20210313 | Just One Thing | Pastor John Lomacang (tvsdac)

right now i'd like to invite you to bow your heads with me as we go into the message for the morning as i mentioned to you a moment ago it is entitled thing let us pray our gracious father in heaven thank you that as we open your word we pray for you to open our hearts father we come to church on sabbath morning and each of us is so individual and yet your grand purpose is that we can become just like you and father the question surely does rise to the top how can we who are so individual so different with our challenges and our blessings our skills and our regrets looking back looking forward how can we possibly ever be like you and so today lord we pray that your holy spirit would come and remove the obstructions that we may hear what your holy spirit is teaching us today and may jesus be clearly seen we ask in your holy name amen the story was featured in the washington post may 27 1979. if you were not around just hear me out if you were hear me out a dc-10 style the airplane was taking off from chicago o'hare airport it was american airlines flight 191 bound for los angeles with 271 passengers on board shortly after takeoff it plunged into a field about a half a mile from the runway according to the flight recorder the plane had reached the point of no return that means that when it is taking off there is an audible acknowledgement by the plane itself that the pilot has now reached v1 speed that is the speed that the plane is moving so quickly that he could not even possibly stop it even if he put on his brakes the plane would not stop there's not enough runway to slow the plane down right after v1 the next audible announcement that is broadcast from the instrumentation is vr meaning the pilot now has to follow through with what they call velocity rotation meaning it's time to pull the yoke so that the nose of the plane would lift off the ground and they would begin their ascent according to the voice recorder content one of the pilots said something pretty harsh indicating that he noticed when they hit vr velocity rotation that there was a disaster in the making it was on the voice recorder i won't repeat what he said but after the investigation they discovered that 38 seconds before the plane crashed the left engine fell off the plane rendering it uncontrollable at the same time the air traffic controller noticed a disaster in the making and his words were look at that look at that he blew the engine about a half a mile from chicago o'hare airport the plane plunged into a field killing 271 passengers and two people on the ground according to the news reports the fire was so intense that rescuers had to wait for hours before they could even try to begin any kind of rescue effort and obviously there was no one to rescue because people had been burned beyond recognition when further investigations continued the national transport transportation safety board investigation concluded that just a few days earlier that very same plane had taken off and had declared engine trouble and returned back to the airport but then was cleared again to take off they found in the hangar where the plane had been examined after returning a few days earlier they found one bolt on the ground one bolt one bolt and that bolt was called the nacella mounting bolt it was also known as the positioning bolt without that bolt in place the engine doesn't remain at the angle that's supposed to be at increasing the torque so heavily that the more vibration the plane experiences the more rev revolutions the engine goes through the more strain it puts on the engine and that engine almost folded over the wing before it hit the ground when i read the story i thought to myself how amazing it is that one thing can make such a big difference one thing and then the lord began to open up my mind when i began to look at this one thing scenario in a broader sense many miss the life that god has for them by just one thing one thing they refuse to give up one thing they determine not to change one thing they passionately hold on as though this one thing depends on their happiness and their eternal salvation doesn't really matter one thing some people build their own roadblocks by refusing to let go of one thing others missed the beauty and the blessing of the christian journey by ignoring all that god has in store for them and spend their days and nights consumed by just one thing and when i saw that picture i could not unsee it you know when you see certain pictures you just cannot see it and the lord led me now to investigate his word to see if in the bible but there are any stories that can connect to this tragedy that took the lives of 273 passengers on that los angeles bound plane by simply one thing and then i found that the apostle john records one of the most detailed miracles performed by jesus it was also one of the most disputed miracles performed by christ and it all came down together to one thing after the great debate of how jesus performed the miracle it just came down to one thing we're going to dive into that story this morning and we're going to see if in our lives any of us are in the same place either spiritually socially mentally religiously if any of us can possibly experience an upcoming tragedy just because of the one thing that seems to be the passion of our lives if you have your bibles go with me now to the book of john john chapter nine and when we go through the story we're going to find a number of things let me set the scenario for you there are three main characters how many characters did i say three main characters we have the blind man we have the pharisees and then we have jesus the blind man the pharisees and then we have jesus but if you look at the total caste you have the blind man the parents the neighbors the pharisees and then jesus just in case you miss it the blind man his parents the neighbors the pharisees and jesus and then the lord in the midst of this diverse contingency of different mindsets begins to unfold before the witnessing eyes of every one of them the most profound yet most debated miracle in his ministry when you begin to further investigate the story it comes down to this simple thing and the main theme is believing that jesus can do anything for anyone let me say that one more time jesus can do anything for anyone if they would simply let go of come on say it one thing at the end of the sermon i'm going to ask this question again who's blind who's blind this story has three very important parameters under which the story unfolds it has birth issues say that with me what is it birth issues then life issues what's the second one life issues then faith issues birth issues life issues and faith issues and the bible begins to introduce the story in the framework of all three of those as we go to verse 1 of john chapter 9. the bible reads now as jesus passed by he saw a man who was blind from birth when i read the bible my mind is so calibrated to see things that many of us often miss the first thing i saw is jesus never just passes by without causing a stir any time jesus is on a journey he has a purpose there was not a single journey that jesus participated in in his life there was not a single destination there was not a single town he went through that he didn't go to for a particular reason so when the bible says now as jesus passed by he always passes by those that have a need can you say amen to that whenever jesus passes by our house remember what he said to zacchaeus zacchaeus come down today i have to come to your house on the road to emmaus cleopas and the other disciple jesus walked by the side of two men who had no idea where their lives were headed but jesus wasn't just taking a stroll he was trying to get the attention of these two men whose lives were wrapped in sadness and discouragement jesus never just passes by every journey that he takes is a missionary journey but when you