Are You Willing to Shout | The Ministry of Jesus II | Week 76 | José Hasbun

We have been learning about the ministry of Jesus here in Broward Church. This morning we’re going to continue doing so. The Bible is full of stories. A lot of stories are in the Bible. Approximately half of the Bible are stories. Sometimes they’re serious stories. Sometimes they’re very sad. Some of the stories are with a very good ending and God teaches through different stories in the Bible. Everybody likes stories. I think so, right? Stories entertain us. Some stories make us think, capture our attention sometimes. Stories make us laugh, make us cry as well. This morning we’re going to learn about the faith of a blind beggar. The story is in Luke 18, verse 35. I’m going to read it in Spanish, but you can follow up the letters here in English. And it says. [spanish].

 

At the instant, he recovered his sight. Then, glorifying God, he began to follow Jesus and all those who saw him would give glory to God. This incredible story is recorded in the Book of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. But only in the Book of Mark, it tells us the name of the person of that blind begger. His name was Bartimaeus, that means sons of Timateus. I’m sorry, this is so hard for me to pronounce. I’m going to call this guy, Bart, from now on, with your permission. Otherwise, we’re going to stay here forever. Bart was a desperate man. He was blind. He was not able to work at all for a living. By his poverty and inability to do meaningful things of paying work, he was forced to beg for help for anyone who was passing by. Can you imagine a hard time just being in that position? A desperate place. So Bart called Jesus. Shouting is a natural thing that we do to get someone attention or express our approval and excitement. We also shout when we want somebody to take action, to make a change like, Hey, watch out. Hey, look out.

 

We express that way. Hopefully, we shout when the Dolphins are into the Miami scores as well. I know some of you don’t. But we shout, yes, when we’re here in a wedding and now I present you Mr. And Mrs. Jones. No one tell us to do things. You just come within, inside of. Sometimes we want to shout so bad and it’s too hard to keep it with us. It’s like sometimes like a graduation, for example, and they call your kid to walk up the stage and pick up that diploma. Can you shout? You cannot keep it with you. People ask, shout at the end, applause at the end, but you’re so excited that you keep shouting for your kid. So if you want a title for today, it’s very simple. Are you willing to shout? So we’re going to go deeper in the story. We’re going to start in verse 35 and says, As Jesus approached Jehicho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. Jesus was heading towards Jerusalem for the final time. His fame has traveled all over Palestine. All the Palestine has been told that Lord, the Lord has been performing miracles.

 

So everywhere that he goes, a lot of people were rushing to see him and gather him to his side. This was the beginning of the last week of Jesus’ life as he was heading to the crucifixion. And Jesus knew that. The Jesus, the disciples were near Jericho, which was about 15 miles from Jerusalem. The streets were packed of people. This was no surprise at all because everyone was getting ready to make the journey to Jerusalem for the Passover. In the midst of that busy road, there’s a part, sitting in the corner, sitting at the side of the street. I’m assuming just like beggars today in our society, most of the people were passing by him thinking, Hey, you are very inconvenient that you’re here asking for money. You’re getting on the way of us on this special day. It’s this busy day, and you’re bugging everybody. The story continues on verse 36. It says, When he heard the crowd going by, he asked, What was happening? They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He called out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. So Martha has a deep sense that he has a small window of opportunity to get his sight back.

 

He felt it. So the word opportunity comes from the Latin phrase of port. In ancient times, before the modern harbors, the ships have to wait for a favorable wind-blowing tide before they can make it safely to port. So Ob Portum means coming towards a port. Ready to seize the crucial moment when it could be ride the tide into a safe harbor. The captain knew that if he missed that tide, if the ship meets that tide, then he got to wait for another one to come in. He didn’t want to lose that opportunity. God gave us a lot of importance, but we must be spiritually wise and spirit filled in order to see and seize these opportunities in our life. That’s exactly what Bart did. He took that opportunity. He was listening the conversations of the people passing by and they start asking questions. Bart was saying, Hey, what’s going on here? What is all this noise? What’s happening? Can somebody tell me what’s going on? Until somebody tells him Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. If others had not come, he would not have come either, for he had no way to see. It’s the beating of others, feet upon the pavement that caused him to want to come to Christ.

