Blind Bart Series

The first three men attempt the Gauntlet—and all fail. One by one, they misjudge the course and are swept aside. Then Lancelot begins climbing the platform without a single pad. The crowd cries, “You’re mad! You’ll kill yourself!” but that doesn’t deter Lancelot.

His first obstacle is a set of huge swirling balls, which he dodges with graceful timing, correctly judging each threat and carefully moving ahead. Next, he leaps up to grab one of the spinning wheels from which the balls were suspended. He rides the wheel around to the other side, creatively getting around another set of obstacles. He then faces his biggest threat—dozens of blades slicing through his path. He inches past blade after blade, and at a crucial point he pauses long for just the right opening. Finally, he plunges forward headfirst and dashes to safety. The king and crowd wildly applaud him.

Later, Lancelot tells the king how he successfully got through the Gauntlet: “It’s not hard to know where the danger is if you watch it coming. Perhaps fear made them [the others who failed] go back when they should have gone forward.” (First Knight, Columbia, 1995, written by Lorne Cameron and David Hoselton, directed by Jerry Zucker, starting at 0:36:45 to 0:40:15; www.PreachingToday.com)

I think that’s what happens to a lot of us. Fear makes us go back when we should go forward. Please, don’t let that happen to you. Don’t let fear keep you from going forward to Christ. Don’t let the fear of embarrassment keep you from crying out to Him, because that’s the only way to make it through adversity.

If we want to become world-changers in times of adversity, then we cannot let anything keep us from Christ. Instead, we must...

TRUST CHRIST WITH OUR LIVES.

We must depend on Him to make us what He wants us to be in the midst of our pain. We must rely on the Lord to do His work in us even when times are hard.

That’s what Blind Bart did. He saw Jesus for who He was. Even though Bartimaeus was blind, he saw things others did not see. He saw Jesus as the Messiah, calling Him the “Son of David” (vs.47 & 48). Now, that was a Messianic title, recognizing Jesus as the Promised King and Deliverer of His people. More than that, Bartimaeus saw Jesus as the Merciful One, calling on Him to have mercy (vs.47 & 48), and indeed Jesus showed him mercy.

Mark 20:49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” (NIV)

Now, Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem to “give His life as a ransom for many” (vs.45). He’s got a lot of things on His mind, but He’s not too busy to stop for one blind beggar on the way. He’s got the whole world to save, but He also cares about ONE individual. (Show the Blue Fish Movie – A Man Fell into a Hole)

A man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out, so he called for help...

A CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST came along and said, “You only think that you are in a pit.”

Next, A PHARISEE came by and said: “Only bad people fall into a pit.”

After that A YOGI said: “Your pit is only a state of mind.”