Open Blind Eyes Tribe 2024-08-04 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com. Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com. If you if you're over thirty this morning, let me hear you say good morning. Good morning. If you're under thirty this morning, let me hear you say good morning. Good morning. Yeah. That's that's what I was picking up. Oh, thirty just on the barrel head. You go either use yes. You go either way. That's great. And the rest of us are on ibuprofen. It's fantastic. There's a little card in your seat if you are visiting or you are passing through this morning. We would love to have a record of your visit or if you call tribe home but you want to stay connected with what we are doing and what's going on, if you fill that little card out and then drop it in the box right by the swinging saloon doors on your way out, We we take those cards and we can we'll we'll add those too. We'll make sure we get you on the text blast that we send out. Also, there's room on there. If you would like to leave a prayer request, it really is a highlight of our staff meeting on Mondays. We consider it an honor. Every time we get a connect card and on the back, there's a prayer request whether it's like like significant or superficial. It doesn't matter. It's important enough for you to write it down. We really feel honored that you would allow us a little glimpse into your life to be able to agree with you in prayer and so we take them very seriously. If you like want to put your name or like whatever you want to do. We we will make sure that we get those lifted up to you. Also, at the end of service, if there's anything that you need prayer for, Lanisha and the Micas family, they like find their way to the back there with the booth and I'll have them wave to you in at the end of service. So, if there's anything that you need prayer for like right now in this moment, like, express mail, not regular mail, but, like, express, let's get it there. They would love to pray for you at the end of service. Sound good? Sounds good. Sounds good. If you have your bible with you this morning, would you turn to the book of John? And if you're taking notes, you can write at the top of your notes this morning, open blind eyes. That's gonna be our topic of conversation this morning, open blind eyes and we're going to be in the book of John chapter nine. Last week, if you will remember, we we tied a bow on a series of conversations that we were having about hanging your hat on god's truth and yes, the bow has been tied and snugged up. That series has been wrapped in lace and set on the shelves of our hearts so that we can pull it out and unpack it whenever we need it and I'm going to try not to to like like quickly untie the bow and like take the package off the shelf but there's there's as we read together today, I think that you'll see a lot of connections with what we've been talking about in in the dialogue and in the text that the the conversations that's recorded here in the text. And so I'm going to try not to like go back there but it's going to be hard and if you make those connections, fantastic. I would love to hear from you. Why don't we do this together today? Instead of just me preaching, Aaron's like, don't make eye contact. Why don't we do this together collectively like like friends instead of just me sitting up here being the the only voice with the mic that supposedly knows everything. If you know me, you you know that's certainly not true but I would like us to do this together. I would love us to engage with this content and what we're going to read. I'd like us to engage with it together. So, if you have questions, comments, or connections, all you have to do is raise your hand. Yes, you get to talk out loud during the sermon. I want to hear from you. We want to hear from you and there's a mic that's in the room. If you just raise your hand, the mic will be passed to you and and the reason why we have the mic in the room is so that we could probably hear your voice without the mic but we use the mic so that all of our families that are joining in the service on the livestream, they get to be participating. They get to hear what's going on. The the mic, if you're not mic ed in the room, the the video mic won't pick up your voice and people in the live stream are like, what they say? And so, this allows them to stay connected with us in the service, okay? With that in mind, did I tell you what chapter in John? I didn't tell you. I was checking but it looks like there's help. So, John chapter nine, we're going to read verses one through 12 and I have a feeling that like, we might get on a roll and we may just, like, like, brace yourself for the whole chapter. Sorry, we'll just read an entire chapter of god's word together on Sunday at church. Raise your hand if this will be the only time you've gotten into your Bible this week. Don't. Don't just. Don't. Or I don't know. Maybe do this. It'll be great for you. John chapter nine, we're going to read verses one through 12 and then we'll reach a decision point. See if we want to continue on with reading and the mic is in the back of the room and the way that we do it here at Tribe is we just pass the mic around, read a few verses, and then you can hand it off to somebody else that would read. Most of us read from the New Living Translation. So, if