two things. He works outside of time and he works outside of space. So he is the all-knowing, all-present God. He is not restricted to an area. He also showed his power over death. He raised the widow's son through the help of Elijah. and he showed his superiority to Bale. In chapter 17, it tells us that Elijah was to take and go to a brook, and he was to wait there. God would provide for him. He fed him with a raven. I believe it was a raven. He brought food to him in the morning, and in the evening he had water until the drought dried up the river. So after that, he was told to go to Zaphath in Silan, and he was supposed to get with this widow woman. So when he did go there, the widow woman, he didn't recognize her, but she recognized him. So God had already pre-planned with her for Elijah to be safeguarded and put up. And if you remember, God provided Everything for this widow because of Elijah. In fact, the Bible says she was going to go home, fix her last meal, and sit down and die. There was no hope for her. She was out of money. She was poor. She was a widower. She had a son. She had no way to support herself. So she was ready to die. And God provided oil and flour. for the entire time that Elijah was there and until the time that the drought was over. So, he took something that was hopeless and made something that was hopeful. He is that for us. He provides for us. He has changed us from dead to be alive. Okay? We are dead. In our sin, we have no hope. And Christ has changed us where we are alive. And this is a little picture of how he has done that. He provides everything for us. It should not be something that is a surprise to us. If we serve an all-powerful God, an all-knowing God, it should not be a surprise that he raises someone from the dead. First off, it was ordained by him. He's sovereign. He knew that he was going to raise this child from the dead. And it was done for his glory, of his name, because he is worthy of this. The resurrection of the widow's son, it was kind of unique. He bowed three times over the child and the child was raised from the dead. That's kind of unique. I'm not sure I would have thought about doing that. but it's the way God apparently had given him a reign on how he would do it. Didn't tell him he had to bow over him, but he did do it, and the child was brought back to life for God's glory. All right, any questions or any comments on this? This is a great section here in the Old Testament. There is another woman, that Elisha, Did raise her child from the dead. We're not going to go into it, but I believe it's in 2 Kings. And she was a Shunamite woman. And we'll go a little bit more in that in Hebrews because it's mentioned there. Any comments on that? Okay. I think. Yep, I didn't turn the page. Sorry about that. We're caught up. I should have looked at your eyes, and I would have known. All right, John 11, 17 through 27. And Alex, if you would, let me turn to there real quick. And then we'll let you read that, and we'll have a discussion on that. OK. I've already been to him four days. Now, Bethany from here to Jerusalem, about 15 stayed the other way. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him. But Mary was sitting in the house. Martha then said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I have the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die, ever. Do you believe this? She said, yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. Okay. This is one of seven iambs in the Bible, and I've listed them here. You could have a series of sermons on these. What's I like or what is unique about this is this name was used in Genesis. If you remember when Moses was in the desert, God had a burning bush and he introduced himself as I am. First time he used that with man. I am. In other words, I've always been, I am. He used this name with him, and then Jesus uses this same name that was used in the Old Testament. People say that Jesus didn't really claim to be God, and every section of the Bible in the New Testament, as far as the scriptures that I can see, when he spoke in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He claimed to be the Son of God. So the use of I am is significant because it is a claim to deity. It is a claim that I am God. In fact, he is saying that I am the only way. Okay, he says in John 635, I am the bread of life. If you remember children of Israel, they were fed manna in the desert. The widow here was fed, had oil and flour so she can make bread for herself. These are things because Jesus says, I am the bread, meaning I am life itself. So he is claiming to be God and the provider of life. That's John 6.35, and he says, I am the light of the world in John 8.12. Significance there is he came into evil, darkness, sin, and he is the way and the truth. So he is the light. I am the door of the sheep, John 10, 7 through 9. This is significant because no one can come in to get the sheep except through him. The pastor last week went through that shepherds used to lay down in a doorway and block the entrance so that he would protect the sheep. In John 10, 11 through 14, he says, I am the good shepherd. So not only is he the door, but he is the good shepherd who protects. No one can take his sheep, and those that know him know his voice. I've never raised sheep. I understand that they are the dumbest animal you'd ever want. But once they get used to your voice... Phil's back there shaking his head. He didn't know until today that I was probably the dumbest, but that's okay, Phil. You'll get used to that. But whenever you think about it, if the sheep know his voice, okay, if they know his voice, then that's the only voice they're gonna listen to. That's unique. That's the voice that we hear, right, is his sheep. I am the resurrection and the life. Significant here because God used this to glorify not only his name, but to glorify his son's name. So it's significant here because Lazarus died. If you remember, Mary washed Jesus' feet with her hair. Martha, he went to the house and Martha was everywhere trying to prepare everything and I think Mary sat and listened to him. