Easter Sunday: What Can I Do For You? Mark 10:36-42 Pastor Daniel Reese

Thank you. Good morning again. Some of y'all are harder hearing, didn't hear me

the first time so I'm glad that we're able to do that. For those of you that

don't know, Easter is a big deal in the life of the church. I love worshiping on

Easter. We get distracted all these other times but Easter makes us focus in

on our hope that we have in Jesus and we realize that we have nothing to fear if

we follow Him. And I love Easter because it brings so many people to church,

right? And all those reasons are different. Maybe you are here every Sunday and

you're a little disoriented this morning because somebody that you don't know is

sitting in your seat. Maybe you grew up in the church and something happened and

you haven't been in years but but it almost feels wrong not to be in church

on Easter Sunday. So here you are. Or maybe you used to worship God. You used

to spend time with Him. There was this time in your life where you really saw

God working in your life. You saw Him doing some really cool things but

somewhere along the line you got distracted. You started trying other

things and maybe for a season those things brought you more pleasure and so

you strayed. And I see at every Easter people start to come back and maybe you

begin to think I miss those days where I used to talk to God. I miss those days

where I could where I could wake up and He brought me peace. My favorite thing

about Easter is when I see people get it for the first time. Where

something just clicks and they get it. I think it's cool that God chooses Easter

Sunday for that to happen to make things new. I also love Easter because there's

so much love here. It seems like Easter brings people together. We've got

family coming from out of town. You're gonna have lunch together and

as I was thinking about all the Easter services I have been a part of. There's

always this hope for someone. I hear things. I would give anything if

this person that I had been praying for, this person that I brought with me today

that they would just get it. I hear I would give everything I had if it

meant that they would understand God and they would understand the good news of

Jesus Christ. And on at least three different occasions this week I have

been asked do you have anything big planned for Easter? Now I understand,

listen, listen I understand that my only job here this morning in the

next few minutes is to try and convince you that following Jesus is

literally the best thing anyone better than anything else on this earth. Like it

is so unbelievable to follow Him. That's my job. And I know that you want that.

You want your friends and you want your family to know that. And so the last few

weeks and even this morning as I was getting ready I have this feeling that

I'm not going to be able to pull it off. To explain God in these few

minutes that we have and for you to get it I'm not going to be able to pull that

off. At the same time though the Bible says the Bible doesn't put that pressure

on me. Jesus says in John 6 63 it's the spirit who gives life. The spirit is of

no help or the flesh is of no help at all. In other words I'm going to tell you

what God did for you. Drew helped lead us in worship to God and at the end of

this thing you either get it or you don't. So here's what we're going to do. I'm

going to invite Charlotte wherever she is. I'm going to invite Charlotte up to

the stage and she's going to read our passage this morning. Then I'm going to

give you some bullet points on why following Jesus would be the greatest

decision of your life and then we will go home. While all of that is going on

my hope is that the Spirit of God will speak to your heart and you will realize

that without him your life is going to feel empty. So this morning we're going

to read from Mark chapter 10. Cross out your notes. I gave Julie the wrong

Mark 10 · chapter mention

verses. We're actually 10 verses later. Alright so we're not doing 36. We're

doing 46. It's on page 846 in your Bible if you have if you want to grab

one of those around you. It's on page 846. I would encourage you to stand no

pressure to as we honor the Lord's word as Charlotte reads Mark chapter 10

Mark 10:46–52

verses 46 through 52. And they came to Jericho and as he was leaving Jericho with

his disciples and a great crowd Bartimaeus a blind beggar the son of

Timaeus was sitting by the roadside and when he heard that it was Jesus of

Nazareth he began to cry out and say Jesus son of David have mercy on me and

many rebuked him telling him to be silent but he cried out all the more

son of David have mercy on me and Jesus stopped and said call him and they

called the blind man saying to him take heart get up he is calling you and

throwing off his cloak he sprang up and came to Jesus and Jesus said to him what

do you want me to do for you and the blind man said to him rabbi let me

recover my sight and Jesus said to him go your way your faith has made you well

and immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Amen let's

pray Father God thank you for this day thank you for this day and what it

represents and what we're remembering and thank you for Charlotte thank you for

her willingness to read your word in front of in front of this congregation I

pray Father that the words that were read this passage your word will see

deep into our hearts to this morning I pray God that you'll change us your name

you pray amen thank you Charlotte. So you you might be thinking what in the

world does that have to do with Easter and the resurrection and it doesn't on

the surface but I'm going to try and tie it all together as we go through this

thing together the first thing I want you to see from this passage is that

Bartimaeus took advantage of an opportunity now now maybe you can't

relate to Bartimaeus because you aren't living on the outskirts of society you

aren't poor or you aren't blind but Bartimaeus is in a desperate situation

and I'm sure that all of us can relate to that at some point or another have you

ever been in a situation where there's no way out unless somebody comes alongside