you have your electronic Bible, you can queue up the NLT. If you have an acoustic Bible and it's not the NLT, just do the best you can. Yeah, electronic. Oh. Acoustic. Alright. Verse one. As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind? Jesus said, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. He told him, go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam. Siloam means scent. So the man went and washed and came back seeing. Wow. We just read that. Like, I'm not saying you read it casually, but we just read those. Mhmm. Verses so casually. The cry of my heart today is that somehow, someway, by a miracle of the living god, not only if he wants to open blind eyes that he would do that, but that we would encounter the man born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, cruising around Galilee, who lived and breathed and is alive forevermore, that we would encounter the reality of him instead of being inoculated by stories that we read about him. Jesus just spit in the dirt, made a mud pie, rubbed it on the guy's eyes, and told him to go wash and the and and and we just read that. He washed and came back seeing, incredible. Let's keep going. His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, isn't this the man who used to sit and beg? Some said he was and others said no, he just looks like him. But the beggar kept saying, yes, I am the one the same one. They asked, Who healed you? Happened? He told them, The man they called Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, Go to the Pool Of Siloam and wash yourself. So I went and washed and now I can see. Where is he go where is he now? They asked. I don't know, he replied. We want we like like the story is just getting good, right? Okay, great. Let's keep going. Verse 13. How far am I going? The people, they want the whole chapter. Okay. It's so good. 13, then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees because he was but because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, he put the mud over my eyes and when I washed away, I could see. Some of the Pharisees said, this man Jesus is not from god for he is working on the Sabbath. Others said, but but how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs? So there was a deep division of opinion among them. Then the pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, what's your opinion about this man who healed you? The man replied, I think he must be a prophet. The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been had been blind and could now see, so they called his parents. They asked them, is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see? His parents replied, we know this is our son and that he was born blind. Quick pause. As we read these verses, we tend to think that the events happen and unfold as quickly and succinctly as we read them. The Jewish verse 18, the Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see. So they called his parents and then in verse 19, then they're asking them. It is it is we're not reading into the text. We're not stretching the text but it is very reasonable to conclude that the parents weren't just standing right there like all like a bunch of actors on a stage and then the pharisees turned to the parents and said, who happened to be right there? Right? That's one of the things that I I enjoy about the chosen is there's some some really cool granted admittedly artistic shading and coloring filled into the story and so I see that as I read this. They they launched a formal inquiry and an investigation and had a hearing. You had to track down the parents. You had to identify the parents. You had to get the pharisees back together. You had to have the scribes there to record it. They were put essentially on trial. That doesn't happen between, like, one the the period of one sentence and the capitalization of the letter of the next sentence. And so allow your holy sanctified imagination to consider what a a huge stir this is causing in the community. And imagine a Pharisee like like getting into work one morning and he like logs into his email and it's like important meeting like on Wednesday at 6PM. Like, ugh, I gotta clear my calendar and like, you know, reply all. Okay, fine. I'll be there. But it took a lot just for this moment to happen. Are you with me? Alright, let's continue reading. Start from. Twenty. Eighteen. So start from eighteen so you can, like, see it, read it, and then here we go. K. The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called his parents. They asked them, is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see? His parents replied, we know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don't know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He's old enough to speak for himself. His his parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That's why they that's why they said he is old enough. Ask him. So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to god. