Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
John 11:25

I have always loved the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and consider it a privilege every time I get to preach it. But one time in particular stands out in my mind. It was March, 2003 and I was in Ukraine with HeartCry Missionary Society. It was a Sunday, and we had just finished the service at a lively Romanian church. My translator, Ruxi, and I were eating lunch with our hosts, when one of the pastors came and said to me, “When you’ve finished eating, we’ll take you to a funeral. You’ll preach there.” This was certainly news to me. I thought I had come prepared for any teaching situation, but preaching a funeral had never entered my mind. As Ruxi and I quickly prayed together, the Raising of Lazarus came into my mind. When prayer was finished, I took out a card I had with me and began to jot down a few notes. Then our driver came.

It had been snowing and the dirt roads were getting treacherous as we headed out to the little village. On the way they filled me in on the situation. A precious Christian woman had died. She was much loved, but the only believer in her town. “Everyone will be there,” they said. “And so we’d like you to preach.”

When we got there, I realized that “everybody” truly meant everybody. The house was packed and people were standing everywhere, filling the front yard and spilling out of the gate to fill the street in both directions. (See picture). The coffin was brought from the house and placed in front of the porch. As a small choir sang. I recognized some of the faces and realized they had come with us from the little church. Ruxi and I were then led up to the porch to face the crowd.
I was about as nervous as I’ve ever been as we stood before that sea of expectant faces. They didn’t know what to make of me. And I certainly did not know what to make of this situation. As a rule I try to be prepared when I preach. I like to be able to spend time praying over the passage, reading it, analyzing it, thinking through the heart of the message and how best to present it. In this case there was time for none of that. Just, “Stand here and give us God’s Word”

So there really was nothing I could do but lean hard on the Lord. He’d put us here. Surely He would help! After praying one more time and asking Him to be present among us, I opened my mouth and began to speak. What happened next was like nothing I have ever experienced before or since! The words just began to flow. Thoughts began to form in my mind for what to say as we began to consider Jesus’ claim to be the Resurrection and the Life. It’s not that the whole message came to me at once, just the next few words I should say. Then, as Ruxi translated those, the next few sentences would form in my mind, then the next, then the next. This continued for about 20 minutes as I heard myself proclaiming Jesus as the Resurrection and Life for all who will believe.

As I said, nothing like that had ever happened to me before, nor really since. I was amazed to hear myself, almost as if it were someone else, proclaiming the Gospel with a clarity and power. And to my amazement the crowd seemed to hang on every word as if their lives depended on it..

As we finished, I looked up to see another Romanian friend arriving. He had been asked to follow my sermon with another. Ruxi and I were then whisked away to another local church where people were waiting to hear the Word.

I often wondered what became of that little village. Was there any fruit borne from the preaching that day? My answer came a few years later when one of the pastors came to the US and visited Rockport. At lunch I asked him, “Whatever became of that village where we preached the funeral?” “Oh,” he said. “Didn’t we tell you? Several came to Christ that day. There is now a church in that town.”

Isn’t God amazing?
Pastor Scott