Blind Faith | Ps. Tyshone Roland

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Hey, how are we doing, church?

How are we doing?

Are you guys encouraged?

You can take a seat.

You can go ahead and take a seat.

That was so nice.

Made me feel good.

As you guys can see, my name is Tyshawn Rowland, aka Tyshawn Pittman.

I'm the lost Pittman.

When I first joined on staff, I had people come into my office.

It was a little cubicle at the time.

And they would come to my office.

They're like, Do you know Pastor Keith?

And I got a little offended at the time because I was like, Y'all can't be making it seem like all black people look alike.

You know, that's kind of weird.

And um it was interesting.

The first time I met Pastor Keith, I looked right at him.

I was like, Dad, is this you?

You know, I kind of felt like we're family, but um, but I am not a Pittman, but I do wish I could be a Pittman, and I think it's to be essential before we get started today in the sermon, just to honor Pastor Keith.

And I was thinking about this this morning.

What could I say?

And you know, I'm a student of the word, I'm a student of preachers.

I love watching sermons.

I've been that way since I was a kid.

It's a very boring lifestyle.

I don't know why I enjoy it so much.

But um I was thinking about the first time I came across Pastor Keith and everything that he was building.

I think I was about age of 20 to 21, and I was looking on YouTube for some leadership sessions that I could, you know, the leadership content I could steal from this.

What I was doing, you know, I was 20.

I didn't know nothing yet.

I still don't know nothing yet.

But I remember going through and I and I came across this teaching that that your dad Daniel was teaching in Youth of America, and he taught on you have to know who you are, and once you know who you are, you'll know who you are.

And at the time of my life, my mom just moved from Vegas to Alaska.

Don't ask me why.

Again, she was, I don't know, she came back because the Lord delivered her from that place.

But um I I remember at the time I didn't know who I was.

I wasn't a preacher, I wasn't a pastor.

I was just a young guy believing that God would use me one day.

And uh, unfortunately, like any other young leader, I put so much of my identity in what I was doing for God instead of who I was in God.

And that one revelation that Pastor Keith shared with me um has unlocked a level of understanding and a level of rootedness with my life with God.

And I believe that every week he gets up here and not just leads here, but he leads in Orlando as well as DC.

And it's so incredible to see that all God is doing through Pastor Keith and this amazing team.

And so before we get started, can we just take, I know he's not here, but I know he'll hear about this.

Can we just take a moment just to honor Pastor Keith and Megan and the family for everything they do?

We have incredible pastors, they're amazing for all the staff.

Y'all are is Hector up in here?

Okay, the the cowboy, that's what I call him every time he calls me.

I was like, You sound like a cowboy boy.

But um, I'm I'm so excited to share with you.

I know that you never met me before, so I want to introduce you to someone who's so special to me.

Um, my wife, and we're celebrating three years next Monday on the 15th.

She's in the front row, Victoria Rowland.

And so we are privileged and just to be here.

And as Pastor Keith said, I have the opportunity to help oversee our next generation.

And even, you know, further than that, in addition to that, I have the opportunity to travel and go speak at a few places.

In fact, last night, me, my wife, and Daniel were at a youth conference, and um, and I was on stage for an hour and 45 minutes.

So that's what's gonna happen this morning.

I'm totally joking.

I'm not gonna do that to you.

I'm not gonna do that today.

Pastor Keith said, You got 30 minutes.

I said, This time I got 30 minutes, but next time we're going for two hours, okay?

That's what we're gonna do.

Um, but I'm so excited for uh God's word.

Have you guys been enjoying this series in John?

Have you guys been enjoying it?

Has God have you been enjoying it?

You guys excited?

I just want to make sure you're excited because I'm pumped, and I've been tasked with the incredible um privilege to preach today on John 9.

And there's so many angles you can go with John 9.

I want to encourage you as you have those journals to make sure that you're you're following along.

You know, I don't believe the sermon stops when the service ends.

I believe the sermon can continue as you begin to dwell and meditate on the word of God.

Um, I was talking to someone the other day and they were telling me, they said, You know how uh you know how sheep digest food?

And I looked at them, it was Pastor Ryan, are you pastor?

I said, Ryan, why would I know that?

I know those information like sure, yeah, I know.

He was like, No, because the Bible likens us to a sheep.

And I said, Yeah, that makes sense.

He said, So what it is?

He said, No, there's a scripture that says we meditate on the word day and night.

He said, That picture of meditation is cut from a sheep, and sheep they go into the pasture, and what they would do, and it's gonna sound very, very disgusting, but follow me for a second.

I'm a youth pastor, I can say some weird, nasty stuff because we're youth pastors, that's what we do.

And so, what a sheep would do is that they would go into the field and they would begin to chew the grass and then they would throw it up, and then they would eat what they just threw up, and then they would chew it up again, and they would throw it up, and they would have three stomachs.

It's so weird.

I I if I had three stomachs, I'm telling you, I'll be eating all the time.

But and then the last time they would they would throw it up one more time and they would eat it.

And just like that, that that's how we meditate on God's word.

You know, if the only time you're hearing Jesus being preached and the only time you're lifting up holy hands is on a Sunday morning at 10 a.m.

in this incredible venue, I'm telling you, life is gonna be a little bit hard for you.

Of course the sermons aren't gonna stick.

Of course you're gonna feel like there's a distance between you and your life with God.

But if you take whatever God says to you today and you meditate on it, and you think back on it on Monday, and you come back to it on Tuesday, and you come back to it on Wednesday, you may see a miracle on Thursday that you didn't even know would be possible.

