From Blindness To Boldness

This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. Welcome to All In with Pastor Jordan Easley. Today's message is about to begin, and we invite you to prepare your heart and mind to hear an inspiring message from God's Word. We hope and pray for God to speak to you today as you seek to live your life all in for Jesus Christ. And now from First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tennessee, here's Pastor Jordan Easley. If you have your Bible, I wanna encourage you to open it up, to join us, to walk through this text, and also to take notes. I always inspire you and try to encourage you to take notes because I know that you're gonna forget 90% of what I say if you don't write it down, all right? So God has a Word for us today, and I pray that you're encouraged. And so as you're turning there, let me pray for us and we'll get started. Lord, today we thank you for the opportunity we have just to be in this place. Lord, thank you for the freedom we have in this country to open up God's Word, and Lord, I know that you wanna speak to us today. So God, speak clearly, get me out of the way, and just let us know what you want us to see. It's in Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said, amen.

You know, most people don't know the name Harland Sanders, but it's a name that I've been familiar with for a while. I've studied this guy's story. In leadership circles, people talk about Harland because when he was in his 60s, he had already been through a lot in his life. This was a guy who had been a farmhand. He had been an insurance salesman. He ran a gas station at one point. He was a chef at a little restaurant that he owned. I mean, he had a lot of things going on, but even in his 60s, he had faced nothing but constant failure and disappointment in his life. He owned a restaurant in a place called Corbin, Kentucky that was doing pretty good for a while until the interstate was installed and took all of his customers in the other direction. And so at age 65, this guy's looking at his life, and he's saying, man, I've got nothing but a Social Security check for 105 bucks, and I've got a couple of possessions, and I don't really have anything to do or anywhere to go. And so he decided in that moment that he was just gonna pack his vehicle with everything that he owned, and he was gonna go on a tour of America trying to figure out what's next in his story. You know, as the story is told, he went from diner to diner trying to convince people to hire him as a chicken chef.

He had a recipe that he thought was pretty good, and so Harland was going to all these people saying, hire me because I think what I have is special. I believe what I have could change things. But most people that met him disagreed, and they turned him down and dismissed him time and time again. Some people even laughed at him. Other people just called him crazy and slammed the door in his face. But as Harland tells the story, on that particular road trip, he was turned down and rejected 1,009 times. But then one day, on the 1,010th attempt, he had an encounter with someone that said yes, and that one yes changed everything. You see, that one moment turned a rejected recipe into one of the most recognizable brands in the entire world. Today, we know this as KFC. It is finger-lickin' good. Amen. We all know that logo. That logo represents a global empire. And today, Colonel Sanders is a household name, not because he never failed, but because he refused to give up until he experienced that one life-changing moment that completely changed his story. Hey, let me ask you a question today.

Have you ever experienced a moment like that in your life? A moment that changed everything? Today, in Mark chapter 10, we're gonna read about another guy who had one of those experiences in his life, an encounter that changed everything in his story. He was a blind man. He was a beggar named Bartimaeus, and he lived every single day of his life sitting by the road, listening as the crowd of people passed him by. But then one day, something shifted. It shifted when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was in the neighborhood. See, at that point, Jesus already had a reputation that was widespread and very significant, especially in the area of Galilee. See, by that point in his ministry, Jesus had already been healing people for many years. The Bible tells us at that point, he had already healed lepers, paralytics. He had also healed those who were demon-possessed. At this point in his ministry, he had already fed thousands of people, and he had walked on the water, and he had calmed the storm, and he had raised the dead. And so because of that, massive crowds of people were following Jesus everywhere he went,

especially people who were desperate. for a miracle. You see, in that day, the world was very aware about Jesus, and they knew what he was capable of. And that's why when Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was near, you see in this story that his faith was awakened, hope filled his heart, and a cry of desperation came from his lips. I love this story. Let me tell you why. It's because this story reminds us that Jesus is never too busy to stop for the desperate. Aren't you grateful for that today? He and he's also never too distracted to hear a cry of faith. And in this passage, we'll see how one cry of faith stopped our Savior in his tracks. And we'll see how one encounter with Jesus moved Bartimaeus from blindness to boldness. Mark chapter 10, we'll begin reading in verse 46. It said, they came to Jericho, and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar was sitting by the road. So that's our introduction today. Mark tells us that Jesus is on his way through Jericho. He's heading out of Jericho and he is making his journey towards Jerusalem. Now, remember on the timeline that Jesus in this story is traveling to Jerusalem for the final time.

