WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:08.080 I really believe that I'm here today to talk to anyone who's experiencing suffering in a way that God hasn't explained. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:14.000 Anyone who finds themselves stuck in a situation and you're saying, God, am I ever gonna get out of this? 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.199 Like you're trying to trust God, but you can't track Him. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:24.719 You've never been in that place, you're like, Man, I'm trying to trust you, like I'm trying to figure this whole thing out, but God, for some reason, I can't track you. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:28.960 And so often we can have things happen in our lives and we ask God why? 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.440 God, why am I in this place? 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:33.119 God, do you know about this? 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:34.880 Like, do you know about this? 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:36.880 Like, can you see what I'm feeling? 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:38.640 Can you see what I'm walking through? 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:40.960 And God, if that's the case, did you have something to do with this? 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:42.320 Do you even see me? 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:43.439 Do you even know? 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:44.640 Did you allow this? 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.439 And if you did, God, can you change it? 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:53.200 Anyone ever just been in a situation that you're like, God, I just want you to change some stuff in my life? 00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:00.000 If you've ever been in that place, I really believe that today is gonna speak to you as we pick up what God wants to say. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:03.600 If you have your Bibles, I wonder if you can turn to John chapter 9. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.359 We're continuing our series entitled The Miracles of Jesus. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:14.239 And we're looking at the seven miracles or signs, as John calls them, that he did in the book of John. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:19.280 And these are miracles that show who Jesus is and what he's all about. 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:24.239 And today we're gonna learn about a man who was born blind. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:25.280 And here's what it says. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.840 If you're in verse one, say, I got it. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:30.959 If you're still looking, say hold on. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:33.680 Oh, y'all are y'all are still looking. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:34.959 Praise God, I love that. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.519 I think y'all just wanted to say that back because it's fun. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:44.959 Verse one, it says this as he, that's Jesus, went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:47.359 And I need to tell you, Jesus has been doing some stuff. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:49.359 He fed the 5,000. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:53.680 You know, he is starting to tell people who he is, and he says, I'm the light of the world. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:56.079 And he says it in front of the Pharisees. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:58.719 Which, what he's doing is he's calling them blind. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:03.200 So they're getting really mad at Jesus for everything that Jesus is doing. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.599 And in fact, they're like, How can you say that? 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:14.560 And Jesus says to them, He says, Man, Abraham, who you who's your father, he says, Abraham was really excited that I was coming. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:18.000 And they're like, Bro, you're like 30 years old. 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:20.719 How do you even know who Abraham was? 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:24.560 And Jesus makes the statement in the previous verse, and I think it's awesome. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:25.599 He's picking a fight. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.000 You love Jesus, sometimes he just picks a fight. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:30.319 And he says this, uh, 8 verse 58. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:36.560 It says, Very truly, I tell you, Jesus answers, before Abraham was born, I am. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:40.400 That's grammatically incorrect, but it's awesome. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:42.879 He's like, Before he was born, I am. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:46.400 And what he's doing is he's making a divinity statement in that moment. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:52.719 He's echoing Exodus 3:14, where God says, I am that I am, and they understood it. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:03:01.280 They knew exactly what he was saying because it says this that at this they picked up stones to stone him, but he hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:02.159 This is the context. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:10.080 He is slipping away, and in that moment it says that while he went along, he saw a man blind from birth, and he stops. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:16.080 Man, I feel like I could preach a whole sermon about that. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:21.199 Well, you have a man and he wasn't even looking for Jesus, and yet Jesus saw him. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:29.199 A man who didn't even know that today is the life that he was, that today was the day that his life was gonna change, but Jesus came to change him. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:30.400 Anyone have that story? 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:33.280 Man, you weren't even looking for Jesus, and he just found you. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.319 He just found you in the place that you would least expect. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:40.080 And it says this his disciples asked him, Rabbi, which means teacher, they want to learn something. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:41.680 He says, Rabbi, who sinned? 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:44.479 This man or his parents that he was born blind? 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:48.560 Ever have someone talk about you, around you? 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:49.919 Like, it's crazy. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:52.800 This man's blind, he's not deaf. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:56.560 And they're like, Jesus, why do you think he is this way? 