Healing Spiritual Blindness
Our associate pastor, Ryan Crawford, brought our Sunday morning message: “He Calleth Thee.”
We stood for opening prayer and the reading of God’s word.
The scripture reading was taken from Mark 10:46-52, the story of blind Bartimaeus and the multitude that forgot to share the blessings and joy of Jesus Christ, and 1 Corinthians 6:11.
Let’s take a moment to look at those verses. We have the story of Bartimaeus the blind man, son of Timaeus, sitting on the side of the highway that ran through Jericho. As he sits there, He hears everyone passing by talking about Jesus coming that way. As Jesus drew closer, Bartimaeus began to cry out to Jesus, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me!” Those that were near Bartimaeus started to silence him. However, the more they tried to quiet him, the more Bartimaeus cried out. Jesus heard Bartimaeus calling to Him and commanded that Bartimaeus be brought to Him. Those that were at one time telling Bartimaeus to be quiet were now bringing him to Jesus. After asking what Bartimaeus desired of Jesus, he answered with total faith that he wished that he might receive his sight. Because of his faith, Jesus healed Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus, in turn, followed Jesus.
After we have received salvation, we are filled with this desire to follow Jesus, to leave behind the life that separated us from Him. Like the mad man that had spent all his life among the gravestones, once Jesus had healed him, he wanted to follow Jesus. If we take a moment to look back at the multitude that followed Jesus, a good number of them were most likely those that Jesus had healed. He had made them whole. Looking at 1 Corinthians, there were the formerly lost as well. What faith these people had in Christ, to leave everything they had know to follow the one that had healed and saved them.
But let’s look at them again and at ourselves as well. These were people that Christ had healed and made whole. Just as you were. But here they were telling Bartimaeus to be quiet. Wait… what? Why would they do that? They had come from so many complicated and wretched backgrounds, and Jesus saved them. Why would they deny another the joy of Jesus saving them? That is a very good question. But more important questions should be asked. Why are we preventing so many others from knowing the joy and peace of Jesus Christ as their savior? Why are we not sharing and talking about Jesus and all the joy He has blessed us with? How many times have we had an opportunity to share our testimony of what Christ has done for us? So many of us live in fear of talking out loud about what Christ has done for us. We should be talking about what He has done for us - with our loved ones, our friends, and our enemies. So many times we let ourselves become complacent in our commission of telling the world about how Jesus died for us so that none may be lost - no, not one. Even our attitudes push away those that still need Jesus Christ in their lives.
How simple it is to have a conversation with our loved ones, and the joy and delight that some overhear while you speak could allow Christ to touch their hearts. How easy it is to leave tracts inviting folks to church at the post office, cafes or anywhere else that they might stumble across them.
Please come join us for church. We have two services. Our first service, the Early Morning Service, is at 8:30 a.m., with Sunday School immediately afterwards, and after Sunday School, the second morning worship service, the Mid-morning Service, will start at 11 a.m.
Please check out our FBCP Teen Group Facebook page.
Friday night, Bible Study will start at 6:30 p.m.
Men’s prayer breakfast will be at 8 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6.
WMU is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9.
Jesse James Days will be Aug. 10-13. We will have a church booth set up then.
VBS will be starting weekly on Wednesday nights, Aug. 10-Sept. 7. We will have meals starting at 6 p.m. followed by lessons from 6:30-8 p.m. This year’s lesson will be “The Amazing Race.”
The teen camping/floating trip will be Aug. 11-12 and costs $5 per teen. Please contact Ryan for more information.
You can hear a rebroadcast of one of our pastors’ services on KURM radio, 100.3 on the FM dial, at 8:30 Sunday mornings. Or listen to our pastors’ services on our website at www.firstbaptistchurchpineville.com/ Sermons.html.
If you have no church home of your own, we would love for you to join us in ours (off the northeast corner of Pineville square, just behind U.S. Bank). No friendlier, down-home church can be found anywhere in the fourstate area.