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? And he answered them, I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? Oh. So, I imagine, I don't know if any of you have seen, like, like, super boring C SPAN where they have, like, the entirety of, like, you know, congressional hearings and things like that. And there's been stories in the news, really, I just check-in on the sound bites of, like, various committee meetings, congressional hearings. You know, like, they're talking to the director of the secret service after the Trump thing. They're talking to these other people. They come in. They sit down. They're asked these questions. That's in in my imagination, that's kind of what is unfolding here. It's a congressional inquiry where people of position and influence are grilling these witnesses to come in under subpoena and testify and hear the blind man. He's like, there's a whole new world that I need to be looking at, and I'm just looking at you guys. And I don't know if you see it, but I see emotion of like like exasperation. Maybe he's getting a little bit sassy. Look, I told you once, didn't you listen? Do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too? Those in the gallery gasped. Verse 28. And they involved him saying, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he is, where he comes from. And the man answered, why? This is an amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. That's important. That is that is clearly a sign that Old Testament second temple period Jews were acutely aware of as a sure fire indicator take it to the bank sign of the Messiah. It's one thing if, you know, you got like a piece of dirt in your eye and it gets washed out. Now, I can see, woo hoo. It's one thing you were you could see and then maybe you had hemorrhagic fever and then you lost your sight. But Pharisees knew that anyone who was born blind. And recovered their sight or gained their sight. That was extremely significant which is part of the cause for this huge inquiry. And and that that's why that detail is in there. It's a big deal. If this man were not from god, he could do nothing. They answered him, you were born in utter sin and would you teach us? And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out and having found him, he said. Oh, quick pause. Sorry. Anybody ever felt like you didn't get picked for kickball? Anybody ever felt like you've been rejected, that you have been betrayed, abandoned, passed over, overlooked, in a community whether it was your family or friends or anything. If you ever felt rejected and alone, you can relate to this man and it is this man after he was expelled from the synagogue, it says that Jesus found him. If you feel alone, abandoned, rejected, outcast, like you don't fit in, you, my friend, are welcome here and you, my friend, are a prime target for Jesus to find you right where you are. That'll preach. And having found him, he said, do you believe in the son of man? And he answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Jesus said, for George, for judgement, I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say, we see your guilt remains. All of John chapter nine. May the lord bless the reading of his word this morning. There's a good opportunity to check-in with you. If you've been tracking with the series of conversations that we've been having about hanging your hat on god's truth. In this story, I see a number of examples of of characters in this story, people in this story who had their hat hung in one place and then Jesus comes along and then scrambles the whole thing up and so, if you're like, I am not tracking at all with this like hanging your hat thing that probably means you haven't been here in a while or you're just visiting. It's okay. Just, like, hang in there with us. So, first of all, let's do this. Let's identify the various characters that are in this story. So, you don't need to like, you don't need the mic but just like tell me and I'll repeat it in the mic. Who is one of the characters in this story? Jesus. There you go. Go for that low hanging fruit first and then right there next is the blind man. So, we've got Jesus, the blind man, who is another character in the story? The Pharisees. The Pharisees. Yep. Exactly. And then. His parents. His parents. The rents. Any any other characters? The disciples minor, yep, minor character but important because they triggered this whole sequence of events. Okay. Whenever you read a a story from the Bible like in the in the gospels, as you're trying to mine out the goodness of what God intended, not what you want to see, but what God intended in his word. A great step as you're studying the Bible is you read something and then you can just go back and ask yourself, who are the main characters? And if you want to write them down, great. Then you can write down the actions, the sequence of events that happened, and then you go back through and you look for any interesting details that stand out to you. And then from those details that stand out from you, then you can like really go on a fine tooth search. You can use various bible study tools. You can pray, ask like, holy spirit, are you showing me something in here? That's that's one of the many ways that you can pull out the richness from the text of what god intended. The question that I have for you as we get into this text is, in light of the series of conversations that we have recently had about hanging your hat on god's truth, what examples do you see of people who either didn't have a hook on which to hang their hat of the events that they witnessed or perhaps they were hanging their hat on the wrong hook and then Jesus like messes everything up. What do you see? Raise your