you and helps you well when I was in high school my grandparents they gave me a

jeep and it was far nicer than anything I should have been responsible for well

one weekend my parents were out of town and some friends wanted to go off-roading

and some sand dunes that were not too far from my house so all of us that had

four-wheel drive went out and did some off-roading now I know what you're

thinking I that you would think that somebody growing up in the city that up

until this point has only driven on pavement would be really good at

off-roading you would be wrong there are a couple lessons that I learned that

weekend the first one being that when you get a four by four stuck it gets

really stuck the second one being not to lock your keys in the car while the

engine is running while you're getting out to see how stuck you are the third

lesson was to make sure that you have plenty of gas before you go out on

such an endeavor now now here's the issue I had plenty of people there to get

me unstuck but when you're trying to pull someone out of a sand dune and

their their their Jeep is sunk deep into the ground the Jeep needs to be in neutral

that was it was impossible in that moment because I couldn't even get into the Jeep

to put it in neutral I was desperate my Jeep was stuck the keys are locked inside

while the engine is running the gas light is on and to make matters worse my

parents are on their way home I was desperate and sometimes when you're

desperate you don't make the best decisions we cannot relate to that right

so I knocked out a window which created a whole other set of issues for me later

but in that moment all I could think of was I have got to get out of the

situation that I'm in that that's what's going on here with Bartimaeus but the

difference is he made a great decision out of his desperation he stopped

caring what others thought he stopped viewing himself as an outcast he didn't

listen to all those people who were saying that he was out of line that were

saying he was being annoying or distracting he knew that the solution to

his desperation was walking in front of him and he took advantage of it you

being here this morning is an opportunity that I hope you will take

advantage of but before you leave here before you're distracted again by life

maybe Jesus is walking in front of you maybe you came in here desperate for

something to change and you hear the story of Bartimaeus and you can see

yourself in that position desperate for something to give desperate for

something to go right desperate for something to change and you were to the

point where you have nowhere else to turn and your life has been plagued with

making one dumb decision after the next because you don't know where to turn and

I think so many times people end up breaking their window thinking that it's

going to make things better but all it does is get you out of one predicament

and into a another now I don't believe in co-incidences and I don't believe you

are here by accident I believe you are here because God has an appointment with

you now you might be thinking no I'm only here because it's Easter I'm only

here because somebody invited me or maybe it's because you're here because

that's what you do on Sundays I'm hoping that as you look at your life you

realize that something is missing and you are tired of how things have been

going my hope is that you take advantage of the opportunity that the Lord is

giving it giving you today don't let this be another day on the calendar

instead be like Bartimaeus and cry out to Jesus and ask for mercy because as you

can see Jesus was ready to help think about that situation that was going on

kind of put yourself in that story Jesus is walking through this crowd there is

noise all around him people are probably screaming they're they're shoving

each other to try to get to him but he only responds to Bartimaeus Jesus heard

the cry of desperation he saw the faith that he had and that the most important

thing in his life in that moment was that he had to speak to Jesus Lord have

mercy on me was his request Jesus didn't respond to the noise he responded to the

faith that was displayed the faith of a desperate man calling out for mercy is

what stopped Jesus in his tracks and when Jesus is ready to help the man

doesn't casually walk over there he springs into action now I think sometimes

we are desperate but at the same time inconvenienced when there is a call for

action for instance as you can imagine there's a lot of people that come to the

church a lot of people to call the church asking for help they're in desperate

situations a lot of times they they aren't going to be able to pay their

bills they're on the verge of a divorce or they're hungry or they're stranded and

what I've learned over the years is that there are so many people in desperate

situations that are unwilling to inconvenience themselves for help we had

a call a couple weeks ago that came to the church and there was this girl

asking for help with her rent and and that her kids needed some food now when

it comes to children being fed I'm going to do anything I can to make that

happen so I tell her that we're gonna help her she just needs to come up to

the church so so we can do that so we can get it her response to me was can you

just Venmo it to me because I'm not ready for the day and I had to get myself

ready she wasn't desperate enough she wanted to take the easy route and if

I've learned anything over the years it's the easy route never leads to

transformation Bartimaeus was desperate enough and when Jesus saw that he asked

what do you want me to do for you what do you want me to do for you he already

knew I mean this is God in the flesh but he still asked the question that is

the question that he's still asking us today what do you want me to do for you

what do you want me to do for you do you want healing do you want a better

relationship with your kids do you want a better situation at work do you want to