go further in the story i also discovered something because the bible says the man was born blind and i want you to grab these little nuggets today because this is one of those sermons that are kind of like if i could use the phrase here loosely when you eat an entire box of crackers what do you have at the bottom crumbs but if you reverse it those crumbs are already there you just don't notice it when you think that there's nothing left there's some crumbs that demand your attention so when you read a bible story and you think there's nothing else to be investigated i want you to know there's some crumbs at the bottom of every sermon that jesus wants us to pay attention to so i'm going to talk about the crumbs before we get to the entire box of crackers another crumb is this story is not about how well we can see because blind people can't find jesus but praise the lord jesus can find blind people so it's not about how well we can see and if i expand on that it's not it's not about how well you can see your future it's not about how well you can see what's going to happen next year i could even go so far as saying 2020 and all the covert and all the political ridiculousness did not catch jesus by surprise so let's let's dismiss this idea that we have to have great sight because the bible says this man was blind from birth so as far as he was concerned he couldn't see anything but jesus can still see everything he can see the end from the beginning he is the alpha and the omega the good news today is before our lives began to unfold there's a text in jeremiah 29 11 where the lord says since i can see the end from the beginning i know the plans i have for you and when god has plans the only way those plans can be hindered is if you refuse to let go of one thing helen keller said and if you don't know who helen keller is then you may just have been born helen keller who was blind said the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but having no vision there's some people that have have no optical challenges but they just can't see because they're not allowing god's word to be the framework to mold the way they see and i i can tell you this my wife and i can tell you this in our studies the more you read the bible the better your eyes will be calibrated the more god's word comes in that's why david the psalmist says the entrance of god's word brings light if you can't see my recommendation to you is study god's word and you begin to be able to see bible texts that seem to be remedial to you will all of a sudden become important to you things that did not make sense all of a sudden gains a higher priority why because you are allowing god's word to become the light in your eyes thy word is a what lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path praise the lord that his word always brings us renewed vision and clearer eyesight we find a story continuing in verse 2. and the bible says and his disciples asked him the reason i did not include them because they were simply bystanders they could not affect the story one way or the other and his disciples asked him saying rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind you see the disciples and the thought leaders of that day were affected by a doctrine now described today as the doctrine of transmigration the doctrine of transmigration this ideology has affected mostly eastern religions it hasn't really affected christianity however there are some of us that say i know why you are the way you are because you're your dad am i right we've said that before you are just like your mother or if you go further back in your family line you find somebody just as foolish as you are we often link people and their behavior to somewhere in the family line and in some cases that's true i remember a young man in our family my wife and i one of her nephews came to me and her and said i need to know more about my dad because there are certain behaviors in my life i don't know why they're there so please auntie tell me more about your brother so i could know where these behaviors have come from because there's certain things that some of you do that if you knew the history of your family you'll say man i had a crazy uncle you wonder why you do what you do but we don't believe in the doctrine of transmigration what is the doctrine of transmigration let me put it on the screen so you can understand well the doctrine of transmigration is an eastern philosophy that teaches the souls of men were sent into other bodies for the punishment of sins which they had committed in a pre-existing state the pharisees the greeks and the asiatics held to this belief so right away the pharisees are a part of the scenario and when you go further in the story you're going to discover this is why they gave that young man such a hard time they want to figure who's responsible for this behavior and today many cultures and religions still hold to that belief they profess to be able to pinpoint the sin of the past that is connecting the person to the present of their suffering they're saying you wouldn't be going through what you're going through today bob if your gran's father's grandfather wasn't just like you are now and you've heard that phrase bad jeans apple doesn't fall far from the tree we don't believe in transmigration but we often connect people's behavior to somebody in their family in my family they say there's nobody your height but i do know who my dad is just for the record when you go further into this doctrine of transmigration here are some of the things that they often connect to it for example in the eastern cultures they say that if you are a person suffering with headaches they said that you spoke irreverently against your mother and your father so god is now punishing you with headaches the doctrine of transmigration they say if you're going through madness you're going through madness because you were disobedient to your mother your father or your spiritual guide if that were true some of you had been mad i mean out of your mind and then they say epilepsy which is a terrible uh a terrible ailment they say if you had that ailment you were punished for poisoning someone at your master's command that's what they thought that's what they thought they said if you had eye pain and obviously this is a man's problem because he said you are dealing with eye pain because you coveted another man's wife while you were in another body so look out for people who say their eyes are hurting and then they say if you came back blind you were punished for having killed your former mother however before your new birth you would have had to suffer many years of torment in hell before coming back for the second round thank god there is no such truth behind the doctrine of transmigration but when you study the story you'll find the pharisees were affected by this ideology because the two possibilities they say for his blindness was one he is being punished for the sins of his parents or he is being punished for his own sins but the problem with the second scenario is this how could he have sinned before his birth it's not possible and when you go further you find that jesus did not explain the reason for the man's condition he he did not connect that condition to anything the man had done which takes us down to the birth issues and this is something i want to spend a little time on today because many of us struggle with birth issues i had that challenge growing up as a young boy being abandoned at three months old not knowing who my dad is his name not being on my birth certificate meeting my mother for the first time when i was almost 26 years old losing connection to the only woman i knew as a mother when i was 12 years old she passed away and then her husband after that gave up on life so at 13 years old i was plunged into the washing machine of new york city trying to figure out how am i going to make it praise the lord god heard that