 

He didn’t knew anything that who was in town. He was blind. He didn’t know anything that the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was there. He didn’t know that this was his opportunity to be healed. So maybe Jesus is passing by you today, this morning. He wants you to shout out at him and ask for mercy. Husbands, are you willing to shout? Your wife may come to Christ. Parents, are you willing to shout? Your son or daughter may come to Christ. Singles, are you willing to shout? Maybe your future spouse may come to Christ. The rustling of our feet will help others to be saved. This morning, not only we hold our destiny, our own destiny, but maybe we can hold the destiny of others like our neighbors, wife, children, neighbors, or whoever looks at us. We hope maybe we can hold that destiny of them the way that we are reflecting in our life. Are you willing to shout? Are you willing to shout? Are you willing to shout? You know, Jesus didn’t pass by Jericho many times. Bart took that opportunity. Bart was desperate. He wanted to escape that dark world that he was leaving.

 

He shout out. He says, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. This man didn’t know that Jesus will never pass again. He didn’t know that. Jesus won’t pass by many times in your life. Are you willing to shout? He may pass three more times in your life, but you don’t know that he will. They might be your last chance. Please don’t think I got plenty of time. Take that opportunity. Verse 39, Those who led the way revoked Him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. Then, of course, these neighbors who were in front of the road, they were telling him, Hey, shut up. Be quiet. How nice of them, right? They find him annoying. But you know what? Those people were just content to look at Jesus that he was passing by or being able to say, Hell, yes, I walk with Jesus to Jerusalem. They were just content just to look at him. Instead of having a deep relationship with God. As I was starting this story, it’s like, okay, how this reflect in these modern days, like Jesus passing by in front of us.

 

Maybe a lot of people were taking their cell phones out and taking the video, taking pictures, putting them on social media, taking it selfish, and putting the hashtag, hey, walking with Jesus. Hey, I’m toward Jerusalem, going to the Passover. That’s it. They just want to know, Hey, I was there, instead of having a really deep relationship with God. Think about that. Bart recognized that he really had a need for Jesus. He saw Jesus. He really hoped for life, and his only hope was to restore his sight. It don’t matter to him that or the thought that he was undignified. He had a need and he really believed in Jesus. That he could fulfill it. Bart was physically blind. But he was not spiritually blind. How many others has Jesus passed by on Jericho wrote, and they were still blind all because they want to be dignified first. He didn’t care. It was ironic that the blind mind could see that Jesus was the Messiah. But others and even the religious leaders were seeing all these miracles in front of their eyes and they were blind and they didn’t want to identify and refuse and recognize him as a Messiah.

 

They didn’t want to. The Messiah was more than a descendant of David. He was David’s Lord. Acknowledging they see Jesus as a Messiah, the sovereign, the King, the Lord of our life. The God of David, but in form of a human, he hath come through the lineage of David. Of course, did Bart listen to their neighbors? No. Instead of being quiet, he shouted out louder, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. He got louder and louder. There’s something when you need help that gives the willingness to shout louder. When you need help, you don’t do, help me. Help me. No, you shout, help me. Help me. You do it louder and louder. You know, bar persistence enable Jesus to hear his plea. He didn’t shout once or two times. And let it go? No. He kept shouting until he was sure that including the crowd and Jesus could hear him. This scene reminds me of my old family at home. I’ve been married for 28 years and I have two children. Juliana is six years old. She just turned six last week. My my son, my older son, Jose Abran, he’s 21 years old.

 

Juliana is intense. She keeps talking and asking for things all the time. And Jose Abran told her, Shut up. Be quiet. Do you think Juliana complies? No. She asked for even more things. But Bart is not shouting to annoy the neighbors. He was determined to get Jesus attention. You may be here with a problem today that you cannot handle on your own. Today may be the day in which you simply need to shout to the Lord until you get God’s attention. Let’s continue with the story in verse 40. Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, what do you want me to do for you? ‘ Lord, I want to see, he replied. Jesus said to him, receive your sight. Your faith has healed you. ‘ I can imagine when Jesus stopped, all the crowd went silent, like a whispering. No one was talking. Maybe Bart said, Okay, well, they already went through. Everybody is gone. Because he couldn’t see that Jesus stopped and was looking at his direction. He couldn’t see that. It was interesting to note that those who could see Jesus were present without putting any faith and confidence in Him at all.

