Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message. You know, I'd heard about mom guilt,
Speaker 1: but no one ever told me about dad inadequacy and
Speaker 1: that feeling sometimes we have his dad's feeling like not
Speaker 1: only are we not doing enough sometimes, but I know
Speaker 1: some of us feel this condemnation from the enemy sometimes
Speaker 1: telling us that we're not enough. And I just felt
Speaker 1: led to just prophesy over the dads today and ultimately
Speaker 1: just remind you that before you were a father, you
Speaker 1: were a son. And there's something so powerful about in
Speaker 1: those places where we feel like we're not enough, reminding
Speaker 1: ourselves that I was a son first. Chris was just
Speaker 1: sharing in the back about the prodigal son, about the
Speaker 1: younger son who came home. But I love what the
Speaker 1: father spoke over the older son. He said, my son,
Speaker 1: everything that I have, it was already yours. And when
Speaker 1: you can wake up every day and remind yourself that
Speaker 1: I'm a son. First, it's an opportunity to recognize that
Speaker 1: everything your father has is available to you. So I
Speaker 1: just speak life over you today and the blessings of
Speaker 1: your father and Heaven over you today. In the name
Speaker 1: of Jesus, we honor you, your honor and your well.
Speaker 1: If we haven't yet met yet, my name is Jonathan.
Speaker 1: I have the privilege of serving as the campus pastor
Speaker 1: here at our Balentine location and welcome everyone's joe Us
Speaker 1: and certainly always an honor to be able to share
Speaker 1: God's word. I feel so grateful today. It's also always
Speaker 1: an honor to stand behind the pulpit of my favorite
Speaker 1: preacher on the planet. And it's kind of like if
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan invited you to play on his personal court.
Speaker 1: You know, you're not on that level, but it's still
Speaker 1: pretty it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. And while I
Speaker 1: consider it's such an honor to stand behind this pulpit
Speaker 1: to day, what's an even greater honor for me is that,
Speaker 1: for the last twelve years, the greater honor is that
Speaker 1: I've been able to be a part of this church.
Speaker 1: And standing behind a pulpit is cool, but sitting in
Speaker 1: that seat week to week is so special. I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful to be a part of this house under the
Speaker 1: leadership of such amazing pastors. Can we thank God for
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen and Pastor Hawley and and the other thing
Speaker 1: that's kind of cool about sitting next there is I
Speaker 1: get to sit next to my wife of we just
Speaker 1: celebrated fifteen years on Friday, fifteen years of marriage. The
Speaker 1: Anna knows this right there. Well. I want to share
Speaker 1: from a passage of scripture in John chapter nine. It's
Speaker 1: this story about Jesus healing a man who was born blind,
Speaker 1: and ultimately the man starts getting interrogated by the Pharisees.
Speaker 1: And here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: just one verse right now. We'll let you take your seats.
Speaker 1: I know the dads just wanted to sit down for
Speaker 1: Father's Day. That's it. Give me a break, So one
Speaker 1: verse and I'll give you my title. But then I'll
Speaker 1: ask that you'd be patient with me because I want
Speaker 1: to work through the majority of this chapter John chapter nine,
Speaker 1: and work through this story together. Is that good? John
Speaker 1: Chapter nine, Verse twenty five. The Pharisees, they're asking this
Speaker 1: man questions about who Jesus is. They're mad because Jesus
Speaker 1: held him on the Sabbath. You know, they don't like that.
Speaker 1: And so they asked this man a question about Jesus,
Speaker 1: and look at his response verse twenty five. He replied,
Speaker 1: whether he is a sinner or not? I don't know.
Speaker 1: One thing I do know. I was blind, but now
Speaker 1: I see whether he's a sinner or not. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not a student of the law like you guys.
Speaker 1: I'm just a I was a blind beggar just a
Speaker 1: few days ago. I don't know. But one thing I
Speaker 1: do know. I was blind, But now I see. My
Speaker 1: title for today is all I know. All I know.
Speaker 1: And as you're taking your seat, turn to your neighbors, say,
Speaker 1: all I know is that I'm so blessed to be
Speaker 1: sitting next to you today. God has really been speaking
Speaker 1: to me through this passage. And since it is Father's Day,
Speaker 1: let me show you a picture of my family real quick,
Speaker 1: because I am a proud dad and my family right
Speaker 1: here with my kids. And okay, so my oldest, Zion,
Speaker 1: he's ten years old. And then we've got Elias, he
Speaker 1: turns eight this week. He was actually born on Father's Day.
Speaker 1: And yeah, he came early. I kept telling people, I
Speaker 1: think Anna just pushed him out early because she didn't
Speaker 1: want to get me a gift. Yeah, and see this
Speaker 1: is the problem. And everybody laughs, they thought I was joking.
Speaker 1: And then guess what day. Our daughter, Olivia was born
Speaker 1: on Father's Day? All right, So if you've got an
Speaker 1: extra twenty in your pocket, just bless the Woman of
Speaker 1: God so she can get me a proper father this
Speaker 1: day gift this year. That's our family. We're so we're
Speaker 1: so blessed. And and I grew with three sisters and
Speaker 1: we'd always ask my parents, you know, who's the favorite,
Speaker 1: you know, and they would always say, we love you
Speaker 1: all the same. And that's true, but it doesn't exactly
Speaker 1: answer the question, right And as a parent, as a
Speaker 1: parent myself, now it's true, I love them all the same.
Speaker 1: But tell your neighbors say, there's definitely a favorite. There's
Speaker 1: definitely a favorite, Zion, is there a favorite? There's a favorite?