And I think sometimes we regulate God to a Sunday, but I believe that he wants to move every day.

Amen.

And so I'm so excited for the word that God has given me this morning.

And I'm gonna be reading from John chapter 9, John chapter 9, and it says this.

John 9 · chapter mention John 9 · chapter mention

I'm gonna read about um seven verses.

And it says, As he being Jesus, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned?

Excuse me.

He said, This man or his parents, that he was born blind.

Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We must work the works of man.

We were much the works of him who sent me while it is day.

Night is coming when no one can work.

As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world.

Having said these things, he spit on the ground, made mud with his saliva, then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud, and he said to him, Go wash in the pool of I think it's psiloam or siloam, and I I don't want to pronounce it bad.

So it's one of those.

He went in the pool, that's the principle, okay?

And so he went to the pool and so he went and he washed and he came back seeing.

He came back seeing.

I want to preach a message entitled Blind Faith.

Could you bow your heads real quick?

Heavenly Father, I thank you for this incredible opportunity to share your word.

I don't take it lightly, God, to stand up on this incredible platform that is Celebration Orlando and speak to the best-looking group of people in the world.

God, I pray that if you would show me more favor and move me here so I can go to Disney World every day.

And everybody said, Amen and amen.

Thank you so much, sir.

I'll call you back up.

I won't lie, we're addicted.

We just got an uh annual pass, and I feel like we've been there like, we got it?

Yeah, three weekends in a row.

I don't have a problem, you have a problem, okay?

Don't judge me, okay?

Um, I'm so excited to share from John chapter 9.

John 9 · chapter mention

Um, you I really want to encourage you to go read this chapter after.

There's so much blindness that far be that's far beyond the man that is blind, and you'll see that as you begin to study.

I think there's a lot of different things that you can pick up from the scripture.

So, just like I said before, don't just hear what I'm saying.

Go back and read this story because I want to do be faithful to the text.

I'm only gonna jump in eight verses, but I got I got you need to understand there's 41 verses.

There's 41 verses in chapter nine.

I'm hitting on eight of them, which means you gotta go home.

I'm not doing the math right now.

You can do that.

That's why you have a calculator, and you read the rest, and then maybe next time I come we can talk about it.

And so I want to jump into the story because this story is so important.

It starts off and it says it's Jesus is walking by as he passed by.

I remember being about in sixth or seventh grade, we had a my mom put me in VBS.

Anybody know what VBS is?

Vacation Bible school again.

Yeah.

Yeah, you didn't have fun either.

Okay, I get it.

I get it, I get it, man.

You have the same mom.

A whole bunch of church stuff is what I did growing up.

And I remember this teacher, he taught me two things, and it made me feel smart.

The first one was that anytime you're reading the Bible and you see a therefore, you gotta ask yourself, what is it therefore?

And I was like, okay, I'm a theologian now.

You know, I love this.

I'm a I'm a genius.

I'll just be waiting to drop that in conversations.

And if people know it, I walk away.

I'm like, I ain't talking to you, you know.

And the second one that he said, he said, this one's less about study, it's more about Jesus.

He said, anytime you see and he is walking by, I want you to brace yourself because there's a miracle on the way.

And so every time I open up my Bible and I see that Jesus is about to walk by, that means he's about to change something up.

He's about to do something for someone.

And I need to let you know this before this service goes anymore, and you need to know that Jesus is walking by this morning.

He's walking by.

I was telling my wife last night we got to the hotel and I went downstairs to study, and I was telling her, you know, I I love preaching, I love sharing, but on Sundays, when you get an opportunity to stand up on the pulpit on Sundays, it's a little bit different.

You know, preaching to young people, the problems are pretty much the same.

The girl don't like you, your boyfriend cheated on you, you're watching stuff you shouldn't be watching, and you ain't listening to your parents, you need to do your homework.

And if you can do those five things, I will be considered a successful youth pastor.

And so literally, that's all I talk about to young people.

To be honest, now that I'm adult, I realize that the young people are just, adults are just young people who grew up and they struggle with the same thing.

But but we're not gonna talk about that this morning.

But I told my mom, I told Victoria, I said, Oh my mom, what am I talking about?

My mom, that's not how we are.

We're gonna I call I call her my wife, she don't call me dad.

That would be weird.

So let's just I didn't sleep that long last night.

Um but guys, pay attention.

Um, I was telling my wife, uh, I said, babe, you know, when I get the opportunity to speak on Sundays, it's a little bit different, and this is why it's different.

Because there's a litany of things that's going on in the room that I don't know about.

I know that there right now there's a couple that you look like you're doing well, but you could be fighting divorce.

I know there's somebody that you may be dressed well, but you may be struggling financially.

I know there can be someone right now that you lost someone and but you may not have even someone that you can tell, and so you feel kind of lonely.

I know that the needs in this room far exceed the experience of my life.

And so anytime I stand on a pulpit of this stature, I almost get a little nervous because I understand that there's a lot that's going on in this room.

And so the privilege to speak to you over these next 25 minutes is something that I don't take lightly.

And so I want you to know that I prayed about this message.

I'm thinking about this message, I studied on it, and I believe that what God wants me to share with you will be something that you can apply into your life.

And about yesterday we were again at a youth conference for my friend John Lorenzo in Lakeland, Florida.

It was an incredible time.

And there was a leadership session by this guy of Pastor Mayo.

Pastor Mayo was a pastor of this church called Church of the Highlands, a phenomenal church.

