A NEW SEASON PT2 | SUNDAY 25TH MAY | PS AARON MORE

Awesome. Hey, uh this morning is a a

little bit of a follow on to last week,

albeit uh a different style. And I want

to uh start by sharing this story that's

found in Luke 18. Um the same thing is

also repeated in Mark 10. And uh it's

where it starts with this blind man who

is begging um outside of Jericho. And so

he's outside of Jericho and he is

begging. Now, uh Jericho is a wealthy

city. So, he is uh wives to be begging

outside of a wealthy city because the

chances are he's going to get more

money. So, this uh blind man is be

begging outside the city. And in Luke 18

in the scriptures, it says, "As Jesus

approached Jericho, a blind man was

sitting on the roadside begging. When he

heard the crowd going by, he asked what

was happening. They told him, "Jesus of

Nazareth, is passing by." He called out,

"Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me."

Those who led the way rebuked him and

told him to be quiet, but he shouted all

the more, "Son of David, have mercy on

me." Jesus stopped and ordered the man

to be brought to him. And when he came

to him, Jesus said, "What do you want

from me?" He said,"Lord, I want to see."

Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight.

Your faith has healed you." Immediately

he received his sight. Follow Jesus.

Praising God. When all the people saw

this, they also praised God. And so, uh,

actually Mark 10 tells us that it was

that he was called, uh, Barameus. And if

you're familiar with church culture,

it's kind of interesting because we have

these Bible characters that we call

according to who they used to be. Like

Barameus is known as being blind

Barameus. But the thing is when he

encountered Jesus, he wasn't blind

anymore. He would be like, "Hey, I

actually don't need that label anymore."

Like the the one I really feel sorry is

the woman with the issue of blood. I

mean, that's a horrible nickname, right?

The woman with the issue of blood. But

she was the woman with the issue of

blood. But she encountered Jesus and no

longer had that issue. And so Barameus

was a blind man, but he encountered

Jesus and he received healing. And the

amazing thing is Jesus still does things

like that today. The the first miracle I

ever uh re uh that I would say was a

miracle was actually when I prayed for

someone who had color blindness and they

were completely healed of color

blindness. And then I a few years later

shared that testimony somewhere and

actually got a report back a few weeks

later that someone else who was in the

meeting then went out and prayed for

someone and the first miracle they ever

saw was color blindness. And I thought,

"Wow." So Jesus still does things. And I

I'll be honest, I've never seen a blind

eye open myself, but I have friends who

I know and trust who have seen blind

eyes open. But here's this man who's

begging on the side of the road. And in

Mark 10's in Mark's account, it actually

says he threw off his cloak, which is

like his right to beg. So he throws it

off when he's approaching Jesus because

he's going to receive his miracle. But

before he can do that, you know, the

crowd are telling him to be quiet and

he's like start shouting all the more.

That's an awkward social moment, isn't

it? When they're like, "Hey, be quiet."

And and the person gets louder like uh

but he begins to yell all the more and

he approaches Jesus. He receives his

miracle. And then what's interesting is

it says all the people praised God. So

all the people that were trying to keep

him from Jesus now are actually like,

"Wow, how amazing. Thank you, God." It's

like, "Well, you didn't do that before.

Everyone's on board after the miracle,

right?" Like, "Yeah, thanks for your

support before the miracle, guys. Don't

praise him. You were the one telling me

to shut up, you know?" And so,

um, he receives his healing and then it

says in,

uh, verse 42, um, that he,

um, followed

Jesus. It's interesting because for the

first time in his life, he now has

options. Like all of his life, he has

had no option. There is no option in his

life other than to beg. And Jesus heals

him and he now finds himself in a place

with an abundance of options. But he

also actually realizes he only has one

option that if Jesus has healed me, I

need to follow him.

And

sometimes people think they are free and

have options, but really they are

actually bound and can't do what they

want to

do. Yan Wolf Gang said um that's not

that's not the German pronunciation. I

believe it would be like Wolf Gang or

something. I looked up his name. I'm

like man because it's German. I'm like

Wolf Gang what kind of name is that?