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha. They were good friends. They were believers. So it was significant that Jesus was someplace I think around a couple miles away, Bethany or someplace. I'm not, I believe that's where they said. And he waited purposely, and I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's go over here. He waited purposely for two extra days. So it was four days before he actually headed back to Jerusalem. Was it Jerusalem? I think that's where they were living. I may be wrong on that. If I am, anybody remember? Bethany, yes, and Jesus. Yes, sorry about that. So, it was four days he allowed Lazarus' body to stay in a grave. The significance of this is the Jews thought that the body would have the soul hanging around for a couple of days and Jesus waited four days to show his power and to show his glory. Jesus made a statement, I am glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe. Everything that Jesus did while he was here on this earth was for the purpose of coming that you may believe that I am the Son of God, I am the promised Messiah, and I am the one that will redeem your sins by dying on the cross. will be buried and will raise again the third day. Everything was for that purpose to glorify his father because the words that he spoke was from the father and everything he did was to glorify him. So the statement there I like the statement because it lets us know that the disciples were human. They were still training. They were still learning. They were not quite there yet as to who Jesus was. I think they thought he was a good teacher. At some point, they finally believed that he was the son of God. But they were still in training. So he said, I want to make sure you understand that this is all done so that you might believe. So Lazarus basically was in the grave for four days. And at this point, it was hopeless. Everything was hopeless. There's no way that anyone could ever take and do anything to change the fact that Lazarus was dead. Except God. And God used this so that he would glorify the son. So Martha met Jesus on the road, and I put these things up on the board because I think it points out a couple of great things. We're studying about women in the Bible. Even though Martha's not mentioned, it does show that people suffered. They went through temptations and things. So I'm thinking Martha might be one that they were possibly mentioning because she did have great faith. Look at the statements that she made. If he had been here, if he had been there, she knows that Jesus would have healed him. Lazarus was sick. She said, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. That's a great statement in itself, isn't it? I know that you are of God and that he would take and give you what you want. Next statement, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. She thought that Jesus was referencing the resurrection that was to come and that she would see her brother then, but Jesus was not referencing that. Jesus makes this statement to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? And the comments that follow by Martha is probably one of the most complete confessions in the Bible. She says, yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, and even he who comes into the world. That is a complete confession. I know that you're the Messiah. I know that you came to die for my sins, and I know that you will return. You're the promised one. The widow's son was raised from the dead. Lazarus was raised from the dead. Guess what? They died again. physically, they died again. Jesus was not just talking about physical times here, he was talking about spiritually. I have come that those who believe might never die. That's a promise that he made to you and I, that's a promise he made when he was here on earth, that we would never die. So our resurrection is to come, but our Our plan that God has for us is in place. He is now in heaven, and he's preparing a place for us. So one of the things that we have to remember is who we serve. There's enough things in this world for people to fear. But what can they do to our soul? There's enough hate, enough violence. People can walk up to you and shoot you today. People fear just going on the street anymore. They fear going to certain countries because of the way the wickedness is rampant in countries, including in the United States. But we should not have fear of what man can do to us. Because the Bible says, he that lives in me is greater than he that lives in the world. And that is true. Let's don't live in fear. Let's live in faith. like in chapter 11, and we're getting to there now. These men and women showed their faith in persevering and being faithful to the task that God had called them for. All right. Any questions on John? None? Okay. Any comments? These are two great scriptures. I love both of these. Of course, I love a lot of them, but these are something I have actually enjoyed researching and going through. Okay, John, Hebrews 11, 35 through 38, if you'll give me one second so I can get over