Speaker 1: But in this passage in John chapter nine, I love
Speaker 1: what this man expressed in that one sentence. He's talking
Speaker 1: about the tension of He's saying whether he's a sinner
Speaker 1: or not he makes the confession, I don't know, but
Speaker 1: one thing I do know, I don't know I know,
Speaker 1: And the word no know shows up like eleven times
Speaker 1: in this one passage of scripture. You're going to see
Speaker 1: it pop up over and over again, and it starts
Speaker 1: speaking to me because I find myself in a season
Speaker 1: of life right now where I find myself saying more
Speaker 1: than ever, maybe I don't know, I don't know. Situations
Speaker 1: at work, I'm trying to figure out where it's like, well,
Speaker 1: what do we do about I don't know. Just talking
Speaker 1: to a friend the other day about health stuff. He's
Speaker 1: like everything one thing I read says do this, the
Speaker 1: other thing says do that. He's like, I don't even
Speaker 1: know what to believe anymore. He's like, I just I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know. When it comes to even
Speaker 1: when me and Anda do like marriage counseling. Now it
Speaker 1: used to be we'd go to talk about us, to
Speaker 1: work on us. Now we're going to talk about the kids,
Speaker 1: like how do we do this? It's getting harder and
Speaker 1: harder as they get older. We're trying to figure this
Speaker 1: thing out. And I know some of you are like,
Speaker 1: you only got a ten year old just just you wait.
Speaker 1: But even at the stage we're at right now, I
Speaker 1: find myself saying, I don't know, I don't know. Maybe
Speaker 1: find yourself in that place today where you're facing situations
Speaker 1: and if you're honest, you're like I, I just don't know.
Speaker 1: But where it really started to hit me was that,
Speaker 1: even when it comes to my faith and my walk
Speaker 1: with God, I find myself saying, yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know. There's two members in the church who
Speaker 1: have really been undermining my confidence as a pastor and
Speaker 1: as a follower of Christ. And I don't want to
Speaker 1: expose anybody. It's not it's not you, Tad, You're good.
Speaker 1: But I'll just show you a picture real quick of
Speaker 1: the two church members I'm talking about. Yeah, these two,
Speaker 1: these two, because they're at the stage now. It's so
Speaker 1: amazing watching our kids grow in their faith, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It's so awesome to see them just take steps towards Christ.
Speaker 1: And then at the same time, the thing that comes
Speaker 1: with it is they're asking me so many questions, and
Speaker 1: they're good questions too, and they'll ask me at the
Speaker 1: most unexpected times, like I don't get to I don't
Speaker 1: get to do any research. You know, my youngest he
Speaker 1: asked me. He some of the questions are fun, like
Speaker 1: why did God make bad guys? And then you get
Speaker 1: to explain to them, well, actually we're all bad guys,
Speaker 1: and apart from Christ, none of us are righteous. And
Speaker 1: you're walking them through that, and then ask me, why
Speaker 1: did God make mosquitoes? Now that's a it's a tough one.
Speaker 1: I hate him so much. That's like the equivalent of
Speaker 1: asking why does God let bad things happen to good people?
Speaker 1: That's how I feel like every time I get a mosquito,
Speaker 1: By Lord, why have you forsaken me? The other day,
Speaker 1: we're driving home from school and my eight year old
Speaker 1: he was getting ready to be baptized. He got baptized
Speaker 1: in our church just a couple weeks ago, and we
Speaker 1: were talking about the moment where Jesus was baptized. You
Speaker 1: remember that story. Jesus is baptizing and a dove, the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit descends like a dove in the voice of
Speaker 1: his father in Heaven speaks over him. This is my son,
Speaker 1: whom I love, whom I'm well pleased. And my eight
Speaker 1: year old son, he said, Dad, if Jesus is God,
Speaker 1: how is God talking to Jesus. He's eight years old
Speaker 1: and he's asking me about the Trinity. Have you ever
Speaker 1: tried to explain the Trinity to an eight year old?
Speaker 1: Forget it? Have you ever tried to explain the Trinity
Speaker 1: to a full grown, functioning adult. These are things that
Speaker 1: we believe, right, we believe in it. That this is
Speaker 1: something that the church, like followers of Christ, have believed him.
Speaker 1: But if you asked me the question, how do I know?
Speaker 1: I gotta be honest. I don't know sometimes and I'm
Speaker 1: trying to. If I had told you turn to your
Speaker 1: neighbor right now and explain to Trinity, you would be
Speaker 1: pulling up chat GPT so quick and going to some
Speaker 1: lame stuff. Well, it's kind of like an egg. It's
Speaker 1: three parts that's all in one, and it's like, let's
Speaker 1: be honest for a second. We don't know. We don't know.
Speaker 1: There's so many things that we believe, and if we're honest,
Speaker 1: we feel like, if we're honest, we could say that
Speaker 1: we don't know. And the problem is we feel like
Speaker 1: we should. I know, I feel like I should. I'm
Speaker 1: a pastor. I'm supposed to know these things. I went
Speaker 1: to school for these things, and whether it's sitting down
Speaker 1: with a couple trying to guide them in the ways
Speaker 1: of God as they navigate a situation in life, or
Speaker 1: even just the own my own questions that I'm wrestling with.
Speaker 1: I find myself saying I don't know. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I'm realizing that if my confidence is built on
Speaker 1: all I know, I will always be insecure. And God's
Speaker 1: been teaching me through this passage that being in a
Speaker 1: place of not knowing isn't always bad thing. In fact,
Speaker 1: not knowing might just be a good place to be.
Speaker 1: So let's start at the beginning of this story where
Speaker 1: this man who is born blind has a miraculous encounter
Speaker 1: with Jesus. And there's some things about knowing that I
Speaker 1: want to show you through this passage today. Good if
Speaker 1: we walk through the scriptures for just a moment. Ken
Speaker 1: in verse one, it says, as he went along, he
Speaker 1: saw a man blind from birth. Now right there, I
Speaker 1: got grateful. I got grateful knowing that even when I
Speaker 1: couldn't see Jesus, he saw me and his disciples. They
Speaker 1: asked him a question. Rabbi means teacher, teacher. They want
Speaker 1: to learn something. Who sinned this man or his parents
Speaker 1: that he was born blind? Rabbi, who sinned this man
Speaker 1: or his parents that he was born blind? I love
Speaker 1: the fact that the disciples are willing to ask Jesus questions.