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:58.240 Is it because he sinned? 00:03:58.479 --> 00:03:59.919 Or because his parents sinned? 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:03.120 And Jesus says this, neither this man nor his parents sinned. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.479 But this has happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:10.479 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.400 Night is coming where no one can work. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:14.719 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:17.360 And after saying this, he spat on the ground. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:18.399 I love Jesus. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.920 He spat on the ground and made some mud with saliva and put it on the man's eyes. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:25.759 Go, he told him, Wash in the pool of Siloem, which means sent. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:31.279 So the man went and washed, and he came home seeing. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:34.319 He came home seeing. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:36.879 His neighbors are asking him about this. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:39.600 Being like, Is this the man that was born blind? 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:40.959 And he's like, Yes, I am he. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:42.319 And they're like, How did this happen? 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:51.439 He says, A man named Jesus put mud on my eyes and told me to go wash, and because of that I am clean. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:53.279 Skip to verse 24. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:54.560 Verse 24 says this. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:58.240 He at this point he's been called by his neighbors and the Pharisees, and it says this. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:00.800 A second time the Pharisees summoned the man who had been blind. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:02.639 Give glory to God and tell the truth they said. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:04.879 We know this man is a sinner, talking about Jesus. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:10.480 And he replied, Whether he is a sinner or not, man, I don't know. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.720 Turn to your neighbor, say, I don't know. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.079 You ever have some stuff in your life that you just don't know? 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:18.720 You're like, Man, I I don't know about all of that. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:20.639 He's like, Y'all are the Pharisees. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.480 He's like, Y'all supposed to be smart. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:24.319 You're supposed to know about this Jesus stuff. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:27.600 He's like, whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:31.199 He says, but what I do know is this. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:34.079 I was blind, but now I see. 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:43.199 Man, I don't know about all of that stuff, but what I do know is I was blind, but now I see sometimes you need to focus on what you do know. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:46.800 Not the things that I don't know, the things that I do know. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:50.480 If you're taking notes, I want to preach from this title, What I Know. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.120 What I know, what I know. 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:58.160 Well, Jesus, may you move, may you speak, may you do what only you can do. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:00.399 We love you, we praise you in Jesus' name. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:01.680 And everybody said, Amen. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.759 Come on, everybody said, Amen and amen. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:14.800 It's funny, as I was reading this story this week, I realized that I relate with this man more than I would expect. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:17.360 As I read that line, he's like, Man, I don't know. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:28.639 He says, But what I do know is that I was blind, but now I see it's funny how many times we walk through our lives and we start experiencing suffering in some way, and what we realize is that we don't really know. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:29.680 You know? 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.199 Like anyone, like the older you get, they realize the less you know. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:36.160 Like when I was a kid, y'all asked me about the Bible. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:37.040 I know it. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:43.360 I know the Bible, and the older I got, the more I realized, I don't know. 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:48.560 And then I started a master's program because I was like, that's gonna really teach me. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:51.839 And all it taught me was, I don't know. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:56.160 And then I was like, well, let me do a doctorate because that's gonna help me, and and it's amazing. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.959 What it taught me is that I don't know. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:06.720 Like it's funny, as you get older and older, you start getting to these places where you're like, Man, I I thought I knew, but but I didn't know. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:12.480 And then you start a church, and of course, when you start a church and you're a pastor of a church, what that means is that you know everything. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:20.319 So I remember when we first got here to Phoenix, we hadn't launched yet, we're building our launch team and had someone say, Hey, I would love to grab some coffee. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:20.959 I'm like, Great. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:23.439 So we grabbed some Starbucks, and he's like, Man, I got some questions. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:25.279 And I'm like, Great, about joining the launch team? 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:26.959 And he's like, No, about Jesus. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:28.560 I'm like, oh my gosh, you're not saved. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:29.839 I'm like, okay, yes, that's why we're here. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:30.560 This is awesome. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.079 I was like, bro, what questions do you have? 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:36.000 And he was like, Okay, hear me out. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:37.279 Dinosaurs. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:40.639 I was like, wait, I'm like, wait, you want to talk about dinosaurs? 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:41.439 I'm like, that's awesome. