INTRODUCTION:
WELCOME! Thank you for allowing me into your lives this morning and Thank you for choosing to worship with us today at The Bridge in this beautiful new facility! God is SO GOOD!
We are offically in the Easter season and I am starting a series of messages titled 7 Mile miracle.
Jesus preformed a lot of miracles the last few weeks of His earthly ministry and I want us to look at several of them b/c I believe each miracle we look at will be a mile stone in each of our lives.
TITLE / HOW SWEET THE SMELL
STAND / READ/ PRAY [PIANO CONTINUES TO PLAY]
Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. When Jesus arrives there, He will be rejected by the Jews, betrayed into the hands of the Gentiles and crucified on a Roman cross. Jesus is headed to His death at Calvary.
As He moves steadily in that direction, He is surrounded by people who cannot understand just Who He is.
?The Jews are blind to Who He is, though He tried to tell them and show them on many occasions.
?The disciples are blind to Who He is, though they have seen Him demonstrate His identity time after time.
?Those around Him would not recognize just Who Jesus was until after He has died on the cross and rose again.
As Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem, He and His disciples pass through the city of Jericho.
The name “Jericho” means “To smell, or A place of fragrance.” It was a city that abounded in many fragrant plants like roses, balsam, and cypress. Honey was found there in abundance as well. Travelers passing through Jericho were surrounded by many fragrant smells. It was a city that lived up to its name.
There would be a fragrance in Jericho on this day that had never been there before. “The Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valleys” was passing through. As He did, He demonstrated the great fragrance of His glory in the city of Jericho.
The roads of the city were jammed with people. All of Israel was on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover, and the road through Jericho was one of the main routes to the Temple.
People crowded along the roads to see Jesus. The people might not have known exactly Who He was, but they knew He was someone special and they turned out to see Him as He passed by
Surely the news had preceded Him! Earlier, when Jesus had entered the city, He encountered one of the richest men in town.
A little man named Zacchaeus, who was also a tax collector for Rome, climbed a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He passed by.
Jesus stopped and called Zacchaeus down from that tree and saved his soul. Now, all the people are trying to get a glimpse of Jesus as He passes by.
But, there was one man in that crowd that received 20/20 spiritual vision that day. His name is Bartimaeus
He is the one I want to talk about today and The miracle he experienced
Bartimaeus was in a
1.) STAMMERING SITUATION (v. 46)
? He Was Blind
Apparently, this condition was one with which he had been born. Blindness was a common condition in Bible times, because of various diseases and sanitary conditions.
? He Was a Beggar
Because of his Physical condition Bartimaeus was prevented from finding and performing a job in order to earn a living. In that day, there were no welfare programs or charitable institutions who would help him. There was no social security or other government programs to which he could turn. Bartimaeus was totally dependent upon the generosity of others in order to survive. His was a pitiful and IN A STAMMERING SITUATION!
His condition reminds me that not everyone in this room can see . Yes your eyes may work but you are blind to the things of God
Like Bart you are spiritually blind. The spirtually blind like Bart is a beggar
II.) SCREECHING SHOUT (v. 47-49)
? Even though Bartimaeus was blind, he was able to see things that others all around him, who had their vision, could not see.
In these verses, Bartimaeus proved that even though he was blind, he still possessed 20/20 spiritual vision.
You see the most dangerous thing in the world is to have no faith. Without faith there is no purpose.
Bart screamed out (the bible says he cried out) this meanes he shouted.
? He Recognized Who Jesus Was
Apparently, Bartimaeus had heard about the miracles preformed by Jesus.
He must have heard about the
Lepers
The lame
The demon possessed
Even the dead that Jesus had touched and made whole again.
As he sat by the road, he heard the people as they talked.
He had heard about Jesus and he knew what Jesus had done for others, could He do the same for Bartimaeus!
Our duty is to do what the Bible teaches and when we do we can expect to see extrodanry results!!
The bible says Bart shouted out!
I believe one thing wrong in the church today is we are to quiet !
We need to learn to shout and cry out to the Lord!
