I'm preaching for the first time at my youth group soon.

I completely agree! The most important question in life is that will you accept Jesus as Lord and trust in Him alone for salvation? That will surely be a part I will try to impute into my little recap sermon. It's a recap sermon reinforcing the main points. I'll also watch how our pastor does it.

That's not what I'm hoping for. I trust God to lead me through and not go through this in my own strength, for I would stumble all over my words. I've been requested to preach that Sunday by the guy who is leading the youth group. I want people to hear Christ, not the Word of man but the Word of God.

JesusIsSovereign-------------My contribution about the passage you seemed to have picked -----

Here is the thing ----You yourself have no idea who's heart God has changed and who's ears He has opened to hear and Spiritually understand the message you are going to be delivering ----

The Holy Spirit does know this already ----the teenagers who have not had their heart changed and ears open by God to your message will not get the Spiritual message behind your words ---

So you need to Relay on the Holy Spirit to help you draft your Sermon for your audience that your speaking to --

This Scripture you choose here is about God's Faith -----do they know what God's faith is -----God's faith believes in the unseen realm ---God's Faith Produces what it says ---God's Faith is inbirthed in a person through hearing His word and trusting it --

This passage is really not about why bad things happen to us at all --Death is a reality that we will all face ----the family of Lazarus were in morning --Lazarus had been a sick man and died ---the family were angry at Jesus because didn't come and heal his sickness as Jesus had healed many ----they were perplexed as why He stayed away until the 4 day ---and there is a reason for that ----it was a jewish custom ---to leave the person in the grave for 3 days -----and the family should have known that but their anger clouded their judgment ----

if you want to talk --- why bad things happen you should do the Book of Job -----that passage teach us why God allows bad things to happen to His Children -----

This passage is about a foreshadowing of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ --

Jesus was divine and human ----this passage shows His Divine Nature and Prepared People to Have Faith in His Death and Resurrection ----it is about eternal life after death ----

So was God with the Family in their grief and anger Yes---We are the ones who abandon God ---God never abandons us ----but our hurt --judgment and anger can Block God from being able to comfort us in our time of need ---that is part of the lesson from this passage -----

So, sorry you are not seeing the word of God able to work through you
You are worried okay, maybe read Matt 6 where Jesus asks the ?
Will worry add even a moment to your life?
It seems to me worry takes away, never adds, it steals, kills and destroys, you will eventually see it one day, since not yet seeing it yet

So, sorry you are not seeing the word of God able to work through you
You are worried okay, maybe read Matt 6 where Jesus asks the ?
Will worry add even a moment to your life?
It seems to me worry takes away, never adds, it steals, kills and destroys, you will eventually see it one day, since not yet seeing it yet

Can we really block God from His comfort us?

And we always need God. By the Holy Spirit, God can soften our hearts even in our most angry moments. So I'm curious what you mean.

I'm just asking for any help, tips, or hints for John 11:17-27 (which is what I'm probably going to be preaching on) on how to make this applicable to teenage students. Here it is: 17 When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem (about two miles away). 19 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary remained seated in the house.
21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.”
23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.
24 Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told Him, "I believe You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.". After reading this, I kind of thought that maybe I could say something like, "have you ever felt this way? Have you ever felt or thought that, 'if God, you had been with me, this bad thing wouldn't of happened?'. Actually, God is always with us, but He allows bad things for His glory and your good. (Earlier someone else preach on John 9, which was about the blind man being healed of his blindness) Remember the man born blind? Jesus said in verse 3, "neither this man nor his parents sinned," Jesus answered. "This came about so that the works of God might be displayed in him.". So, the reason why bad things happen is not always the result of sin and is ultimately because God allowed it for His own glory. And Romans 8:28 tells us that it's for our own good as well.". So, if you have any other thoughts or ideas I may add to this or something that should be taken out or replaced with, please let me know. Thanks! To God alone be the Glory! Praise the Lord!

Just a thought, you don't always have to make things applicable, but teach them the truth of what's taking place in the scripture. Let them see how God was working in the past. It can get sketchy if you try apply the same thing happening to today.