there. Am I there yet? Let's get over to here. There we go. In order that they might receive a better resurrection. I think about, as we've gone through chapter 11, these are some great names. These are men and women that have been used by God. But guess what? The story isn't over yet. The way He used them is the same way that He uses us today. If we are willing to serve, if we're willing to be used by God, He's gonna use us. Where it says women receive back their dead, we already know the widow of Zerphath in Sedan, her son was raised. The Sunamite woman was raised by Elisha. She was older in age, had a child. The child became ill and Elisha, basically the same way Elijah did, bent over the child and raised the child from the dead. It says, and others were tortured. I think tradition has it that Isaiah was actually sewn in half. I don't know if that's true, but that's tradition. I read that in a book. Markings and scourgings. Isaac took a lot of slack from Ishmael. Samson took a lot of markings from the Philistines until he repented and God used him again to kill the Philistines. It says people walked around in sheepskins and goatskins. We know that Elijah and Elisha actually did this. Those wandering in deserts and mountains, that was David and Elijah. And some wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground, and I believe Obadiah, the leadership of the prophets that he was over, they did the same thing. So there have been trials and tribulations for the believers, and God does not promise us a rosy garden, does he? If you're a Christian, regardless of whether you're in a country in the Middle East where you give up all that you have, in fact, sometimes you give up your life, professing Jesus Christ as your Savior, or whether you live here in the United States where we do not have a lot of sufferings and tortures, but we do have a lot of mockings. People make fun of us. Because we are Christians, they mock our Lord and Savior. And you know, that's okay, because one day, they're going to take and pay the penalty for the sin that they commit. And that's a rejection of Jesus Christ. So faith for a better resurrection. Faith should prevail. Our next chapter we get into is 12, and we still have, I think, two verses that we gotta get through here. But it does show perseverance. And that perseverance is an example of who Jesus Christ is for us. So our faith should help us get through our trials, our tribulations, our hardships, and we should always give God the glory. This last statement here at the bottom, God is to be glorified because from weakness we were made strong. That's not in this section, it was actually in last week in verse 34. We are at our best when we are weak. Think about that. When we are strong, or we think we're strong, our pride is puffed up, we think we're somebody. because we're doing certain things. We think we're good enough now. Things are going well. We've got food on the table. We've got gas in the car. Our family's doing well. So we get kind of prideful and boastful and like, not Hezekiah, but Nebuchadnezzar. He stood on the balcony and says, look what I have done. And God punished him for three years. He ate like a cow in the fields. Don't let our pride and our arrogance get us out of sync with God, because that's sin. So we need to make sure that we are, like our Lord and Savior, humbled. before our Lord and Savior, that our faith is continually there, and that our relationship and our walk with the Lord is daily. Is it gonna be perfect? No. I fail miserably at a lot of things, but I know that my Savior doesn't fail, and I know that He's given me the faith in which I believe in Him, and I know that He's gonna keep His promise that he will be faithful, and that's who I can depend on, and that's who you should. Wrote down some scriptures just to point out that we're not here to stay, are we? For a better resurrection. Philippians 3.20.21 says, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. And Ephesians 2.19, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. Sometimes I feel like I'm by myself until I come to church, until I talk to the brethren, until I'm able to talk with a fellow believer. Then I know that, hey, there's a lot of us, okay? There may not be as many Christians in the world that we would like. But God has chosen those that he wants. And until he comes back, we can take heart and we can get together as brethren. We can have people that we can talk to to encourage us. We can stay in God's word. We can read it. We can pray. And we can stay in tune with each other. and be united because the fathers in Jesus, the Jesus in the Holy Spirit, and vice versa, they're all one. Okay? And that's how we should be. We may have some differences in beliefs, but the core beliefs that we've got to stay in is God's word. Romans 14, eight, I'm gonna end with that. For if we live, we live for the Lord. Or if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. What a great comfort. Whether we live or die, we're in the Lord's. In order that we might obtain a better resurrection. Something to look forward to, isn't it? Any questions on that? Any comments? God's been good. Been some good lessons that we've had in Hebrews. We still have a little ways to go. But it should give us encouragement. I've been so encouraged by going through the scriptures and just reminding how great a God we do serve. Anyone want to close out in prayer? Okay. our teachers. that you alone will look to. We give you all praise for that. Father, we love you. As we give this coming hour for the worship service, we want to glorify you.