When we shout things happen!
When we shout things come apart!
when we shout hell is disturbed!
When we shout Heaven is excited and hell is horroified
?The Lord is coming back with a shout at the sound of the trumpet! 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Psalm 98:4
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises
Job 8:21
“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
And your lips with shouting
Zephaniah 3:14
Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
This same city Bart lived in was a big problem to the people of God thousands of years before. It was a huge hinderance between Isreal and Gods best.
Jericho was a walled city. Very rich A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY and they had to be defeated.
You see, before Jericho could be defeated, the walls that surrounded it had to come down.
Israel could not get into the city. They needed those walls torn down! Israel could go no farther until Jericho was destroyed.
They needed those walls torn down! That city stood before them as a barrier between them and God's best for them.
If they were going to get all that God had for them, those wall had to be torn down!
You might not even realize it today, but many of us have walls in your own lives.
? These walls stand between us and our receiving God's best for our lives.
It might be some besetting sin that stands between you and God's best.
It might be some old hurt that has grown into a root of bitterness and now it stands as a barrier between you and all that God wants you to have.
It might be a cold and indifferent spirit that has invaded your life and has erected a wall between you and God's best for you.
It might be a bad attitude; an unforgiving spirit; pride; anger; or something from your past.
?But, whatever it is, it stands before you today and it keeps you from going deeper with God. That wall must come down if you are going to walk forward into God's best!
It might even be some wall that you have constructed that keeps you from coming to Jesus for salvation.
That wall must come down if you want to be saved!
God instructed Joshaua to surround the city march around it 7 times and on the 7th time around shout ! cry out! and the wall would fall.
That's exactly what happened! They shouted and the walls crumbled!
?Too many of us stop on 6 and don't follow through!
CHURCH I CAME BY HERE TODAY TO TELL YOU TO SHOUT!!! KEEP MARCHING ON TO 7 AND DO NOT STOP ON 6!!!!!
TOUCH YOU NEIGHBOR AND SAY SHOUT! SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN!!
This is exactly what Bart did he knew of the Jericho story he knew if he shouted something would happen and it did.
Others told him to shut up! But he kept shouting and Jesus heard him!
Bart knew for his wall to collapse he had to shout!
He shouted so Loud he got Jesus attention. He Saw That This Opportunity Might Never Return Again
- Apparently, Jesus had never passed that way before and for all Bartimaeus knew, He might never pass that way again.
He knew that if he were going to receive help from Jesus, then he had to call on Jesus while He was near.
? There are those in this room this morning who need to see that today may well be the greatest opportunity you have ever faced in your life. You have the opportunity this morning to come to Jesus and be forever saved by His grace. If you ignore this opportunity and choose to go on in your sins, then there nothing in front of you but Hell, 2 Cor. 6:2
? He Received a Response
When Jesus heard the cry of this beggar, He stopped in His tracks and called for Bartimaeus to come to Him. What a glorious moment that must have been for this poor, blind beggar! His faith was honored and he received an audience with the Lord Jesus.
This genuine bibical faith in action! Bibical faith is a miracle !
Why? B/C faith in God is something we do not posses naturally.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. "You can not believe what you have not heard!
III.) SPECIAL SALE (v. 50)
According to this verse, when Jesus called, Bartimaeus got up to go. The Bile says that he cast away his garment.
This means that he threw aside his outer coat and jumped up to go to Jesus.
This coat must have been very valuable to Bartimaeus.
He must have known that someone else could easily pick it up and carry it away.
However, he counted the cost and was willing to pay whatever price was necessary just to get to Jesus.
Matthew 16:24 (NKJV) 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
There is a personal cost when it comes to fillowing Jesus.
We have to throw off what is hold us back and shout out till our walls fall. don't go back and build the back.
The best way for me to explain this is - There was a diffirent aroma in town that day - the smell of the Rose of Sharon was there it's a smell like you have never experienced but, I can promise once you smell it you have to have it.
Wold you accept the ROSE OF SHARON TODAY?
