SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in Matthew chapter 20, kicking off where we left off last week.
SPEAKER_00: We're in verse 29.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Find it in your Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's talk a little bit about um.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: My iPad's gotta connect to the internet, or I don't have a sermon notes.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give me a second.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna connect it real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I told you that I would mention to you a little bit about um space, and obviously, we're not in our space that we've been in for the last seven and a half years, and uh here we are.
SPEAKER_00: So um it turns out that there's not a lot of space in the neighborhood uh to just all of a sudden find a church building in.
SPEAKER_00: Um but here we are.
SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And there's not yeah, so here we don't have a place to park cars, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we don't have a great place for our kids.
SPEAKER_00: And what the church will roll.
SPEAKER_00: There's there's a one that's really in bad shape, and then there's some, there's like an independent Catholic one.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is a lot of innovation, a lot of innovation, renovation called tearing it all the way down and like rebuilding the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me just kind of explain.
SPEAKER_00: So when this happened, I've I've kind of my emotional like response on Monday afternoon was excited.
SPEAKER_00: Because I felt like we've been maxing out new city new century for a while now.
SPEAKER_00: And uh there's a rule for churches that's like listen, when you get to like 80% capacity, you really should go and look for a bigger space.
SPEAKER_00: Because people, when they come into a room that's 80% full, they really don't want to join or get involved because they feel like they're pinched in terms of the space.
SPEAKER_00: Does that does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: And so we've been at that place for almost a year now, and it's been it's been tough.
SPEAKER_00: So um we need to find another space, right?
SPEAKER_00: But let me just kind of work with you on just some of the numbers.
SPEAKER_00: So hold on just a second, David.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna answer questions in just a second.
SPEAKER_00: The um the rent that we pay over there is$365 per week, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Which is a great it's a great deal.
SPEAKER_00: It's because the market rate is about a$150 per hour for an event space.
SPEAKER_00: So we've got a great deal over there.
SPEAKER_00: Um if we were to try to get a bigger space just for Sundays, we would be looking at um any paying anywhere between$34,000 a year, which would double, that would double where we're at, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um but it's it's likely that it would be triple where we're at.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to find a space, I think we need about seating for about 200 people, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're looking, we would be looking on the low side 4,000 square feet, high side like 7,000 square feet, okay, for a church space.
SPEAKER_00: So um right now um we can afford uh and so when we came here and we were talking about terms, they are willing, these these people are so gracious that let us rent this.
SPEAKER_00: They're like ready to let us do it, and they're ready to let us rent this space at the same price as New Century, which is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: So they're charging us less than what they would normally charge us.
SPEAKER_00: But as we as a church begin to pray about, look, what does a long-term home look like for the church?
SPEAKER_00: You and I need to be realizing that we're talking about even just for a Sunday rental, it's probably three times what we currently are paying.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to have a church full-time, um, like a building full-time, we'd be talking closer to like low end$85,000, high end$140,000 a year in terms of rent.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: It's triple net.
SPEAKER_00: So there's tax and insurance and utilities, right?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so all of those things factor in to make it even more expensive.
SPEAKER_00: Um, so as we pray, so I I realized I had a I realized a lot this week in this process.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a very good journey.
SPEAKER_00: Um, seeing God provide, but also just walking through the mental exercise of like, well, where would God have us be?
SPEAKER_00: We're committed to the neighborhood, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're we're like we are pretty much in the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are outside the neighborhood, but pretty much committed to the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we serve a demographic where um we don't have a ton of money.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like we're super rich, right?
SPEAKER_00: You're not super rich.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: And um uh let's see, what else was I thinking about?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like more space.
SPEAKER_00: So in this area, more space, parking, space for kids, um, and then being in closer proximity or in the same space as the compassion center, running the relief center at the same place where we do church.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that be great?
SPEAKER_00: So um I realized though that I had made a mistake in this process that I really love going on like loop net and Zillow and looking at properties, but I have the same conversation over and over again with people.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what's your budget?
SPEAKER_00: And we don't have a budget.
SPEAKER_00: We have a little bit of money in a church savings account from when we did a capital campaign to try to raise money to buy a truck.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, we raised half the money for a truck and then we went into a lease and we've kind of protected most of that money has been has stayed there and it's protected.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's not like we have you know$600,000 to make a down payment on a on a building or um the monthly revenue to um cash flow or or to to afford a place.