question and sent me a young lady at 16 who's a great contributor to where i am today praise god how are you going to make it but birth issues do a job on us if we think that how we were born is not as important as that we were born let me see that again how we were born is not as important as that we were born ask moses for references moses at his birth was put into the nile river but ended up in the palace of the egyptians he was he was abandoned by his mom for the purpose of saving his own life and then the lord worked out in his life that he saved an entire nation from the bondage of egypt but so many of us fail to realize that how we were born is not as important as that we were born the point is god can do amazing things with your future if you spend less time harping on your past i may have told you the story before but i'm sure somebody here didn't hear it so let me go ahead and indulge those of you that have heard it a thousand times i was listening to a conversation with a young lady on the radio program i think i was in new york city at the time and i forget the lady's name it was ann landers and landers and um or dr joyce meyer is one of the two but it was a radio program so it wasn't anne lander she was a columnist but i was listening to the conversation on the radio and a young lady kept saying to um to the female talk show host this my parents haven't done anything for me and the the question was what have your parents given you she said nothing they said no let me ask you again what did your parents give you and she said absolutely nothing when i ask for money they don't give it to me when i ask to buy something they don't give it to me they don't give me anything she says young lady shut up what did your parents give you life she said do something about it and stop complaining and i heard that as a teenager as i was sitting in my green and yellow room yeah my girlfriend thought i was nuts too for those colors my walls were bright yellow and all the wood was bright green and there's a reason behind my madness i wanted my room to be bright every day and it was but when i heard that at 13 years old i made a decision either i said i'm gonna either make it or i'm going to fail there was nobody to come to school to say how are your grades there was nobody to come to my programs in my high school good job there was nobody to come to things that were being held i went through high school primarily rejoicing in my own moments of success and lamenting in my own moments of failure there was nobody to give me that encouragement but i decided i'm going to either make it or i'm going to fail and i didn't realize what god had done and i give god all the glory and let me tell you why i say that we've got to recognize that when god has a plan for your life your failure does not hinder god's ability to still carry out his plan for your life and i think it was about nine about 2013 or or 2017 i think it was or 2007. somewhere around that time my wife and i went to my high school reunion i think it was a 30-year reunion or something like that 37-year reunion something like that it was a lot of years and i didn't realize how well i had done in high school and there was a young lady at the at the big party they held in brooklyn new york and i'm seeing all my classmates much older now and i was looking for a classmate that i was good friends with uh uh i wasn't i was the kind of guy that didn't cut class when students said let's go to coney island that's the amusement park i said no i'm not going i'm i'm doing my school work and i didn't realize how dedicated i was until a couple of the students saw me there at the reunion said oh he was one of those smart kids he wouldn't cut class he wouldn't play hooky and uh and the lord blessed me for that i was able to work one week and go to school one week i was a part of a special program because my grades were so well and i graduated ninth out of a class of over 900 students but my point is not so much about my successes but but the hearing the words and let me just make a point you can be the difference between how a person sees his or her future by the way that you communicate with that individual you could say to a child you will never amount to nothing or you could say to them you know your future could be a lot better than your present and if you want me to help you make that a reality i am willing to do whatever i can to shape your future you can be that one thing between a failed present and a successful future and i want to tell you that i look back on where i was and i realized that my life was in a pickle for a particular purpose here's what it says in john chapter nine and verse three understand not everything we go through is always because of what we've done sometime god uses our curse to reveal his blessing sometimes he uses our failures to introduce his successes here's my evidence to that john 9 and verse 3 jesus answered neither this man nor his parents sinned but that the works of god should be revealed in him did you grab that are you grabbing that what he's saying is he let me work it out why was i abandoned by my mom and dad why was i left at the babysitter of a seventh-day adventist i didn't find out until almost 26 years later my mother said if i raised you you would have been a drunk in the virgin islands or you'd have been strung out on something because i couldn't raise you so god had to allow my life to begin as an abandonment to put me where he could begin molding me and shaping me so that the works of god could be revealed so don't give up on where you are because what looks like a failure to you is just the first step in god unfolding his blessings what looks like a curse to you can be the first step in god revealing his successes jesus said neither of these individuals so it's not true that we are born in a predicament that we cannot change but the problem is we spend so much time so much what i can't tell you how many times i talk to people in my forehead hurts when they tell me about all the stuff a month ago and a year ago and five weeks ago and i'm thinking as one pastor said i'm afraid to ask my members how was your week because some of them spent all the time well you know my car broke down i got stepped on my toe like a bird ran into my my my kid's head and you know we spilled this food on my computer and it shorted out it's like did you make it to church on saturday in a year but however if you're still alive god can still work in changing the way things presently are amen to somebody the lord made it very clear this man didn't do anything so don't get so distracted by what you were that you forget what you can be look at the evidence first corinthians chapter 15 verse 22 here's where we are but here's where we can be for as in adam what does the bible say all die even so in christ what are we told all shall be made alive don't spend so much time in the adam room of your life that you forget the jesus room of your life there's some people that don't believe they're going to live long enough to get their lives right for the coming of jesus i'm so glad to know that it's not me getting my life ready for the coming of jesus but is jesus getting me ready for his soon return it's god working in you but i go back to my original point it'll work if you just get rid of one thing let's continue let's continue this story has some profound lessons in it jesus pointed to the blind man in the first stage of transforming his life here it is john chapter nine verse six and seven and we read when he said these things that is about the man's condition he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and he said to him what did he say go wash in the pool of siloam which is translated sent so he went and washed and came back seeing now let me eliminate what you just thought you saw some people probably said well if all this man needed was some clay in some spit and the pool of siloam he didn't need jesus