hand and we'll get the mic to you. What do you see in this? Okay. Yeah. That he healed on the Sabbath. So, the mic's still coming up. Tell us a little bit more. That Jesus healed on the Sabbath. So, a good Jewish person would not be doing any sort of work on the Sabbath. And so it just ruffled the I almost said the Philistines, the Pharisees feathers. Absolutely. So Jesus hope would be he didn't do what he was supposed to be doing. That that is the first like, ah, for the Jesus is never doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's never doing it. He's always doing his own thing according to his own good purpose and plan and if we come across a a situation where like, Jesus, you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. Who's wrong? It's us. So, Jesus was known as a rabbi, a teacher of the Tanach which is the entire Old Testament. The Torah is the first five books but when you look at the entire Old Testament as Christians, we call it the Old Testament. A Jew today would call it the Tanah. And if Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher, then he should there was an expectation of the Pharisees that he would obey all the laws which included honoring the Sabbath which he did but there was a man made tradition that you don't heal on the Sabbath. Jesus like, I feel no obligation whatsoever at all to to acquiesce, to conform to your man made traditions. And so the Pharisees had a hook that said, you don't heal on the Sabbath and that's where they hung the hat. And Jesus was like, oops, bump. That's a great example. What else? I would say the the parents were hanging their hat, and you just spoke to it on that hook of tradition because they were unwilling to claim Jesus as a messiah even though it could be inferred that they believed he was because they feared being thrown out of the synagogue like their son was. Perhaps their position, their status was at stake. Oh, that's a rough one. Oh, how about the disciples? Way at the beginning of the story. Look at this. What what hook were they trying to hang a hat on at the very beginning? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. And and then tell us a little more. Yeah. They were trying to make it fit that all illness comes from sin. So they were asking, is it, like, why was he born blind? Was it because of his sin or his parents' sin? I'm making yeah, we're going to speak to that but I'm making a connection. We see twice mentioned his parents. I've never, I haven't made that connection before. The disciples, I I wonder if it's possible that the the blind person was known and more importantly, the parents of the blind person was known And that maybe the disciples knew of or knew of the reputation or the standing in the synagogue of the parents. I wonder. Okay. So, the disciples were trying to hang a hat on his blindness being caused by number one, sin and number two, the possibility that it was his sin or the sin of his parents. I almost feel like the disciples were attempting to touch the corner of their glasses when they ask that question. Jesus, look at this blind man. I want to impress you with my knowledge by asking you a question. Do you think that it was his sin or the sin of his parents? Trying to like maybe or earn some spiritual brownie points with Jesus. I'm totally reading into the text that. And what does Jesus do? Knocks the hat right off that hook. Now, this next sentence, his answer is really important. It's really easy to get wrong and it's very, very important to get right. Wherever the mic is, this side of the room is really carrying the service today and Lissa. But what is Jesus's answer? Would somebody read the text? What is Jesus's answer to the disciples query? Jesus says, it was not because of his sins or his parents' sins. This happened so the power of god could be seen in him. Perfect. So, he says, let me tell you what it's not. It's not his sin. It is not the sin of his parents but then he gives an answer. Is his answer an explanation for why? Good response The teacher is not trying to trick you but here's what many people do. Many people read this story and they get they get hung up and they spin out in the mud on Jesus's answer. And I will admit to you that from looking at the basic grammar of the text, it could appear as though the man was born blind. Why? For this moment in time, and so it's almost as if what? God did it. Did god cause this man's blindness? Consider it. Consider it. Consider it. Take a moment. Look at the text. Did god cause this man's blindness? Now, to answer that very important question, you have to you have to widen the aperture of scripture that you're looking at and consider all of Jesus's works and all of what we know about the nature and character of god and when you do that, you will clearly discover that god did not cause this man's blindness. Well, how do we know that? How much time do you have? Because it sounds kind like it. It kind of sounds like it. Admit, how many of you would think like, it kind of sounds like it. Let's be honest. It kind, it kind of does sound like it. It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins. Jesus answered, this happened so that the power of god could be seen. Oh, I love that. Seen. In him. Oh, this would be a great word study. Go through John chapter nine and just highlight or write down every occurrence of see, seen, sight, and see how many times it's mentioned right here in in John chapter nine. Here's what's actually happening. We know from a preponderance of scriptural evidence that the god of the Bible is a good god and he describes himself even further as a good and loving father. What good father would intentionally blind their child? No good dad would do that. Now, if you're still spinning your wheels in the mud, you might be thinking, yes, yes, yes, but god did that to that child, infant in the womb, and have him go through how how we don't know the age of this man but we do get a clue what it he's gotta be older than like the age of accountability because when his parents come in, they say, question him. He's able to answer on his own. So, a minimum of what? When do you have your bar mitzvah? 