SPEAKER_00: So um rather than looking for a space, we're in a season where we need to begin praying for money.
SPEAKER_00: And so um we have the terms on this place are for um six to eight weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, that's the conversation.
SPEAKER_00: We we may be able to go back over to News Century at the end of that, but I I I I believe, you know, and I'm open to your input, but I believe we're in a season where we need to be looking for something bigger and something better without leaving the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: And in order to do that, what we will need is a um we'll need a pot of money.
SPEAKER_00: And so um one of the things I'm gonna come back to you for is we'll do a some kind of structure.
SPEAKER_00: So the way it works with church finances and financing a facility is we is churches will do a like a pledge.
SPEAKER_00: And so um it's a it's a basically like a promissory note where you say, hey, over the next 18 months, this is what I want to contribute.
SPEAKER_00: And I can take pledges from our church as a part of a package of like raising money from other churches, like we've been doing, and I can go to a bank or to a buyer and uh do a private loan and say, here's the pledges that we have from our congregation, here's the money from our other partners, and that's kind of the financial deal that we put together.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna I'm gonna put that together a bit more, and then I'm gonna come back to you.
SPEAKER_00: And the question that I'll I'll have for you is what can you out of your finances, besides tithes and offerings, how would you like to financially participate in that?
SPEAKER_00: And um it'll be like a pledge that we'll do through the website where you can say, hey, here's what I think I can give on a monthly basis over the next 18 months towards Haven City Church's new facility.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: This is such a miracle, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's so so crazy.
SPEAKER_00: He said it's a miracle we got this place.
SPEAKER_00: Do you agree?
SPEAKER_00: It is, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And I think we should be able to be in here uh for the next um few weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Um for those that are handicapped and can't get down.
SPEAKER_00: I called called the uh people that are in wheelchairs before we came today.
SPEAKER_00: Um we have the pop-up tent, and next week we'll have a speaker that will go out there so that if we are here and we don't have a more ADA accessible space, um, there'll be amplification out there in the courtyard to be able to hear what's happening down here.
SPEAKER_00: That's the accommodation that we can make.
SPEAKER_00: I want to share with you one other really encouraging thing.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't looked recently with our accountant at giving.
SPEAKER_00: So when our accountant works through our financial statements as a church, we classify the giving that comes in through Sunday tithes and offerings.
SPEAKER_00: We classify it as internal giving versus external giving.
SPEAKER_00: So we in this room are the internal givers.
SPEAKER_00: People that come on a regular Sunday and are part of the church, we're the internal givers.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's churches, there's three churches that send checks to us every month.
SPEAKER_00: One sends$300, another one sends$500, and they are our external givers.
SPEAKER_00: There's individuals that send checks.
SPEAKER_00: I told you about that one a few weeks ago where somebody gave an anonymous$2,500.
SPEAKER_00: All of those are external givers.
SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that I've been tracking is out of our budget of$12,000 a month, how much of that money are we contributing and how much of that money is coming from outside giving?
SPEAKER_00: And I was I haven't updated that number in a while.
SPEAKER_00: I the last time I looked at it, we were maybe at 60% internal giving covering our budget.
SPEAKER_00: But after I reviewed the the numbers this last um week, what I found is that we're at this last month, we gave 82% of our budget.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that awesome?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Good job, guys.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing it.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a kid that's like growing up, you know, and it's like we're being able to take care of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And uh that's encouraging.
SPEAKER_00: So um thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for giving.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being a part of that.
SPEAKER_00: That's just such a blessing to see see that giving take place.
SPEAKER_00: All right, yeah, David.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Beans you begin helping.
SPEAKER_00: Beans and bread could help us?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they would be willing to help us out.
SPEAKER_00: Are you in Matthew?
SPEAKER_00: Did you find Matthew?
SPEAKER_00: Chapter um Matthew chapter 20.
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
SPEAKER_00: You got it.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's see if it shows up in my app here, my sermon notes.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 20.
SPEAKER_00: Faith.
SPEAKER_00: Faith and compassion.
SPEAKER_00: Since I gave a mini-sermon earlier, we will um go a little bit shorter.