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:46.399 Okay, so I'm like, okay, let's talk about dinosaurs, and you know, we talked all about that, and you know, he's like, okay, that's great, that's great. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:48.000 And then I was like, okay, what else do you want to talk to? 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:48.959 Well, what else do you want to talk about? 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:49.759 Do you have any more questions? 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:50.800 He says, Yes, I do. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:52.319 I was like, Great, what's your questions? 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:54.800 He said, Aliens. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.399 So we talked about the demonic, we talked about all kinds of things, it was awesome. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:02.720 And he got to a place where he was like, Okay, man, I think I'm ready. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:04.000 I'm like, to join the launch team. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:05.519 He's like, No, to give my life to Christ. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:07.120 And I'm like, oh yes, that's amazing. 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:09.279 So I led him to Christ by the grace of God. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:11.839 He was the first guy that ever got baptized at Spurred. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:17.920 His name is Miles, and I loved it because I was like, man, look at this! Look at God moving. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:19.759 Okay, I I could answer those ones. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:20.480 I knew. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.120 And then we start the church, and then I'm in the lobby. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.480 And someone says to me, Hey, my mom just passed away. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:29.279 Why did that happen? 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:41.919 And it's like, as much as I think I can explain the problem of evil and suffering, and I can but there comes a point where doesn't that just kind of fall short when someone's going through immense pain? 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:47.679 And I go to a place where I'm just like, nah, I don't know. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:54.480 Like, right, I've been trying to work on my marriage, and for some reason I'm trying to do all the right things, but it's falling apart. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:56.320 Like, why why is this happening? 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:57.919 Why is why is God allowing this? 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.039 And I'm like, man, I don't know. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:07.120 You know, I think sometimes we have to come to a place where we realize that it's okay to not always know. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:13.519 Like it's okay to be in that place over, but then in that space we were just like, man, I don't know. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:18.159 Like I remember when Paige and I were struggling with infertility, and people were like, why is this happening? 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:19.360 And I'm like, I don't know. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:22.960 And then we lost our first kid, and I'm like, man, I I I don't know. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:30.799 When Paige was growing up, her mom was diagnosed with cancer at the age of seven, and then she was healed when Paige was nine. 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:37.279 And they were like, Praise God, but then she got diagnosed again when Paige was 16 and she passed away when Paige was 19. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:40.159 And it's like, Brad, why would that happen, man? 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:41.440 I I don't know. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:45.759 I think sometimes we get to this place where we don't understand why this happening, and we have questions. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:47.120 God, why am I in this place? 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:50.159 God, why is my business not quite working out the way that it wants to? 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:52.320 God, why does my marriage seem like it's so hard? 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:56.480 And we can sometimes give answers, but there has to come to a place where we're just like, man, I don't I don't always know. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:00.240 It's funny, there's sometimes things that we believe that we just don't know. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:01.840 I'll prove it. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:03.120 The Trinity. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:05.679 How many of you believe in the Trinity? 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:07.120 You're like, praise God, okay? 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:10.000 God is He's one, but He is in three persons. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:11.279 We're like, okay, I believe it. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:11.919 Great. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:13.919 Explain it to your neighbor. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:19.679 Like, go! Like about like, okay, y'all go ahead, explain it to your explain the Trinity right now. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:21.440 You'd be like, it's like an egg. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:22.080 What? 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:26.000 You're like, it's like an egg, you have the yolk, you have the shell, and God is like an egg. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:27.360 You're like, okay, he's like an egg. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:28.399 Or you're like, oh no, no, no. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:29.279 Let's talk about water. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:34.720 You know, liquid, solid, gas, God is kind of the anything we do falls short. 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:36.879 We we just don't know. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:39.120 Okay, Jesus is fully God and fully man. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:39.840 Explain that. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:40.799 I don't know. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:44.159 Like, God is sovereign, yet bad things can happen. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:45.440 How does that work? 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:46.799 I don't know. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:53.919 He's supremely good, but in this moment where there is evil, evil can exist. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:54.720 How does that work? 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:56.639 We don't always know. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:04.639 Now we can we can guess, we can teach what the Bible says, which I think is beautiful, but there comes a point where you also have to realize that our faith is a mystery. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:06.240 I'll prove it to you. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:08.159 Pastors actually have to hold this intention. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:15.519 1 Timothy 3 verse 9, it says this, talking about pastors, they must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:17.519 There is stuff that is mystery. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:22.480 The hard thing is we serve a world, we live in a world where we worship reason. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:24.000 Intellectualism. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:32.399 Man, I need to be able to reason and understand, but sometimes there's gonna be things in our lives that we just don't understand. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:35.279 The Bible talks about this. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:37.519 It says this in Isaiah 55, verse 8. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:42.320 God's speaking, he says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways, declares the Lord. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:47.759 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:53.679 God is saying, You can't think like me, you can't reason like me in Job when everything gets taken away from him. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:56.320 For 37 chapters they pontificate. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:11:58.320 Why? 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:00.080 It's what we do. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:01.440 Why? 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:03.519 You must have sinned, you must have done something wrong. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:04.639 Why is this happening? 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:06.399 Surely you did something wrong. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:09.120 But then God speaks up in chapter 38. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:10.320 Don't you love when God speaks? 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:15.200 And he says this the Lord spoke to Job out of a storm after pontificating for 37 chapters. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:20.879 It says this, he said, Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:23.600 Man, you're obscuring what I'm trying to do. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.799 He says, Brace yourself and I will question you and you will answer me. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:29.840 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:33.919 Bam! What do you say to that? 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:35.519 He says, Tell me if you understand. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:36.720 Who marked off its dimension? 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:40.080 Surely you know, who stretched out a measuring line across it? 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:44.799 There's things that we don't understand, and often we're like, but when I get to heaven, I'll ask God. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:46.320 Right? 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.200 And you don't have a list in like your Apple notes. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:50.639 Questions for God. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:58.240 And you're like, when I get in front of him, I'm gonna be like, okay, God, I have some questions, okay, that I need you to answer all God Almighty. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:12:58.639 Okay. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:03.679 Job has that opportunity, and and look at how he asks God all his questions. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:05.919 That's what he says in chapter 40, verse 4. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:07.519 He says, I am unworthy. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:09.039 How can I reply to you? 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.279 I will put my hand over my mouth. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:12.720 I spoke once, but I have no answer. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:15.200 Twice, but I will say no more. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:16.240 God, I don't know. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:22.559 We have to come to a place where we realize that there is evil in this world and there is suffering in this world, and it happens indiscriminately. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:31.360 Evil falls on the just and the unjust, on the holy and the unholy, on the righteous and the non-righteous. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:37.759 Evil is gonna happen, but the question is this if God allows it, if there's suffering, why does suffering happen? 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:39.679 Anyone ever had that? 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:41.600 Why does suffering happen? 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:45.279 This text, this is the central question to this text. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:50.480 How is there a man that has done nothing but he's born blind? 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:52.240 He's done no wrong. 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:53.759 This is what the disciples they say. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:58.159 They say, Rabbi, who sent this man or his parents that he was born like this? 00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:59.279 Why is he in this place? 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:01.360 Can we just talk about the dude who is here? 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:02.000 Get this. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:04.480 They asked a bad question because they had bad beliefs. 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.279 Sometimes we have bad questions because we have bad beliefs. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:13.039 What they were functioning out of was karma theology, which is this if you do good, what happens? 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:13.919 Good. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:15.519 If you do bad, what happens? 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:16.159 Bad. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.639 If a bad thing happens to you, that must mean you are bad. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:22.639 Jesus, who sinned? 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:25.360 Him or his parents. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:29.039 They actually believed that babies could could could sin in the womb. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:30.720 That's why he would be born blind. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.120 That was the belief that they had back in that day. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:38.720 The challenge was this is that they were basing their theology based on circumstance and not what the Bible says. 