This was Jesus on the way to face betrayal and to face suffering and to ultimately face the cross. So think about his mindset as he's moving towards Jerusalem. You know that Jesus is fully aware of where he's headed. He's fully aware of what's next in the timeline. And so think about the mindset as Jesus is making this journey. This was the setting for one of his final public miracles before the cross. He's got a large crowd that's following. Some people are in awe. Some people are confused by him. Some people are believing that he's the Messiah and they're waiting for Jesus to establish a political kingdom. And they're making their way through Jericho to Jerusalem. Jericho was a very wealthy city that had a lot of people in the day of Christ. It was a bustling city that was only 15 miles from Jerusalem. So just think about it this way. For pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem for the Passover, this would have been their last stop. This was, they would put buckies in Jericho today. All right? This is where you would stop, bathrooms forever, and you would stop in Jericho on your way to Jerusalem. So the roads would have been crowded. Imagine this, they would have been noisy.

There would have been people everywhere, busy with travelers. And in the midst of all sorts of religious activity, Jesus decides he's gonna do something profoundly personal. What does he do in that moment? He stops for one man, this man named Bartimaeus. You know, it's interesting to me that Mark names Bartimaeus in this story. It's very rare for someone who is healed in the Bible. Normally in scripture, people like this guy are sort of defined by their illness. They're defined by their issue. Like we've read about the blind man. We've read about the paralytic. We've read about the leper or the demon possessed or the woman with the issue of blood. But this time it's different. And Mark calls this man by his name. His name was Bartimaeus, which literally means son of Timaeus. So that's interesting that we know the man's name. We also know this man's condition. That condition was blindness. Blindness was something that would have placed him on the fringe of society. It also tells us this man was a beggar. So he was a man that couldn't see. And as people passed him by, everyone saw him daily, but no one really saw him. He was that guy, Bartimaeus, the blind beggar.

And Jesus encountered him on his way to Jerusalem. You know, in this story, we see four different things that I wanna point out today. The first of which is a cry of desperation. This is the beginning of this encounter. We see a cry of desperation. In verse 47, we read, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Many warned him to keep quiet, but he was crying out all the more. Have mercy on me, son of David. Bartimaeus couldn't see, but he could hear just fine. And when he heard the name of Jesus, he knew that that was a name that meant something. See, he had likely heard stories of miracles and compassion and power. And while he heard that name, hearing that name gave him hope. You know, it's interesting that he didn't cry out, Jesus of Nazareth, like everybody else did that day. In fact, even in the scripture, he's referred to as Jesus of Nazareth. He heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming through. That's what the crowd were calling Jesus. But when he addresses Jesus, I want you to notice that. He didn't refer to him by that title. He referred to him as the son of David, which is interesting because that is a loaded messianic claim that goes all the way back to the prophecies.

That's a term that goes all the way back to 2 Samuel chapter 7 and Isaiah chapter 11. This wasn't a cry just for healing. This was a cry of faith that was declaring to Jesus himself saying, hey, Jesus, I believe that you're the son of God. You see the difference? In a Jewish mindset, blindness was oftentimes associated with sin. In fact, if you go to John chapter 9, the disciples made that assumption about another blind man. It says in verse 2, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind? So that was a common misconception in that day. If you saw a blind person, you would naturally assume, oh, they really must have messed up big time. Or God must be really upset with that person. And so if you see a blind beggar on the streets, you're looking at them thinking God has cursed them or God has punished them. And yet here's a man declaring, no, the Messiah is near and he's calling out to Jesus in the midst of this crowd and he's not asking him for money, he's asking him for mercy. And the louder the crowd got, the louder he yelled. And the louder he yelled, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. The louder the crowd tried to drown him out. They're trying to keep him quiet. They're aggressively trying to keep his voice from being heard. You know what's crazy about this story? It reminds me of today. Listen, for 2000 plus years, the culture and the crowds have tried to prevent people from yelling out to Jesus. I mean, it's the same thing that's happening today. How often do we let the crowds keep us quiet? Have you ever thought about that? How often do we stop short of our breakthrough because of our fear or because of our pride