SPEAKER_00: So, the Gospel of Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, it's a biography about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Matthew, who is the writer, he is um showing that Jesus is not just a moral teacher or a good example to follow, but that he is the long-awaited Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: He's the king who fulfills all hopes and promises of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew constantly is pointing us back to the story of Israel because he's writing to a Jewish audience, and he's showing how Jesus is the true and the better Moses, the true son of David, the one who brings God's kingdom to earth.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen all of those things as we've gone along.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we're going to look at this passage from Matthew chapter 20.
SPEAKER_00: You also have this passage in Mark chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: There in Mark, um, the blind man, one of the we have just one blind man in Mark, and he's named blind Bartimaeus.
SPEAKER_00: Here, Matthew just calls him, says there are two blind men.
SPEAKER_00: So let me read the text to you, and then we will um we'll look at it together.
SPEAKER_00: As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.
SPEAKER_00: There were two blind men sitting by the road.
SPEAKER_00: When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, Lord, have mercy on us, son of David.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd demanded that they keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, Lord, have mercy on us, son of David.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus stopped, called them, and said, What do you want me to do for you?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, they said to him, Open our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately they could see, and they followed him.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we want to look at this passage for the next few minutes, and we want your spirit to teach us from what is here in the text.
SPEAKER_00: As we consider these words, would you would you open up our hearts and our minds to understand it and then connect it with our very real lives?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we give you ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We we pray, be our teacher in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so the first, there's just two points that I want to highlight.
SPEAKER_00: There's many things that we could look at from this text.
SPEAKER_00: The first is this idea that the kingdom turns on desperate faith.
SPEAKER_00: We've been talking about the kingdom, and Jesus has been proclaiming the kingdom, and what we see in Jesus' ministry is the kingdom erupting into the Jewish culture.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a clash of cultures that's occurring.
SPEAKER_00: You have historic Judaism, and then you have Jesus talking about the kingdom, and he's presenting the kingdom to his followers.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not like Jesus just, it's not like a miracle of the blind just accidentally slips out because he's like a genie in the bottle, or he's some supernatural worker.
SPEAKER_00: No, the the kingdom is being demonstrated here.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to go back to the beginning of the Bible to understand the kingdom concept.
SPEAKER_00: Because when God created the worlds, when he created the heavens and the earth, and he created Adam and Eve, humanity in the garden, everything was good and humans were flourishing.
SPEAKER_00: They had their work to do to tend to the garden, to reign, to rule in the garden, and to be fruitful and to multiply.
SPEAKER_00: But they rebelled and the curse came upon humanity and stuff's broken.
SPEAKER_00: And so as Jesus is doing ministry and going through just the world that he created, he's healing people, and when people are healed, it's the kingdom marching forward.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just the blind men getting their sight, but it's the kingdom coming to bear upon the situation.
SPEAKER_00: That's really important because we pray this prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: We're praying that the kingdom of God would come to bear on different circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I almost said circumcisions, which would have been a horrible mistake.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad there's no video of this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: No, it comes to bear on circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom's coming to bear on circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: And so here, and we get all these different like little settings where the kingdom's at work.
SPEAKER_00: And so here is Jesus' kingdom coming and just crashing into the world of these two men that are disabled.
SPEAKER_00: And what we see is that the kingdom turns on desperate faith.
SPEAKER_00: So again, let's look here.
SPEAKER_00: So in verse 30, there's these two blind men sitting by the road, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, Lord have mercy on us, son of David.
SPEAKER_00: This is uh, they're they're just recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's no way around it.
SPEAKER_00: They're not looking at Jesus as like some random miracle worker or a genie or a magician.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're acknowledging that Jesus is the messianic figure that David wrote about, that the prophets prophesied about.
SPEAKER_00: And they're asking that he would have mercy upon them.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's something interesting that happens.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd demanded that they keep quiet.
SPEAKER_00: But they cried out all the more the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Lord have mercy on us, son of David.
SPEAKER_00: And so the kingdom, where Jesus is king, it turns on the desperation that is expressed by these blind men.
SPEAKER_00: It means when we say that it turns on their desperate faith, it means that the culture of the kingdom values, it means that the culture of the kingdom values and responds to the authentic cry of desperation and of need when it is paired with faith.
SPEAKER_00: We're learning about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We're learning about Jesus' kingdom, and one of the things that that we're we're seeing is that when Jesus comes and these desperate men cry out in faith, that the kingdom responds.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Now, the kingdom responds, but the crowd objects.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the blind man for just a second.
SPEAKER_00: They're cut off from their full human experience because of the handicap that they have.
