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Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000620A
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00:02 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:07 Breath of Life Ministries Presents: 00:12 Sermon #B620 - Open Your Eyes 00:20 PB: All right, John, chapter 9, verse number 1. 00:26 Let's try it again, do you have it? All right, that's good. 00:29 The word says, "And Jesus passed by and he saw a man 00:35 which was blind from his birth and his disciples asked Him, 00:41 say, 'Master, who did sin? This man or his parents 00:46 that he was born blind?' Jesus answered and said, 00:51 'Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents but that 00:54 the works of God should be made manifest in him, 00:59 I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, 01:02 for when night cometh no man can work. 01:07 As long as I'm in the world I am the light of the one, 01:11 ' everybody. When he had thus spoken he spat on the ground, 01:15 made clay of the spittle and he anointed the eyes of 01:17 the blind man with the clay and he said to him, 01:20 'Go wash in the pool of Siloam which is by interpretation Sent. 01:27 ' He went his way therefore and washed and came seeing. 01:33 " Skip down to verse number 18, "But the Jews did not 01:37 believe concerning him that he had been blind 01:41 and received the sight, until they called the parents 01:45 of them that had received his sight." 01:48 Verse 19, "And they asked him saying, 'Is this your son 01:53 whom you say was born blind, how then doth he now see? 01:59 His parents answered them and said, 'We know that this 02:03 is our son and that he was born blind but by what means 02:07 he thou now see it we know not, or who hath opened his 02:11 eyes we know not, but he is of age, ask him, 02:18 he can speak for himself.' These words spake his parents 02:24 because they feared the Jews for the Jews had agreed already 02:26 that if any man did confess that he was Christ, 02:28 he should be put out of the synagogue, put out of the church. 02:33 'Therefore,' said his parents, 'he is of age, ask him.' 02:37 Then again called they the man that was blind and said unto him, 02:41 'Give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner,' 02:49 but this's what the man said, 'Whether he be a sinner or not I know not, 02:57 but one thing I do know that whereas I was blind but now I see. 03:14 I said whereas I was blind but now I see.' Lord speak to your people, 03:24 blow our minds at the appeals peel by the power of your Holy Ghost." 03:29 In Jesus name we pray, amen. 03:34 To be, open your eyes. Now, you would have thought that this man 03:41 being healed would have brought about great celebration. 03:47 You would have thought that all of his friends, 03:50 all of his family, all the neighbors, all the church folk 03:51 would appreciate what God had done for him in his life. 03:56 But instead of celebrating his healing controversy 04:00 broke out over his healing. 04:03 Vision surprised us because as I've learned firsthand 04:06 the greatest moments in your life can often produce 04:09 the greatest moments of envy and jealousy in somebody else's life. 04:14 Today let's be reminded everybody's not happy when you're blessed, 04:19 everybody is not happy when you're successful. 04:23 The young people call this hating 04:26 but let me give you some good advice. 04:28 Don't hate the player hate the game, 04:29 do I have a witness in this place? I say it all the time, 04:32 be a cheerleader, God's blessing him, God's in the neighborhood, 04:35 it's just a matter of time before God starts blessing you. 04:38 Do I have a mad witness in this place? 04:41 The people are mad because Jesus healed this man, 04:45 mad because the man's life has changed, 04:47 mad because the man's life was turned around, 04:49 mad his life has been given to Jesus, 04:51 mad he's no longer what he used to be 04:53 but mad that he's now what he should be. 04:55 So, the Pharisees asked, "Who healed you? Where is he? 05:01 You must have sinned because you were born blind." 05:05 But how could he have sinned in his mother's womb to be born blind? 05:09 A baby is innocent in his mother's womb 05:11 and what could a baby do in the womb 05:13 that would cause him to be born blind? 05:15 So, if he didn't sin then his parents must have sinned. 05:19 So, now, the parent- the Pharisees are trying to connect 05:21 the sins of the father to the sins of the child. 05:25 Stop making children guilty of their- of what their parents 05:27 have done bad, are you hearing what I'm saying? 05:29 Now, this is ensured to be strange because you often hear 05:32 people talking about generational curses. 05:36 You hear Buddhists talk about Karma, the old cliche says, 05:39 "What goes around comes around," 05:42 but Jesus clears all this up by saying that 05:44 the man's blindness has nothing to do with sin 05:46 in his life or his parents lives. 05:48 Nothing the man did brought this upon him, 05:51 nothing the pair of the parents did brought this upon him 05:54 but sometimes bad things happen to good people. 