He's going on a plant of church in Atlanta, and he wanted to do this leadership session, right?

And so I'm in the leadership session, and I think it's incredible.

And I mean, Mayo is one of those, he's a good-looking, tall black man.

I'm like, you are everything I wish I could be.

You know, God, God made me short, and I hate it, but it is what it is.

And he was talking and he can concluded his sermon and concluded his teaching, better yet.

And after that, he did some QA and a few of us asked some questions.

But this guy named Jaden asked a question.

And the question that he asked, I thought was so interesting.

I the question that he asked was so good that I was like, Mayo, what are you about to say?

You know, because as a preacher, when people ask random questions, if we don't know the answer, you can see the panic in our face.

And we always know when we're panicking, because we'll just pause.

We'll just say, let me think on this for a second.

Let me, Holy Spirit.

And what we're asking is, Holy Spirit, give me something to say right now.

And the question that Jaden asked Pastor Mayo was this, because he said, Pastor Mayo, I love Jesus.

Jesus is my everything, I follow Jesus, and I know that Jesus is better than anything else in the world, but there's people in my life that feel like they found something better than Jesus.

So how do I offer a Jesus to a world that thinks they don't need him?

I was like, ooh, what a question.

Pressure, Mayo, pressure, and I'm looking at Mayo like, bro, just close your eyes and go into a worship song.

You know, just sing, sing refiner, bring the piano up.

Let's get weird, you know, just start laying hands, maybe we'll forget the question, you know.

And mayo, pass, maybe what was it?

Maybe, maybe a millisecond.

I'm telling you, this guy's on one.

And so he said, I'll tell you what, he said, you give them the part of Jesus that you know they need.

He said, There's some people they don't need the financial provision part of Jesus because you're financially established.

But there's some people in this room that you may need peace, you may have money, but the money does not come with peace.

You can have money in the bank and still be worried.

And so you gotta give people the part of Jesus that they need.

And when he said that, again, I'm I'm I grew up in church, so I stood up.

It was a leadership session, I stood up.

I didn't know, I didn't even know I stood up.

I was like, I was like, that's good.

And everyone looked at me, I was like, let me sit down, you know?

And as soon, and the reason I stood up because I was like, isn't that crazy?

Everybody needs a different part of Jesus.

The part of Jesus that you're depending on may not be the same part of Jesus that I'm depending on, but it does not change the fact or negate the fact that we're all depending on Jesus.

And I love what Mayo said because there's a need that we all have.

I'll just say it this way: we all have a blindness in our life.

We all have a blindness in our life.

There's an area right now where you are blind and you need Jesus to intervene.

But I have good news.

Jesus is walking by this morning.

And as he walks by, he can begin to change things in your life.

What I so love about this story is that the way that it opens up, it says in verse 1, I believe, it says that as he passed by, Jesus saw a man blind from birth.

And what I love is that even though the blind man couldn't see Jesus, Jesus could see him.

And I know there's some people in this room, you know you're not even looking for Jesus, but I want you to know that Jesus is looking for you.

In fact, he planned and purposed everything that you went through this week to ensure that you would hear this sermon because that's how much he loves you.

So if you feel like you're blind and you feel like you don't even see a blessing coming, I'm gonna let you know that this blind man did not see his blessing coming, but Jesus did see him.

And so this blind man is right there and he and he and he's being seen by Jesus and the disciples.

Now we're in John chapter 9.

John 9 · chapter mention

The disciples have been with Jesus for a while.

I'm not gonna lie, I've not had the opportunity to watch every service, but I know that Pastor Keith is a very, very great preacher, and he's very truth to the text.

And so, up until you've probably learned a lot of things.

And everything that you've learned is everything that the disciples lived.

The disciples were living when they saw him turn the water into wine.

The disciples were there when he told a man whose son was dying that at his word that his son would be alive.

The disciples were there for that.

The disciples were there when he walked on water, the disciples were there when he fed 5,000.

Every miracle that Jesus did for the majority of the disciples were there.

And so it's insane that those who knew Jesus the most, instead of asking Jesus, Jesus, how are you gonna heal this one?

You know what they asked?

Jesus, why?

Why is he blind?

And and I believe that that the questions you asked reflected the maturity in your faith.

Why?

Why?

There's some people in this room who are asking God why?

Why did she leave me?

Why did I lose that job?

Why did they die?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why?

Why?

And I'll be honest with you, even if we can give you the reason behind the why, it won't be fulfilling.

But sometimes because we can't make sense of the circumstance we're going through, we try to make sense of why we went through it.

But the disciples are asking Jesus why.

Now, you can ask Jesus.

Jesus is not intimidated by your questions.

I need you to know this.

You can ask Jesus whatever you want this morning.

He may not answer it.

I ask him every morning, God, why did you make me so short?

Never gives me an answer.

It is what it is.

That's why I'm wearing boots.

You know what I'm saying?

It's just, it is what it is.

You can ask Jesus whatever you want, but there are certain questions that are gonna that are gonna paralyze your faith, and there's other questions that's gonna propel your faith.

When you ask why, you're just inviting more doubt.

Because you're not gonna get what you want.

There's been so many things I've gone through in my life, and I find myself obsessing with the why behind it.

And every time I find myself obsessing with the why, I find myself doubting God a little bit more.

Because I'm assessing, well, God, why did this happen?

I've gone through so many things.

I didn't grow up with a father.

God, why didn't I grow up with a father?

I had a little brother who was taken too soon, he was murdered.

God, why didn't my brother get murdered?