SPEAKER_00: They um are desperate to be healed.
SPEAKER_00: They need Jesus to be the one to heal them.
SPEAKER_00: Um why why is this a principle in the kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: Like, why did Matthew put this in here for us to understand Jesus better?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna answer that question, I think, more fully in a minute.
SPEAKER_00: But I I first want you to be able to relate to the blind man better.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about these blind men, we're talking about men that had a disability.
SPEAKER_00: That that's the language that we use in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: Their disability is obviously blindness.
SPEAKER_00: It's an unfixable handicap.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they're in a dire situation.
SPEAKER_00: If they were to go and fill out their Social Security um disability paper, here's the kind of questions that would come up.
SPEAKER_00: What's your disability?
SPEAKER_00: They would say blindness.
SPEAKER_00: When did your condition begin to affect your ability to work?
SPEAKER_00: They would say, I've been unable to see and work for so many years.
SPEAKER_00: Are you still unable to work?
SPEAKER_00: What would they say?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm still unable to work due to blindness.
SPEAKER_00: What doctors treat you for this condition?
SPEAKER_00: I've not been able to afford or access regular medical care, is what they would probably say.
SPEAKER_00: What kind of treatment or medications do you receive?
SPEAKER_00: They would say none due to the lack of access.
SPEAKER_00: Have you had any hospital admissions or ER visits for this condition?
SPEAKER_00: Well, they may say no, they may say yes.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the question on the on the disability form, about which is the function report.
SPEAKER_00: How does your condition affect your daily activities?
SPEAKER_00: What would they say?
SPEAKER_00: I'm unable to see, so I cannot perform basic tasks such as reading, writing, cooking, cleaning, or traveling independently.
SPEAKER_00: Do you need help with your personal care, dressing, bathing, and eating?
SPEAKER_00: They would say yes.
SPEAKER_00: I require assistance with many daily activities.
SPEAKER_00: Can you prepare your own meals?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Can you go out alone?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: I need somebody to guide me.
SPEAKER_00: How does your condition affect your ability to interact with others?
SPEAKER_00: They'd say I rely on others for help and cannot participate in normal social activities.
SPEAKER_00: These were disabled.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you filled out that form.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you have seen those types of questions come up as you've filled out your disability form.
SPEAKER_00: You can relate to this sense of limitation, of handicap.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is asked for mercy.
SPEAKER_00: These men come to him and they say, Please have mercy on us.
SPEAKER_00: But the response of the crowd is saying, You guys need to be quiet.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be Quiet.
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the crowd for just a second.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember in verse 29 it says that this crowd is the crowd that's following Jesus in the suburbs of Jericho?
SPEAKER_00: The suburbs of Jericho was a common place for people to ask for alms or to have their cardboard sign asking, you know, could you spare some change?
SPEAKER_00: That's what was going on there.
SPEAKER_00: And so Bartimaeus, one of these blind men, and the other unnamed blind man, was standing there, and this crowd is following Jesus, they would represent for us society's response to disability.
SPEAKER_00: While they're following Jesus, they're not speaking on behalf of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We're saying that the narrative says they're following Jesus, but the way that they communicate to the blind men doesn't really look like a follower of Jesus or sound like what a follower would say.
SPEAKER_00: We oftentimes live in a world that wants to silence desperation.
SPEAKER_00: Your desperation is an inconvenience.
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard that before?
SPEAKER_00: It's like we don't want to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of how our culture might treat you.
SPEAKER_00: They may say something like, don't make a scene.
SPEAKER_00: Handle your problems privately.
SPEAKER_00: Or they would talk maybe about self-reliance and strength and position your handicap, your neediness as a identity weakness.
SPEAKER_00: Society handles disability in a variety of ways.
SPEAKER_00: Our culture is particularly cruel to the disabled.
SPEAKER_00: I've done this before, but I I've got to just do it as it comes up.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you come from a culture like the Filipinos who don't do this.
SPEAKER_00: And your expertise and your gifting, your cultural gifting is rather than to isolate, is to care for.
SPEAKER_00: You guys go in, you're nurses, and you work with the elderly, and it's this beautiful part about your culture.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you come from that kind of culture as well.
SPEAKER_00: But unfortunately, in a kind of Western culture, there is this tendency to kind of just isolate, put people off to the side.
SPEAKER_00: Even in religious spaces, raw vulnerability, raw vulnerability can be met with discomfort.