Speaker 1: They're saying, Jesus, we have teach us, teach Us. There's
Speaker 1: still at a place in their faith where they're willing
Speaker 1: to ask questions. Some of us grew up in a
Speaker 1: tradition of faith where we were taught not to ask questions.
Speaker 1: We thought faith was certainty in our answers. But faith
Speaker 1: is not certainty in your answers. Faith is where you
Speaker 1: go with your questions. So they asked Jesus. They're looking
Speaker 1: at a man born in an unfortunate situation, and they're
Speaker 1: asking him, how did this happen? What happened? Was it
Speaker 1: something he did or his parents did. Now it's a
Speaker 1: crazy question to us, because remember the man, he was
Speaker 1: born blind. So when he says, did this man sin
Speaker 1: to be born that way, you're like, well, that doesn't
Speaker 1: really compute. But it's kind of a bad question because
Speaker 1: it was rooted in bad beliefs. Some of the bad
Speaker 1: questions we have are rooted in bad beliefs and here's
Speaker 1: what I mean. They the Disciples had such a transactional
Speaker 1: view of God that they believe that if anytime someone
Speaker 1: was in a situation of sickness or suffering, that God
Speaker 1: was so transactional that it must have been punishment for
Speaker 1: something that they did. And so, rather than rather than
Speaker 1: basing their theology on what the scripture said about God,
Speaker 1: who is slow to anger, abounding in love, rich in mercy,
Speaker 1: sometimes we begin to create a view of God based
Speaker 1: on our circumstances rather than the other way around. So
Speaker 1: they actually developed a theology that was common in that
Speaker 1: day that someone could commit sin while they were still
Speaker 1: in the womb. So when they asked Jesus, why was
Speaker 1: this man born blind? It's rooted in the belief that
Speaker 1: something must have gone wrong for him to be born
Speaker 1: in this condition. But they're asking him a question, and
Speaker 1: look what Jesus says in response. He says, neither this
Speaker 1: man nor his parents sinned, but this happens so that
Speaker 1: the works of God might be displayed in him. They're
Speaker 1: looking at a situation and they're asking why why is
Speaker 1: this happening? And it's one thing to look at situations
Speaker 1: in our life and wonder Why, God, Why am I
Speaker 1: going through this divorce?
Speaker 2: God?
Speaker 1: Why am I spiraling into this addiction again? God? Why
Speaker 1: am I being buried alive by shame again? It's one
Speaker 1: thing to look at situations in our life and ask
Speaker 1: why is this happening? But Jesus redirects their question with
Speaker 1: their answer, and he doesn't necessarily say what caused it,
Speaker 1: but he answers why as and what is the purpose
Speaker 1: of what they're going through? He said, forget about what
Speaker 1: caused this man to be born blind. I want to
Speaker 1: show you what's going to happen as a result of
Speaker 1: his condition. This happens so that the works of God
Speaker 1: might be displayed in him. In other words, that if
Speaker 1: I can reframe my belief system to recognize God that
Speaker 1: all things are working together for my good. When I
Speaker 1: find myself in a situation saying I don't know how
Speaker 1: I got here, I can change my question to say, God,
Speaker 1: even though I don't know what got me into this situation,
Speaker 1: I know that there's something you are doing in me
Speaker 1: and through me, and through what I'm facing, You're going
Speaker 1: to get glory. This happens so that the works of
Speaker 1: God might be revealed in him. After saying this verse six, Jesus,
Speaker 1: he spit on the ground. He made some mud with
Speaker 1: the saliva, and he put it on the man's eyes. Go,
Speaker 1: he told them, wash in the pool of Siloam. This
Speaker 1: word means scent. The scent one is sending him to
Speaker 1: a pool called send. So the man went and washed
Speaker 1: and came home seeing. Talk about blind faith for just
Speaker 1: a moment, the ability to move in obedience even when
Speaker 1: you don't have all the answers. Remember, this man has
Speaker 1: never seen Jesus. In fact, when Jesus said go wash
Speaker 1: in the pool, he didn't tell Jesus, go and wash
Speaker 1: and you'll be healed. He gave him no information. Can
Speaker 1: you imagine sitting there hearing people talking about you in
Speaker 1: the background. Next thing you know, your eyes are getting
Speaker 1: slapped with some mud, and you heard a spitting sound,
Speaker 1: and now there's something goofy on your eyes, and you're
Speaker 1: going wait a second, and then the man says, go
Speaker 1: and wash, And it says that he went and he
Speaker 1: came home seeing. Blind faith is the ability to move
Speaker 1: in obedience on nothing but a word from Jesus. Some
Speaker 1: of us are stuck in the circumstances we find ourselves
Speaker 1: in today because we need too many answers before we'll
Speaker 1: move in obedience. Some of us stay trapped in the
Speaker 1: place we are and we're praying God get me out
Speaker 1: of this situation. And God saying, I gave you in
Speaker 1: an instruction, but you needed to know a B. C.
Speaker 1: D If then when And God is looking for people
Speaker 1: who have blind faith, faith enough to trust in his
Speaker 1: voice and not all the answers. So this man goes
Speaker 1: to the pool, he washes, and he came home seeing
Speaker 1: Can you imagine he's walking back to his village, seeing
Speaker 1: mountains for the first time, seeing the blue sky for
Speaker 1: the first time, seeing his parents for the first time.
Speaker 1: And it says this His neighbors and those who had
Speaker 1: formerly seen him begging ask him, is this the same
Speaker 1: man who used to sit and beg Some claimed he was,
Speaker 1: others said no, he only looks like him. They don't know,
Speaker 1: But he himself insisted, I am the man. How then
Speaker 1: were your eyes open? They asked. The man they called
Speaker 1: Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes.