I found myself going through so many things in my life, and every time I go through something, I want to know why.

And isn't it insane that the disciples have seen the miraculous power of Jesus so many times that they're still not asking God, how are you gonna change it?

How are you gonna heal this one?

How are you gonna move in this life?

I I don't know what your why is this morning, but how about you change that question instead of asking God, why did this happen?

Ask God, what are you gonna do with it?

Because my Bible tells me that he works all things out for those who are calling according to his purpose.

I don't know what your Bible says, but my Bible says that what the enemy meant for evil, he will work it out for your good.

So that means that anything that you're going through, anything that you're facing, anything that is causing you to question your faith or even causing you to question if this Christian thing is real, I'm telling you, if you surrender that to God, he will build your faith.

And I love Jesus.

He responds to the question, but he actually doesn't give them the answer they're asking for.

He says, Jesus, why?

Did his parents sin?

And there was that belief that if your parents would sin, that um the way that they would be punished, that it wouldn't be the punishment to the consequence wouldn't come to the parent, but the consequence could actually come to the child.

So the question they're asking is a very normal question.

Now no one would ever ask that question because it makes no legitimate sense.

But but at the time that made their sense.

That was their custom.

They believed that.

But Jesus says, no, nobody sinned.

It wasn't the son, it wasn't the parents, it just is what it is.

He didn't grow into this, he was born into this.

And there's certain things that maybe there's some mistakes that are your fault, in the sense of this.

Maybe you can track it down to a mistake or a decision that you made.

But I find it that the greatest catastrophes of life that happened in my life have nothing to do with my decision.

It's usually things that are out of my control out of my control.

And we see this.

He was born blind.

He was born into this.

And I don't know what you were born into, but I want you to know that anything that you've been born into, God can still set you free from.

Just because it's been like this all your life doesn't mean you'll be like this all your life.

I still believe that God can intervene whenever he does, whenever he wants to.

And Jesus says this.

Jesus says, this is happening so that God's work might be displayed for him.

What if I told you that the greatest thing you're going through right now, it's only an invitation for God's miraculous power?

I'll tell you one story that I was thinking about this morning was um when I lost my baby, my baby brother.

I don't I don't want to get into the details of the story because I still get emotional.

It was about four years ago, but I still think about it often.

And I remember when it first happened.

I was living in a I was living in North Carolina, working at a church in Charlotte, and I just remember that for the next six months after I got that news, I was different.

As you can see, I love having fun, I love joy, and I love God.

Everyone would say that that Tyson laughs, he loves to learn, and he loves to and he loves the Lord.

If we're doing alliteration this morning, I came up with that on the spot.

There you go.

Those are the three things that I love, but can I tell you that after I lost my brother, all those three things were lost?

I didn't care to learn, I didn't care to laugh, and I don't know if I even cared about the Lord.

And I may that sound that may sound crazy to you, but I think if you go through certain things, it'll make you question everything.

For about six months, I found myself asking God why.

Why do you die?

Why can't people just buy guns and kill people?

Why is this happening?

God, why, God, why, God, why?

It was one day I was in the sermon by this preacher, and the sermon title was it had to happen, and it caused me to challenge myself and challenge the way to see a few things.

And I remember instead of asking God, why did it happen?

Ask God, how are you gonna use it?

How are you gonna use this in my life?

Can I tell you how he used it?

And I would have never knew this.

That the greatest tragedy I ever went through is brought me closer to God.

I I I don't I don't and when I'm going through something crazy, I don't call on my friend, I don't even call on my mom, and I love I'm a mama's boy, and I don't even call on my pastor first.

The first person I call on is Jesus.

Because I learned through my greatest storm that the person that can sustain me and comfort me and give me what I need, I will not find it in a room, I will not find it on the stage, I won't even find it scrolling on Instagram.

I will find it in his presence and in his presence alone.

Instead of obsessing with the why, I yield it to God.

What are you gonna do?

And I'm gonna tell you what he did.

I have a dependency and a trust on God.

If there's anybody in this room, you've gone through a death, maybe you lost someone in COVID.

I know that I did.

I lost a guy who was so pivotal in my life.

You'll never know him, but the reason I stand on this pulpit is because of him.

His name is Pastor Paul Trikel.

And Pastor Paul Trikel was so hard on me growing up, man.

He was so mean, but I I was I was a prideful child, I won't lie.

I was 18 years old and I convinced my best friend to go ask if we can be the youth pastors of Omega Church.

And I thought it was gonna work out.

I remember the night I remember the night before I was pacing in my bathroom, just looking at myself.

I was like, You're about to get this youth ministry.

And I was like, what are you talking about, Tysha?

I'm not giving it to a teenager.

And Pastor Paul Trikel made such a big impact in my life, and there were I was such a hard headed child, and I remember thinking to myself that man, one day, hopefully I get out of this immature place and I begin to walk in the very prophecies that were prophesied over my life.

And I always had these like little dreams, you know, these dreams that you create sometimes.

And the dream that I would create would be that one day I would become everything of.

Supposed to be for God, and I would go over and I would call Pastor Paul and I would say, Pastor Paul, look at all that I'm doing for God.

And then he dies in COVID.

I'm gonna tell you what I turned to.

I turned to Jesus.

And so if you're in this room and you lost something, you lost somebody.

My tragedy has taught me to teach people how to trust in Jesus.

So I don't know what you're going through.

I don't know what it is.

But I can encourage you to stop asking why.

It's not gonna help.

You're gonna be stuck in a moment.