13? 13. 13. Thirteen years of blindness. Being an outcast from society. Because the culture thought, oh, either he sinned or his parents sinned, ew, icky. God did not cause him to be blind. But here's what Jesus is saying. I'm not rewriting the text. I'm trying to help you understand what the text is saying. This happened Things in this world just happen. It's a part of living in a fallen, cursed world. Things just happen. It's not a surprise to god. It's not outside of his knowing about it but it's also not outside of his scope of being able to do something wonderful and amazing with it. So, look what Jesus said. This happened. It it just happened. It's not his sin. It's not his parent's sin. It just happened. But this is going to be an opportunity. For the power of god to be seen and through him. And even that is tough to say, I agree with you. God allowed it That's that's a tough one to swallow. I would say, I would say to try to make it a little less jagged edged to go down to make it easier to digest and swallow. In his foreknowledge, he knew of this. Nothing surprises him, right? Yes. Nothing surprises him. It makes me think of Jesus's words when he says, in this life, there will be trials and tribulations but take heart. I've overcome the world and so it's kind of like that baseline of there are in this fallen world. There are trials. There are tribulations. There is hardship. But then there's the overriding but take heart. And I feel like this is one of those scenes of take heart. Yes. I've overcome the world. Overriding, overarching I would say what we see is one one law at work. We live in a fallen world where where bad stuff just happens all the time. But in the same way that the law of aerodynamics transcends the law of gravity, we see a higher law at work. In Jesus, always fully realizing moments. Realize this is an opportunity for the glory of god to be displayed and here we are two thousand years still talking about it. Two thousand years later. So, something that I am chewing on. This is not a fully formed thought but the phrasing of saying God caused it, I think, a perspective of blindness being an illness versus a characteristic of a human. Like a characteristic that, as we said, could draw strength from or learn from or grow from or overcome. So it wouldn't be so bad to view blindness as a creation of God when you view blindness from the perspective of what he's overcome now. Like, he's developed other characteristics through his blindness that gives him strength in ways that he couldn't if you were not blind. Let me see if I can resay back to you what I think you're saying. By way of a story from the Old Testament in the book of Genesis, when Joseph was the youngest but the most beloved and he aroused the envy and jealousy of his older brothers who did a terrible thing to Joseph. Beat him up, threw him in a pit, slavery, jail, finally to the palace, and when he is finally after years and years reunited with his brothers, he's weeping, they're weeping, they're crying, they're like, we're so sorry and he says, what what you meant for evil, the lord intended and turned it all out for good. Is that essentially what you're saying? Yeah And so to say he didn't cause it and to like try to like justify this by saying he didn't cause it. I feel a little bit of tension around that perspective because I I would be comfortable saying that god created this and caused it because I feel I don't know from this guy's perspective as being a blind man for thirteen years, obviously. But if he had that perspective as well, then I would be comfortable with sharing that the notion that god caused it. I will allow you to have that. Not that you needed my permission at all, but Parker, I love you. I think this gets into the age old theological debate over good versus. Oh, here we go. We're blurring into that line but I do agree. I think allowing something to happen which god does is different than causing it. But also, we have to look at the outcome of this. God also can change every one of these outcomes and every one of these moments. Instant. And just because he allowed it, that doesn't mean he can't change it. Just because this guy was born blind and allowed to be blind, that doesn't mean god right now couldn't change that. Yeah. So, I think that's the truth. We need to look from this verse is that he can change it. He can change it in your life. That doesn't mean that it's for the rest of your life. You have to deal with this ailment or whatever it is. It can change in an instance if you go to him. If you cry out to him, if you live your life for him, and that's what he wants. So these things are allowed to happen to bring us to him in whatever manner that may look like. I appreciate the fragrance of redemption. In your words. Kate and then while Kate is sharing, let's go to a verse in Isaiah. Think I have it on the screen. Do I have that one? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, share and then let's look at this verse. Okay. So, I've just been thinking this the the whole time and it's kind of off on what we've been talking about. But what amaze one of the things that's amazing me most about this story is this young man, if he's a young man, has been blind his entire life. He has been healed. Nobody is exalting in his healing. Wow. Is just like, is this the guy? This can't be the guy. Why did you heal on the what no. It's like this huge nobody is excited about except. So, then, he gets cast out. Yeah. And then, Jesus finds him and it's just making me think about our lives. Yeah. And how sometimes the lord does something in our lives and we try to share it with people or we try to explain like, I was this and now I'm this and nobody gets it. And you feel cast out. But Jesus finds us. Yes. In that. He has found me in that. Yeah. And I mean, that's the part of the story that's really standing out to me. It's like, you know, doesn't get off in the theological weeds or the metaphysical weeds. He just says, I don't know. I was blind but now, I see. You go sort it out. Isaiah 35 verse five through seven. This is a a prophecy of Jesus that was partially, literally fulfilled at the first advent but when you look at Isaiah chapter 35 in in like as a whole, you zoom out, you see that there is a future coming elaboration of literal fulfillment of this passage. So, it's yes and. Yes, he did this during his earthly ministry in Galilee two thousand years ago but he going to do this on a supersized level again someday. Verse five, and when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy. Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland. The parched dry ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. And marsh grasses and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived. Now, somebody make the connection between Isaiah 35 and I'll give you a hint verse six and what we see Jesus doing and what we just read. What is the connection? Well, I mean, besides the obvious connection of like blind eyes being opened. Yeah, come on. But there's a cool little connection there. Just say it. What do you see? Okay. I'll give you a hint. The chemical formula for what I'm looking for is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Now, now, make the connect. Yes. Wow. But what's the yes, yes, yes, but what's the connection? Yes. Even go go ahead, Lanisha. You you need full credit in the mic. I'll say saliva this time. His saliva. Even the moisture in his mouth has such healing, redemptive properties. It is like what is prophesied in Isaiah 35. Springs will gush forth in the wilderness and streams will water the wasteland. We have water in Isaiah. We have water in the moisture of his mouth being combined in order to create streams of water in the wasteland. Think of his eyes. Unusable, unproductive, unvaluable, until Jesus comes along. I I think what's interesting too is Jesus could've healed him just by saying you're healed. But he did he did an action that required the man to go have faith and go do something. And so it took it took both for him to be healed. You know. I love the observation of this particular instance of healing where partnership is required in faith on the man's part. He could have been offended. Probably not the first time this guy was spit on. He could have been offended. It required faith on his part. I like I like that you're seeing a partnership in this instance. Something that I like about the whole Holy Spirit Imagination is I will read a story like this and think when he said the actions and brought me back to it of how many times the Pharisees may have tried to do it themselves. So, they, we always see the Pharisees go, Jesus, don't do that. Jesus can't do this and then he'll leave that town. How many of the Pharisees went out and were like, let's see if we can do it now and fall short. It always just helps me realize whenever you wanna live like Jesus and be like him, you can't do it without him. You can't just do the action. Expect the same result if you don't have him in your heart in a sinner. Two two mud pies. One can change a person's life. The other one just dries out and is a mud pie. Okay. I'm making so many connections right now. I I love this. Okay. So usually when we think about blindness, like we think about the physical blindness but there's also like that spiritual blindness as well and so at the last verse of John nine, it's the Pharisees are asking, you mean to tell us that we are blind and Jesus told them, if you would acknowledge your blindness, then your sin would be removed. But now that you claim to see, your sin remains with you. And then in Isaiah 35, and when he comes, will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf and that just makes me think of Corinthian of second Corinthians four when it's talking about. Second Corinthians four, three, through. Yeah, four, four, something like that. Let me look at that. Do I not have that one? Oh, I don't have that