right his parents could have spit put the same clay on his eye and the same pool was still there before christ and after christ but why does the bible mention those things because we sometimes think it's the anointing oil or it's the person that prayed for me or it's the person that has a great prayer life let me eliminate that fact if the lord does something in your life is not because somebody's prayer is better than the ability of christ but because the lord humbly hears that prayer and because he has a plan for your life he works through our frail prayers to make a change in our frail lives that pool couldn't change his condition and clay couldn't do it and spit couldn't do it but jesus was able to do it why did the lord include those things he included that because sometimes he wants to see if we can still see him through all the complications of how our lives are transformed you know how you tell the story you know you tell the story i've heard somebody say you know pastor my lights are about to turn off and um a check showed up in the mail and guess who it came from i gotta thank them they say and i say the first person you need to thank is jesus because he impressed that individual i know i've been on the recipient of the receiving side of that when i was at atlantic union college when i was pastoring in the northern california conference i was at atlantic union college i was out of town and people that i never met sent a check to my house i never met him and in the czech reason it says because you preach the gospel i never met him or sunday morning when i was praying for money to buy food for my wife's family that was coming to be with us while i'm praying you heard the story somebody was knocking on the door and they said when i had my devotions this morning they lived more than 40 miles away on the other side of the mountain in the mountains of northern california you had to you had to drive on treacherous roads at high altitudes with no guard rails i thank god for people that are willing to be obedient when god guides them i did thank them but before i began to pray god had given that person the directive early in their morning so while i'm praying for god to help out the lord is saying ah i already thought about it before you did amen and the bible says before you call i will answer and while you're yet speaking i will hear so remember friends what's happening in our lives is not because we came up with a wonderfully devised plan to make our lives work is because god sees the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not even yet done but let me add a sidebar sometimes he has to take us through the difficult places to convince us that we need to get rid of say it one thing i'm convinced today that many of our lives would not be as difficult as it is if we would just get rid of that one thing and you know what you know exactly what that is as pastor c would go i miss him sometimes mm-hmm i can see him doing that right now that one thing we're not going to be lost because of how many sins we committed but we're going to be lost because we fail to do one thing that is repent and turn from our wicked ways one thing but many abound in the same condition because they want something to happen before the lord does something i want you to notice what happened in these verses we just read before jesus restored his sight terry what did he do he changed the man's direction i want you to see the steps in restoration a change in our direction is the precursor to a change in our condition let me say it another way another way to define insanity is going in the same direction expecting a different destination where you going the lord's plan is that way and they persistently go this way and i i ask myself the question i i matter of fact i asked my sister this question this this week some of you need to be bold like that if you want to pray for family members talk to them my sister left the church at 16 years old i spoke to her this week she's going through health issues you know heart challenges she had a kidney she had to get that reconditioned so many things she experienced before after the world trade center event in in 2001 so many issues and i said to her she's now 65. she wouldn't mind me telling you but as i was sitting in my garage my wife and i talking on the phone she said i gotta go for this test tomorrow and this test the next day and i gotta find out what they and that when the test results come back so i said to her did you pass the test or did you fail the test she said it's not a test you pass or fail i said well you would have said you were going to take a stress test did you pass or did you fail it she said that there are no marks you don't pass or fail or stress test i sort of said well what was the outcome did you pass well no the results indicated i have a blockage and i'm not taking another test she was determined we just started laughing and i said assist think about it the lord spared you through 9 11. you have gone through so many funerals of all your friends dying you could you could retire from insanity after picking up so many body parts for nine months down at the world trade center she was there every day picking up body parts hands and i won't even get gory i don't want anybody to to to kind of start seeing this she was there she was breathing in the fumes the the discharge glass that was pulverized to powder it got in her lungs she had so many ailments from all these toxins and i said and you survived it here it is 20 years later how many friends have you lost man too many to count why are you still alive god is giving you a chance to be saved i said you're 65 let's say you live to 85 or maybe even more than that i said sis does it make sense jesus is offering you eternity and you are willing to settle for only 85. come on somebody you need to shake some of your kids fool you only 16 and you're going on the wrong path and god is trying to give you eternal life you don't want it i cannot understand that how can you choose the fires of hell when god wants to sell you life insurance and fire insurance through jesus it doesn't make sense but the phone means so much the movies so much the emotions the relationships for the physical or spiritual or whether carnal or natural whatever they may be how can you focus on losing all of that over come on help me out one thing the lord made it very very clear you cannot have a different outcome if you persist to go in the same direction we cannot go in the same direction and end up at a different destiny which takes us now to life issues first burst birth issues now life issues and here's the point we read that in verse six and seven until we have an encounter what word did i just say until we have an encounter with jesus the direction of our lives will never change you can listen to sermon after sermon if you don't have a personal encounter with christ your direction is not going to change you could be waiting in the in the waiting room of sadness and disappointment and frustration but until you have an encounter with christ there's going to be no change in your direction and your destiny is forever fixed the reason why the lord the reason why this young man was able to change his direction is because jesus told him what direction to go but you know what this generation is the generation that doesn't want to listen to jesus they want to listen to every other voice but jesus and you know every voice as one person once said i heard oprah say there are many ways to jesus and i was so glad for that brave audience member woman who stood up and said i know you're oprah but you're wrong amen this society has taken christianity and shoveling it into a big dump truck trying to get rid of it but i want to let you know there's too much christianity and not enough shovels i know you're oprah but you're wrong she said there's only one way to god mess through jesus christ while the audience is boohoo and