Speaker 1: He told me to go to saloam and wash. So
Speaker 1: I went and washed, and then I could see. So
Speaker 1: they bring him to the Pharisees Verse thirteen. The man
Speaker 1: who had they bring the man who had been blind
Speaker 1: to the Pharisees. Now, the day on which Jesus had
Speaker 1: made the mud and opened up the man's eyes was
Speaker 1: a sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he
Speaker 1: had received a sight. He's given the same testimony over
Speaker 1: and over again. He put mud on my eyes, the
Speaker 1: man replied, and I washed, and now I see. And
Speaker 1: the Pharisees start going back and forth. This man Jesus,
Speaker 1: he can't be from God. He doesn't keep the sabbath,
Speaker 1: but others are like. But how is he performing these signs?
Speaker 1: So they're divided. They don't know. And then they turned
Speaker 1: away again to the blind man. What do you have
Speaker 1: to say about him? It was your eyes he opened,
Speaker 1: and the man replied, this man is a prophet. They
Speaker 1: still did not believe that he had been blind and
Speaker 1: had received his sight, until they sent for the man's parents.
Speaker 1: Is this your son? They've got questions? Is this the
Speaker 1: one you say was born blind? How is it that
Speaker 1: he can now see? Look at this. We know he
Speaker 1: is our son. The parent's answer, And we know he
Speaker 1: was born blind, But how he can see now or
Speaker 1: who opened his eyes? We don't know touch your neighbors said,
Speaker 1: we don't know. Ask him. He's of age, he will
Speaker 1: speak for himself. His parents said this because they were
Speaker 1: afraid of the Jewish leaders who had already decided, who
Speaker 1: had already decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was
Speaker 1: the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. They
Speaker 1: had already made up their mind. You ever been in
Speaker 1: a situation where someone's asking you for advice and you
Speaker 1: quickly get the sense they had already decided, you know,
Speaker 1: should I break up with her? Should I keep seeing?
Speaker 1: You're like, I've been telling you, this relationship's toxic. And
Speaker 1: sometimes people are asking you questions because they just want
Speaker 1: confirmation or proof in what they already believe. Right, there's
Speaker 1: times in our marriage where we're arguing back and forth
Speaker 1: about something. Instead of actually listening to understand my wife's
Speaker 1: side of the story, I'm just listening for my next
Speaker 1: argument to prove I was right. It's what the Pharisees
Speaker 1: are doing in this story. They're asking questions, But if
Speaker 1: we're honest, they're not actually curious, they're not actually trying
Speaker 1: to understand they've already made up their mind about Jesus
Speaker 1: that he isn't who he says he is, and they're
Speaker 1: looking for reasons to trap him. So even though they're
Speaker 1: asking questions, it's not the same type of questions that
Speaker 1: the disciples are asking. The disciples are asking because they're
Speaker 1: seeking understanding. The Pharisees are asking because they have a
Speaker 1: questioning spirit. They're just trying to prove what they've already
Speaker 1: decided they believe verse twenty four. A second time, they
Speaker 1: summon the man who had been blind give glory to
Speaker 1: God by telling the truth. They said, we know this
Speaker 1: man is a sinner. Here's our key verse and he replied,
Speaker 1: whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know
Speaker 1: one thing. I do know. I was blind, but now
Speaker 1: I see turn to your neighbors, say I don't know much,
Speaker 1: but I know what he's done for me. This word
Speaker 1: no that keeps showing up k n O W the
Speaker 1: Bible uses translates different Greek words into this word no.
Speaker 1: In this scripture, when the word no shows up, it's
Speaker 1: referring to a to a head knowledge. It's it's the
Speaker 1: type of knowing that you can that you can learn
Speaker 1: right it's information. That's what the Pharisees possessed, maybe more
Speaker 1: than anyone. Remember, their influence in that society at that
Speaker 1: time didn't become wasn't because of a political affiliation, but
Speaker 1: because of their authorities in the scriptures. They would memorize
Speaker 1: the scripture, study the scriptures, study the Law of Moses.
Speaker 1: Their authority was based on what they on, what they knew.
Speaker 1: But it was a knowledge that came simply through learning. Now,
Speaker 1: of course learning is good. I want my pilots to learn,
Speaker 1: I want my doctors to learn. Learning is good. But
Speaker 1: but their level of knowledge was solely connected to what
Speaker 1: they had learned. When the man says, I don't know
Speaker 1: whether he's a sinner or not. Can you imagine you're
Speaker 1: a beggar going toe to toe with the theological experts
Speaker 1: of your day and they're trying to get him to debate,
Speaker 1: what do you say about Jesus? What do you think
Speaker 1: about the Messiah? And he's like, yo, this isn't my
Speaker 1: area of expertise, this is this is your category. So
Speaker 1: he has the humility to say, hey, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I didn't learn all that. I didn't
Speaker 1: go to school like you did. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but one thing I do know. One thing
Speaker 1: I do know, he referred. He begins to reference what
Speaker 1: he personally experienced. I was blind, but now I see.
Speaker 1: Other times in scripture, there's another word for knowing, like
Speaker 1: in Philippians three ten, where Paul says, my one purpose,
Speaker 1: my one aim is that I would know Christ, or
Speaker 1: when Jesus prayed for us as believers, that we would
Speaker 1: know the Father. It's not the type of knowing that
Speaker 1: comes from learning. It's a It's a word that speaks
Speaker 1: to relationship. It's the way a father knows a son,
Speaker 1: the way a husband knows a wife. It's the type
Speaker 1: of knowing that comes through personal experience. Like if you
Speaker 1: ask me to tell you about Anna, I wouldn't just
Speaker 1: tell you she's five foot four born January sixth I
Speaker 1: wouldn't just like read you information off her driver's license,
Speaker 1: right because I know her. I know we've been married
Speaker 1: for fifteen years. I have a relationship with her. So
Speaker 1: if you ask me to tell you about Anna, i'd
Speaker 1: tell you while she's remarkably patient, how do I know?
Speaker 1: Because we're trying to teach our boys how to clean
Speaker 1: up after themselves, and I still leave socks on the
Speaker 1: living room floor like a nine year old myself, and
Speaker 1: she still lets me cuddle with her. She's patient, she's patient.