or because of public opinion? And yet here's Bartimaeus and he's like, man, I'm yelling out for Jesus, right? And he teaches us in this moment a very important lesson and that is desperation is the birthplace of transformation. Hey, I want you to get this today. Desperation is the birthplace of transformation. When your heart truly longs for Jesus, when you know that no one else can help you, that no one else can heal you, when you long to see God meet you at your point of need and do something that only God can do, hey, nothing is going to stop your cry. You know, I remember when I was a little boy, my parents brought us to Disney World for the very first time. And it was the typical family Disney experience. You know, we were there from sunup to sundown. We rode all the rides. We saw all the parades. We were sweaty and gross. We had the full day. It sounds like a nightmare today, but when I was a little kid, it was awesome. But I remember at the end of that day, getting on one of those little chartered buses that are going to take you back to the hotel and as we got on that, on that bus, we all just kind of sat back in our seat. We took a deep breath. We're like, it's been a long day. But in that moment of just relaxing and catching our breath, one of my parents realized that my little sister, who was probably four or five years old at the time, was missing at Disney World. And you just know, if you've ever had a moment like that as a parent, you know what it feels like to have that moment of panic in your heart. At that point, all you care about is finding your kid. And I'm sitting back watching my parents and I'm like, oh yeah, they're focused on the

goal, all right? They are locked in on the goal. Nothing else matters in that moment. If you're a parent, you understand this. You're not worried about people staring at you in that moment. You're not worried about people talking about you or making fun of you. You're just focused on finding your kid. You're yelling their names. You're pushing people that are in your way. You're running from place to place like your hair's on fire and you don't care about anything else, right? And why do you do that? It's because you love your kid. And in those moments of desperation, check this out, your love overrides your pride. When I think about this moment with Bartimaeus, that's the picture in my mind. It's a sense of urgency that he has. He doesn't care if the crowd's trying to keep him quiet. He doesn't care if the crowd is trying to block him out. He knows that Jesus can fix his heart. And he knows that Jesus can address his problem. And so he moves through the crowd and he yells even louder, a cry of desperation saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Listen, a cry of desperation is the first part of the story. But it's not the last part of the story. The next thing we see is a call of compassion. So he's yelling, have mercy on me, and verse 49 says Jesus stopped and he said, call him. Call him. So get this, Jesus walked through the crowd, but he stopped for a cry.

This may be the most powerful moment in the entire story. Because remember Jesus with the weight of the cross on his shoulders, with the noise of the crowd surrounding him that day, with all the craziness and all the chaos, Jesus stops. He stops for one blind man that society had ignored. And notice he didn't just perform this miracle from a distance, he didn't just like wave his hand and heal him that way, he called his disciples over and he said, go get him. Call him. And look at what the Bible says. So they called the blind man and said to him, have courage, get up, he's calling for you. I wanna read that again. Have courage, get up, he's calling for you. You've got this man who's lived a life of hardship, a man who understands what it's like to be down and out. A man who his entire life had been overlooked, a man who his entire life had been forgotten. And yet in this moment they say, get up, he's calling for you. Here's what this verse tells us. Have courage and get up tells us it takes courage to follow Jesus, it takes courage to trust Jesus. Would you agree with that today? It takes courage to speak up when the crowd tries to keep you quiet, it takes courage to believe that the power of God can actually do a work in your life, but you know what, the Bible also reminds us

if you have the courage to get up and go to Jesus, Jesus can do something that the world can't do. If you're willing to stand courageously, if you're willing to get up and run to Jesus, he can do something in your story that no one else can do. And that's what you see in this text. Verse 50 said, this man threw off his coat, he jumped up and he came to Jesus. That coat, by the way, likely represented his status as a beggar. It may have been his only possession, it most likely was. His coat was his bed, it was his shelter, it was his warmth on a cold night. That coat represented his identity. So when he throws off his coat in this verse, that action actually symbolizes great faith, but also expectancy. This was Bartimaeus leaving behind his old life, but also trusting Jesus for his new life. You know, I read a story about a World War II soldier this past week who was trapped under a rubble of a bombed building. And the rescuers, they shouted down through a narrow shaft at this man, offering to pull him up, but they told him, we cannot pull you up until you get rid of everything that's strapped to you. So if you wanna be pulled to safety, you've gotta get rid of the helmet, you've gotta get rid of the pack, you've gotta leave your gun behind,