han around them she was unafraid when the lord transformed your life you don't care what's happening around you you'll talk about the experience and the encounter you had with christ which now goes down to life issues the lord was about to do something for this young man and this is what he wants to do for every one of us let's go to psalm 119 verse 18. unless we have an encounter with jesus there'll never be a change in our direction and there surely would not be a change in our sight there'll be no change in our direction and no change in our sight here's the evidence what happened this man came back seeing what did david asamus pray the bible says so he went and washed and came back seeing look at psalm 119 and verse 18. this is the prayer that david prayed this should be the prayer of everyone let's read it together open my eyes let's one more time open my eyes then i may see what wondrous things from your law now you've read that before but do you realize that that's the biggest problem in christianity today you know why people have a problem with god's law because their eyes are closed they have closed their eyes to the wonderful law of god david said wonderful things from your law they've closed their eyes to god's law so therefore when they look at it they see it as a terrible thing they call it are you still under that burden are you still bound to that law but david said if your eyes are open it changes the way you see god's law that's why matthew the converted tax collector reiterates isaiah the prophet in matthew chapter 13 and verse 15 he talks about this condition that's behind rejecting the truth of god's word holding on to tradition holding on to darkness notice what he says in matthew 13 verse 15 he talks about this rejection this lack of change this determination not to turn around he says for the hearts of this people have grown what dull their ears are hard of hearing i don't want to hear it and their eyes they have closed less they should understand lest they should what see with their eyes hear with their ears lest they should understand with their hearts and what turn and what turn so that i should heal them so they can do what turn i'm gonna do a sermon i'm working on now called the turn some of you know what i'm talking about but our world is chiseling away and when we become recalcitrant and that word means calcified that means hardened salt that means you can't break it the danger of ignoring what christ is showing us is we can get so hard that it'll take a ball peen hammer or chisel or a sledgehammer to try to break through a heart that has grown dull and ears that refuse to hear we can't see the life that the lord has for us until our eyes are open and when the lord open our eyes he does something for us he provides witnessing opportunities now bob this is where the story goes to the next level now we bring the neighbors in we began with birth issues life issues now let's go to the neighbors young man's side is restored let's look at john chapter 9 verse 8 to 10. i like this therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind could i pause for a moment why is it that people always remember you for who you were and not who you became have you noticed that oh so you're that oh you're oh you're ronnie's kid no i'm a grown married man oh oh you used to work in your dad's shop people often look at who we were and that's what neighbors are good for well that's so-and-so's daughter that's so-and-so's son they link you to who you are associated with and i can tell you what it's when you impress the neighbors god is working in your life when i went back to brooklyn a few years ago i went back to the house just to look at it where i was raised but i did something and i walked down the block slowly just you know they call it block in the city you call it the street out here or the highway we call the block you call the steps we call it the stoops in brooklyn and i walked down and looked at each house and all the memories began to awaken in my growing up years and i saw one a couple of the neighbors and they say june june is that you now don't you call me junior and i'm passed along okay but the neighbors remember you right the neighbors remember what you used to be called when you were the june june i was june june growing up in the neighborhood children man you're going to be a mighty fine young man what do you do now god has really blessed you hasn't he and i said whatever happened to and i mentioned one of the kids and well yeah he died drug overdose a couple weeks ago really and i walked past the pool hall where i used to play and gamble and uh and i peeked in because i i wanted to see if anything changed what happened to junior he's the guy that owned the pool well he died the other guys everybody looking they're all broken down you know sin will break you down and uh one of them noticed me says how are you doing i'm doing fine could you could i borrow five dollars i'm thinking same game 40 years later ain't nothing changed you know anybody like that you can run it to them but i look at that neighborhood and i look at the people that i've known and i go through the the resume of growing up and i say praise god one day he opened my eyes to show me what i could possibly be oh young folk and i tell you today you think you have a great life you don't know diddly until you put your life in god's hands you don't know what real life is like until you say god take me jump in his hands jump into the hands of the potter and let him mold you because the neighbors are not going to see you any different than what you used to be your family members yeah don't listen to him he's been talking like that for 30 years that's how family members are that's why the lord moved my wife and i away from florida we wonder why would god take us from florida all the way to northern california almost broke to get us in the ministry we look back now and say thank the lord we will not try to be pastors with our family members in the congregation every sabbath because you know the family members have a way of see i told you he can't preach trying to be a pastor am i right but after god took rough after god chisels off all the rough edges polishes you up gets you a suit teaches you how to fix your hair because i look back on my wedding day man i wouldn't have married me i looked horrible i look at me now and and i said god has really molded us amen somebody you look back on who you are if there are not changes in your life that are significant you need to jump into the hands of the potter and let them spit on your eyes send you to your pool and when you come back you'll come back with new vision god is amazing what he can do but he could only do that if you get rid of one thing yeah mine was big god first thing he took was my record albums hundreds of them i was the disc jockey i had four fifteen and speakers if you were the neighbors you didn't like me because i made it i was scratching the records before record scratching was popular i was rapping before people knew what it was and my music was loud and i know i was one of the kids in the neighborhood that the people did not like because i put all four of my speakers outside of my house and it'd be like a hundred folk on the block dancing in front of my house and the neighbors couldn't do a thing about it when i came back to that same neighborhood many years later the neighbors said well god really has done something in your life hasn't it god really has done something in your life one thing but look at the neighbors therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seeing that he was blind they said is not this this is horrible is not this he who sat and begged that's how your neighbors are they don't ever say anything nice he's a beggar some said this is he others said he is like him but i like this part he said i am he therefore they said to him how were your eyes opened when who you used to be clashes with