Speaker 1: I would tell you how she's an amazing listener. It's
Speaker 1: unbelievable to watch. Sometimes Anna will sit down with someone
Speaker 1: and ask just a couple questions and then they can
Speaker 1: talk for an hour, and then she'll just wait to
Speaker 1: chime in at the end with a little bit of advice.
Speaker 1: She's really why she's an amazing listener. I would talk
Speaker 1: about her in a different way because I have a
Speaker 1: personal relationship with her. And so when this man is
Speaker 1: being questioned by the Pharisees, they're trying to figure out
Speaker 1: tell us something, tell us something we need to know
Speaker 1: so we can prove that Jesus isn't who he says
Speaker 1: he is. And the man's like, I don't know what
Speaker 1: to tell you about that. All I know is I
Speaker 1: was blind. But now I see. This is the power
Speaker 1: of your personal experience with God in your life. For
Speaker 1: the times where you don't know, for the times where
Speaker 1: you have doubts, for the times where you have questions
Speaker 1: that you can't seem to figure out, there's something so
Speaker 1: powerful about being able to stand confident in what you
Speaker 1: do know. I was blind, but now I see it's
Speaker 1: what I personally experience. I was sharing with our youth
Speaker 1: just a couple of weeks ago about how I know
Speaker 1: it's hard being in high school because people are asking
Speaker 1: you all the time about your faith and they don't
Speaker 1: understand it. Why do you believe those things about Jesus?
Speaker 1: Are you really trying to Are you really trying to
Speaker 1: stay pure intil marriage? You really go and serve on
Speaker 1: your free time? You go serve at the church. Why
Speaker 1: do you do all those things? And there's a temptation
Speaker 1: for us when people are challenging us in our faith
Speaker 1: to go to what we know. You know, well, I
Speaker 1: believe this about the Bible, and listen, I get that too.
Speaker 1: I went to school for this stuff. I love this stuff.
Speaker 1: The other day someone was asking me, he said, I
Speaker 1: don't know how you believe this Christianity stuff. I said, okay, why?
Speaker 1: He said, it seems so illogical to believe in the Bible. Wow,
Speaker 1: And everything within me wanted to start like going apologist mode.
Speaker 1: You know, I love watching this guy lately on YouTube,
Speaker 1: Wesley Huff, this historian and theologian, and he gives an
Speaker 1: amazing defense for the faith, And every time I watch him,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I wish I knew all that stuff,
Speaker 1: but I can't. I can't remember how old I am
Speaker 1: half the time, let alone when the Bible was put together.
Speaker 1: This guy was saying, I don't know how you believe it.
Speaker 1: It's so illogical. And while I wanted to start defending
Speaker 1: my faith, something into me said stop and just said,
Speaker 1: just speak about your personal experience with God. Why do
Speaker 1: you follow Jesus? I just started saying, like all the
Speaker 1: moments in my life where I felt his hand, his
Speaker 1: hand on me, his hand guiding me through. Because you
Speaker 1: can talk someone into believing, you can give them information
Speaker 1: that might change their mind, but only personal encounter can
Speaker 1: change somebody's part. And there's a level of knowing that
Speaker 1: comes from being in real relationship with Jesus, where he's
Speaker 1: active in working in your life. That builds a confidence
Speaker 1: that no matter what storms come your way, even if
Speaker 1: it's the one thing you do know you can stand
Speaker 1: on it, not just for when people are challenging you
Speaker 1: about your faith, but for the questions you have about
Speaker 1: your faith, for the situations you're facing where you just
Speaker 1: don't know to be able to go back and say,
Speaker 1: I was blind, but now I see. This man's testimony
Speaker 1: has become an anthem for believers. Amazing grace, how sweet
Speaker 1: the sound save the wrench? Like me, I once was lost,
Speaker 1: Now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see.
Speaker 1: In preaching, Pastor Stevens taught us he said, in when
Speaker 1: you're preaching, you need an osp A one sentence premise. Ans,
Speaker 1: how can can you can you say your sermon in
Speaker 1: just one sentence what your message is about? But I'm
Speaker 1: realizing in life I need an ost a one sentence testimony,
Speaker 1: A one sentence testimony, not an elaborate story, but in
Speaker 1: one sentence, the ability to say, just like this man,
Speaker 1: I was blind, but now I see. We were with
Speaker 1: our leaders just a couple of weeks ago, and we
Speaker 1: were talking about this, and and I said, if you
Speaker 1: had to boil your story down into into into one sentence,
Speaker 1: it's I said, I bet you could do it like that.
Speaker 1: You know, like if I said to explain the Trinity
Speaker 1: to your neighbor, you'd have to you'd struggle for a minute.
Speaker 1: But if I said, tell your neighbor, right, now what
Speaker 1: God has done for you, you'd be able to do
Speaker 1: it in a moment because it's not real to you.
Speaker 1: Someone stood up in the room and they said, my
Speaker 1: marriage was at its bottom and God made it better.
Speaker 1: Someone said I was in bondage and an addiction and
Speaker 1: He set me free. And they weren't giving details, they
Speaker 1: weren't going into the whole, just one sentence, and you
Speaker 1: could feel faith rising in the room because it wasn't
Speaker 1: just things that people knew in their head. It was
Speaker 1: things that were real to them because it's what they
Speaker 1: had personally experienced by the power of Christ. You need
Speaker 1: a one sentence testimony in your life. I was looking
Speaker 1: at different scriptures that speak about what Jesus has done
Speaker 1: for us, and I put them in chat gpt to say,
Speaker 1: take the verse, make it one sentence. I want to
Speaker 1: show you some of these because when we go to
Speaker 1: the word of God to learn, which is so important.
Speaker 1: We go to the Word of God. Learning is good,
Speaker 1: but remember it's always an invitation. It's always an invitation
Speaker 1: to experience a reality in Christ. So when I read
Speaker 1: the scripture, it's not just for information, but for transformation.
Speaker 1: And here's what the scriptures say about you. Now. If
Speaker 1: you don't have a one sentence testimony, you might be
Speaker 1: able to find one on the screen right now and listen.