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes people will come in and they'll like spiritualize their pain, right?
SPEAKER_00: And they'll kind of use their spirituality to mask the desperation, the handicaps in their life, the weakness in their life.
SPEAKER_00: Or they'll compare their struggles with others.
SPEAKER_00: At least I'm not like them, might be kind of something that happens in a church setting.
SPEAKER_00: Or they'll hide their brokenness behind piety or productivity.
SPEAKER_00: There's a way that even in the church where handicap is not embraced and cared for with the compassion that Jesus shows in the text.
SPEAKER_00: There's a whole bunch of different ways in which weakness, handicap, and disability is dealt with in our culture.
SPEAKER_00: And this text brings it to the surface.
SPEAKER_00: It causes us to kind of reflect on that as we see the crowd saying to these blind men, hey, shut up, be quiet, stop making a scene.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd doesn't represent Jesus well.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the first principle here is this idea that genuine need and faith should not be silenced by culture or religious presence.
SPEAKER_00: It is, it is what the kingdom turns on.
SPEAKER_00: Why is this something that is valuable to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Jesus, I guess, can I put the question another way and then I'll let you share?
SPEAKER_00: It is what it is, but let me ask the question, this, this question.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Jesus' kingdom, why does he um take a different approach from the crowd and value those that are handicapped?
SPEAKER_00: He does the best we do.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't do the best, he can do the best, but why?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this something that's in the kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: What else?
SPEAKER_00: He wants to help the broken, but why do the broken have such a place in the kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: Like why are they so accepted?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: They're more humble, that's half of it, yes.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: What, Jamie?
SPEAKER_00: Giving the meek?
SPEAKER_00: The meek and the lonely, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes.
SPEAKER_00: He does.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you how his love moves through his kingdom to all people.
SPEAKER_00: And you'll love this, okay?
SPEAKER_00: There are two passages in the Bible that explain how the power of God flows to humanity.
SPEAKER_00: One is through humility, and the other is through faith.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is this sense of dependence, meekness, um, like these blind men, like, if you don't have mercy on me, we're gonna remain in our state of handicap and limited human experience until you work.
SPEAKER_00: That's this expression of humility.
SPEAKER_00: And it says in the Bible in Proverbs and James that God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_00: So in this kingdom, this new society that Jesus brings forward, he wants to work, but he can't work through the proud.
SPEAKER_00: You see?
SPEAKER_00: He can't work through the self-sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: He can't work through the people that think they have their act together and who are all tough.
SPEAKER_00: He his response to them is like, I can't partner with you.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we're designed to partner with God.
SPEAKER_00: He can't partner with the self-sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: He can only partner with the ones who's dependent on him and open and recognizing their own weakness and open to this beautiful working that he wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: So humility is not a second-class citizen, it's returning to the first-class citizen that God created in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the brokenness that we experience in our sin is that we want to be independent.
SPEAKER_00: We want to be self-sufficient, we don't want to rely on other people, we don't want to look like we're weak, and yet we're lying to ourselves, not recognizing how we're designed by God to be a people dependent upon God.
SPEAKER_00: And so whether it's an attitude of great pride and arrogance that kind of comes out of our words, or it's just the intent of our hearts, it it gets in the way of the grace, the love of God flowing in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: But then there's this also this other side, besides humility, there's the side of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is what these blind men are saying.
SPEAKER_00: They're saying, God, we trust in you.
SPEAKER_00: You are the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: You are God's chosen one.
SPEAKER_00: You're the one who can give out mercy to us.
SPEAKER_00: They're going to respond to the question that's posed to them in just a second.
SPEAKER_00: And in Romans chapter 5, it says that we have grace wherein we stand through this faith.
SPEAKER_00: Read the first two chapters of Romans 5.
SPEAKER_00: You'll see it there.
SPEAKER_00: That's the second way that the grace of God flows.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus here is using these blind men.
SPEAKER_00: He's healing them, but he's teaching through it.
SPEAKER_00: And what he's saying to you and I this morning is that this place of disability that these blind men are in is a place of receptivity.
SPEAKER_00: Where they're staged for the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: They're staged for the kingdom to move in their life.
SPEAKER_00: What does it take for God to be staged in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it means you get a call on a Monday afternoon, it's like, hey Josh, we're sorry you can't have church there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, boom, put you right in that place of like, God, what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: And it I liked this week because of just the being because external circumstances forced us into that place of total dependence, right?
