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Bless: Sharing Your Story Series
Contributed by Edward Hardee on Nov 25, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Message from John 9 about sharing the story of Christ and how He changed our lives.
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Title: Who is He?
Theme: To show the importance of sharing our story
Text: John 9
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" 36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." 38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.
Previous Chapter – Jesus the “I AM” – Jesus declares His deity.
John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Jesus makes a clear declaration of who He is to the Jews. They did not like it.
So clear was Jesus' claim to deity that those who heard these words were ready to stone Him on the spot.
After being absent one thousand years, the shekinah glory reappeared in the Person of Jesus Christ. But because the people rejected Him, the Light departed once again from the temple.
Where did Jesus go? In the next chapter, we'll see exactly where He went: He found a blind man. He found me. – Courson
John 9:1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
Side note: This is just a distraction. The devil would love for us to stay at the place we are because of who we are. Or because of who our parents are. The excuses we can use not to change. Maybe when I was growing up. I am not making light of them as much as saying we choose whether we can “move on”. Yet Jesus says there is more to the story.
Jesus is the light. He has come to illuminate things in our life but also to bring hope to the world. As long as He is in the situation things will change.
God sees more in this man that the world sees.
What does Jesus do to help the blind man?
He spits on the ground and makes a mud pie. When you were a child who made mud pies. They were not there to eat. But they were pies. Nor were they there to “rub in our eyes” but Jesus did just that.
What happens when you rub dirt and mud in your eye? It irritates you.
When Jesus put mud in the blind man's eyes, the man could have said, "Wait a minute. You're putting mud in my eye. You're not making things better—You're making them worse."
Gang, many, many times the way of the Lord is to make things seem worse than they were before in order to get you to the place you really want to be: healed and seeing clearly. When the Lord muddies the waters, we usually don't know what He's doing. "I've been praying; I've been believing, but things are only getting darker and dimmer," we say. "What are You doing, Lord?"
But you know what mud does in one's eye? As a veteran of more mud fights than I care to remember, I know it causes pain. So when Jesus said, "Go to the pool and wash," this guy didn't have to be asked twice. I don't believe his obedience was so much a statement of his great faith as it was a simple desire to get the mud out of his eye!
Maybe this week Jesus has allowed an irritation to come into your life that is causing you pain. Maybe a situation at work or a problem with a relationship is causing you to say, "Lord, I'm talking to You. I'm looking to You. I'm calling on You—but all I'm getting is mud in my eye." Here's what to do: Run quickly to the pool of Siloam, and you will receive your sight more clearly than if the mud—the irritation—had never been there in the first place. - Courson