Episode 17: Responders Not Initiators Part 6

In this episode we focus on Blind Bartimeaus and the practical approach he took in responding to Christ. Listen in as we explore the attitude he had to seek after what he wanted. 

Transcript

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He knew that because of what he's been hearing about the ministry of Jesus, he knew that his opportunity to change his circumstances, his opportunity to change his life is now in reach, is now in proximity. And he was not going to lose this opportunity. So here's the point, guys, is that in this very first point, this very first thing I want you to notice here is that Barmaeus made up his mind that he's going to get what he wants. So over the last couple of episodes, we've been talking about this final belief system that I believe is essential in navigating the Christian life. We've been talking about uh the importance of God's word, how to how to receive it, how to take it, that we build our life upon it, and how we believe that it is true. We have also talked about the goodness of God, that he is good for you, that everything that he does towards you is good, and he even turns anything that is bad or that is created for your downfall, that he turns all those things out for your good. And so we've talked about this final belief system, which is that we are responders, not initiators. That we are not initiating the goodness of God, but we are responding to the goodness of God. And I've kind of taken my time with this one. We've over the last couple episodes, the first couple episodes of this uh part, we I took the time to explain the differences to the New Testament and the Old Testament, the New Covenant and the Old Covenant. And I encourage you to go back and look at those episodes. I believe it's episodes 12 and 13, I believe, maybe 11 and 12. Go back and look at those that listened to those episodes because that lays the foundation for what we started talking about the last two episodes, which was episodes 14 and 15, where we start talking about here are some examples of how something might be operated in the Old Testament, but how it changes in the new. And so I took the time to kind of give you an idea of what it looks like to operate in the New Testament. Now that is important because what we're about to step into is a whole lot more practical things that you need these other three belief systems and even to navigate. So what I was thinking about doing today and what I felt led to do is to kind of become start start stepping into becoming more practical. I've been teaching a lot over the last couple of episodes, but then I'm gonna start showing you examples of what it looks like to be a responder and not an initiator. And the best part is that this is all throughout the New Testament, even in even the Old Testament, but it's all throughout scripture. And so I want to talk about uh the healing of blind Barnamaeus. Now, this is one of my one of my favorite stories, and especially when when teaching on respond responding, because there are multiple levels of or probably a better way of saying this, there's multiple environments in which a person might respond. Okay, there's many different environments, there's many different contexts, there's many different situations that um you could be responding to Christ, you could be responding to what you believe that He has done. But depending on the environment, depending on the context, it could you could have friction, you could have opinions around you that's trying to sway you in a different direction. So it's so all in all, there are just many different uh viewpoints, there's many different uh situations that might warrant a different response based on your response to Jesus Christ. And so I I like this story of blind Bartimaeus because it really does um show you multiple uh crowds, not really crowds, but multiple avenues, multiple uh contexts that we can pull out of and say, okay, in this situation, notice what Bartimaeus did. Notice in what Barmaeus did in this situation. So it's just a good story that covers a lot of detail. So let's look at it in Mark chapter 10 verses 46 through 52. Now I'm going to read it all the way through and then I'll break it apart. That's one of the things that I really like to do when um I'm teaching on a off of scripture. So Mark 10, verses 46 through 52. And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, he being Jesus, we went with his when he when he came out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Barnamaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highwayside, begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace. But he cried in a more great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be a good comfort, rise, he calls ye. And he, calling away his garment, rose, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What will that shall I do unto you? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith has made you whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Now there are again there are multiple things that are happening in this story. Multiple things. And I wanna and and they're kind of teared. They're kind of tiered, like this usually happens before this happens, and they're chronological. So uh let's just look at this. Uh I'll read, I'm gonna I'm gonna read the whole story again, but I'm gonna read and I'm gonna stop when I get to a teaching point. Okay, so let's look at 46 again. And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of the Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people. Now, stop right there. Notice that it's a great number of people. Now, this is Jericho, which is very common for Jericho. Jericho was a major um merchant trading center, so heavy crowds, um huge crowds was the norm in Jericho. Now, if you were blind Barnamaeus and a blind man that has spends his life, spends his days sitting on the side of the road, you would think you would know that this is a normal thing in Jericho. Large crowds, uh rustling noise, bustling noise, a lot of noise, a lot of uh communing, a lot of arguing. Okay, so the the the noise of the city would have been a normal thing for blind Barnabas. Okay, now uh blind Barnabai, the son of Tamias, sat by the highwayside begging. Now look at verse 47. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, stop right there. In another rendition of this, in another example of this in Luke chapter 18, Barnabas literally calls out to the crowd, and he uh asks, I think he even asks, is Jesus among you? Right? Is Jesus among you? Or he asks, and the people say that it is Jesus of Nazareth that's walking. And uh and so immediately when blind Barnabas knows that it's Jesus, that Jesus is in his presence, notice in verse 47 of Mark, uh chapter 10, Jesus he says, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Okay, so the key thing here I want you to notice here is that the moment he knew that Jesus was in proximity, the moment he knew that Jesus was around, his res he responded to Jesus. Now there are scriptures in the new in the in the gospels that say that Jesus' ministry was spread all throughout Galilee. And then so his his miracle, the miracles that he operated in, the knowledge and the boldness that he stepped into, so Jesus was not an unknown figure, especially to the Jews. Okay, he was not an unknown figure. And so when Barnabas heard that Jesus, this man that had that his that his character, his his attitudes, his way of doing things was being spread across Galilee. When the man of the hour was in was around, Barnamaeus responded to Jesus. He responded to Jesus. Now, what did he do? He cried out. Now again, Jesus' ministry was was being broadcasted, it was being talked about all throughout Galilee. So what was Barnamaeus responding to? He was not responding to just the man Jesus, he was responding to the character, he was responding to the history, the reputation of what Jesus carried. He knew that because of what he's been hearing about the ministry of Jesus, he knew that his opportunity to change his circumstances, his opportunity to change his life has is now in reach, is now in proximity, and he was not going to lose this opportunity. So here's the point, guys, is that in this very first point, this very first thing I want you to notice here is that Bartimaeus made up his mind that he's going to get what he wants. He's going to make he's made up his mind. Jesus is here, Jesus is willing. Jesus has a history, a reputation of healing the sick, of healing, of walking in miracles, and he is now in my arena. He is now in proximity. I can now touch him, he can hear my voice. And so I'm so Barb may say, I am tired of staying where I am at. I am now a I am now willing to call out to respond to the goodness of God. Again, this is one of the reasons why we took the time to talk about God is good, because we are responding. It's difficult to respond, it's difficult to cry out to someone for help when you don't know if they're actually going to help you. Right? And this was Barnamaeus' situation. He has heard about Jesus, heard about his ministry, heard about his character, heard about his nature, and he said, Jesus is here. I do not like the station, I do not like the posture that I have been living in. And so I am going to cry out, I am going to respond to him, believing he's going to respond to me. Right? Okay, so let's continue. Verse 48. And this is another key part. And many charged him, first verse 48, chapter 10, book mark, and many charged him that he should hold his peace. Stop right there. Sometimes, especially when you are placing a demand on the goodness of God, when you have immersed yourself in his word, when you have immersed yourself in prayer, when you have immersed yourself in the relationship with Jesus Christ, you become acquainted with him, you become aware of him. You you know, with a lack of a better phrase, you know what he would do. What would Jesus do? You would know what he would do in certain situations, certain circumstances. Your prayers have changed because you're no longer asking him for things that has already been promised to you in his word, but you're believing because he's a good God, you're believing that he is already, uh he's already placed that into your account and you're just walking in it, right? So your entire attitude has changed, your posture has changed, everything about you has changed because you become more and more acquainted, more aware of who Jesus is. And because of that, your language has changed, and because your language has changed, the people around you are noticing a difference. And it's different from how you used to speak, it's different from how you used to pray, it's different from how you used to walk because you're not just what you're not walking according to religion or according to what you have been taught, you're walking according to the real how the relationship has morphed you into thinking and speaking. You have become a discipleship, a disciple of Jesus Christ. You're thinking like him, you're talking like him, you're moving like him, and this is all stems from your time with him, right? But notice what happens when blind Barnabas, who has heard about Jesus' ministry and he responds to Jesus. Notice what happens. The crowd, even the disciples that are walking around with Jesus, the crowd that is walking around with Jesus, they tell him to shush. They tell him to be quiet. In other words, they were trying to get him to choose a different approach, or they were trying to get him to choose a different application of response. Right? And so, and and this is important, guys, that when you're when you're when you're living the life that Christ has died and rose again for you to live, there will be times where people who operate according to a different revelation, they operate according to a different light, they will in good heart, I'm not judging or criticizing these people, but in good heart and in good intentions, criticize or even critique your response. Right? And so it is important, it is important that you are, this is practical advice, guys. It is important that you know the word and you know your relationship with Jesus Christ. You know his nature, you know his character, you know how he operates, you know what he does in every single situation, every single environment. It is important because notice what would happen. Blind Barnabas has never seen Jesus. He spoil alert, he is blind, he has never seen Jesus. All he has, the only knowledge that Barnamaeus has about Jesus is what he has heard. Okay, and we are in the same boat. The only knowledge we have about Jesus is what we have heard. Most of us, most of us have not seen Jesus in the flesh. Right? None of us have seen him in the flesh. Everything that we have, all the knowledge that we have about Christ, his nature, his character, his methodology, his viewpoints of us, his speech patterns, everything we know about Jesus is based on what we have heard or what we have heard from the word through our own study or through or from other ministry. Right? But notice that Bartimaeus chooses to ignore what he is hearing from other people. Why? Because it contradicted what he believed to be true about Jesus. Then people were telling him, hey, stop it, quiet down. But Barnamae says, No, I he is he is he is a good man, he is a gentle man, and he and most importantly, he is a healing man. So I am calling out to him because I know