Like I wonder what it means. I was like

what does Wolf Gang mean? It's like of

the wolf gang means pack. I'm like,

okay. Like that's pretty simple. Like

wolf gang means like prophetic people

get excited when they hear my last name

Aaron Moore. But imagine like they're

like more more for more. Like imagine

what they do with Wolf Gang. How good is

that? Anyway, Yohan Wolf Gang said

this. None are more hopelessly enslaved

than those who falsely believe they are

free.

None are more hopelessly enslaved than

those who falsely believe they are free.

And so this blind man encounters Jesus

and he now has all of this freedom. But

in all of the freedom, he actually

realizes there is only one response to

which he can give his life to. And that

is the response of Christ. And there's

something that happens when Jesus comes

into your life where you get set free

and you have so many options. And with

all of those options, the most

compelling thing you want to do with

your life is give it to

Jesus. And so, you know, this morning,

I'm aware we'll have people on all kinds

of uh spaces along the faith spectrum.

And some of you are still trying to work

out, well, is this Jesus really real?

And what um and you know I have some uh

good news and some challenging news. You

know we're actually not just a club or a

community of people that gather

together. We actually really believe

that like this blind man encountered

Jesus. We can encounter Jesus and our

lives will be transformed. I I know when

Jesus came into my life, I did not have

all the answers, but I knew something

happened in me where I was stripped of

options of what to do. I was listening

to uh a an atheist and a Christian

debate recently. Uh we showed part of

the clip the other week on Resurrection

Sunday about the reality of the

resurrection and whether you can

historically prove the resurrection. And

and this Christian was like, "You can

prove it." and and hey, maybe you can,

although you're actually proving

something that's 2,000 years ago. So,

it's yes, you can have evidence, but can

you prove it? I was like, well, the

question isn't can it be proved

historically? The question is, does it

get proved in our lives? See, Irwin

McManis shared in a university and he's

sharing about God and someone at the end

asks a question and says, "I don't

believe in your God. I think you've just

uh got an imaginary

friend. Which is a pretty confronting

thing to say, isn't it? Like he's like,

I used to have imaginary friends, too,

and I gave up on them. Like, how come

you haven't given up on your imaginary

friend? And Owen said, "Let me ask tell

you something. If you ever meet an

imaginary friend who heals your pain, if

you meet an imaginary friend who turns

you from selfishness to love, if you

meet an imaginary friend that get that

takes the bitterness out of your life

and gives you love and hope and purpose,

whatever you do, don't stop believing.

and that imaginary friend because that

imaginary friend will be more real to

you than anything you could encounter.

And uh I don't think the guy really had

an answer. He was like, "Wow." Because

the evidence wasn't, "Wow, I can give

you the five uh things that point to why

God is real." The evidence was actually

in his life. Now I do believe there is

credible evidence to why we have faith

that there are rational reasons and

those are

important but they sit beneath the

reality that Jesus transforms lives. He

changes people. It is a present reality.

So what's interesting is this blind man

begins to follow Jesus. They he then

follows him in and they get into

Jericho. As I've said, Jericho is a

wealthy city. And then in the start of

Luke 19, there's a man called Zakius.

And uh, you know, he would have to lie

on his Tinder profile because he was

very short. They say that, you know, you

if you're short on Tinder, you don't get

too many accepts. I don't know. Don't

need to be on Tinder, thank goodness.

But Zakius was a short man. So, he uh

climbed a tree so that he could cuz he

wanted to see Jesus. But Zakius was a

tax collector. But he wasn't just any

tax collector. He was a chief tax

collector within Jericho. And so, um, I

used to work for the Inland Revenue, so

I, um, know what it is to, uh, have some

of the social stigma of working for the

tax department.

uh but in his day uh to be a chief tax

collector was considered amongst Jewish

people to be the equivalent of a

murderer or a robber because what you

would he was a Jewish man and what he

was now doing was he was now uh taking

tax for the Roman um empire. And so what

he would have done was he actually would

have bought a contract that enabled him

to tax the people and then he could also

add on his own tax and take advantage of

them. So and this isn't just him but

he's actually the head honcho. He's got

all of these people working underneath

him exploiting the people. And so

they're living under Roman occupation.