You won't be able to get beyond it.

And it's insane that the disciples, the disciples would be one thing if it was the Pharisees that asked this question.

But it was the disciples, those who knew his power didn't even ask him to activate it.

And I wonder, where are you not asking God to activate your faith in your life right now?

Where are you just saying, God, why did it happen instead of waking up in the morning saying, God, what are you gonna do about this?

We see the disciples say that this man Jesus says this man was just born this way.

He was he was blind.

This is just what he was, this is just who he is.

And I know that there's some areas in your life that maybe you are blind.

Maybe you're going through it right now.

Maybe you're maybe there's some areas.

If I speak finances, maybe I was thinking about this scripture, I was gonna give it to the to the team, but it was too late.

But you know, in Hebrews chapter 11, it says that faith is that uh is the substance of things hoped for, but the evidence of things unseen.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

You know, really what faith is, what blind faith is, is when you're believing for something in your spirit that you cannot see in the natural at all.

I know there's some parents in this room being a youth pastor.

Parents stop me all the time.

They stop me all the time.

And and I'm a youth pastor, I partner with the parent, but I can't I can't save the child.

But I have some parents that will walk over to me, and if they could, they would drop their kid off and say, I'm not picking him back up until he stops being a demon.

I'm like, well, I don't want to bring the demon in my house.

I like I got a dog and he's pretty demonic already, so I just can't do that right now.

But I know there's some parents in this room, you're believing in faith that your kids will begin to walk in the will of God, but it doesn't, you don't see it right now.

I know there's some people right now you're believing for finances, but you don't see it right now.

I know there's some people that you're just believing, can we be honest?

You're just believing that you would be secure.

You don't even want money, you don't even want to be known, you don't even want a promotion, you just want to stop being so insecure.

You want to be able to look at someone who's winning and properly celebrate them without comparing your life to them, and you're saying, God, I'm believing that I will be secure, but I don't see security inside.

So, what do you do when you're believing for something that you can't not see?

Well, you go to Jesus.

Better yet, you you allow Jesus to come to you because that's what happens with this blind man.

Jesus came to him.

And I'm telling you, God is so gracious that he will actually come to where you are.

I love that he comes to where we are, he meets us at our need.

And in the story, I saw something different.

Now, I was gonna get some mud and spit in it and throw it in someone's face, but I felt like it would be a good, it wouldn't be a good first impression.

But next time, if you see me, I have mud in my hands, you better run.

That's all I'm saying.

We're gonna see some miracles happen.

But all my life, you know, every time I would hear this story preach, uh, people would say stuff like this miracles are messy, and they are.

And they would they would speak on the idea that Jesus spit in the mud.

I heard, I was reading one commentary, and maybe this would benefit those just because we're going through John, and John is the most theological book uh when it comes to the gospel, the synoptic gospels, and you know, a lot of people believe that when he puts his hand down and he spits in the mud, it's almost like a it's almost a nod to when Genesis when God created man out of the dust of the earth.

Who the I'll call no, I'll answer.

I'm totally joking.

Wouldn't that be funny?

Hey, I'm the pastor, you need a word from God right now, you know.

Jesus is calling you, aren't you at church?

But when God created man, he created man out of the dust of the earth.

So it only makes sense that when Jesus heals the man, he heals him also with the dust of the earth, with a little bit of water, but still the dust of the earth.

And every time I read this story, and every time I heard this story preached, I always assumed that the man got healed when the mud went on his eyes.

But that's actually not what happened.

The Bible says that Jesus spit into the mud.

We don't know why.

I think one of the reasons that we that he does this is because every time you'll see this in the Bible, even if Jesus does the same, a similar miracle, he'll never do it the same way.

And I believe the one reason that Jesus does this is because it's so easy for us, especially in a westernized world, to look for formulas instead of look for faith.

Because if you saw that Jesus does it the same way in your life, in your life, in your life, it would make sense for you to follow a formula instead of following your faith.

And so what Jesus wants us to do, he doesn't want us to follow formulas.

So I think he did the mud thing just to show you that I can use anything to bring about my healing.

So he looks at the mud, he spits, and he puts it on the guy.

And this is crazy because the blind man is the only man, the only person in the story that has no idea what's happening.

He didn't know it was mud on his face.

I almost called the sermon he didn't see that coming, but I felt it was rude.

I didn't want to do that.

I was like, there's something about that that just felt very insensitive.

And after 2020, I don't think I can say anything, so I'm just kind of nervous.

So but but he didn't see it coming.

He didn't.

He was just there and just all he felt was someone's touching my face with something.

I don't know what it is.

Is this play though?

It is whatever we say it is, you know?

And so Jesus, I want you to I want you to think about this.

Jesus spits in the in the sand, he makes mud, he puts it on his eyes, and then he tells a blind man, he says, I want you to go clean yourself in the pool.

Why would you tell a blind man to go walk anywhere?

You ever think about that?

Like, Jesus, why would you tell him?

That means that Jesus is right there.

And so the blind man was like, Okay, Jesus, can someone guide me?

Can someone guide me to the pool?

Because I can't see.

I I don't know, but I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna do exactly what he told me to do.

He told me to go wash, I'm gonna go wash.

And as this man was cleaning himself, he's just he's he's been in the shower, I don't know how many times.

I thought about this all morning.

I don't know what I would do if I never saw and I started to see.

Imagine that.

Imagine you've never seen before, you've never been able to understand.

It would be one thing if he became blind, but he's been born blind.

He has no understanding or even idea.