who jesus made you that's the time to give a testimony see when i left california you said i wouldn't amount to anything i want to tell you what god did since i left california right d you should've seen d when she was in california the lord is still on the throne amen for d and bob let bob sit down and tell you his story who bob used to be you'll say praise god for bob and larry make lucas i know a lot of these stories they sit down and tell you where they were and where they are today god is an amazing god the devil says he's nothing but a beggar and when the opportunity comes that people are not sure because he could see now he steps forward and says i am he can i tell you about how jesus did it because they ask how are your eyes open i love verse 11. testimony time how were your eyes open how were your eyes open here it is verse 11 and 12. he answered and said a man called jesus if you begin your testimony don't say i went to this school or that school or i got this job or that job begin every testimony giving the praise to jesus a man called jesus oh i know believe me i people say well how long you've been in ministry where'd you get your degree what school you went through yeah yeah would you learn all you did at the feet of jesus praise the lord he said a man named jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me go to the pool of siloam and wash so i went obedience what did he do the lord said go he went if you would simply be obedient to god's gps you'll see the changes like he experienced in his life there's so many stories today mark finley can tell you his story doug batcher can tell you a story john bradshaw can tell you who he used to be john boonster can tell you who he used to be listen to these men who they are today is because of the touch of christ doug batson finding him in a cave without even clothes on a great controversy in the bible who puts a bible in the great controversy at 7000 feet altitude in the palm springs mountains god does look at dog bastard today pastor doug batchelor his name is on every continent god can do that to your life but you know why you will never experience it because you refuse to let go of one thing and as long as that little thing is robbing you of god's plan he is saying i got the plan in blueprint but he is that's why the bible says demas has forsaken me having loved this present world and i forgot what disciple one of one of the tribes they said um leave him alone he's joining to his idols demas forsook being a disciple of christ because he loved this present age 70 disciples decided to walk with christ no more and peter who was a profane man who couldn't keep his mouth shut his life was a mess he was going to deny the lord and the lord called him clean before he denied him but he wasn't fully clean look at peter and his word today because he got that one thing worked out he had to have a fall before he can get up and stand on the grace of god now we go from the neighbors to the pharisees this is the hardest group this is the hardest group he said a man called jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me go to the pool of siloam and wash i so i went and watched and i what received sight then they said to him where is he and he said i don't know you know what they wanted they wanted proof he says i am the proof he said where is he he said don't look for him look at me remember i was born blind yeah can i see now yeah who did it he did it the things that happen in your life people are looking for and that's why this world is sick nowadays people live in this world they said okay so you said god changed your life where's god note i don't know where he is but he knows where he is so they're looking for evidence of his presence when the evidence of his presence is might change life how ridiculous they are looking for the evidence of his presence when the evidence of his presence is a changed life look at jason bradley the evidence of his presence when i met jason you could not tell me he would be where he is today the evidence of god's presence is a changed life all i know was that's the jason i met wait up smoking so much he couldn't hardly play basketball now he'll block your shot without your permission god can change any life look at his mother look at danny a kid who was so poor he had to paint his black sneakers white to play basketball but god open his eyes and look at what we're sitting in today some of us could never get there because we are holding on to the things that don't matter when god is trying to show us the things that really matter and if you want to see your life take off try it prove me now here with so the pharisees now come into the picture parents couldn't say anything the young man testified nobody believed him so the pharisees decide let's continue this interrogation verse 13 to 15. how ridiculous they want a testimony but the man's testimony clash with their theology so they decide to interrogate verse 13 of john chapter 9. they brought him who formerly was blind to the pharisees now it was a sabbath when jesus made the clay and opened his eyes then the pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight he said to them he proclaimed my eyes and i washed and i see simple simple don't try to make it complicated don't try to make it difficult he proclaimed my eyes i washed now i see but the problem but the problem with the pharisees and i'm gonna now i'm gonna look away because some of you are gonna get a little uncomfortable the problem with the pharisees is they felt that jesus should have done it but not on the sabbath because they had a list of things you couldn't do on the sabbath and one of them then was healing how dare the lord violate our sabbath who is he that he would dear violate the sabbath by giving somebody back his sight the lord had the same problem with the pharisees earlier he said so if your donkey falls into the pit on the sabbath are you going to say stay there till sunset he'll be dead by then brethren some of us i want to say this the right way because i know that god wants us to honor the sabbath but when somebody has a need don't do not be pharisaical and say to them now i know you need food but it's five more hours i'll get you something to eat five more hours that's why jesus said it is lawful to do good on the sabbath if there's any if there's any day in the week that a burden should be lifted it's the sabbath come on somebody now i'm not talking about painting somebody's house but i'm talking about the needs of humanity the suffering humanity around us never allow the sabbath to be a diversion from relieving the suffering of the poor the pharisees had a problem jesus never violated it but they thought he had done so and he continued to he continued and i didn't even want to put all this in because the contention between the pharisees and this blind one was so long it simply came down to the point where jesus gave them all the evidence of his power and his divinity and they just didn't like the fact that he did it without their permission so let's go ahead and get past all the pharisaical folk and go right down to the parents with overwhelming proof they could not accept the fact that jesus had changed his life so they decided since we can't get him to speak let's get his parents verse 18 of chapter nine who didn't think there was so much in one story did you look at verse 18 of chapter nine but the jews did not believe concerning him they just wouldn't believe it that he had been blind and received his sight until they called the parents of him who had received his sight and they asked them saying is this your son who you say was born blind how then does he now see now i can see brandon standing right there he's the son that used to be blind but he's kind of probably saying i j mom i just told him ma i just told him i spent hours talking to him okay could you speak on my behalf his parents answered and said we know that this is our son