05:59 So, Jesus says, "Neither hath this man sinned 06:01 nor his parents but that the works of God 06:03 should be made manifest in this man." 06:07 In other words, God's about to be glorified, 06:09 the man is about to be edified and the devil is about to be horrified. 06:14 Jesus is about to heal this man 06:17 so that the works of God might be made manifest. 06:21 So, I learned four things from this story quickly and then I sit down. 06:25 Number one, look for blessings and not for blame. 06:30 When we're faced with challenge in life 06:31 we can look at the challenge either positively or negatively, 06:34 the cup can be half empty or the cup can be half full. 06:38 In the text the Pharisees see a problem but Jesus sees a solution. 06:43 Pharisees, "This man is blind," Jesus, " 06:47 But God's about to be glorified." 06:49 Pharisees, "This man is blind, I said," 06:52 Jesus said, "Somebody's about to get blessed today." 06:55 So, somebody sitting here today you're looking at this thing positively, 06:58 maybe negatively, and you're saying, " 07:00 I don't have enough money to go to Oakwood." 07:04 But you're looking at the problem and you need to look at the solution. 07:08 I'm not worried about it, why? My God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, 07:15 God will make a way out of no way to the person that's looking at 07:19 a negativity to me it's too much money, you better claim God 07:22 and claim the blessings and scholarship is on the way. 07:25 A grant is on the way, a gift from somebody you didn't think 07:29 was coming it's on the way. Somebody else, a older folk, " 07:32 I lost my job. I don't know what I'm going to do." 07:35 You're looking at the problem not at the solution. 07:38 Maybe God's got something better for you, 07:40 a better paying job with better benefits in a better environment 07:44 is in somebody's future today. 07:46 God wouldn't take you through unemployment 07:48 if God weren't God enough to bring you through unemployment. 07:51 Too often we were faced with a problem we were looking for 07:53 somebody to blame, but guit looking at the problem 07:58 and look for the blessing, I will lift up my own eyes into the hills 08:01 from whence cometh my help, my help comes from the Lord. 08:03 In fact, Jesus shows us that we're- what we're to do when we're faced 08:06 with the problem, he says, " 08:07 Look at it as an opportunity." 08:10 An opportunity to allow the works of God to be made manifest, 08:13 an opportunity for God to show up and show out, 08:16 let's think about it you all. 08:17 We would have never known that God can make a Red Sea a dry Highway. 08:22 If the children of Israel had not been chased by the Egyptians 08:26 we would have never known that God can shut lion's mouth, 08:30 if Daniel had not gone in the lion's den 08:33 you would have never known God was a healer if you've never been sick. 08:37 You would never know that God is a provider if you've never been broke, 08:41 you would never know he's a way maker if you hadn't been laid off. 08:47 Stop seeing problems, start seeing opportunities, 08:52 stop blaming and start blessing. Stop, he must have sinned. 08:58 Stop, his parents must have sinned. Stop, he must have done this, 09:02 he must have done that, and start blessing God 09:05 for what God is getting ready to do. 09:08 I will bless the Lord at all times, 09:12 His praise can be easily be in my mouth, 09:15 that's point one. Point two, don't box God in. 09:21 Now, notice how Jesus heals the man, 09:23 Jesus stoops down, spits on the ground, 09:26 rubs dirt and spit together, makes mud, puts the mud on the man's eyes 09:33 and then tells the man, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam." 09:38 Now, Jesus had the power where he could have spoken the word and said, 09:43 "I command you to see," but he didn't do that. 09:48 Jesus could have laid hands on the man and said, 09:51 "I command you to see," but Jesus didn't do that either. 09:54 When Jesus got ready to heal the man, he spat on the ground, 10:00 made mud of spits, told the man to go wash in the pool, 10:05 and that means sometimes God's way of bringing you out 10:08 may not be the way you wanted to come out. 10:11 Sometimes when God's getting ready to bring you out, 10:13 he doesn't bring you out classy or comfortable. 10:16 Sometimes you got to have mud on your face. 10:19 Sometimes you have to go bankrupt. Sometimes you lose your job. 10:23 Sometimes you lose your house. Sometimes you lose your car. 10:25 Sometimes, young people, you failed the class. 10:30 Sometimes you get embarrassed. Don't expect God to solve your problems 10:33 in the way you would solve them. Just because you're in a box 10:36 don't put God in the box. Let God be God. 10:39 Don't limit God because you want God to fit in the mold you've made for him. 10:42 Give God room to be God. Give God room to do the unexpected. 10:46 Give God room to do the impossible. 10:48 There are some people who are changed in their life 10:50 but they don't want it to cost them anything, 10:53 but God's blessings cost you something. What am I talking about? 10:58 I want to lose weight but I want to eat ice cream late at night. 