When you have to describe things to him, it has to go off of what he smells, have to go off of what he feels, but it's never off of what he sees.

If you look at a blind person, you try to describe to them about what it looks like without them after have after, without them having a proper understanding of their eyes, it would be asinine.

That would be stupid.

But Jesus says, go go wash yourself.

So this blind man, he goes and as the piano comes up, man, that time went by quick, man.

What happened?

Y'all didn't like my sermon, y'all took 10 minutes off.

I know, I know, that's exactly what happened.

They're like, we don't like him.

We want Pastor Keith back.

He'll be back next week, okay?

Um, he begins to clean himself, and at some point, as he was wiping the mud off his eyes, his eyes opened.

The Bible says that he left blind, but he came back seen.

But God told a blind man to go to the pool and clean himself.

Because even if you're blind, you still have to walk in faith.

God, you know what this story showed me this morning when I read it?

What the Holy Spirit illuminated to me?

Is that almost it's almost like easier for a blind person, right?

Because they were blind, you know, until Jesus made them see.

No, Jesus even demanded faith from a blind man.

Because blind faith, all that is, is obedience and trusting him at his word.

There are some areas right now that I believe that you guys that we are blind in.

It could be in our finances, it could be in your family, it could be in your security, it could be in your purity.

I've been married, I thought purity problems stopped when you got married, and I realized I was the biggest lie of the enemy.

It could be purity.

It could be you trusting God.

It can be you wondering, does God even care?

And and almost times we come to church and the miracle we demand, we want him to do it right there.

And he will he will sometimes.

I've seen it.

I've seen miracles.

I remember one time um my mom was growing up, she was so sick for a year.

She's probably watching, hey mom, love you.

And um she was so sick for a year.

I remember particularly, I think it was like seven or eight months, my mom was in the hospital.

In and out of the hospital.

I would get picked up from school from different people, and I would have to get dragged to the hospital to go talk to my mom for a few moments, and then I would leave, and it would just make me so mad.

And I remember after a few months, my mom finally she got um a surgery and they fixed her and they said that, hey, and they I remember the doctor, he looked at me, and at the time I was a teenager, he said, Hey, you need to make sure she does not exert energy.

If she needs anything, you're gonna have to help her out.

I'm the big brother, my mom has another uh daughter, my little sister, but you know, I'm I'm the man of the house.

I'm 15, 16 years old, but I'm the man of the house.

And he says, I gotta hold it down for my mom, so that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna hold it down for my mom.

I'm gonna be exactly what she needs.

So my mom needed water.

I don't care if it was the middle of the night, I would get up and get her water.

My mom wanted me to cook a meal, I would I would door dash that bad boy in the name of Jesus.

If my mom, you know, I'm smart, that's my thing.

I I know you I may not be the one.

I work smarter, not harder.

And whatever my mom needed, I would give it to her.

It was six, seven months, and I said, man, this six, seven months is gonna be crazy.

And I remember um going to a service, the church I grew up in, it was a Pentecostal church.

It was one of those churches that if the preacher looked at you too long, you fell.

You just were like, Am I supposed to fall?

Is that what's happening right now?

Like, hey, that sometimes there wasn't a capture, you had to rely on the Holy Ghost.

And if the word was real, it wouldn't hurt.

If it hurt, he was a heretic, so he just didn't like it.

That's pretty much what that was.

That's what that was.

And I remember the guy's named Tim Hall, and his son's name is Pastor David Hall.

He pastors a church in Australia, and I and I talked to him often about this.

I remember Tim Hall was, he shows up to the church and he's doing miracles.

And he was supposed to be here for one church service on a Sunday night, but then Sunday night turned to Monday night, Monday night turned to Tuesday night, Tuesday night turned to Wednesday night, and I think we were at Thursday night.

This is an old school revival happening at the church.

And he said, I'm gonna pray for anyone.

Anyone who has faith to be healed, they will be healed tonight.

I was like, Yeah, amen.

Amen.

That's so good, amen.

And then I remember he's doing this whole thing, laying out people, they're all falling.

I'm like, go ahead, get them.

And I remember I would catch people.

One time, this has nothing to do with my sermon, but I just I just thought about this.

Caleb, you're gonna love this.

I remember like I had to catch somebody, and I'm a small guy, and to be honest, like, I was like 5'2 up until I was like 19 years old.

I was so small.

And then the doctor had the audacity to tell me I was gonna be 6'1.

Imagine that.

Imagine that.

Every day you're waking up lying to your friends, hey, I'm gonna be tall one day.

They were like, I don't know.

He don't know.

But this one time I was catching somebody, and this person, I I couldn't catch them, and they fell, and I just went down with them.

It was the craziest thing, and I didn't get up till she got up.

It was the weirdest thing.

She got up after 10 minutes.

I was like, hi, nice to meet you.

I feel like we should know each other at this point.

I um, here's your guy.

You know, it was just very, very weird.

But he was praying over everybody, and he sees my mom in a wheelchair.

And I was like, Oh no, you don't.

He looks at her, and I'm looking at him like, give me a reason.

I will knock you out, Pastor Tim Hall.

You anointed, but you're gonna be knocked out in the name of Jesus.

He looks at my mom and he says, Do you have the faith to be healed?

And I'm like, No, she don't.

She's gonna be healed in six months.

That's what the doctor said.

She said, Yes.

And he said, Well, if you do, again, if you do, you stand.

And the doctor told me, this is not some made-up miracle where I'm just saying this and I'm pulling out my pocket to build your faith.

