-22  “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”I am not sure if you are familiar with the story of Lazarus.  Even if you are familiar I encourage you to read the story over again.  It will take you less than 5 minutes and yet there are so many great things to learn from it.  I am not going to read the whole thing to you, I am going to go over some of my favorite verses in this story as there are some really great lessons Jesus reveals in this story.  I will briefly explain the story as I go.  The entire story can be found in John 11:1-44.  Jesus was good friends with Martha, Mary and their brother Lazarus.  When Jesus and his disciples were away Lazarus got sick.  The sisters sent word to Jesus that “the one he loved” was sick.  When Jesus heard Lazarus was sick He said in John 11:4 “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  I think this verse is so important because it shows us why Jesus did all the things that He did.  Everything that Jesus did was for God’s glory and so that God’s son might be glorified through it.  His healing people brought God glory and also helped more people to believe in Him.Jesus did not go to see them as soon as he found out.  He stayed where He was for 2 more days and then they left to go back to Judea.  When Jesus had arrived Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.  When Martha heard Jesus had arrived she ran out to meet Him.  John 11:21-22  “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”I had not paid too much attention to this verse in the past.  I have heard this story many times.  I payed more attention to the later part of the story because I guess I found it more exciting.  However, I read a book called The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson and he explained this verse in a way I had not heard before.  Batterson explained that there are two degrees of faith in those two statements Mary made to Jesus.  “The first statement is first-degree faith: "Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died." First-degree faith is preventative faith like the prayer of Martha who believed that Jesus could've kept her brother from dying, first-degree prayers take preventative measures. We ask God to keep bad things from happening. So we pray for safety as we travel, or we pray a hedge of protection around our children. And there's nothing wrong with that, but there is another dimension of faith that believes that God can undo what has already been done. Second-degree faith is resurrection faith. It's a faith that refuses to put periods at the end of disappointments. It's a faith that believes that God can reverse the irreversible. It's a faith that believes it's not over until God says it's over. And it's epitomized by Martha's “even now” profession of faith: "but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” (Page 92 in The Circle Maker)Martha had still not given up hope.  Even though her brother had already been in the tomb for 4 days, she still believed that Jesus could do something about it.  Jesus could fix the situation.  This is such an important lesson for all of us.  Sometimes we are pursuing a dream and we come up to a dead end and we think that is the end of our dream.  We put a period there, but maybe it is just a stop on the journey.  Maybe God put a comma and wants to keep going.  Where in your life have you put a period where God wanted a comma?  Is there any where in your life where you need to have resurrection faith?After Martha made this incredible statement in John 11:22 “I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask” Jesus told her that her brother would rise again.  Martha said in “I know he will rise again in the resurrection.  This is when Jesus teaches us another lesson.  John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;  and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Martha said she did.  Jesus reveals who He is in this statement.  Jesus promises us that if we live our lives believing in Him then we will have eternal life.  Even after Jesus had said all of this, I still don’t think Martha understood the power of God or exactly what Jesus was saying.  I think sometimes we are hard on ourselves because we have trouble believing certain things.  When we are struggling and we turn to God, we want to believe that He can fix things, but we can’t see how.  We don’t see what He could do.  I heard it explained one way that seemed to make sense to me.  The person said that he didn’t ever doubt God could do something, but he sometimes doubted He would do something.  I think this is all of us.  We want to believe, we feel like we believe, but then we wonder if we actually believe.  I know I have said this before but when I feel like this I pray Mark 9:24 “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”  When I read stories like this it helps me to feel better about myself when I question.  Martha was right there talking to Jesus.  Jesus said her brother would rise again.  He said that He was the resurrection and the life.  And yet, when Jesus asked them to roll the stone away from the tomb she was worried about the smell since her brother had been in there four days.  I’m not sure she knew Jesus was going to raise her brother.  John 11:41-42 “ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know 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.”  These two verses are also very powerful.  The first one is a lesson that is taught over and over again in the bible, but it is subtle and if it is not pointed out, you may miss it.  Jesus thanks God before the miracle happens.  He does not wait until after Lazarus walks out of the tomb to thank God.  He does it before anything happens, knowing that it will happen.  He does this numerous times in the bible.  Another time is when he is feeding the thousands with the loaves and fishes.  He holds them up to the Lord and thanks God before God has done anything yet.  This is something that would be great if we all did.  In John 14:13 God has said, “whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  We know that God keeps His promises.  When we ask for something God will answer.  Why is it that many of us wait until we see the answer to start thanking God.  Why not step out in faith and thank God before we see the miracle?  I wonder if we would see more miracles if we started doing this?The second verse in this is also powerful.  Jesus says, “I know 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.”  Jesus was not thanking God for hearing Him because He was surprised.  He was thanking God for hearing Him because He wanted those around Him to know that God sent Him and that God gave Him the power that He has.  Jesus was giving Glory to God and God was glorifying his Son by giving Him the power.  This is an excellent example of how we should approach prayer, thanking God and giving Him all the glory.This story ends in John 11:43-44 “ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.  Jesus brought back his friend.  There is so much more to this story.  There are so many good parts to it.  I tried to touch on a few of my favorites, and I would encourage you to go back and read through the story.  Be open to whatever the Holy Spirit points out to you.  It is really an incredible story.  It also talks about how Jesus was moved to tears.  I think that shows how human Jesus really was.  Yes he was fully God, and he was fully human.  He loved His friends and was sad to see them hurt.  Even though He knew He would be brining Lazarus back, He was still moved to tears for them.  I could go on, but I won’t.  I will let you explore the story yourself and see what you find fascinating about the story.    I hope that you have many take aways from today’s episode.  If I could leave you with just one, it would be for you to remember to not put a period where God has put a comma.  It would be for you to remember that there is another level of faith. A type of resurrection faith in God that He can undo something that has already happened.Dear heavenly father, I pray that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. I pray that you bless us all with unwavering faith in you. I pray that you show us how to have a resurrection faith in you. Lord we believe, help our unbelief. Help us to believe even when it's difficult. Help us to believe you can undo things that have already happened. Help us to know when you want us to put a period and when you want us to put a comma. Give us a firm conviction when you are putting an end to something.  Help us to know when it's not the end, give us the perseverance and the persistence to keep asking for what it is we want. Lord God we know that you hear our prayers just as Jesus said. Lord we thank you for answering our prayers. We thank you for answering those prayers that you have yet to answer as we know those answers are coming. Lord you are so amazing and we love you so very much. Lord, I think we struggle to believe sometimes because the things were asking for seem impossible, and they are impossible for us but nothing is impossible for you. Lord please help us remember this. Heavenly father I ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus is holy name amen.