And this is like a traitor where one of

their own has now sold his soul for

gain. And so, uh, funnily enough, he

wouldn't have been too popular. So, he's

got to climb this tree because even

though he has money, if there's Jewish

people surrounding Jesus, none of them

want to let Zak Zakius through because

he is like a gangster on steroids. They

just like, "We don't like you. We don't

want to know you." And so Zakius climbs

this

tree because he's interested in who

Jesus is. Says he wanted to see

Jesus. And again, maybe you're here this

morning and you're like, I don't know

about this faith thing, but I'm kind of

interested to see who is this Jesus. And

what's interesting with Zakius where

this happened literally. I believe it's

a something that still happens

spiritually is Jesus actually said,

"Hey, get down. I want to come and have

lunch with you." And so he was

interested in Jesus. He was like, "Man,

I I want to know a little bit about

you." And then to his shock, he found

out that actually he may have had a

level of interest in Jesus, satisfied

with just seeing Jesus. But Jesus is

actually like, "Hey, I don't just want

to see you. I want to come into your

world." And maybe you've been like,

"Hey, I just want to observe uh this

thing." And and hey, that's fine. You're

allowed to observe what Jesus is doing.

But can I encourage you this morning?

Jesus wants more than that. He actually

wants to have a relationship with you

where the very risen Christ connects

with you. So what happens is uh they

come down and they go and they have this

lunch. Now the crowd are furious because

they're like, "Hey, he's" The crowd

didn't want the blind man to experience

Jesus. Now they don't want the tax

collector to experienced Jesus. But I

wonder, it's interesting the

chronological order, isn't it? Because

it tells us that this blind man

instantly was healed. Now he's seeing

and he follows Jesus. I wonder what it

was like for him. the guy who's healed

you, you're now like now he's going to

have lunch with this uh rascal who

manipulates people probably walked past

the blind man, I imagine, and not given

him a scent. And he's like, "Well, I

just wonder in my mind I'd be like,

well, I'm really pleased you healed my

eyes and obviously you're amazing, but

what the heck are you doing hanging out

with that guy?" And the crowd thought

the same. So, I wonder if it was

internal thoughts. Again, the scriptures

don't say it. It's just what I imagine

was his internal thoughts like I'm

unsure about this. And then it got

reinforced by the crowd. You look at

what Jesus does. He goes and eats with

tax collectors. He goes and meets with

people who you should not go and meet

with. It's what

happens. So they go and have their

meeting. Man, the Bible doesn't tell us

what happens as they sit down and have a

kai together. And man, I don't know

whether you do preachers sometimes say,

"I'm going to get that on videotape when

I get to heaven." I don't know whether

that exists or not. I'm pretty sure it

won't be videotape anymore, but um you

know, unless heaven is a weird version

of the '9s. Um but I'm like, man, when I

get to heaven, I want to watch that. I'm

like, what happened at lunch?

What happened at lunch between Jesus and

this Zakius, this very, very wealthy man

who had gotten his wealth through

ill-gotten

gain. What happened? Because at the end

of

lunch, what happens is the people began

to murmur and say, "He has gone to be

the guest of a sinner." So as the people

are

murmuring, Zakius comes back out. And so

the people are murmuring and they're

like, "Hey, how could Jesus go and have

uh lunch with this person?" They're

murmuring. And then he's the one that

comes back out. And this is what he

says. Lord, look here and now I give

half of my possessions to the poor. And

if I have cheated anybody out of

anything, I will pay them back four

times the

amount. I love the thought that this

blind man had been following Jesus and

he had his sight restored, but he

literally would have had nothing. He's

just thrown off his cloak. And then he's

like, why on earth would Jesus go in and

meet with Zakius? And then he doesn't

know that on the other side of Jesus

meeting with Zakius, Zakius comes out

and like right here and now I'm

giving money and obviously he was

wealthy. I'm giving an abundance of

money to the poor. I'm like wow that

blind man must have been there formerly

blind man. And so he puts his hands out

and he's like

wow. All of a sudden I don't think he

was too upset that Jesus was visiting

with sinners, right? He's like,

"Wow, yeah, maybe you should go to lunch

with tax collectors, Jesus." Like, it

kind of works out pretty good for me

when you healed my

sight and now I've

received a gift. But I didn't receive

the gift directly through Jesus. I

received the gift through Zakius. So,

you didn't get the gift directly from

Jesus. Jesus could have manifest money.