The doctor looked at me and told me, son, for the next six months, you're gonna have to help your mom out.

She's not gonna be able to exert any energy, she will not be able to get up, at least foreseeably, for the next two to three months.

It's going to be hard.

I was gonna be having to get taken out of school, people were gonna be staying at our house.

It was a whole ordeal.

So I'm like, no, this is not gonna happen.

And my mom that day she stood up and she walked around the church auditorium like seven times.

And I was like, Are you serious, God?

You do miracles?

So I'm telling you that story to let you know.

I've seen miracles.

But the greatest miracle is you making the decision to follow God at His Word.

If He told you to go and be an example in your family, go be an example in your family.

If He told you to start tithing, start tithing.

If He told you to start serving, start serving.

I know earlier we had one of our staff up here talking about opportunities to serve in church, and I believe that you should.

Because the deeper that you commit to church, the more that you receive from church.

When you make the decision that you're just gonna come in and come out, is of course it'll make sense, but when you said, God, I'm gonna get committed, and I love this church, even if it's putting me, Lord knows, in a kid's ministry, I'll do it.

But the more you get committed, the more you begin to get love from this community and you'll start sensing it differently.

This story with the blind man, I loved it because it showed that Jesus will give you a touch, but you still have to walk out in his word.

This morning, my my my assignment, Pastor Tim Timber, like our lead pastor, he told me something a few years ago.

Actually, before I was ever on staff, he was like the big dreaded wonder, my brother.

He would just call me out of nowhere and always be right.

Just he's like, the Lord woke me up this morning.

I'm like, yeah, I'm struggling.

I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm going through.

And I remember talking to him about something, and he said, son, and he saw me traveling a few places.

He said, son, don't take opportunities, take assignments.

He said, There's always going to be multiple opportunities.

The world offers opportunities, but God offers assignments.

So this morning I was praying, and I want you to know that I love doing my best to share the word of God.

I don't just like making people laugh.

I really want you to go home because I know that this sermon may be something that you need.

And I think my assignment wasn't to provide the touch.

Only Jesus can do that.

That is his and his alone.

And we're gonna give him an opportunity just to stand here and so he can touch you right where you need to be touched at.

But my assignment was to encourage you to walk it out in his word.

I know that you may be confused because imagine this blind man, Jesus put the mud on him and he says, You're healed, and he's like, Well, I'm still blind though, like I don't know what kind of healing this is.

It's kind of stupid because I come to church every week and they tell me that if I put my faith in God and I walk it out and I start praying instead of complaining, if I start celebrating people instead of comparing myself to people, if I start tithing instead of holding on, if I start serving instead of stepping back, they told me that if I do these things that God will do something.

That sounds so stupid.

I just I don't know, but that's what his word says.

His word says to pray every day, his word says to read every day, his word says, and you're just washing yourself, and before you know it, the very thing that you were blind in, now you can see.

You can see.

I believe that there's some areas in your life that you've been blind in.

And anywhere that you have been blind in, you know what you need?

You need some blind faith.

You need some blind faith.

You may not be able to see it with your eyes, but if he said it, you trust him as his word.

Sometimes I like to play with stories in the Bible and I wonder if he didn't go to the pool, would he would have seen the healing?

I don't know.

Maybe God could have healed him on the way.

I don't know how it works.

I just know that everything God requires of us requires of us is required of faith.

He wants you to trust him at his word.

I was not asked to speak on tithing, I just feel it as spirit in a little bit.

I think there's somebody in this room that every time they talk about tithing, you go on your phone.

You just do.

Oh, tithing?

Yep.

Know what I'm gonna do.

Check the score.

I don't even watch sports, I don't even know what plays on Sundays.

Again, I watch sermons.

Like I'm thinking about what I'm gonna go watch when I get home today.

But I believe that there's some areas in your life that you've been struggling and financially need to sow a seed.

We don't need your money, we're good.

The church is blessed.

Brought up, we got through COVID, we got through everything that the devil threw at us.

God will always supply for his church.

The tithe is not because we're in need, the tithe is because you need to display your trust in him.

I believe that one of the best things that you can do is trust him as his word.

What did God tell you this morning?

Did he tell you that you need to start reading your word?

Is that what he told you to do?

Start reading your word.

And watching a sermon is not a substitute for reading the word.

And listening to Refiner again and again after again, and I know I love Chandler Moore.

I saw Maverick City the other day.

That's not a substitute of reading the word.

Getting your word.

I was talking to Pastor Keith earlier this week, and he just told me that God's been doing something in his life and his spiritual journey.

I was saying the same thing.

I said, it's like I just get along with God, and I'm telling you, I have sat in the services with the greatest worship teams, with the greatest preachers, but I'm telling you, the best service I've been experiencing is my little office in my apartment when I play my worship and I invite God into my problem, and right then and there he begins to speak to me.

Where are you blind at tonight, this morning?

Wherever you're blind, I want you to activate your faith.

And I want you to walk in his word.

And when you walk in his word, the areas where you've been blind, you'll be able to see.

One of the things that you're gonna see in John 9 as we conclude is um a lot of the Pharisees, I love this story after, and I didn't know if I was gonna have enough time to go into it, and I'm not gonna go into it the way I want to, but it says that after she said, Go ahead.

You shouldn't have told me that.

That's exactly what I'm gonna do, girl.

I'm just about to go ahead.

Why'd you go so long?

She told me to.

This is after he gets healed, it's verse 8, and it says, The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?

Some said, It is he.

Others said, No, but he is like him.

