Palm Sunday

Turn to John 9:1-7

John=book of signs; 7 to show Jesus was the Messiah, son of God; this is the 6th

Jesus has already declared in the previous ch that he is the light & that he has come to penetrate & push back the darkness. Now he chooses a specific event to illustrate his power over darkness in a blind man and to make the case for his power to overcome spiritual darkness.

We saw last week that he started his min by declaring his power over darkness and bondage: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

Luke 4:18-19

So this morning we see his power over physical darkness that points to a greater power he has over spiritual darkness.

Read John 9:1-7 (on screen)

v.2-3 That suffering could be used for God’s glory was a concept difficult to believe, although it is inherent in the Christian approach to the problem. Fallen broken world. Some suffering the result of own sin, sometimes sin of others, sometimes a result of fallen world (cancer)

Gods works displayed; glory/power. This an amazing concept: that God can get glory thru the adversity & affliction going on in the world. 2 cor 12:9; martyrs in Rev

v.4-5. Jesus could have been talking about his impending death. But thjere is no doubt that this interaction w the blind man is symbolic of something bigger.

v.6&7. No special power in the spit. Jesus healed most other times by just giving the command. Why? Not sure. Jesus doesn’t always explain his actions, does he? We want to know a lot of why’s but the creaor of the universe owes us nothing. Could be since spit was and is considered unsavory and worthless, Jesus demonstrates he can take the most awful and turn it to the most wonderful. But notice that it wasn’t until the man acted on the words of Jesus that he was healed.

This story reinforces what Jesus said in John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

Get this: While on earth, his light was restricted to one place at a time. But with the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, believers bear the light that can shine in millions of dark corners. Ephesians 5:8 “ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light

Look at v.4-5 again. As children of the light, we have the privilege to join this mission of Jesus to penetrate the darkness & set the captives free.

Jesus gives us three directives as children of the Light:

??1. We must see the need. 4a “We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day.”

We talked about this a lot during unleashed

5 Billion live in darkness! (build)

2 Billion are isolated from the gospel ?6100 people groups have no gospel witness.? In U.S., 260 M of our 320M are outside of Christ.?Portland: 70% nones. ?5000-7000 churches closing their doors annually ?90% of American churches plateauing or dying.

W/in 10 miles, at least 20 churches have closed their doors since 2010

Last week we heard testimony after testimony…. Tonight more…

2. We must sense the urgency 4b “Night is coming when no one can work”? people slipping into eternity fast; 105 each minute story

?3. We must share the message v 5 “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”? “Life is short, eternity is long, and the gospel is GOOD NEWS.”? We are called to share the fact that JESUS is the Light of the world.? This is good news for a world growing darker every moment.

Remember the one campaign? (pic of shirt or logo)

We are called to push back the darkness by taking the light of Jesus, the message of Jesus, and sharing it with a world growing darker and darker.

?HOW are we doing this??This is where we can put some of the issues that need to be discussed.? Unleashed – This is why we’ve done Unleashed. To push back the darkness.

AP – Somehow show that this area is not being reached????ML – expansion = Community continues to grow, lots of opportunity. Talking points?????need more stuff!!!!