you've gotta leave your security behind, you've gotta leave your medals behind that you've worked so hard for in the past. If you wanna be free, you've gotta strip off everything on you. And man, I think about that as I read Bartimaeus' story. He threw off the one thing that had defined his past, and by doing so, he trusted Jesus for something even greater in his future. He was willing to abandon the comfortable in his pursuit of the eternal. And man, as believers today, or even as seekers today, I believe God wants us to ask the question, what is it that God is asking us to let go of in order to pursue Jesus and experience Jesus in a whole new way? Because you know what I see in scripture? You can't run to Jesus while clinging to your past. You can't run to Jesus by faith while clinging on to the things that used to define you. When Jesus initially calls his disciples, think about those stories. You've got Simon Peter, you've got Andrew, you've got James, you've got John. What did he say to those boys? He said, drop your nets and follow me. When he called Matthew as a disciple in Matthew chapter nine, verse nine, he said, follow me. But that followership means that he had to leave behind his tax booth.

He had to leave behind his wealth, his job, his lucrative career, his Roman alignment, all the progress that he had made professionally. He said, you can follow me, but you're gonna leave all of that. When Jesus met the rich young ruler, you remember what happened in Mark 10, 21. Jesus said, go sell all of your possessions and give them to me. but to the poor and then you'll have treasure in heaven and then come follow me. So once again, we see a call to follow Jesus is a call to leave some stuff behind. We saw it again with the Samaritan woman that met Jesus at the well. That story said that she left her water jar there at the well and then she ran into town to tell everybody what Jesus had done in her life. At that point, that jar represented the only hope that the woman had. The only possibility of her quenching her thirst was because of that jar. But then she was introduced to the living water that Jesus provides and that encounter changed her life. Listen, Jesus tells all of his disciples in Luke 9 23, if anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Bartimaeus denied himself in this story. He threw off his coat, he threw off his past, he threw off his hope and then the Bible says,

he jumped up and he came to Jesus. A call of compassion and that's how he chose to respond. The third thing we see in this story is a question of faith and in verse 51, we see that Jesus is the one asking the question. It says, then Jesus answered him, what do you want me to do for you? That's the question he asked him. What do you want me to do for you? I think we would all agree that at first glance, that question seems a little bit unnecessary, right? I mean, it's pretty obvious what you want him to do. You've got a blind man here who's a beggar. He's meeting Jesus, he's yelled out to you in faith and now you're gonna ask him, hey, what do you want me to do for you? There's something in me that naturally says, hey, why would you ask that question, Jesus? What were you trying to go for? And yet when you start to unravel the meaning behind the question, here's what you're gonna discover. Jesus didn't ask that question for information. He asked that question to invite participation. In that moment, he wanted Bartimaeus to demonstrate his faith. He wanted him to name his need. He wanted him to articulate his belief. And when you look at the rest of the story, that's exactly what he did. In verse 51, Jesus had just asked the question,

what do you want me to do for you? And this is how he responded, rabbi, I want to see. That word rabbi is a fascinating word. If you're kind of a scripture nerd and you like the word studies, this word only appears two times in the gospels. It appears right here in this story, but then it also appears in John chapter 20, verse 16, where Mary Magdalene meets the risen savior. And it's a word that isn't used very often because it's so deeply personal and reverent. We see the word rabbi all over scripture. Rabbi literally means teacher or respected teacher. But rabbi means my great teacher, my Lord and master, my savior. It's a word that shows greater reverence and personal devotion and really the deepest form of respect and affection. So by him using this word, here's what we know. You ready? Bartimaeus wasn't just requesting sight. Bartimaeus was surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He said, rabbi and I declaring, I believe in you and I want to follow you. And then he cries out in desperation, I want to see. Here's what this moment means to me. It's a story that, this is a part of the story that reminds me that there is power in spoken faith.