11:03 I want a degree but I don't want to study. 11:08 I want to get out of debt but I don't want to pay anybody off. 11:12 I want a wife but I don't want to work. I want a husband 11:19 but I don't want to submit. You'd be surprised that people 11:24 who want things but aren't willing to go to get through it to get it what it takes. 11:28 But how bad do you want it? 11:31 Because when you really want change you better tell somebody, 11:33 "I'm past what you think about me. I'm past what you say about me. 11:39 I'm past all that because you don't have a heaven or hell for me. 11:44 You don't put beans in my pot. 11:47 So, spits, mud, whatever it takes Jesus save me." 11:53 Jesus heals this man with spit and mud, 11:57 but talking about the box and putting Jesus in a box, 12:01 the Pharisees are mad because Jesus didn't go to them for the man's healing, 12:06 that he didn't ask them permission to heal the man, 12:09 that they didn't take a boat to approve Jesus' way of healing. 12:13 You see, people will get mad when they can't claim rights to your healing. 12:17 People will get mad when they can't claim rights to your responsibilities and successes. 12:21 If Jesus had sent this man to the Pharisees, 12:23 the Pharisees would have then said, "We did it" 12:26 and then it would have been all right for the man to be healed. 12:29 But because the man got healed outside the system, 12:32 outside the box, y'all don't hear what I'm saying, 12:35 What does the text say? Verse number 19, 12:37 the Pharisees asked, "Is this your son who you say was born blind? 12:42 How big does he now see?" verse number 20, 12:44 "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind," 12:49 verse 21, "but by what means he now see if we don't know. 12:51 Who had open his eyes we don't know, 12:54 but he's of age, ask him, he can speak for himself." 12:58 Now, let's be honest in 21st century, 2018, 13:00 if someone trying to threaten us that we would be thrown out of the church, 13:04 this fellowship as we used to call it or excommunicated 13:08 in other churches if we didn't go along with some religious leaders 13:11 decisions, we would say, "So what? Who cares? Put me out." 13:16 But if you live back in the time of John chapter 9, 13:19 you would be scared because if you were barred from the temple, 13:21 then no one would want to have anything to do with you. 13:23 They wouldn't hire you to work. They wouldn't buy or sell anything to you. 13:27 You would be in a field without a glove or up a river without a paddle. 13:31 So, because they're scared and they cannot lie, 13:33 they send the Pharisees to their son claiming he's old enough to speak for himself, 13:37 so then the Bible says the Pharisees called the man. 13:39 Verse 24, the Pharisees asked, "Who healed you? 13:43 You ought to be giving God the praise not this man you claim who healed you. 13:46 The man you're speaking of is a sinner. 13:48 He broke religious law and he healed you on the Sabbath." 13:53 Which leads me to point number three, 13:54 I'm almost done, put people over policy. 14:03 People are tired of religion without relationship. 14:10 People are tired of coming to church, getting beat up in the pulpits, 14:15 beat up about what they have on, 14:17 beat up about what they're doing and what they're not doing. 14:20 People are tired of being able to come to church 14:22 where they can't share their burden simply because they're afraid 14:25 of what other folks might say about. 14:27 People are tired of seeing the emphasis of 14:29 policy placed over the needs of people. 14:31 People want to know, "Do you care about me?" 14:35 You see, people, I've learned, don't care so much how much you know 14:39 but they want to know how much you care. 14:40 Remember in the early part of the text, remember now, 14:43 instead of looking at the blind man with the desire to help him, 14:45 the Pharisees wanted to start a theological debate, 14:48 "Did he sin? Did his parents sin? 14:51 "But people wherein don't need a sermon when they're facing problems. 14:55 They need help. We shouldn't care so much as to about why they're hurting 15:00 to the fact that they are hurting. 15:02 Are you hearing what I'm saying? 15:03 Let me try this way, somebody you still not getting it. 15:05 If you were in a car accident and you were bleeding 15:08 and you were bleeding to death in the ER of the hospital room, 15:12 how would you feel if the doctor came in your room 15:14 and wanted to talk to you about the history of the stethoscope? 15:20 You'll be like, "Who cares? I'm bleeding to death." 15:24 And while everything the doctor might be saying to you it's true, 15:27 it would also be irrelevant to you because it doesn't stop your pain. 15:32 People don't always need to know why problems occur, 15:36 why did God let this happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? 15:39 Why this? Why that? People just want to know, 15:42 "Can you help me?" And so the Pharisees are saying 15:46 Jesus broke religious law and healed on the Sabbath. 