one. But I got it here. For their, for their, for their mind, yeah. For their minds have been blinded by the god of this age, AKA Satan, leaving them in unbelief. Their blindness keeps them from seeing the day spring light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the divine image of god. Whoo. Second Corinthians chapter four verses three and four. Yes. What translation are you reading out of to get that word dayspring? Woah. That was the passion translation. Okay. Yep. So fancy though. Fancy translation. But I If the if the good news we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is only hidden from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. So here's something that's that's amazing, and I love that you're making this connection. We've been talking about physical blindness, physical blindness, but there's also a spiritual blindness that every single person who has invited Jesus into their heart made him the leader of their life knows what that prior previous condition was like of being blind. All of us, in a sense, were born spiritually blind. The Bible says there's no one perfect, no, not one. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god. The Bible says in the book of James, if you keep all of the law and stumble at but just one point, you're guilty of having broken all of the law. Blinder than blind. Super blind. And then in first Corinthians, it talks about how that there are there are two mindsets, a Greek mindset, and a Hebrew mindset and then and then he goes on to talk about but the power of the gospel to save those who are perishing And he's and then he pulls from those same two groups. Meaning, all of us were spiritually blind at one time before by the grace of God, we were allowed to see the condition of our blindness that caused us to cry out to him as I walk the razor's edge between, I can't, the two guy, whatever, free will and predetermination. We chose him and now, if you've invited Jesus into your heart, you can see. If you've not invited Jesus into your heart, it don't matter how smart you are. It doesn't matter how much you read this book as an intellectual. It doesn't matter how learned you are, how open minded you are. You're blind. And it is not until Jesus helps you to become aware of your condition of blindness that you then cry out to him and he's like, I thought you'd never ask. Come here. What you may think as debasing, not cool, very humbling. Have any of you don't raise your hand. Have any of you ever been spit on before? I'm not talking like a llama at the zoo, and I'm not talking by, like, a child, you know, that doesn't know any better, but somebody that was, like, being nasty spit on you? That's horrible. Or spit in the mud and then rubbed it on your eyes? That's very humbling to say the least. Realizing your condition of blindness is very humbling and it puts you in a very vulnerable position. But when we go by faith and wash in the Pool Of Siloam and partner with him, we're open. Our eyes are open. Oh my gosh. I was blind but now I see. I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I was a good person. I thought like like like Jesus was a cool dude. I didn't know that he was savior. And remember when Jesus re encounters that guy? What does the guy do? He just worships Jesus. You're the savior. You're my savior. You healed my blindness. Jesus, today, will you draw close to all of our hearts? Maybe there's people in here that that like actually have a physical condition of some sort of sight impairment. Jesus stands ready to release physical healing in your life and how awesome would that be? Maybe there would be more people in here today who suffer from a far worse condition in that of spiritual blindness. Would you draw close to that human heart and by a miracle do two things. Number one, cause them to become acutely aware of their blindness. Okay, do three things. Would you please? Two, by your grace, impart to them the courage to call out for you, the healer. And then number three, by your incredible, amazing love, would you heal their condition of blindness? Just with your eyes closed, let me just tell you a quick story. She can tell it much better. And I won't say her name to put her on the spot, but there's a young woman that goes to Tribe here, and she was bopping along, twirling her little ribbon thinking life's great and that she's a good person. And she came to a women's event and was like at the end, there was an invitation like, hey, you want a Bible, she's like, I'll take a Bible, started reading this book and became more increasingly aware of her, like, spiritual blindness. Invited Jesus into her heart. And today, her testimony is I was totally spiritually blind and didn't even know it. But now I see. Lord Jesus, thank you so much that you are alive, that you are so real, and that for two thousand years, you have been healing us frail humans of the condition of our blindness, physical and spiritual. Thank you for opening our eyes today. And would you help us to walk in the light and in the freedom of who you are and what you've called us to be. We love you. We love you. We love you, Jesus. I command a blessing over each and every member of our tribe fam here today. Give us a great week. We pray these things in Jesus name, the strong son of god and everybody said, amen. I love you so very much and remember, you got this.