Speaker 1: Everything I'm about to read to you. If you are
Speaker 1: a believer in Christ, is true of you, but it
Speaker 1: may not be true to you yet. When I get
Speaker 1: to the one that's true to you, the thing that
Speaker 1: you know from the depths of your being, you can shout,
Speaker 1: you can praise, you can jump if you want to
Speaker 1: look at all these scriptures. The scripture says the Colossians
Speaker 1: two thirteen fourteen. I was guilty, but now I'm forgiven
Speaker 1: through Jesus. I was abandoned, now I'm adopted. I was
Speaker 1: spiritually dead, now I'm alive. I was anxious, but now
Speaker 1: I have peace. I was bound, but now I'm free.
Speaker 1: I was cursed, but now I'm redeemed. I was condemned,
Speaker 1: now I'm justified. I was in darkness, but now I
Speaker 1: walk in light. I was unlovable, but now I'm loved.
Speaker 1: I was broken, but now I'm healed. I was rejected,
Speaker 1: but now I am chosen. I was lost, but now
Speaker 1: I'm found. I was weak, now I'm strong. I was
Speaker 1: um righteous, and now I'm made right. I was empty,
Speaker 1: but now I'm filled with the spirit of God. I
Speaker 1: was looking for a church to bat me up and
Speaker 1: make some noise right here. I was a slave to sin,
Speaker 1: but now I'm free. I was in shame, but now
Speaker 1: I'm prowned with mercy. I was defeated, but now I'm victorious.
Speaker 1: This is what He's done for me. It's what He's
Speaker 1: done for me. And so even as a parent, as
Speaker 1: my kids are asking me these questions about faith, if
Speaker 1: I have answers, I want to give it to them.
Speaker 1: I want to teach them what to believe, teach them
Speaker 1: what we know. But I got to get better about
Speaker 1: not just telling them about what I know up here,
Speaker 1: but sharing with them the testimonies of what God has
Speaker 1: done in my life, in my family's life, what I've
Speaker 1: seen him do in this church and in this ministry.
Speaker 1: It's the confidence of knowing what I know, just to
Speaker 1: be able to say I know that I know. It's
Speaker 1: not just what I learned somewhere in a textbook or
Speaker 1: in a seminary course. It's what I personally experienced from
Speaker 1: the hand of God in my life. I was lost,
Speaker 1: but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I
Speaker 1: see again. Tell your neighbors say I don't know much,
Speaker 1: but I know what he's done for me. Come on,
Speaker 1: do you know what he's done for you? If you
Speaker 1: know what he's done for you, take a moment just
Speaker 1: to praise his name, for his faithfulness, his hand, his mercy.
Speaker 1: This man the honesty to say I don't know, and
Speaker 1: yet the confidence to say, but what I do know?
Speaker 1: I was blind, but now I see. They keep asking
Speaker 1: him the same question, over and over again. What did
Speaker 1: he do to you? How do you open your eyes?
Speaker 1: The man who at first is so intimidated being pulled
Speaker 1: in front of the Pharisees and questioned is you can
Speaker 1: see him growing a little bit sass Here he says,
Speaker 1: I've told you already and you didn't listen. You want
Speaker 1: to hear it again? Do you want to become his
Speaker 1: disciples too? He's like straight mocking them now. Then they
Speaker 1: hurled insults at him and said, you are this fellow's disciple.
Speaker 1: We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke
Speaker 1: to Moses. But as for this fellow, we don't even
Speaker 1: know where he comes from. This is the only time
Speaker 1: the Pharisees say we don't know every other. We know this,
Speaker 1: we know that, so blinded by their certainty. And the
Speaker 1: one time they say we don't know is when they say,
Speaker 1: and we don't even know where this man comes from.
Speaker 1: The man says, now, that's remarkable. You don't even know
Speaker 1: where he comes from. Yet he opened my eyes. He's
Speaker 1: realizing something about the Pharisees in this moment. He's saying, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: wait wait wait. You give your life to studying these scriptures,
Speaker 1: and yet you don't see who the scriptures were talking
Speaker 1: about the whole time. Do you mean to tell me
Speaker 1: that you know all this but you don't know the
Speaker 1: one thing that matters most where this man came from.
Speaker 1: We know now look at him, prophesied. We know that
Speaker 1: God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the
Speaker 1: godly person who does as will. Nobody has ever heard
Speaker 1: of the opening of the eyes of a man born blind.
Speaker 1: It's the only time someone who is born blind receives
Speaker 1: their sight born blind. If this man were not from God,
Speaker 1: he could do nothing to this. They replied, you were
Speaker 1: steeped in sin at birth, how dare you lecture us?
Speaker 1: And they threw him out. Here's where the story gets
Speaker 1: cool to me. Remember, Jesus heals them by sending him
Speaker 1: to a pool. So Jesus spoke to him, but he's
Speaker 1: never seen Jesus. Then he's questioned by his neighbors, questioned
Speaker 1: by the Pharisees. Now, after he's kicked out of the temple,
Speaker 1: Jesus shows up again. Jesus must have been close the
Speaker 1: whole time, because it says that Jesus heard that they
Speaker 1: had thrown him out, and when he found him. First
Speaker 1: is Jesus who sees him. And now it's Jesus who
Speaker 1: finds him. And Jesus finds them, and he asks them
Speaker 1: not what he knows, but he asked them a question
Speaker 1: about what he believes. He says, do you believe in
Speaker 1: the Son of Man? He's asking him the same question
Speaker 1: the Pharisees were asking him. Do you believe in the Messiah?
Speaker 1: Do you believe in the Christ, the Son of Man,
Speaker 1: son of God? The man has a question? Who is he? Sir?
Speaker 1: Tell me so that I may believe in him. Jesus said,
Speaker 1: you have now seen him. In fact, he is the
Speaker 1: one speaking with you. What caught my attention is those
Speaker 1: first few words of Jesus when he meets the man
Speaker 1: for the second time. Remember when he sees him on
Speaker 1: the road, this beggar born blind, Jesus speaks to him,
Speaker 1: go wash in the pool. He puts mud on his eyes,
Speaker 1: and the man went home seeing he was physically healed.
