John 11:17-27

17 When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. 18 Bethany was only a few miles[d] down the road from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. 20 When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” 25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”

It is here in the midst of the crisis that second we see:

2.         The Comfort 

As Jesus goes to Bethany, He is closing in on the cross and is less than 2 miles from Jerusalem. While He is aware of the cross and the coming pain he is focused on the plan. Many of us choose to focus on the problems and the pain and so we miss God’s plan. Instead of focusing on a problem free life we need to start seeing God’s plan for our life. Now when it comes to comfort the first thing I want you to see is the: 

A.         Supporters 

It’s in the sorrow of life that we can come alongside to console and comfort others. Sorrow provides an opportunity to serve and support. Instead of seeing sorrow as an obstacle and a problem we need to start seeing it as an opportunity to serve. Many of us miss opportunities to serve in the midst of sorrow because we focus on our comfort instead of our call. Nobody likes sorrow but it is a part of life and when you start viewing it as an opportunity to serve instead of making it about our comfort we make it about caring.