15:48 But the Pharisees with all of their theological prowess, 15:52 with all their debates about the Sabbath 15:53 and whether it was lawful to take some mud and put it on a man's eyes 15:56 for the purpose of making him see, with all these legal ramblings, 16:00 they could not see that they were making this man feel like 16:03 some ungodly force had brought about his healing, 16:07 so they were distributing his sight 16:09 as though he had no reason to be happy about his miracle. 16:11 They were so hung up on doctrines 16:12 that they were blind to what the doctrines 16:14 were doing to real people, religious but not relationship. 16:18 They knew the law but they didn't know about love. 16:21 And religion without relationship 16:23 ends up worrying about what you have won, 16:25 where you live, and who you know instead of you getting to know Jesus Christ. 16:28 Religion without relationship breeds rules and rituals and self-righteousness. 16:33 The Pharisees spent all their lives being religious 16:36 and before we're too hard on them, before we're too critical on them, 16:38 all of us to some degree are religious. 16:43 Let's be real, there's nothing that's turning yourself dangerous, 16:48 that's turning yourself over to a roomful of church folk, 16:53 especially when you've done wrong. 16:55 Years ago not today but years ago, 16:56 don't get pregnant out of wedlock. 16:59 We bring you up to the front in church 17:01 and then sinner is going to accuse another sinner of what they've done. 17:03 The only difference is the people in the pew didn't get caught. 17:06 I wish I had a witness in this place. 17:09 [Applause] 17:13 We have rules for which we have no scriptures. 17:16 And where we have scriptures, 17:18 we don't search them for appropriateness or contextual correctness, 17:21 so we just hurled them out after the fashion of our fathers without questioning 17:25 the possibility that our fathers might have been wrong, 17:28 so what do we do? We kill our sons, our future, 17:30 try to be loyal to our fathers, our past, and our future 17:33 is destroyed by our commitment to our history 17:35 because we love our history more than we love our destiny. 17:41 But I've learned that people can't see if they have dirt in their own eyes. 17:47 Put people over policy. Jesus came to save people, 17:54 not policy. Policy protects us, but Jesus came to save us. 18:03 Final point, I'm done, 18:05 praise God for who he is and not just for what he's done. 18:12 Now, this man had a greater need than being healed from blindness. 18:16 The man needed more than physical sight. 18:17 The man needed a savior. Jesus just didn't want this man to see 18:21 he wanted this man to experience the truth about who God is. 18:25 What good would have been for the blind man's have gained physical sight 18:29 but no spiritual sight? The miracle was not complete 18:33 until the man had a relationship with Jesus Christ. 18:36 The plan of God is not just to solve our problems. 18:40 The plan of God is for us to be in relationship with God. 18:43 The plan of God is for us to worship God. 18:46 We were created to worship God. 18:47 It doesn't matter if God decides 18:49 to answering every one of our prayers in the way we want him to, 18:53 but if we fail to worship God we missed the point. 18:58 So let me be clear, if God doesn't do another thing for us, 19:03 he's already done enough. I don't worship God just for what he's done 19:08 but I worship God for who God is, what is God, who is God. 19:16 God is a healer, God is a provider, God is a way maker, 19:23 God is my refuge and strength, God is a very present help in time of trouble, 19:29 God is a bill payer, God is a heart fixer, God is a cancer killer, 19:35 God is a problem solver, God is a tuition payer, God is a way, 19:41 I don't know what God is. I worship God, 19:46 not just for what he's done but I worship God for who God is. 19:53 So after the Pharisees have pestered this man enough, 19:58 after they had verbally abused him enough, 20:02 after they have heckled him enough. 20:05 The man says "Look, I've had enough" 20:09 You all keep running to me and running me with who he is, 20:11 who he is but I don't know if he's a sinner or not, 20:17 I don't know where he was born, I don't know where he came from, 20:24 I don't know where he is right now, I don't know what he's doing, 20:30 I don't know his family, I don't know his mother, I don't know his father, 20:34 I don't know if he's a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, 20:37 a dentist or a preacher. 20:39 All I know is, I once was blind but now I see. 20:50 I don't know what school he went to, I don't know if he went to Oakwood, 20:55 I don't know if you went to Southern, I don't know if you went to Andrews, 20:57 ANM or UAH I don't know if we went to public school, 21:00 I don't know if he went to church school, 21:02 I don't know if we went to Pine Park triple-A, Miami Union, 21:05 I don't know where he went but all I know is, 21:08 I once was blind but now I see. 21:15 I don't know what the church board said, 21:17 I don't know what the conference committee said, 21:20 I don't know what the others say and I'm not here to argue, 21:22 I'm not here to debate on how I got healed, 21:24 when I got healed, where I got healed or what day I got heal 21:28 or who healed me, all I know is, I once was blind but now I see. 21:39 Open your eyes, when we come into the house of God, 21:45 when we come into the very presence of God, 21:48 we ought to lift up holy hands, we ought to worship Him, 21:53 I don't care what's going on in your life, 21:55 you ought to lift up holy hands because it may not be where you want to be 22:01 but praise God you're not where you used to be, 22:05 your car maybe barely running but praise God you're not walking, 22:09 you may not have the house you want 22:11 but praise God you got a roof over your head, 22:14 you may not have money in your pocket 22:16 but at least you got food on your table. 