Speaker 1: Now Jesus finds him again and he says this phrase.
Speaker 1: He says to him, you have now seen. This is
Speaker 1: the second seeing, the second seeing, because look at the
Speaker 1: man's response verse thirty eight. After Jesus says you have
Speaker 1: now seen, then the man said, Lord, I believe, and
Speaker 1: he worshiped him. The first time this man is asked
Speaker 1: about Jesus, he calls them a man named Jesus. The
Speaker 1: second time he's asked about Jesus, he calls them a prophet.
Speaker 1: Now he meets Jesus, and Jesus says, you have now seen.
Speaker 1: And something shifted because he doesn't call him a man,
Speaker 1: he doesn't call him a prophet. He calls him lord,
Speaker 1: and he worshiped. The second seeing led him to a
Speaker 1: revelation of who Jesus is. There are people who know
Speaker 1: more about the Bible, know more about theology than I
Speaker 1: could ever dream. And yet if you ask them about Jesus,
Speaker 1: they would say he was just a man. He was
Speaker 1: a man. He lived, but he's just a man. There
Speaker 1: are people who come to church, there are people who say, man,
Speaker 1: I love what Jesus says. It gives me inspiration, it
Speaker 1: gives me hope. He was a great teacher. If you
Speaker 1: ask them about Jesus, they would say, he's a prophet.
Speaker 1: He's a prophet. What he says is true. But what
Speaker 1: we read in this scripture and what the scriptures tell
Speaker 1: us about him is he's not just a man, and
Speaker 1: he's not just a He's Lord. He's the Son of God.
Speaker 1: He's the Christ, he's the Messiah. And when this man,
Speaker 1: when this man meets Jesus, Jesus says, do you believe
Speaker 1: in the son of man? Tell me who he is?
Speaker 1: Jesus says, you have now seen, and the eyes of
Speaker 1: his heart are opened, his spiritual eyes are open, and
Speaker 1: in a moment he recognizes, Oh, oh, what I didn't
Speaker 1: know when they were asking me qu what I didn't know?
Speaker 1: Then I know now he's Lord, and he worshiped him,
Speaker 1: and he worshiped him. When I read that phrase, or
Speaker 1: when I read that verse, it reminded me of a
Speaker 1: phrase that comes from what the apostle Paul says in
Speaker 1: Ephesians Paul he prayed one time in Ephesians one eighteen.
Speaker 1: He said, I prayed that the eyes of your heart
Speaker 1: may be enlightened. This phrase, the eyes of your heart,
Speaker 1: it's an internal knowing. And I thought about that phrase,
Speaker 1: and I went to that verse, and what really struck
Speaker 1: me was actually the verse before it, verse seventeen. Look
Speaker 1: at this. Paul prayed for us as believers, and he said,
Speaker 1: I keep asking that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: the Glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom
Speaker 1: and revelation so that you may know him better. I
Speaker 1: pray that God would give you a spirit of wisdom
Speaker 1: and revelation so that you may know him better. I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful that for the moments in my life where
Speaker 1: I'm not sure which way is up and which ways down,
Speaker 1: that God has given me a spirit of wisdom. The
Speaker 1: Word of God says that if anybody lacks wisdom, we
Speaker 1: should ask. God gives faithfully without finding fault. The spirit
Speaker 1: of God, as believers, is our guide. It'll give us
Speaker 1: insight into things that we couldn't know otherwise. I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful for the spirit of God that helps me make
Speaker 1: decisions in my life that even when I'm not sure
Speaker 1: what His will is, that I can be guided by
Speaker 1: His Holy Spirit. But the primary purpose of the Spirit
Speaker 1: of God, the spirit of wisdom and revelation, is this
Speaker 1: so that you would know Him better. When I saw
Speaker 1: that word know, I thought, well, which no, is it?
Speaker 1: Is it the type of knowing that comes from learning,
Speaker 1: or is it the type of knowing that comes through
Speaker 1: experience and relationship? And I look it up and it
Speaker 1: blew me away. There's a third type of knowing. This
Speaker 1: word means spirit revealed in sight. There's what I learn,
Speaker 1: there's what I experience. But there is a knowing that
Speaker 1: comes through the Spirit of God that illuminates things to
Speaker 1: me that no one else could show me. It's a
Speaker 1: different type of knowing. It's a deeper knowing. It's a
Speaker 1: knowing that I can build my life on. It's a
Speaker 1: confidence in knowing who He is. This is like when
Speaker 1: Jesus asked Peter the question who do people say that
Speaker 1: I am? Well, some people say that you're a prophet,
Speaker 1: some say you're Elijah. Some people say just like the
Speaker 1: fair some people say you're just a man. Some people
Speaker 1: say you're a prophet. But Jesus says, who do you say?