We actually know one time they were

running short of taxes and Jesus like,

"Hey, just go down, catch a fish.

There'll be a coin in its mouth. Pull

the coin out and that'll pay our taxes."

Like Jesus could have chosen to say to

Barameus, "Hey, now that I've healed

your sight, I want to give you a fresh

start. So, I'm just going to manifest a

few uh chuch-ching and uh there you go.

Take it. You'll be good." Jesus could

have done that, but he's like, "That's

not the way I'm going to transform your

life. What I'm actually going to do is

meet with a man that everyone thinks is

beyond reach. And through one meeting

with me, I'm going to change his heart

in such a way where he comes out and he

now pours and he is now changed. Where

injustice now bowels because the key is

is I will take that which I had ill

gotten and I will make a difference in

people's lives because I have

encountered Jesus.

Do you know there was a revival in WHI

in around 1905 and uh one of the things

that happened within the Wahhee revival

was uh people were getting touched.

There were all kinds of testimonies and

one of the testimonies was that someone

uh stood up and repaid a 9-year-old debt

because they've been touched by God. So

they'd owed money for nine years, were

never going to pay it. God touched their

heart and they actually

um repented and then repaid this

nine-year-old debt and so they shared

the testimony. But revival always

creates controversy. And so you can

actually read in the secular newspaper,

someone wrote a letter to the editor and

was like, "What a despicable town we are

that we need a revival for people to

remember to pay their debts."

I don't like this revival. And he was

like, I bet you when he comes to his

senses, he's going to

regret giving out that

money, right? Like when he comes to his

senses after the emotion, he's going to

be, "Why did I repay it?"

And uh sometimes I think what happens is

people encounter Jesus and the natural

response is to do something radical. And

sometimes we're like, well, just just

just, you know, don't go too just settle

down a little bit. Like I burnt my Led

Zeppelin records once and it was a

terrible mistake cuz I came under

condemnation and it was false

condemnation and now I wish I had them

again. and like, "So, so you might have

got saved, but don't run and do

something radical cuz you might regret

it cuz I I really wanted my LPS back and

I don't have them

anymore." LPS are vinyl discs that you

put on a Yeah. I don't know. It's like

um See, here's the thing. Zakius got

touched by

Jesus and he didn't need to go through

three years of disciplehip before he

began to make a difference in the

world. Zakius was touched by Jesus and

out of that he was then invited into

being this agent of change. It's

interesting because Jesus then says the

son of man came to seek and save that

which was lost. And I believe he's

talking about Zakius like as a person

that of course he came to save him. But

he's also redeeming in such a way that

Zakius would now become an instrument of

healing and hope to his world around

him. And this was actually the pattern

of the New Testament. You look at like

the woman at the well encounters Jesus

and then she goes and tells her whole

village and brings them to Christ so

that they can come and hear the one who

told me everything I ever did. You see,

the kingdom is about our lives being

transformed by Jesus. But then it's

about us leaking what Jesus has done in

our lives.