I don't know how Mature you are in your Faith walk with Christ ----but yes we can Block or Hinder God from Comforting us -----

We have an enemy loose in this world Satan who is the god of this world still ----he has God's Ok to infiltrate our minds with anger which comes from Fear even as we Have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit -- Satan's job is to keep you away from God's comfort ---by doing what he did to Lazarus's family ---he instilled anger in their minds toward Jesus -----and this Hinders God to comfort them -----You cannot be in anger and feel God's Agape and be in peace and comfort from God in your mourning so your Blocking God to help you in feeling God's comfort -----

I agree that God works through His Children for His Glory -----




God is always there for His Adapted Children --but we are not always there for God ----we are in this world and again Satan has full access to God's Children ===so it is our job to keep Satan's infiltration of instilling Fear ---anger ---unbelief --doubt --anxiety etc which keeps God away from helping us in our time of need --You cannot be in Fear and be in Faith at the same time -----your either in Fear or your in Faith ----Fear tolerated is God's Faith contaminated -----

You make this statement ------
God can soften our hearts even in our most angry moments.

That is False ---Anger comes from Satan --not God ----and Fear again will block God from your heart and mind ------Fear contaminates your heart and mind and keeps God away from working for you

2 Timothy 1:7

Amplified Bible
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear,
but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].


Note
We are to Rightly divide the Word of God -----and it is so important for anyone preaching to do just that so the people hearing the message are being FED Rightly ---their eternal life depends on it -----

People preaching God's word need Spiritual understanding of His Word ----and not many Preachers have that understanding today ----in my view -----

Just a thought, you don't always have to make things applicable, but teach them the truth of what's taking place in the scripture. Let them see how God was working in the past. It can get sketchy if you try apply the same thing happening to today.

Anger doesn't come from God, but God can take away that anger by the power of the Spirit. Can you give me a verse that supports your claim, "we can Block or Hinder God from Comforting us"?

Thanks for helping teenagers! I did notice that you had a very very loose translation, which does really make a difference in the meaning of the scripture you are asking the Lord to help you to teach.

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:"

This is the King James translation, which contains the correct meaning.

You wrote some other translation which changes the meaning by changing the words. You wrote: " Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. "

This second translation makes it sound as if later on, after believing in Jesus, a person will die a natural death, and then will live. However, the King James translation is talking about being born again to believe in Jesus. That is why it uses the term "WERE DEAD". The verse is talking about a fallen person of humanity who WAS dead in trespasses and sins but then believes on Christ. From the moment they are born again and believe on Christ, they will never die again. That is why the scripture continues, in the King James version, to say, "
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"

Of course, the natural body will often die but the person who is in Christ will never die from the point of conversion of being a true believer, believing the gospel. Notice the phrase "WERE DEAD" and how it is used to describe persons who come to believe. The Bible repeats this in the following verse:

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; "

Can you see how this is talking about a person who was spiritually dead and then God gave them life to believe on him for salvation? Can you see how this is not talking about death after believing in Christ.

My advice would be to let teenagers know that they can have life right now and forever just by believing on the Christ as their savior.

The only way God can comfort True Christians who get angry is if the person is willing to Pray and ask God to help them with their anger -----God does not just show up like a magician and change peoples anger ---we have free will to choose to be angry or not to be ----God will only work to help a person deal with bad emotions if they ask God to help them ---and the person had to be willing to let God comfort them ----

When we are angry we are pushing God away from comforting us ----you harden your heart against the comfort -----When your angry you do not want comfort ----your wanting to stir up bad emotions -----God will not stop you from what you want to stir up ===you need to realize your angry and Pray to be free of the anger -----

Ephesians 4:31
Amplified Bible
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]


2 Chronicles 7:14

Amplified Bible

14 and My people, who are called by My Name, humble themselves, and pray and seek (crave, require as a necessity) My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear [them] from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land.
Read full chapter


Matthew 5:21-22

Amplified Bible

Personal Relationships
21 “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever murders shall be [a]guilty before the court.’

22 But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice against him shall be guilty before the court; and whoever speaks [contemptuously and insultingly] to his brother, [b]‘Raca (You empty-headed idiot)!’ shall be guilty before the supreme court (Sanhedrin); and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of the [c]fiery hell.

I say -----Anger --keeps God from Comforting a person ------you need to realize your anger---humble yourself and ask God through prayer to help put your anger aside and give you comfort ----only then can God give you comfort -----

From Google

By seeking God's presence through prayer, Scripture, fellowship, worship, trust, professional help when needed, service, forgiveness, remembering God's promises, and resting in His love, Christians can experience and pursue God's comfort in times of adversity and need.

God makes them want to pray.

God does not make us do anything ----if he did then we wouldn't have free will to choose to pray or not to pray --we would be doing what God made us do ----

True Christians want to Pray because we Agape God and praying is the only way to have access to God ====we want Him involved in our daily lives so we set aside prayer time in our day to communicate with God -----

God can lay an urge upon our heart to pray at times but we have the choice to either accept that urge or refuse it --

God changes our desires, what we want. And we free willingly choose those desires God gives us.