 

But Bart, who could not see Him, he has complete faith in Jesus’ ability to make a big difference in their life. Arising, click to the crowd, Jesus hears the blind beggar and calls for Him. Bart then approaches Jesus who asks, What do you want me to do for you? Jesus wants to hear what this desperate man needs, but he wants to hear it from him. That’s the question that Jesus is still asking us today. What do you want me to do for you? Maybe many of us are not even sure what we want from Jesus. Some of us just want a ticket to go to heaven and just leave me alone. I will leave my life. Don’t get involved in it. But others want to be made more like His likeness. If Jesus gave us what we wanted today, would it make us more faithful? If it’s not, what is the true motive for wanting it? Bart could ask for request for numbers of things. He could ask Jesus, Hey, let the people put more money in my basket. He could ask, Give me more money so I can have an easier life. Instead of asking something like that, he wants something to be empowered, him to be able to make a difference in his own life.

 

Bart asked for one simple thing he want to see. He was blind. He was shut up from the world. He can work, immediately to beg, and he just want to see. And Jesus, so kindly and so powerful, simply gives His command, receive your sight. Your faith has healed you. Miracles begins with an act of obedience of the word of God. But by responding to Jesus, He come forward. He’s shouting to Him into the presence of God. Imagine being in the crowd that day, you know Bart very well. You pass by the street every single day. Sometimes you talk to him. Sometimes you give him a little bit money. But five minutes earlier you were yelling at him, Hey, shut up. Thinking you’re bothering him. Plus, Jesus is too important and too busy for you. That what happened five minutes ago. Now, here’s the miraculous moment. Jesus, one of the last miracles before his crucifixion. I’m going to continue in verse 43. Immediately, he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. He immediately followed Jesus and started shouting once again in praise. He led that people to shout and praise the Lord as well.

 

Bart’s life has never been the same ever since. He got a normal life. He was able to see his family. I don’t know if he was married, but probably the stress of his wife dropped down now that he’s bringing money to the house. I don’t know. No wonder why he wants to follow Jesus. But at nothing. And we left with everything. We must learn from the faith of this man. Are we willing to shout? We will shout to the Lord when we recognize how great of a need we have for Him in our lives. All of us, all of us have needs. Whether we recognize it or not, sometimes we’re so prideful. There are some needs that only Christ can fulfill. If we’re asking God for miracles, we must be willing to be persistent and shouting out for Him. The scriptures tells us ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking. It is often through our persistence that God meet us at a point of our need. Our faith must be Christ’s power to make a change in our own life. God is free to respond to our faith in whatever matter He chooses.

 

We don’t know how many years Bart was blind without sight. I don’t know, maybe since he was born. But timing and method is left up to God. It may be an instant healing or maybe it will be a long lifetime process of healing. So the timing and method is left up to God. Sometimes we want things like that, but it’s not to us. We are very impatient and we want things that probably God doesn’t want for us. Either way, our call is to be obedient to the word of God. Are we obiedient to the word of God? Our response should be to follow him in ways it was previously were unable to do so. We are to shout his praise in such a way that others were willing to praise to God. So this morning I hope that God sees today your faith and you decide to follow his son. Decide to start a Bible. To know that Jesus that is calling up for you to follow him. Decide to return to your master, to return to the family of God, to restore a relationship with God and his family as well. Decide today to recommend yourself and dedicate yourself to following your Master.

 

You know, Jesus believes in you and me. He believes in each other, in each of us if we are willing to shout. So as I finish my sermon, I would like to prepare our hearts and pray for the Lord’s Supper. I’ll do this prayer in Spanish.. Amadisimo, Dios, Padre. Thank you for all your teachings through the Bible. Thank you for all your love and all your mercy. May we, my God, follow your example. May we have a heart, willing and pure, not only to hear your word, Father, but also to put it into practice our lives. Let’s thank you, Lord, for the only sacrifice you made to send your only son, for our salvation, for the pardon, of our sins. That we may be thankful for all the love that you give with us, and that we may be willing to shout, my God, shout unconditionally for your help, because we know that you are there, always, with us. All this, my God, I beg you, I beg you in the holy name of your Jesus, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.