And sometimes what's happened is we've

invited people into disciplehip and we

do need disciplehip but sometimes we've

been like well now you just need to

learn 52 scriptures do this do that pray

for this long do this much do that much

and then eventually you might be able to

minister to someone and Zakius didn't go

through that school he just walked out

and said here

today I give now I am playing my God and

breaking in

justice. Zakius's life was transformed

through an encounter with Jesus. And can

I tell you, Jesus can transform your

life in a

moment. But he wasn't just transformed

unto himself. He was transformed so that

he could now be an agent of

transformation in the kingdom. That's

why Jesus said things like, "Anyone

who's thirsty, come and drink and then

rivers of living water will flow from

you." What happens? What you drink is

then to become a a a river to other

people. You see, in the old covenant, if

you touched a leper, you got sick. But

in the new covenant, if you touch a

leper, they get healed because what

happens is Jesus begins to transform us

and then he gives us that spirit of

transformation. Ephesians 28 and 9 says,

"For it is by grace you have been saved

through faith and that not from

yourselves. It is the gift of God." So

all of us

come with nothing in the bank account to

Jesus going I actually realize I have

nothing by grace alone am I

saved but then it says for we are God's

handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do

good works which God prepared in advance

for us to do. So he's like, "Hey, yeah,

you did nothing to get you in, but the

moment you are in, you now have the

spirit of resurrection within you, you

now have resurrection life to give, even

if you haven't done alpha, even if you

haven't done growth track, even if you

haven't connected, you're not a part of

a connect group and and you just got

nothing to offer, if you've given your

life to Jesus, you now have the spirit

of the risen Christ in you that wants to

flow out. And sometimes, as Bill Johnson

said, sometimes the spirit is

trapped in the unbelief of

believers. And he says, the only closed

heaven sometimes is between a believer's

ears. And it's kind of true.

See, it was said of Jesus, he quoted

Isaiah one

time and he said, "The spirit of the

sovereign Lord is upon me because he has

anointed me to preach good news." Isaiah

61, this prophetic passage, it says, "He

has sent me to bind up the

brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for

the captives and release from darkness

for the prisoners, to proclaim the year

of the Lord's favor." It goes on to say

that he will give a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of

despair. And so some of us knew what it

was like to have a spirit of despair

over our lives. Can I say some people in

our society experience a a a spirit of

despair similar to how blind Barameus

did where they're an outcast.

Others actually uh have a spirit of

despair like Zakius where yes he was an

outcast but he actually had everything

materially that he thought but there's

still a spirit of

despair. And so he writes and says there

will be a garment of praise. This is

talking of Jesus. He will give a garment

of praise instead of a spirit of

despair. Now we know that praise is far

more than just singing. But at the same

time, if you want to know why we sing,

um, people would say, "Oh, well, we we

sang, you know, worship went a little

bit longer or or something like that."

Well, man, what we believe is God is

giving us something that we can wear

where we are exchanging a spirit of

despair for a garment of praise. So, an

atmosphere changes over our worlds. And

for me, when I was 13 and I encountered

Jesus and I was grieving the loss of my

dad, I had a transition that happened.

It didn't mean life was perfect, but I

literally experienced a transition from

a spirit of

despair to a garment of praise where

there was a different atmosphere over my

life. Would anyone else say that they

have experienced Jesus trade despair for

new hope? Would anyone testify to that?

Hands all over the place. Isn't that

awesome? But within

that is actually the

power to then replicate that in other

environments.

You see what you have experienced over

your life is actually the seed of

something which you can now offer to

someone

else. Cuz here's what it says. He will

give them a garment of praise instead of

a spirit of despair. Up until this point

that's it's talking about Jesus. He will

give us a garment of praise instead of a

spirit of despair. This is what Jesus

will do. Then in Isaiah all of a sudden

changes and Jesus is no longer the one

that's being talked about. It then it

then begins to talk about the ones who

are going to be given the garment of

praise. So he's going to give people a

garment of praise instead of a spirit of

despair. Then what happens? They will be

called oaks of righteousness, a planting

of the Lord for the display of his

splendor.

They will rebuild ancient cities and

restore the places long devastated. They

will renew ruined cities that have been

devastated for generations. So he's like

all of a sudden those ones that have

experienced a transforming power now

they will be the ones to bring glory to

God by carrying the splendor of heaven

over. They will be the ones that will

rebuild cities. They will be the ones

that yes, they knew what it was to be in

despair and they know what it is for God

to break through. And so they're going

to be anointed to go into situations and

bring that spirit of transformation

because they know what it looks like to

see despair go and transformation come.

And what he did over an individual's

life, he then wants to do over regions,

over families, over neighbors, over

workplaces, over people in our lives

because it is the nature of the gospel.

As I say, he doesn't say he'll give them

a garment of praise and then he'll send

them to Bible college.

I believe in learning. I believe in all

of that stuff. It's important that we

get

discipled, but sometimes we're in such a

hurry to tell people, "Hey, you need to

know

more." When

actually if we go with what we've got,

God will do amazing things. You know, I

remember going to Vanuatu for the first

time as a 15year-old and just being

absolutely amazed that we could go on a

teen missions team with a group of

teenagers and just see people get saved

and see Jesus turn up and do awesome

things and see answers to prayer and

just see the breakthrough. And I was

like, "Wow, what I realized in that

moment was, wow, what you've done in my

life, you can you will replicate."