that he can be the solution to this everlasting problem that I find myself in. Right? And so there are going to be times in your everyday Christian life as you're learning who God is, as you're learning to apply and to operate according to how He how He operates, there are going to be times where people disagree on your approach, they disagree on your theology, they disagree on your response. Okay? There are going to be moments like that. But in those moments, you have got to be secure and you've got to be established in your relationship with Jesus Christ. And you need to be convinced, because Abraham says he was fully convinced that he who started a good work would bring it to fruition into the days of Jesus Christ. Right? You have to be convinced of God's character. That despite what other people might say, despite what other people might believe, it does not matter, you will say, I know my God, I know my savior, I know my Lord. This is his response to me in this specific situation. And he is not a man that he should lie, but he will send, like Scripture says that he sent the word and it healed him. He will send his word and it will not return unto him void. And so, because of this, I know his character, I know his nature, and so I am going to live, I am going to step, I am going to speak accordingly. Right? And there will be people that will be in disagreement with that. And look what Bartimaeus did. He did it anyway. He did, he paid them no mind. He operated, he moved accordingly, because first of all, he wanted what he wanted. He knew that Jesus had what he wanted, and he knew that Jesus was willing to give what he wanted. So he responded in kind. What was he responding to? He's responding to the character and nature that he heard throughout Galilee. Right? So again, this is why it's important to know the word. It's important to know the Jesus of the scriptures. It is important because there will be times where people will give you a different person that is that is that is explained in scripture. And if Bartimaeus allowed what the people around him to dictate his response, he would have not have received his healing. There are going to be times I love the body of Christ, I am for the body of Christ. But there are but but but we all all have different belief systems, all different uh viewpoints of Jesus Christ, right? We just do. Hello. It's the way it is. We have different denominations. Okay? And so it's up to you to determine what do you believe about Jesus? What do you believe about his nature? What do you believe about him towards you and for you? What do you believe? Again, Jesus said to Peter, what do you say I believe? That people say I'm Isaiah, some people say that I'm I'm I'm Elijah. Okay, some people say I'm a heretic, but what do you believe? Are you going to follow the opinions of the crowd? Or are you saying no, no, no? I saw it in the word, I saw it in the scripture, that Jesus did this for him, Jesus did this for her, Jesus did this for this person, and I also was read in the word that he is not a respecter of persons, that he will not do one thing for one person and then another thing for another person, and so because of this, and because I know that he is a good God and that he is faithful to me, I will respond and receive my miracle. Amen, guys. So we're getting close to the end of this of this episode, and so I just want to re-establish okay, kind of like a summary, if you will, of what we've talked about up to point. It is important again that you understand that we have to know the word. And it can't not it can't be just your mother's interpretation of the word, your pastor's interpretation of the word, your youth pastor's interpretation of the word. It it has to be your word, my Bible, my scripture, what I have gleaned from my study with him, what I have gleaned through my prayer time with him. It has to be your revelation, it can't be someone else's. You can't be just eating someone else's revelation. You have to get revelation for yourself. It has to be real to you. A lot of the things that I'm teaching y'all guys has become real to me. That is why I'm passionate about it. And a lot of the and and that is why there are people that are probably dis that probably would disagree with me. And I would say, hey, you just not operating according to you're operating according to a different light, and that is okay. I'll still see him in heaven, I'll still see him uh uh walking while walking with Christ. Awesome, great, but there are revelations that the Lord has given me that I've practiced with them, I've seen the fruit, and I know you cannot sway me either way, either way, because I have just like David, he was with me with the lion, he was with me with the bear, and I'm gonna cut off your head, you you dirty rod and philistine. Right? David had experiences with God that solidified, that anchored him into this belief system. And I and I'm and I'm telling you guys, Bartimaeus, again, if he allowed the people to dictate his response, he would have never been positioned to receive his miracle. There are going to be times where you're just going to have to ignore the people for the sake of your miracle and just go out on your own. Now, the beauty of this is that that is not that should not be a permanent thing. Okay? If you are constantly alone when you are supposed to be planted in the body, you are probably on something that is not biblically or theologically accurate. So there will be times where you must operate into a different light than your fellow brothers and sisters, but this should not be every time. This should not be every time. If it is every time, then you probably need you probably need to get some co get some uh pastoral counseling. Some people that you trust to say, okay. Where am I off? Because I seem to be the only one teaching this. I seem to be the only one ministering this. There is nothing new under the sun. That scripture is not of private interpretation. Okay? It's not of a private interpretation. If you have a private interpretation, you're stemming away from what Jesus fully intended. Okay? So again, there will be times, there will be days where you might have to operate according to according to the light that the Lord has released to you. That and it might be different than the crowd or from the people that you are normally doing life with. And that's okay. That's okay. Okay? And so I hope this has been a blessing to you. I hope this has been helpful to you. And we will continue with this story. And I will bring out the next point with Blind Bar and Mayus when we're talking about respondent, we're responding, not initiating. Okay? So you have the rest of your day, good day, or the rest of your night. God bless you.