He kept saying, which means that every time they were talking, he kept saying, I am the man.

I'm the one you're talking about.

No, I was begging.

I was blind, I couldn't see.

I am the man.

And what I I told my wife this this morning, I said, the greatest compliment the world can give you after you start following Jesus, and not just following Jesus, not just coming to church, but following Jesus.

Because I know people who come to church every week and I run into them on Thursday at Publix, and I'm like, that ain't Christ-like.

I saw you.

You went off on your kids, you went crazy.

I got scared.

One of the best things that the world can tell you after you start following Jesus is, is that the same person that used to?

Is that the same person who used to lie all the time?

Used to cheat all the time?

Is that the same person who used to manipulate?

I went back, I'm from Las Vegas, and I went back to Vegas a few years ago, and I remember it was for my beautiful wife's birthday.

She wasn't my wife at the time, she was just my girlfriend.

I was doing my best to shoot my shot, man.

I was doing the best I could, and I remember hanging out, and it's been a few months since someone saw me and they looked at me.

They said, Ty, man, you used to be so negative.

And I was like, that's a horrible way to start a conversation.

And I was like, and you used to look good, you know, but I didn't say that.

I didn't say that.

I thought it though.

I thought it.

He said, Ty, you used to be so negative, and I was.

I was negative.

I just was critical and cynical about anything and everything.

I always thought people were up to something or lying or exaggerating.

I don't know why it was like that, but that's what I was.

But he looked at me and he said, Ty, you don't seem like how you used to be.

I I I believe that God is doing something this morning with this word.

And I'm believing that in a few months from now, maybe I get invited back, you know, because I'm not gonna go ahead.

I'm gonna slow down.

Um and I'm praying that I'll be able to come back in a few months from now and I'll be able to walk up to a few people.

And maybe I don't know your names and maybe I don't get to know you, but I'll be able to, you know, shoulder tap the nearer and say, is that the same person who used to?

Is that the same person who used to sit in the back?

No judgment if you sit in the back.

I get it, I sit in the back.

Ain't no judgment.

Is that the same person who used to say, who used to look, who used to live?

Yeah.

And you're gonna be like, no, that's me.

That is me.

That is me.

And I know that I used to be mad at my blindness, but now I'm proud of it.

I used to go to God saying, God, why am I blind?

But now I'm put to say, No, I was the man that was blind because there was a season in my life where I couldn't see, there was a season in my life where I didn't know, there was a season in my life where I didn't think God could do it, but I saw him, I heard him, I had a touch.

One morning he put mud on my face and he gave me the word, and I walked out and I trust him at his word, and as I was watching in obedience, the very thing I struggled with, I'm no longer connected to.

I am the man.

I'm not asking God why now I'm asking God who else you gonna do it through.

Who else you gonna do it through?

Of what God can do in you.

Could you stand right now?

I'm believing that this word hopefully falls on good soil.

Sounds like a stampede up in here when they stand up.

Ah Jesus, man, I got scared for a second.

I was about to drop this mic and run.

If you could, could you close your eyes?

And I want to speak to you in this moment.

And I want you to surrender your why to God right now.

The thing that you have been obsessing with.

Why, why, why, why?

And right now, if you could, if you're ready, could you lift your hand surrendering that why?

I'm gonna surrender it this morning.

The thing that's been plaguing in your mind, you know, this morning, I I even walked in with eyes still closed.

I walked in and something happened to me and my wife this past few days, and I was so frustrated.

So frustrated.

And I just realized it was the devil trying to distract me for this moment.

So I want you to know that I'm in this.

I'm lifting my hands and I'm giving it to God.

And right now I believe in that just like Jesus touched the man's eyes and anointed him with mud, that this morning God is anointing you right now.

But the anointing is not without instruction.

I pray that the Holy Spirit gives you clear instructions what to do in this next season of your life.

God, I thank you that no eye has seen, no ear has heard what you have in store for your children.

God, I thank you that what the enemy meant for evil, you will work it out for their good.

God, we trust you.

We surrender the struggle, this issue, this problem to you.

We don't want it anymore.

In the name of Jesus.

If you could, could you say amen?

Amen and amen and amen.

Can we give it up for what God did this morning?

And one last thing, um I don't want to assume that everyone in this room knows Jesus.

Maybe I was preaching this whole time.

You're like, who is this guy even talking about?

I don't even know Jesus, you know?

Well, the greatest blindness is the blindness to Jesus.

And the beauty is that if you were born blind to Jesus, you can be born again in this moment.

And if you don't know Jesus and you want to know him, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to put your faith, blind faith, in him.

You putting your faith in Jesus doesn't mean you're gonna get a whole bunch of butterflies in your stomach.

Your situation may not change.

But at least you know that your security is now in something that is greater than you.

And so with every head bowed and every eye closed, if you're in this room and you don't know Jesus, or maybe you know him, but like they would do back in the day earlier, they would they would say you want to rededicate because your life is not reflecting your walk.

If you want to know Jesus or you want to rededicate your life with Jesus, if you could, when I count to three, I want you to lift your hands.

One, two, three.

I see your hands, I see your hands, I see your hands, hands all over.

It's amazing.

Um, church, if we could, could you repeat this prayer for those who are coming to Christ for the first time?

Say, Heavenly Father, I put my trust in my faith in you.

I believe you lived, I believe you died, and I believe you rose again.

And today, I'm putting my faith in you.

And can we give it up for all those who came to Christ?

It was a few hands.

It was a few hands.

Thanks again for listening.

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