But

sometimes the more we know, it can

actually keep us from what we need to

know. Sometimes we actually come into

this through this radical transformation

and then we actually join a a

system that takes some of the wildness

out of us that actually tames us a

little bit where we become tamed. And

can I suggest to you Zakius after his

encounter with Jesus was not tamed. He

came out full of fire.

And so this morning, I want to encourage

you. If you have newly encountered

Jesus, if you're fresh and you're like,

"Wow, I've encountered something of the

power of

transformation." Can I encourage you?

You now carry that power to the world

around you. I'm not suggesting that

means you have to stand up on the table

at your workplace and and preach the

gospel, although you're welcome to do

that. Uh what I am saying is there is

something in

you of the spirit of God that whatever

he has placed in your hand you see in

Zakius's hands was money. So it's like

wow I can use this. There may not be

money in your hand. It might be

something else. But whatever he's placed

in your hand he wants to use that same

transformation that happened to you to

be able to transform the world around

you. And for those of us who have maybe

been walking with Jesus a little bit

longer, is it possible that we've

forgotten just how transformed we were

by Jesus? I don't know about you, but

I'm so grateful that Jesus transformed

my life. Like when I think back of how

my life was and what it meant for Jesus

to turn

up, I don't believe in any way he could

be

imaginary. I know pastors aren't meant

to say this thing, but even if he was

the concoction of my mind, I wouldn't

choose anything else because it has so

radically changed me.

And yet, it's so easy to forget that

sometimes, isn't it? It's so easy to

forget that we actually have the spirit

of transformation over us. And what

you've seen Jesus do in your life,

you'll see him do in others lives. That

what he did in us is supposed to be a

testimony that we drink in the goodness

of Jesus. And then it doesn't mean we we

uh you know are are in people's faces

and shoving things down their throat,

but it's just that we would carry that

beautiful spirit of transformation to

that world around us. So the music team

are going to come and we are going to

sing a song um and it's actually a

praise song

because we know that God gives us a

garment of

praise in place of a spirit of despair.

And even as we sing this this morning,

if there's a spirit of despair over you

and maybe if you've never given your

life to Jesus, then I encourage you to

make this song a prayer of doing that

where you would say, "Sorry, all good,

bro."

So, no, I won't get

distracted. You know, maybe this song

for you will be a prayer of saying,

"Well, I want to exchange my spirit of

despair for that garment of praise.

Jesus, I give you my life." But maybe

for some of us, even as we're enjoying

just that garment of praise, as we're

just declaring, maybe there would be

something that would be commissioned

over us where we would be remembered.

That those ones who receive the garment

of praise are then oaks of righteousness

who go out to build rebuild that which

was ruined. not in a not in a

controlling while we need to be in

positions of power, but in a serving,

humble, making a difference way in the

world of those around us. And so for

some people, maybe that spirit of

despair is going to fall off this

morning and you're going to encounter

Jesus in a fresh way. Maybe some of us

are just going to be reminded of just

how good Jesus' transformation has been

in our lives. And as a result, there'll

be a fresh mantle come on us that we

would be agents of

transformation. Lord, as we come to sing

the song, Lord, we give our hearts aresh

to you this morning. Lord, we cast our

mind back and remember the goodness of

you, of how you've transformed us,

Jesus, of how you are a reality in our

lives. And we give you glory for that.

And

Lord and Isaiah says that they will go

out Lord not to make their name famous

but to see the splendor of God. So Lord,

would you take that spirit of

transformation and Lord, would you light

a fire within us that we would walk out

with

that, Lord, not for our glory or to win

an argument, but to see the splendor of

Jesus. Amen. And if you are here this

morning and uh you um want to uh sing

this song as a prayer of giving your

life to Jesus, we'd love to connect with

you at the end. And so um after the

song, Paul will give some instructions

and we just really encourage you if

that's um if you're making that

decision. We'd love to connect you and

help you on your journey towards Jesus.

But let's um praise him together.