He Cried Before He Fixed It — Essentials Week 7
MOTIV8 CHURCH — ESSENTIALS WEEK 7
HE CRIED BEFORE
HE FIXED IT
John 11:1-44
New Living Translation
Ps. Marcus St. Julien
The Question
If God can fix it — why does He let it get this bad first?
Have you ever prayed, waited, believed — and still watched things get worse? What did you assume that meant about God?
My Thoughts
John 11:5-6 — NLT
5So although Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, 6he stayed where he was for the next two days.
Although He loved them — He stayed. Most people read the delay as distance. But the text says the opposite. He loved them. And He stayed. The delay was not an absence. It was a decision rooted in something bigger than the immediate crisis.
Is there a situation in your life where God's delay has felt like distance — but could actually be a decision?
My Honest Answer
Jesus Wept. John 11:35 — NLT
Key Insight
He didn't bypass the grief to get to the miracle. He entered the grief first.
He already knew what He was about to do. He had the answer. He had the power. And He still stopped and wept. That's not weakness. That's the character of God in human skin. He felt what they felt before He fixed what they couldn't.
John 11:43-44 — NLT
43Then Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" 44And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him go!"
Key Insight
He was never late. He was always exactly on time for what God had planned.
Martha asked for a healing. She got a resurrection. She would have settled for one-day Lazarus. Jesus had four-day Lazarus in mind all along. The wait wasn't God being slow. It was God being specific.
What have you been calling a delay that might actually be a design?
My Honest Answer
Point 1
Jesus enters the grief before He demonstrates the glory.
The God of this text is not detached and unmoved. He is present and He feels it. He enters your grief before He changes your situation — not because He can't move faster, but because He refuses to.
Point 2
He was never late. He was always exactly on time.
The four days weren't a delay. They were the design. He wasn't late to the situation. He was on time for something far greater than what anyone in that moment was asking for.
Which of these two points do you need most right now?
My Thoughts
He was never late.
He was always exactly on time
for what God had planned.
Seven Weeks — One God
He met Elijah under a tree before He gave him an assignment. He pursued a runaway prophet with a fish before He ever sent him to Nineveh. He showed up at three in the morning on the water before Peter ever got out of the boat. He has always been present before He was powerful. He has always entered the situation before He changed it. And He has never once been late.
Looking back at this entire series — what is the one thing about Jesus that looks different to you now than it did seven weeks ago?
My Answer
First Steps — New Beginnings
Whether you just gave your life to Jesus, you're reconnecting after time away, looking for a church home, or ready to stop watching from a distance and build something — First Steps is for you. Get plugged in. Find your place to serve. Build real family. Right after service today.
My Takeaway What is God saying to you today?
The one thing I'm leaving with that I didn't walk in with —
The thing in my life I'm going to stop calling a delay and start trusting as a design —
One person I want to share this with this week —
Essentials Week 7 — Sermon Notes — John 11:1-44 NLT