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:41.919 Because the Bible says, What about God? 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:46.480 He is slow to anger, he is rich in mercy, abounding in love. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:47.919 So often we do the same thing. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:55.840 We look at our circumstances and we build a theology around who God is, just like Job and his friends did, when we don't actually know. 00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:00.879 We don't actually understand, but Jesus corrects them. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:04.159 He says this neither this man nor his parents sinned. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:09.200 What Jesus says is this is not about sin, this is about suffering. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.159 Sometimes we just suffer. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:13.200 Okay? 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:15.120 Aren't you glad you came to church today? 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:18.799 Like sometimes it just happens. 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:22.480 For me to say anything else than that just wouldn't be telling you the truth. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:24.000 Sometimes we're gonna go through hard things. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.799 And when we go through hard things, the question is why do those things happen? 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:27.919 I think there's a couple of reasons. 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.360 One of the reasons is this sometimes we suffer because something we did. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:37.679 Come on, you ate too much during Thanksgiving, and you're like, my stomach. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:38.559 I'm suffering. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:39.759 Why am I suffering? 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:54.080 You did that! Sometimes we ate too much, we drink too much, we're selfish, we don't work enough or we work too much and we neglect our families. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:00.399 We lie, we're not always kind, we don't always prioritize the right thing. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:04.480 It's possible that sometimes the suffering that we're experiencing is because of something that we're doing. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:05.759 Here's the hope in that. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:10.000 If that's the case, repentance and changing your behavior can change that thing. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:15.200 I've seen people repent, God forgive me for my selfishness, and all of a sudden their marriage starts to change. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:15.600 Why? 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:16.879 Because they made a decision. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:20.240 That's the beautiful thing about that kind of suffering, is that we can make a decision. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.879 In this chapter, he did nothing. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:27.039 But how many of y'all remember the story about the man that is healed at Bethesda? 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:31.200 Jesus comes up to him and says, Hey, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:31.840 What does that mean? 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:34.240 Sometimes our suffering is a result of sin, sometimes it's not. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:35.679 Okay? 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.039 That's why we suffer. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:38.080 Sometimes it's sin. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:39.360 Sometimes it's not that. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:44.960 Sometimes we suffer not because of something we did, but because of something someone else did. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:47.200 That's what they're asking. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:53.519 They're like, did his mom walk into a temple, you know, and a pagan ritual, and that's why he was born blind. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.080 Sometimes we can be victims of something. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:00.879 And the reason we're suffering is because there was someone else that did something to you. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:03.679 And that's so hard. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:12.480 My uncle, I remember he was driving when I was a teenager, and what happened was someone ended up overtaking someone and hitting him head on. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.839 And for 18 years, he has struggled with chronic pain. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:17.279 Okay? 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:18.559 That's hard. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:20.480 Okay, that's hard. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:26.480 Sometimes it's something that we do, sometimes it's something that someone else did, sometimes it's something that sin did. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:31.599 We have to get very comfortable with the fact that we live in a fallen world and this isn't the end of the story. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:35.359 This isn't the end of the story. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:42.400 God created everything good, it was very good, but then sin entered the world through our actions, and because of that, everything is broken. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:49.759 Our bodies break down, work is hard, life is hard, relationships are hard, and sometimes people get so frustrated. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:56.480 But this is what I love when you actually read the narrative of the gospel, when you read the narrative of the Bible, the Bible is a circular story. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:58.400 How many of you watch Disney movies? 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:03.759 Okay, there's a beginning, there's some conflict, there's some resolution, and they lived happy. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:06.640 Right, we think that's how it works. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:11.759 Hebrew storytelling is not beginning and end, it is beginning and new beginning. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:14.319 Beginning and new beginning. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:15.359 God creates what? 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:16.799 Eden, and it is perfect. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:19.839 So we have free will and the ability to sin. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:24.720 And what happens is we sin, some people choose God, some people don't. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:27.279 At the end of time, there's a new Eden. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.759 We still have free will, but we don't have the ability to sin. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:32.960 Why did this happen? 