SPEAKER_00: It was a it was a very spiritual week for me that I enjoyed.
SPEAKER_00: But but I think what we want to be moving towards is where we're experiencing this internal humility and faith, where it's not the external circumstances that push us there, but we're naturally dependent upon God.
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't have to use difficult circumstances to put us there.
SPEAKER_00: If you have difficult circumstances, embrace it.
SPEAKER_00: Know that God's moving you, just like you would move a rocket ship to the launch pad.
SPEAKER_00: If you are facing difficult circumstances, he's moving you to the launch pad where he can launch you in life through grace.
SPEAKER_00: God will give you a hope at home.
SPEAKER_00: Give you a what?
SPEAKER_00: Give you a hope.
SPEAKER_00: Give you a hope, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: As I think as we're hearing this and we're seeing what Jesus does for these blind men, doesn't it give you a sense of hope in your own life?
SPEAKER_00: Of like, wow, God, this is what God, this is the Jesus I serve.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one that rescued me.
SPEAKER_00: We have, there's a second point I want to make.
SPEAKER_00: I I'll just say this.
SPEAKER_00: In wrapping up this point, there are many times where Jesus teaches this same idea of perseverance in faith.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there is this Luke 18 passage where there's a parable and he teaches the parable, he just trying to teach us to pray always and to not give up.
SPEAKER_00: And we see that in these blind men, that they they cry out once.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, wouldn't you say that these blind men are praying?
SPEAKER_00: Because what is prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is communicating to God.
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus God?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he is, right?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are so smart.
SPEAKER_00: And so he's saying they're praying to God.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd around them is like, stop praying, and they pray all the more.
SPEAKER_00: So here's a place in Luke where Jesus is teaching, keep praying and don't give up.
SPEAKER_00: There's a judge in a certain town who didn't fear God or respect people.
SPEAKER_00: And this widow in the town kept coming to this judge saying, Give me justice against my adversary.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think the judge is going to listen to the woman?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: And the widow in that town keeps coming and saying, Give me justice against my adversary for a for a while.
SPEAKER_00: The judge was unwilling, but later he said to himself, Look, even if I don't fear God or respect people, this woman keeps pestering me.
SPEAKER_00: Do you love how Jesus tells the story?
SPEAKER_00: This woman keeps pestering me.
SPEAKER_00: I will give her justice so she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Lord said, Jesus says to those he's teaching, he says, Listen to what the unjust judge says.
SPEAKER_00: Will not God, if the judge does it, will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night?
SPEAKER_00: Will he delay in helping them?
SPEAKER_00: I tell you that God will work swiftly and grant them justice.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, he will find, will he find faith on the earth?
SPEAKER_00: It's a question.
SPEAKER_00: Will he find faith on the earth?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, humility and faith.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, this persevering in that attitude that Jesus is teaching.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is asking his followers, will the Son of Man, when he comes again, will he find that attitude amongst us?
SPEAKER_00: Are we persevering?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Harrison.
SPEAKER_00: No, there's nothing about purgatory in our in our Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you the whole thing put together.
SPEAKER_00: Genuine need and faith would not, should not be silenced by culture or religious pressure.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom is for those who refuse to let go of Jesus even when others try to quiet them.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kingdom for you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is inviting you to take that posture of faith and humility, dependence upon him, and see what happens.
SPEAKER_00: I just, we have time for one more principle.
SPEAKER_00: Principle number two.
SPEAKER_00: Principle number two is um.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I've got to skip a bunch of stuff here.
SPEAKER_00: We have this question that is put to the blindman in verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus stopped, called them, and said, What do you want me to do for you?
SPEAKER_00: This is kind of like the climax of the text.
SPEAKER_00: Hold on just a second.
SPEAKER_00: This is the climax.
SPEAKER_00: When you read this, there is this just like sense of anticipation with this question.
SPEAKER_00: How are they going to respond?
SPEAKER_00: On one hand, it's like, well, he knows what they have need of already.
SPEAKER_00: It's obvious.
SPEAKER_00: But he invites them to ask, he invites them to tell him, What do you need?
SPEAKER_00: And again, if we're just looking at this to understand for us, what does it mean to be a people of the kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that we see over and over again is that God, even though he knows the answers, asks questions of us.
