What Do You Do When You Find Yourself Sitting By The Side Of The Road

“What do you do when - You find yourself sitting by the side of the road”

By

Pastor M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

Mark 10:46-52 “46) And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. 47) And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, [thou] Son of David, have mercy on me. 48) And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, [Thou] Son of David, have mercy on me. 49) And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. 50) And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 51) And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 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”.

Opening:- Life is a journey that we all must travel. It is filled with lessons, hardships, heartaches, joys, celebrations and special moments that will ultimately lead us to our destination and cause us to fulfill our purpose in life. The road will not always be smooth and exciting in fact one song writer said it like this “Nobody told me that the road would be easy”; in fact, throughout our travels, we will encounter many challenges that will test our courage, challenge our strengths, wreak havoc on our weaknesses, and try our faith.

Rather in the natural or in the spiritual we are traveling on this journey from one point to another. In the natural we go from infancy to toddler to childhood to adolescence to young adult, adult, and finally to senior citizen. We travel from our past to our present and into our future. In the spiritual we travel from justification to sanctification and into glorification. However, along the way we will encounter obstacles some will be filled with joy, and some will be filled with heartache. How we respond to these obstacles determines how the rest of the journey will be.

Here in our text we find Jesus is on a journey out of Jericho and he is headed to Jerusalem to ultimately complete the journey for which he came and that is the cross. As he leaves Jericho he encounters a man that is traveling through life literally sitting on the side of the road. Sometimes on the journey of life you find yourself sitting on the side of the road.

The question becomes and is the subject of this message “WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF SITTING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD”?

There are several points that I must bring out in this lesson so let me get right into it.

Verse #46a:- “And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people”. Notice the Bible say as He (Jesus) went out of the city of Jericho with his disciple and a great number of people. WATCH THIS:- Following him were his disciples and a great number of people. I like to call them church folk and those that hang around the church. They are the one that are there just to see what is going on, you know them they are nosey, they are looking for something and what they can get. They hang around they church but their purpose is not the church neither the things of the church. They say I want a husband or I want a wife so they hang around the church looking think that they can name it and claim it or they are there to gossip, stir up mess and watch and see what the true disciples are going to do.

Verse 46b:- “blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.” WATCH THIS “blind Bartimaeus” it gives his condition before it gives his name. He is identified by his condition and not his name. It is a terrible thing to be identified by your condition rather than your name. God told Abram in Genesis 12:2 “and make your name great” regardless of the condition you are in. Your condition does not dictate who you are and what you can be or what God is able to do.

Many people in life may have a disability, but that disability does not dictate who they are and what they are able to accomplish. WATCH THIS:- a disability does not make a person handicapped. A disability refers to the inability of a certain person to carry out certain task or movements while the term handicapped refers to inability to accomplish something a person wants to do. Handicapped describes the shortcomings of the environment around a person which prevents a person with a disability from being able to participate in society.