Mark 10:46-52 TLB And so they reached Jericho. Later, as they left town, a great crowd was following. Now it happened that a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. [47] When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was near, he began to shout out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" [48] "Shut up!" some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted the louder, again and again, "O Son of David, have mercy on me!" [49] When Jesus heard him, he stopped there in the road and said, "Tell him to come here." So they called the blind man. "You lucky fellow," they said, "come on, he's calling you!" [50] Bartimaeus yanked off his old coat and flung it aside, jumped up and came to Jesus. [51] "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked. "O Teacher," the blind man said, "I want to see!" [52] And Jesus said to him, "All right, it's done. Your faith has healed you." And instantly the blind man could see and followed Jesus down the road!
I have to start by saying this portion of scripture really got my attention, starting with the first sentence. It says, and they came to Jericho: then it says, and as he went out of Jericho.
Now here is what got my attention. Jesus, the son of God. The anointed of God. The one who heals the sick, cleanses the lepers, casts out devils, and raises the dead, comes to Jericho, goes through Jericho, and there's no record anything happens until blind Bartimaeus gets his attention.
So here is my question, is it possible for Jesus to pass by us, and we don't receive anything from him? I don't know about you, but thats a scary prospect to me. And yet I believe not only is it possible, I believe it happens all the time.
I'm going to shock somebody right now. God doesn't heal you, deliver you, anoint you, bless you, or give you a miracle just because you need it, and you're in the right place.
I'm sure that was the case for many in Jericho, but Jesus didn't stop to do a miracle for anyone in Jericho. Do you know why? Because nobody stopped him.
Nobody reached out in faith and put a demand on him, until Blind Bartimaeus.
The point is, Jesus is capable of healing you, blessing you, and giving you a miracle or breakthrough, or whatever you need. But need is not the catylast for Jesus touching you. Need is certainly an ingredient, but millions of people that need the miracle touch of Jesus will never receive it. Why? Because God is waiting for you to initiate the encounter.
Examples: The syrophenecian woman, the centurian, the woman with the issue of blood, Mary and Martha, Lazarus sisters, the leprous man, Jairus the ruler of the synagogue. And the list goes on and on.
God is waiting for you to initiate an encounter. He sees your need, and he feels your need, but need is not enough, there must be a reaching. There must be a desire that expresses itself in a tangible way.
In life we don't get what we need or even what we want. We get what we reach for. Pursuit is the proof of desire. You are not qualified for anything that you are unwilling to pursue.
Jesus didn't say, you have not because you don't have a need. He said ye have not because ye ask not. Then he presented to us 3 levels of asking. Ask, Seek, and Knock.
What did the blind man feel: We can't say positively exactly what this blind man felt, but knowing human nature we can guess that he was feeling slighted or cheated, like life hadn't been fair to him.
He may have been angry, and resentful. He may even have been angry at God.
What we do know for sure is... He was a beggar. This means that he basically lived on the generosity of others. So we can rightly assume that being a beggar, he was living a very scrappy, skimpy life, Just barely getting by.
We don't know how long he had been blind. It could have been a year, or he could have been born blind. It's very possible that by this time, he had given up hope that he would ever see again. In all likely hood we're looking at a man who struggles every day just to survive. He is likely, frustrated, angry, and feels that life has dealt him a bad hand. Very possibly he was angry at society and possibly even blamed God for his blindness.
Now we look at what the blind man heard: He heard good news. We don't know exactly what he heard, but we know he heard enough. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
We know that he heard enough because he cried out to Jesus for mercy.
Now, what did the blind man see?
... Well he saw something that most of the people there didn't see. They saw Jesus of Nazereth, but he saw the Messaiah, he saw the son of David. He saw beyond the humanity of Jesus... He saw his Divinity.
What else did he see?
... He saw a possibility. With man these things are impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible, and all things are possible to him that believeth.
He saw the possibility that his life could change. He saw the possibility that maybe, he would actually look into the face of his family. Possibly a daughter, a son, a wife, his mother and father. And possibly, he would see the flowers and the sunset. And just the possibilty of a change taking place woke something in his spirit. Something started stirring in him.
I believe today that this is what the Holy Spirit wants me to bring to your attention... with God all things are possible. There's no such thing as impossible with God. The word impossible is not in God's vocabulary. And it shouldn't be in ours either.
Tell your neighbor... It's possible!
Now tell your neighbor... It's highly probable!
What else did he see?
.... He saw himself well. He saw himself living a sighted life. That means that he saw himself living a normal productive self-supporting life.
I'm sure that just the thought of being self-supportive must have stirred him up. Just the thought of no longer being a charity case, and feeling like he was a burden on society caused a stirring in his spirit.
What else did the blind man see?
... He saw an opportunity, he saw a chance for a new life.
How do we know that? Because he expressed it in his cry. His cry was a declaration of his faith. His cry was evidence that he saw an opportunity to receive a miracle from Jesus.
But he knew... To get his miracle he had to get Jesus attention. He had to get Jesus to look his way.
Surely we understand that the eyes of the Lord are everywhere, and he see's everything, and everyone. But there is a difference from him just seeing you, and him looking at you.
I have to tell you the truth. I don't just want to be seen by the Lord, he see's everybody... but I want him to look at me. Because I know If he's looking at me, I have his attention, and If I have his attention I can get what I need from him.