Speaker 1: Say that I am? Peter makes this confession. He said,
Speaker 1: you are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the
Speaker 1: Living God. And look what Jesus says to him. He says, Simon, Peter,
Speaker 1: blessed are you for this was not revealed to you
Speaker 1: by flesh and blood. Why because when it comes to
Speaker 1: the knowledge of Christ's, flesh and blood can't reveal it
Speaker 1: to you. That's why before I get up here to preach,
Speaker 1: or even when I come sit in church on a
Speaker 1: Sunday morning, I pray that God would give me a
Speaker 1: spirit of wisdom and revelation. Show that. As my pastor
Speaker 1: is preaching the Word of God and I'm learning about
Speaker 1: the scriptures, I need the Spirit of God to show
Speaker 1: me things that only He can reveal to me. He said,
Speaker 1: flesh and blood did not reveal these things to you,
Speaker 1: But my Father in Heaven. There's a type of knowing
Speaker 1: that comes from the spirit of God, and you, my son,
Speaker 1: you daughter of God, have access to that spirit as
Speaker 1: a follower of Jesus. That for the moments in your
Speaker 1: life where you're like, I don't know what to do next,
Speaker 1: you can stand confident saying, even if I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do, and even if I don't always know
Speaker 1: what I believe, I'm so grateful that the Spirit of
Speaker 1: God has revealed to me who he is. That's enough
Speaker 1: to build my life on. I was so encouraged by
Speaker 1: this man's this blind man's story, because I resonated with
Speaker 1: it of just saying I don't know, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, and learning once again to find my
Speaker 1: faith and confidence and security not in what I know,
Speaker 1: but to build my life on who he is. And
Speaker 1: so as I was reading his story, I felt like
Speaker 1: I could relate to him, and I was frustrated because
Speaker 1: I was like, God, there's just so many things I
Speaker 1: don't know about right now. And it was like the
Speaker 1: Spirit of God reminded me, he goes, you think you're
Speaker 1: that blind man, and he goes, and he reminded me
Speaker 1: of a time where I was less like the blind man,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know, and I was more
Speaker 1: like the Pharisees. I know this, I know that into
Speaker 1: my life where I felt like I had all the answers.
Speaker 1: So I felt like I was good in my faith,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't dependent on God. I was dependent on
Speaker 1: what I knew. And it took me back to a
Speaker 1: season of my life where I grew up in church
Speaker 1: all my life in a really great church with really
Speaker 1: great parents who taught me the word of God. I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful for that. And as a result of that, though,
Speaker 1: as I was getting ready to go to college, I
Speaker 1: was going to Bible School. I knew I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a pastor. I went into Bible school eighteen years
Speaker 1: old thinking I had all the answers debate me, thinking
Speaker 1: I was so I know, it sounds cringey just even
Speaker 1: hearing me say it right now. And I'm going to
Speaker 1: Bible school to, you know, to learn more, just to
Speaker 1: top off I already knew so much, just to learn
Speaker 1: a little, just a little bit more. And I'm in
Speaker 1: the dorm room at Liberty University a couple weeks in.
Speaker 1: I'm going to all these classes New Testament, all that
Speaker 1: New Testament Survey, Old Testament, all that stuff, learning about
Speaker 1: the Bible. And I remember this moment with God where
Speaker 1: he spoke to me and he said, do you want
Speaker 1: to know more about me? Or do you really want
Speaker 1: to know me? And it convicted me because I realized
Speaker 1: that I had more knowledge about God than I had
Speaker 1: knowledge of God. And it began this process early on
Speaker 1: in my freshman year of just beginning to pray to
Speaker 1: God sincerely. I had this prayer. I said, Lord, help
Speaker 1: me unlearn everything I think I know and help me
Speaker 1: truly experience who you are. An honest prayer, a dangerous prayer,
Speaker 1: a simple prayer. Lord, help me unlearn everything I think
Speaker 1: I know and help me truly experience You for who
Speaker 1: you are. And from that point forward, every night when
Speaker 1: I would open up the scriptures, it wasn't to learn
Speaker 1: more information. It was because I wanted to see the
Speaker 1: scriptures as an invitation into knowing Him. That was my
Speaker 1: prayer every night. And God answered that prayer in a
Speaker 1: season where I was like a pharisee, going, ah, I
Speaker 1: have all the answers. So blinded by my arrogance, God
Speaker 1: began to humble me. And one of the gifts he
Speaker 1: brought me is the worship team here. I asked, Amari,
Speaker 1: he's one of our worship leaders over at our Blakeney campus.
Speaker 1: I asked if I could borrow him over here at
Speaker 1: Valentine today because me and Mari have been friends almost
Speaker 1: twenty years. You're getting old. You're getting old, and Amari.
Speaker 1: Right around that time, I just remember this guy wandering
Speaker 1: up from the dorm floor below me and coming to
Speaker 1: sit in the dorm. And every time this guy would
Speaker 1: talk about the things of God, I realized, Oh, my goodness,
Speaker 1: he sees something I don't see. He knows something I
Speaker 1: don't know what. You might not be able to tell.
Speaker 1: Watching Amar lead worship, I know you can tell he's
Speaker 1: anointed and gifted, but Amari is legally blind. And I
Speaker 1: meet this guy at this pivotal moment in my life
Speaker 1: where I'm praying God, I just want to know you
Speaker 1: for who you are. Take the blinders off. I want
Speaker 1: to see you. God sends this man into my life
Speaker 1: who starts inviting me just to pray on Tuesday nights
Speaker 1: with some other people who are hungry for the face
Speaker 1: of God. And as I was just reading about the
Speaker 1: story of Mark, why I wanted you hear even it
Speaker 1: was just cool for me and nobody else was because
Speaker 1: you were such an answer to prayer in my life
Speaker 1: at that season. And I'm reading this story about the
Speaker 1: Pharisees and a man born blind and It just stuck
Speaker 1: out to me that God used a blind guy to
Speaker 1: open up my eyes. And the way Jesus ends us
Speaker 1: encounter with this man is he says, this weird mission statement,
Speaker 1: this weird thing. He said. I came so that the
Speaker 1: blind would see, and that those who see would become blind.
Speaker 1: So many moments in my life where I feel like God,
Speaker 1: I just don't know. It makes me feel insecure. I
Speaker 1: feel like I should, But I'm reminded that maybe not
Speaker 1: knowing is a good thing. Maybe in the moments where
Speaker 1: I'm able to admit God, I'm blind right now, God,
Speaker 1: I can't see, Maybe those are the moments where the
Speaker 1: Spirit of God comes in like a light to illuminate
Speaker 1: my heart and to show me not answers, not what
Speaker 1: to do next, not just direction, but to reveal to
Speaker 1: me who he is. You are the Christ, You are
Speaker 1: the Lord, son of God, Son of Man. I can't
Speaker 1: build my confidence in what I know. I want to
Speaker 1: build my life on who I know. Thank you for
Speaker 1: joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks
Speaker 2: again for listening. God bless you.