and that he was born blind but by what means he now sees we do not know or who opened his eyes we do not know this is what a parent should never do he is of age ask him he'll speak for himself parents when the lord changes your child's life please all they need is your support come on children say amen that's all they that's all he wanted mom and dad come on speak up on my behalf but you know what his parents were affected by the same disease that adam was because adam blamed eve eve blamed the serpent and the serpent was the only one that did not seek anybody to blame because he knew he was the problem the parents lost their opportunity to testify the doors of earth were chosen over the doors of heaven ask him let him speak for himself when they could have simply said i am so thankful for what god has done in my son's life i remember when i met my dad after my mom had died and i went to new york city my dad my dad thought my dad thought i was in show business because he is in showbiz he was in show business jazz musician in 1999 when i was down at the manhattan center in new york city when pastor doug batcher was preaching we're right there on 34th street in the manhattan center and it's a very famous place where a lot of programs are held a lot of you know things are done there that make television so there we are in the manhattan center the the hall was so packed that security had to close the door and my dad who i could never get to come to anything religious i said dad would you come tonight i'm singing tonight would you come tonight i'll see if you i'll let them know that you're coming and they'll let you in well we got he got there late and the place was so full for security purposes they would not let anybody else in my dad came and he said to the security guard my son is the one that's going to be singing tonight and they let him in when it was all done i asked the security did you see a guy and i described oh yeah he was here he stayed long enough to watch you sing and then he left i was always trying to find a way to get into my dad's life and at his mom's funeral my grandmother died well up into her 90s they're about you know sometimes you live so long all your friends are dead there's about seven people at the funeral i was doing the funeral and my dad still thinking i'm in show business and i'm i'm just doing the eulogy sermon and he stands up in the midst of oh son you're really good you are really good can you imagine that in the midst of a funeral he said boy and he he speaks as though i'm in show business i said dad i'm not in show business i'm a pastor he could never get it he could never get it and i found out later on why my dad and i just never were able to make that connection because my grandmother left so much money but there was one thing between my dad and me and that was his desire to spend it all when he died there in his apartment in new york city i found all the bank books and all the checks and all the money that was a part of my inheritance it was gone but you know what my heavenly father was still on the throne and i i paid for his funeral laid him to rest and until this very day i still rely on the same god that i relied on before i met my dad because my my heavenly father said i will supply all of your need according to my riches in glory so i understand life issues and birth issues and parental issues and my own struggles i understand that but i want to say something very carefully here because as we come down to the winding down of this message i want to go to verse 22 to 24 because no one can tell jesus no one can tell what jesus has done for you better than you if you remain connected look at verse 22 to verse 24. why did his parents not speak in his behalf here's the reason why his parents the bible says in john 9 verse 22 his parents said these things because they feared the jews for the jews had agreed already that that if anyone confessed that he was christ he would be put out of the synagogue they put religious conviction over dedication to jesus christ i got to make a point here if your church threatens you for keeping the sabbath keep the sabbath and find a new fellowship we'll be glad to accept you in some people have been threatened i remember giving an evangelistic series actually i was singing in the series and pastor doug was preaching in our early days and we made an altar call and the young man stood up he was in the marines there in vallejo california as soon as he stood up his wife pulled his coattail she said if you get baptized i'm going to leave you you sat back down i said wait you stood up and you sit back down what happened he said my wife said if i get baptized she's going to leave me i said no what she means is if you get baptized into the seventh-day adventist church she's going to leave you and i was true because a few months later they got baptized into a different denomination and his wife didn't leave him but that was a moment of test whether you would put your conviction in christ above your earthly connections there was one thing that's right bob that was preventing him verse 23 said therefore his parents said his parents said he is of age ask him so they again call so they again let me ask you a question would you be not frustrated by now i mean like this is ridiculous after a while saying i'm not even going i don't even want to talk to them i spent hours talking to these religious people that don't believe in jesus i'm not going to try to convince them against their will but they did so they again called the man who was blind and said to him give god the glory we know that this man is a sinner who are they talking about they believed in god but they didn't believe in jesus they had seen jesus they had heard his miracles but they said there's no way a man of this young age could be the divine one so give god the glory that's why jesus said you believe in god believe also where in me there's no salvation apart from christ but the problem was the pharisees were more focused on the process than the results but the restored man was focused on the results and not so much the process that's why we come to the apex of the message oh i love it brett don't worry about how god does it but when he does it that's all that matters amen somebody let's look at the apex of the story verse 25. he said it's amazing and he answered and said whether he is a sinner or not i do not know one thing how many things one thing i know that though i was blind what is it now i see amen somebody amen praise the lord for that i know who i was before christ and i know who i am now after christ i know where my life was headed and i know where it's headed now i know my past but i see my future i don't want to go back somebody say that with me i don't want to go back i don't want to go back when the lord said to peter you're going to leave me he said to whom shall we go you are the christ you have the words of life i don't want to go back because the faith issues are too powerful when jesus changes us he also changes our responsibility let's wind this up look at the responsibilities acts 1 and verse 8 when the lord changes you he you are responsible for the change acts 1 8 but you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you when the lord changes you he gives you power but you can't sit on the power and you shall be witnesses to me in jerusalem in all judea and samaria and to the what ends of the earth when the lord changes your life he'll take you from where you are to those that you can't get along with to those that you have a hard time seeing eye to eye with and then when you get past those hurdles in your life he'll put the world at your doorstep to the ends of the world but our world is a place where spiritual blindness is being imposed paul the apostle said it this way in second corinthians chapter four verse three and four but even if our gospel is veiled or hidden it is hidden to those who are perishing why whose