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:34.240 It was the best plan. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:40.799 One day we will stand before God and the tears in our eyes will be wiped away. 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:43.920 But until that moment, sin has broken stuff down. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:50.480 Sometimes it's something we did, sometimes it's something someone else did, sometimes it's something sin did, and sometimes it's something Satan did. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:53.519 The demonic is real. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:57.279 I think the lie that the enemy has often told the American church is that I don't exist. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:01.839 It's funny, in Africa, where I'm from, which is why I talk funny, that's not the lie. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.079 The lie is this, I'm more powerful. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:08.400 Because you can't go to Africa and not know evil exists. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:09.920 It is everywhere. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:11.680 So the lies are more powerful. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:13.440 The lie here is I'm not even here. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.119 Don't even think about me. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:28.640 Sometimes it's something we do, sometimes it's something someone else does, sometimes it's something that Satan does, sometimes it's something that sin does, and sometimes we just don't know. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:31.759 Could it be all of those things? 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:32.240 Yes. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.000 Could it be a mix of those things? 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:34.880 Yes. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:38.079 Sometimes we just don't know. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:44.240 First Corinthians 2 verse 16 says this who knows the mind of God that He can instruct him. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:45.279 We don't know. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.039 So here's the challenge. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:51.359 When we live in a world where we don't know, what do we do? 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:56.400 Here's what you do we focus on what we do know. 00:19:57.039 --> 00:19:58.880 Man, I don't know all of that. 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.319 But what I do know is I was blind and now I see. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:09.759 Man, I don't know why we experience the things that we experience, but what I do know is yes, there's sin, but I do know that God sent his son Jesus. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:13.279 What I do know is if I give my life to Jesus, I can have a relationship with him. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:20.640 What I do know is that the end of time we will be glorified and I will be with him forever, and every tear will be wiped away. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:28.160 Sometimes we have to focus not on what we don't know, but we need to focus on what we do know because there are things in our suffering that we can remember. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.839 Here's the first thing I need you to remember. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:35.839 The first thing that I need you to know is that I may not know, but what I do know is Jesus sees me. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:43.359 Man, I don't always know, but what I know is he sees me because there's a man who is here, blind from birth. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:47.680 Everyone talks about him, but Jesus talks to him. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:54.880 He says, I was walking and I saw the man, he sees you. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:58.720 Sometimes you're like, God, do you know what's going on in my life? 00:20:58.960 --> 00:20:59.920 He sees you. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:01.440 Isn't that good news? 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:03.839 Man, he sees you. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:15.119 Mom, who's sitting here today, and you're like, Man, I'm trying to get my kids alive, I'm trying to keep my husband alive, I'm trying to keep everything alive, I'm trying to figure out the house, I'm trying to work, I'm trying to do all these things, and I feel so underappreciated. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:16.400 He sees you. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:27.200 To the dad who feels like he is trying to work and you're trying to provide, and you're feeling like you're trying to create a safe environment, and sometimes you're working so much, but then you feel like you're failing at your family, and when you're winning at your family, you feel like you're failing at work. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:29.599 Am I talking to anyone other than myself? 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:32.400 He sees you. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:38.319 No matter what it is that you're going through your life, the thing that I love about Jesus is that he always sees us. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:40.400 You may feel overlooked, but you are not unseen. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.920 And when he couldn't find Jesus, Jesus found him. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:48.880 The person who's broken, he sees you. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:53.680 The thing that happened to you that you haven't talked to anyone about, he sees you. 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:57.920 That secret shame, that secret sin that you go to bed at night thinking about. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.519 He sees you, he loves you. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.400 And he wants to set you free from that thing. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:04.400 Man, I don't know a whole lot. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:05.920 But what I know is that he sees me. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:07.680 Turn to your neighbor and say, He sees you. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:09.680 He sees you. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:19.680 Not only does he see you, the thing that I love about Jesus is I might know not a whole lot, but what I do know is not only does he see me, what I know is that he sends me. 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:21.039 He sends me. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:21.759 I want you to watch this. 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:23.519 He didn't only see the man. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:24.240 Okay? 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:29.200 Sometimes just awareness of what needs to fix, be fixed, doesn't help anything. 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:30.799 Look, he was a blind guy. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:32.480