SPEAKER_00: And those questions are an invitation to be honest with ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: God asks questions as a form of invitation.
SPEAKER_00: He does this so that we will engage honestly with ourselves and with him.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve rebel, they go and try to hide themselves, they run away from the presence of God, and God comes to them and says, Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Is it because God can't find them?
SPEAKER_00: No, yeah, why?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, God is in our hearts, right?
SPEAKER_00: But he's asking Adam and Eve, where did you go?
SPEAKER_00: When he asks that question, does he not know where they're at?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting them to confess their sin.
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting them to be honest, right?
SPEAKER_00: So when Jesus comes to these blind men and turns to them and asks them, what do you want?
SPEAKER_00: He's inviting them to respond.
SPEAKER_00: In John 5, 6, he says to someone, he says, Do you want to be healed?
SPEAKER_00: In another passage, or rather in with Elijah in 1 Kings 19, God asks Elijah, What are you doing here?
SPEAKER_00: Elijah had ran away from the presence of God, and God's just like, what are you doing out here in the wilderness?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you hiding in this cave?
SPEAKER_00: Now, God has all the answers.
SPEAKER_00: But the way that God works with us is He asks questions.
SPEAKER_00: And so one of the things I want you to work on this week is what are the questions that the Holy Spirit is like seeding into your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Ask really good questions and know that the Holy Spirit might be leading those questions.
SPEAKER_00: The questions that you're asking actually might be God just like in a really normal way guiding your thinking so that you're getting to the point he wants you to get to.
SPEAKER_00: Just like he does with these blind men.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just close with this these verses here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus stopped, called them, and said, What do you want me to do for you?
SPEAKER_00: And then they say, Lord, open our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And then it says he's moved with compassion.
SPEAKER_00: He touches their eyes, immediately they could see, and they followed him.
SPEAKER_00: There it is.
SPEAKER_00: That's that action word, one of the most common action words associated with Jesus that he wants.
SPEAKER_00: He wants followers, and they follow him.
SPEAKER_00: But notice the cause and effect.
SPEAKER_00: They're crying out.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus responds with a question.
SPEAKER_00: They answer the question, asking for healing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is moved with compassion.
SPEAKER_00: He's not irritated that they're making a scene.
SPEAKER_00: He's not irritated with disabled people.
SPEAKER_00: Those of you that are disabled in this room, Jesus isn't irritated with you.
SPEAKER_00: He's super, he loves you so much.
SPEAKER_00: So much.
SPEAKER_00: Cares for you deeply.
SPEAKER_00: Here he's moved with compassion.
SPEAKER_00: He touches their eyes and they're able to see.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is the kingdom we're invited into.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to remind you of one little scene.
SPEAKER_00: There's another scene where there's these great cries in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And it's Jesus on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And he cries out, one of the things that he cries from the cross is, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.
SPEAKER_00: Another thing that he cries out is that it's finished.
SPEAKER_00: The work is finished of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: And so here we have blind men crying out, but your Messiah cried out from the cross on your behalf, that the work of redemption would be accomplished so that you could be accepted into his kingdom to receive his healing touch, to heal your blindness.
SPEAKER_00: In Revelation chapter 3, Jesus spoke to one of the churches, and he says, You think that you're wealthy and that you're well off, but I tell you that you're blind and naked.
SPEAKER_00: I invite you to come to me, receive I salve that will heal your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the relationship that God wants to invite you into is this is all about like healing, restoration, restoring you back to this original design.
SPEAKER_00: And the path begins on a path of brokenness, but it doesn't change from brokenness to pride.
SPEAKER_00: It stays this humble process of being totally dependent upon Him, continuing to cry out for Him.
SPEAKER_00: Master, have mercy upon me.
SPEAKER_00: Son of David, you're the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this scene that we've gotten to reflect on and meditate on and think about this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The incredible love that you demonstrate here in this passage, we're just amazed by your love.
SPEAKER_00: And we would just ask that you would help us to be like you with the disabled.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to not push them away or silence them, but to be moved with compassion.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that in our own position of disability that we wouldn't think that we need to just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but we'd recognize that you lead us to our place of disability so that we can be dependent upon you.
SPEAKER_00: It stages us for your work, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Just we pray that you would work through us this week.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for the principles, the ideas that are communicated just in the short story.
SPEAKER_00: We love you.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that you would uh just bless us now as we receive the elements of communion.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.