minds the god of this age has done what blinded who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god should shine on them the devil doesn't want them to see because if they see that one thing would be abandoned immediately just look at that in the bible that's what happened in scripture when the woman at the well saw jesus what did she abandon her part right when you find jesus the things you hold on to or the things that held you lose their connection with your future you are willing to let it go you are willing to let it go but when jesus transforms your life not only does he make you a witness but it transforms you to the last level and here's the last level of that young man's transformation look at it john chapter 9 verse 35 to 38 this formerly blind man now confesses jesus they put him out for doing right but jesus took him in look at verse 35 jesus heard that they cast him out he got put out of the synagogue on the sabbath and when he had found him he said to him this is this is the test do you believe in the son of god that was the issue of the day do you believe in the son of god he answered and said who is he lord that i may believe in him and jesus said to him you have both seen him now watch this could jesus have said that before he got his eyesight no he restored his sight so that he could see jesus jesus said you have both seen him and it is he who is talking to you and the bible says then he said together lord i believe and what happened and he worshipped him until we see jesus for who he is we will never consider that he alone is worthy of worship not the car he gave you not the house not the bank account not the things but he alone is worthy of worship so let me end with these two points here's the remedy here's the remedy for blindness let's look at the remedy two passages in the bible the remedy for blindness the remedy for blindness philippians 3 and verse 13 which is in fact an experience of this young man who used to be the bible says in philippians 3 13 brethren i do not count myself to have apprehended are you ready now say it with me but what but what let's say one more time with someone but what one thing i do wow how many things one one thing i do and what is that forgetting say that word with me forgetting are you able to do that forgetting those things which are where behind and reaching forward to those things which are where ahead paul said this and he next said now i'm able by forgetting what was in the past now i'm able to press toward the mark for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus but what was holding him to the past one thing and when paul let it go he was able to press toward the mark brethren are you there today the remedy for blindness for getting those things behind you but the antidote this is what happens the antidote last text psalm 27 verse 4 the antidote when the lord changes you your desires change everything about you change david the psalmist said it this way can we read it together here it is psalm 27 verse 4 together one thing i have desired of the lord what is it is it money is it fame is it popularity is it notoriety no here's what it is one thing i have desired of the lord and what is that that i will seek that i may dwell in the house of the lord how long all the days of my life to do what to behold the beauty of the lord and to inquire in his temple how many of you want to be in the house of the lord forever it's one thing one thing what is the one thing that is still playing havoc in your life what is the one thing that says to you day after day i'm not going to let you go because if i let you go you're going to become who god wants you to be what is that one thing that you're battling with what is that one memory what is that one family member what is that one experience you've had what is that one disappointment that you have idolized and made a statue after what is that one thing today that you are saying i cannot let this go and jesus is saying if you let it go i'll not just open your eyes i'll transform your life unless your transformation is more important than your incarceration you'll never get beyond that one thing i understood i was incarcerated not in a physical jail but in a spiritual one but i look back on that incarceration with memories to recognize that when i got rid of that one thing i was able to behold the beauty of the lord and now i can inquire in his temple and i can pray like the apostle john said there was one thing keeping me from being free from my past one thing preventing me from seeing jesus for who he is or knowing the power of christ when i gave up that one thing when i gave up that one thing i am who i am today because of what jesus was able to do oh he spat in my eyes i felt it he told me to walk while i was blind i did but i came back seeing because as the young man said i once was blind but now i see so i asked you the question today do you want to see what god has in store for your life are you completely sold out totally exuberant and happy where you are or do you believe somewhere in the depth of your soul that there's got to be more there's got to be more to this thing called christianity than just studying my sabbath school lesson going to church listening to christian television radio and still feeling that nothing is changing so the question is mom the pharisees the neighbors the disciples or the young man who was blind they were he used to be but now he can see how many of you want to join that young man today could you stand with me you see we've got to pray that prayer john said in revelation 3 anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see there's one thing keeping us and just in case you think this was just a great exercise in encouraging you let me tell you today the difference between who you are and who you can be is one thing somebody asked today you're standing but if there's somebody today that wants special prayer god knows what that that one thing is and you want to raise your hand and say i want to put that one thing before the lord today i don't want to keep dragging it around and my pulling it out every now and then remembering it and looking back and putting it back in there like somehow that one thing is more important than what god has in store for me yes one thing father in heaven i'm excited because i know what this story is all about i once was blind but now i see and now i can behold the beauty of the lord i could feel the warmth of your acceptance the beauty of your forgiveness the power of your transformation and father when i look out of my front door spiritually i can see a carpet that has no end and you've told me this is the way walk in it the father today there's so many that claim your name that somehow there's that one thing that lives in their hearts and their minds and their thoughts and their lives that that one chain that drags around their ankles that they can hear wherever they walk that one memory that one desire that one fascination that one addiction that one passion that they just refused to let go but today lord i pray that you won't let them rest until you spit in their eyes send them on their journey and they come back transformed may that be our desire today lord one thing i desire of the lord may that be our desire for you won't do it unless we want it you won't force us unless we invite you may that be our desire and finally father when we experience this transformation may we recognize that all along you've had witnessing opportunities you want us to proclaim your goodness your mercy your transformation and your grace and may we do that to your glory and your honor alone in jesus name i pray and all god's people said amen and amen you

Channel: Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church

Views: 12,082

Rating: 4.8088737 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: G1eW5PU_-Yo

Length: 86min 1sec (5161 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021