22:18 You've had some good days, some bad days, 22:23 some hills to climb but when you look around and you think things over, 22:29 all of your good days outweigh your bad days, 22:34 I won't, I won't, I won't, I won't 22:41 complain, God's been good to me. 22:45 I'm going to give you some shout news, 22:47 and I'm going to sit down. God is healing his people right now, 22:51 God is changing his people right now, God is raising up people right now, 22:57 God is restoring people right now, 23:00 God is saving people right now, 23:03 God is delivering people right now. 23:05 Open up your eyes right now. 23:07 Somebody's in college that's not supposed to be in college, 23:11 someone's got a job you didn't apply for, 23:14 somebody was on crack is being healed right now, 23:16 somebody has a child on dope that's being healed right now, 23:19 somebody's on the street is being healed right now, 23:21 somebody headed to bankruptcy court is being healed right now, 23:24 some marriage that was headed to divorce court it's being healed right now. 23:27 Don't wait till the battle is over you ought to shout now. 23:31 Open up your eyes and see what God is doing right now, 23:36 somebody is blind in this place, 23:41 you're not physically blind 23:42 but you spiritually blind but God led you to this place. 23:47 You think for OU-LIVE but that was just a mechanism. 23:51 That was just the candor for you to get here to hear his voice. 23:55 Open your eyes, some things are about to happen, 23:59 something and somebody is about to move, 24:04 you've cried long enough, you've been blind long enough, 24:10 you've been talked about long enough. God, 24:15 any way you bless me I'll be satisfied, mud and all. 24:22 A breakthrough has got to come, look for blessings not blame, 24:30 don't box God in, put people before policy 24:38 and praise God for who he is not just what he can do. 24:47 There's a blind girl and this blind girl hated herself because she was blind, 25:00 she hated everybody but except her loving boyfriend, he was always there for, 25:07 she told her boyfriend if I could only see the world I would marry you. 25:15 One day, somebody donated a pair of eyes to this girl 25:21 but the bandage just came off the girl was able to see everything, 25:26 including her boyfriend. 25:28 He asked her, "Now that you can see the world, 25:31 will you marry me?" But the girl looked at her boyfriend 25:37 and saw that he was blind and the sight of his closed eyelids shocked her, 25:48 she didn't expect that 25:50 and so the thought of looking at his closed eyes 25:54 for the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him. 26:02 Her boyfriend was in tears, later he wrote a note to her saying 26:11 "Take good care of your eyes, my dear, 26:15 for before they were yours, they were mine" 26:25 The Bible says that you and I we're dead in our sins, 26:32 that all of us had come short of the glory of God. 26:37 We were all blind to the truth of God's redeeming Grace, 26:43 one day, Jesus stepped down out of heaven and he said 26:51 "I'm going to give my life for yours" 26:55 He gave all that he had so that you and I could have everlasting life. 27:00 Today I'm proud that I stand here, 27:04 not simply as the pastor of this church 27:05 but I stand before you as a condemned sinner, 27:11 not as a condemned sinner totally, though, I am a forgiving sinner. 27:15 Not as a saint of manhood but a saint of God because if we confess our sins, 27:24 he's faithful and just to forgive us 27:26 of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 27:28 Open your eyes, he's trying to heal you, 27:34 he's trying to save you. For some young person, 27:37 he's brought you here to Oakwood because he's trying to save you, 27:40 he's trying to show you a better way, open your eyes. 27:44 God loves you, open your eyes, 27:46 God died to save you, open your eyes, 27:51 God's coming back to get you. 27:54 Open your eyes because I don't know if he's a sinner or not, 28:04 I don't know where he's come from, all I know is, 28:10 I once was blind but now I see. Look for blessings and not blame, 28:21 "Thank you very much for tuning into this 28:24 week's Breath of Life Broadcast. 28:26 We hope and pray that you have been blessed 28:28 by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 28:31 If you would like to hear this sermon in 28:32 its entirety, please feel free to visit us at 28:35 www.breathoflife.tv or call us at 256.929.6460. 28:50 [END] |
Revised 2018-10-13