Sometimes to get his attention you have to make a little noise. Tell your neighbor I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you, but I have got to get the attention of Jesus.
Now they try to hush him up. But he refuses to quiet down. Why was he so noisy? Why wouldn't he bring the volume down?
Well it's my conviction that he was desperate, Jesus was coming down his street. He was within earshot. It could be that this opportunity may never come again. Jesus may never pass by this way again.
Please shut up they charged him, you are making too much noise. The Bible doesn't say this but I like to use my imagination. I can see the blind man grabbing a disciple by the arm and shaking it and saying... Are you blind? The disciple answers no I'm not.
Then Bartimaeus said... Then you shut up, and he raised his volume. So here's another secret to receiving from God, "persistence". The sad truth is that many people miss their miracle because they aren't desperate enough, they aren't persistent enough.
There's something about desperate people. They shake things up. They disturb things. They get things done.
I am convinced that there are two main ways to get Jesus attention, one is desperation, and the other is unbridled passionate worship. So they told him to hold his peace, but he just increased his volume. He kept going. He was persistent. The word persistent means... to continue with strength.
Keep pushing, keep fighting, keep praying, keep singing, keep the pressure on.
Then Jesus called for him. First the blind man called for Jesus, then Jesus called for him.
I have a question for you. Would the blind man have received his sight if he hadn't made a disturbance, and called out for Jesus? The answer is clearly no! He had to initiate his miracle.
So Jesus calls for him to come to him and he does something amazing...
... He gets up, which means he left the position of a beggar behind him.
He cast away his robe, which was actually a beggars robe, which identified him as a professional beggar.
So when he threw that robe away, he threw away the self-portrait of a beggar.
His actions said, this is over. I'm not begging anymore. I'm not a beggar anymore. I'm not going to sit on the side of the road hoping somebody will drop a few coins in my cup. I'm not going to walk through town with my hands out asking for directions and hoping somebody doesn't send me off a cliff.
I woke up a blind beggar, but I'm going home with a miracle.
Tell your neighbor... I'm going home with a miracle.
Before he saw anything, he saw everything. Do you know what I mean?
Before he saw anything with his natural eyes, his spirit eyes saw possibility and opportunity, then his eyes of faith saw himself completely healed, walking without any assistance or direction.
He saw himself back in the work-force, a productive self-supporting member of society.
Ask your neighbor... What do you see?
Then Jesus said basically, what do you want?
Ask your neighbor what do you want from God? There is something powerful about being specific, and knowing what you want. Faith needs a target.
You can't get everything at once, so you need to know what you really want. The more specific you are, the more power is concentrated on producing it.
You need to know what you want so you can tell God what you want. Yes he knows what you need, but he said ask and you shall receive. He said, you have not because you ask not.
Nobody needs to be jealous of me for what I have, I'm not any better than anyone else, I just asked for it. You have to ask for what you want.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 The Bible tells us about a man named Jabez. It says... And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. [10] And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
So Jabez was born into very negative circumstances, but he rose up out of and above the negative forces because he asked God to bless him, to prosper him, and to give him great influence in the earth, and God did it.
So tell your neighbor... You have to ask.
When Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted, Bartimaeus didn't say... let me think about it, or let me pray about it. He knew immediately what he wnted. Of course he had other needs, but he knew what his immediate most urgent pressing need was, and it was his desire to see. And he told Jesus... Lord, that I might receive my sight!
Vs [52] And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
Let me say this... need in itself is not the qualifier for receiving from God. The truth is, rarely are our needs our wants.
I know a lot of people say God doesn't promise to give us our wants, just our needs. I understand that, because I know we can be very selfish and self centered, but Jesus asked the man what he needed. I'm sure Jesus could tell by the way he was moving that he was blind. But Jesus didn't ask him what he needed, he asked what will I that I do unto you? Or what do you want me to do for you.
Now hold on, I'm going to say something that you need to think about. When it comes to receiving from God, desire excels need.
You may have a 100 different needs, but it's what translates into desire that will get God's attention.
The Bible says... What things soever ye "desire" when you pray, believe that you receive them, and ye shall have them. What will you have? The things you desire when you pray.
You may need a miracle, a healing, a deliverance from drugs or alcohol or cigarettes. But you aren't going to get it just because you need it. You have to want it.
Every single person hearing my voice, needs the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. But you won't get it just because you need it. But when your need becomes a desire, and you start expressing it to God with a whole heart... it won't be long and you'll be singing, I got just what I wanted from the Lord.
The Bible says, and immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
The Bible is absolutely clear on the fact that God is no respecter of persons. But he is a respecter of faith.
When we look at the Bartimaeus miracle, we're not really focusing on what his miracle was, but the steps he took, and the way his faith manifested to get his miracle.
This is probably one of the most powerfully detailed accounts of how faith receives from God. This was the Bartimaeus miracle, but it could be your miracle. It can be the Cindy miracle, or Lynn miracle, or The Scott miracle, or The Judy miracle.
This time next year you could be preaching your own miracle testimony.
Is there any body here that needs something from God? Now I'm going to get more specific... is there any one here who knows what you want from God?
If you know what you want from God, come join me around the front.
I believe Jesus is passing by today, and he is listening to see and hear, is there any body here who knows what they want from me?