And I want you to get this today. There is a powerful thing when you speak it out loud. You know, Romans 10, 10, it says, for with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. There is something powerful about confessing your faith. So I want you to personalize this part of the story today. I want you to insert yourself in this encounter with Christ and think about Jesus asking these words. What do you want me to do for you? You know, when we hear that, it's really easy to slip into vague prayers and just kind of pray vague prayers and Lord, we want you to bless us and we want you to do all these things. But here's what this reminds me of today. If you say you believe in God, then you should trust him enough to pray bold prayers to God. You know, saying that just reminds me of a story that one of my mentors, Dr. Charles Stanley, used to tell quite often. He used to talk about this small farming town that he was aware of that was experiencing a terrible drought. For months and months, there was no rain that fell at all. And the local church congregation, they decided that they were going to gather for a prayer meeting to pray specifically for God to bring rain to their community. I mean, the fields were dying. Nothing was growing. Livelihoods were at stake, and spirits were low. Just about everybody in town, because of that moment, they showed up to this church and

all said, we came here to pray. But then Dr. Stanley would also talk about this one little girl who walked in, and she walked in differently than anybody else in that entire building. Because everybody else showed up to pray, and they were wearing their best, and they were prepared for this moment, but this little girl showed up with an umbrella. And you know, that simple object spoke volumes to the congregation that day. Her umbrella said, I'm not just going to show up and pray for rain, I'm going to show up and believe God for the rain. I'm going to believe God will hear my prayers and respond to us and give us what God knows we need. That little girl didn't just pray boldly, she came expectantly. You see the difference? As he tells the story, he said within 15 minutes of them saying amen that day, the rains begin to fall, and only one person in the room was ready for it. Hey, hear me today. If you have the faith to pray it, have the faith to say it. If you have the faith to pray it, then have the faith to say it. Bartimaeus yelled out, rabbi, when the crowds are trying to keep him quiet, he said, I want to see. And Jesus responded to his spoken faith. A question of faith, but the last thing we see is a miracle of mercy, a miracle of mercy. Verse 52, Jesus said to him, go, your faith has saved you. Immediately he could see and began to follow Jesus on the road. In just one moment, Jesus changed everything. He speaks, Bartimaeus sees. And what did Jesus say? He said, go for your faith has saved you. The Greek word here for saved, by the way, is the word shisokin, and it means more than physical healing. It's talking about holistic salvation.

It's a word that means to save or to deliver or to heal or to make something completely whole. Which means in this moment, Bartimaeus didn't just regain sight, Bartimaeus began a brand new life. And I want you to notice that the first thing Bartimaeus did as soon as he regained his vision is to follow Jesus. That's the first thing he did. He followed Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. How crazy is this story? A blind beggar became a disciple of Jesus. Many scholars believe that Bartimaeus went on to become a very well-known figure in the early church, which is the reason why Mark could call him by name. This wasn't just a guy as they were passing by. This wasn't just a one-time miracle. It was an encounter that created a lasting testimony. Listen, a true encounter with Jesus Christ will always change your life. He won't just give you a better day. He'll give you a whole new direction. Are you seeking to deepen your faith and grow in your walk with Jesus? I invite you to visit our online store at GoAllIn.tv right now. Our store offers a variety of resources that are absolutely free to you. You can browse at your convenience, select the items that will benefit you the most, and we'll mail them to you right away. Available items include a free Bible in a year reading guide, a powerful prayer study guide to enhance your prayer life, and a guide to the Holy Land with incredible photos from various sites all across Israel, just to name a few. To find the right resource for you, scan the QR code on the screen right now, or visit the website. Once again, that's GoAllIn.tv. Click the store button in the menu, and you'll be right where you need to be.

Thank you for watching today's broadcast, and please know I'm praying for you today as you grow closer to Jesus every single day. God bless you. See you next time. We never want to end our broadcast without giving you the opportunity to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. If you'd like to make the decision to trust Jesus, and want to know more about what it looks like to follow Jesus, get in touch with me right now. Follow the instructions at the bottom of the screen so that we can pray for you, and also put information in your hands right away. Today, we say... Celebrate your decision and look forward to being a part of your personal journey of going all in with Jesus Christ. This episode of All In with Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. We hope today's message encourages you as you strive to live your life fully committed to Jesus Christ. ♪