better marriage do you want to overcome your addiction tell him Bartimaeus

doesn't ask for his sight to be recovered he tells Jesus let me recover my

sight he tells Jesus because he has faith that it can be done now Scripture

tells us that that we should have faith like a child because the kingdom belongs

to such as these I think about my children often and one thing I know

about them is that they don't hesitate to ask us when they want something they

ask constantly all the time it's it's a constant I'm hungry I'm thirsty I don't

want to wear that I want to wear this can I watch a show but I've seen it and

I are not around they don't tell each other those things there have been many

times where we have come home and and Riker my youngest acts like he he's

starving because he hasn't been fed now I don't think his older siblings have

denied him food I don't think they put a lock on the fridge and said you can't

eat I think it's because he doesn't trust that they're going to help him he

doesn't trust that if he asks them they're going to help him but when his

parents are home he knows that something can get done now as adults we need to

have that faith when we approach God he has the ability to do something about

our situation Jesus is ready to help and we just need to tell him what we want

and have the faith that he is capable to do it now this is not some genie in a

bottle kind of request because if you've been following Jesus for any amount

of time you will realize that sometimes you go through hard seasons and wonder

where he is in the midst of them we don't know how how old Bartimaeus is when

when we meet him in this encounter but I truly believe that this was not the

first time that he's made a request to God for him to recover his sight but for

whatever reason the appointment for his healing was on that day in that crowd in

Jericho I don't know when your appointment will be could be today but have faith in

the boldness to tell him and ask him because better days are coming better

days are coming now I don't know about you but life has been hard at me hard on

me at times I don't know if anybody can relate to that situation and sometimes in

the midst of a difficult situation it's hard to see the silver lining it's hard

to look past my own circumstances even though there's good going on all around

me and there have been times in my life that I've listened to a preacher say

that the reason I'm going through difficult times is because my faith

isn't strong enough I'm not trusting enough because if I had stronger faith

the Lord would bless me with an abundance of wealth there'd be no more

sickness and life would just be easy I struggle with that because that's not

what I read about in the Bible in Genesis chapter 7 things on the earth

Genesis 7 · chapter mention

gets got so bad that the Lord sent rain for 40 days and nights to rid the earth

of evil that that doesn't sound like a fun situation doesn't and Exodus God

delivers the people from slavery in Egypt and then their leader leaves them

for 40 days and nights for a camping trip in the mountain and first Samuel this

giant called Goliath taunts an army and tells them that they are not good enough

for 40 days in Matthew Jesus fast for 40 days and when he is probably at his

weakest Satan begins to tempt him now I don't know about you but I've never

fasted for 40 days but what I do know is that the longer that I go without eating

the more my standards begin to drop you all know this at the beginning of the

week you have a pantry and a refrigerator full of food but as the week

goes on and as that food begins to disappear you you you're finally willing

to try that box of rice cakes have been sitting in the pantry for over a month

I'm convinced that that no one sells those things because they're good they

they sell those things to see how much we're willing to lower our standards I

was reading through this devotional book a few weeks ago and and the way it was

written just gave me a new perspective because when we think about the flood or

we think about Goliath the focus is on the circumstances right Goliath is this

big massive man who's taunting the people of Israel for 40 days telling them

they're not good enough telling them that they are weak telling them that they

are about to be conquered and I gotta believe that somewhere in those 40 days

there was a temptation to give up there was a temptation to lower standards

there there was that thought that that that may be under a different ruler

things wouldn't be that bad those same kinds of thoughts had to be going through

the Israelites minds when Moses was hiding on the mountain who's who's

going to replace him maybe we should go back to Egypt I'm assuming that those

kinds of conversations were going and I think sometimes we get so focused on

our 40 days of whatever season we are in and we forget that the on the 41st day

the rain stopped and the Sun came out on the 41st day Moses came down with the

words of God written on stone on the 41st day Goliath was defeated with a

sling and a stone and on the 41st day Jesus uses the word of God and Satan

flees maybe you're in the middle of your 40 days and there is a temptation to

give up there's a temptation to try things your own way maybe there is a

fear or doubt but I want you to hear me say day 41 is coming it's coming and

sometimes we just need that little reminder because it won't be the only

40 days you go through it's in those moments that our faith is strengthened

I mean think about the people of God what their mindset must have been like

during that 40 days that Goliath is taunting them I mean this story doesn't

even make sense for 40 days beaten down verbally their response is hey let's

send out this kid that has no battle experience whatsoever just to be safe

let's let's load him up with armor and a sword because we don't want to get in

trouble with Oshah right oh the the armor doesn't fit he can't walk with it

it's too heavy he can't even swing the sword that's okay just send him out

there with a slingshot and a couple rocks the story doesn't even make sense but

but that seems to be when God does his best work when things are out of

control and we have to rely solely on him David had such strong faith in the

Lord that he's not walking onto the battlefield praying that God would give

him the strength or ability to get the job done instead he just walked straight

up to Goliath and he tells him that Lord will deliver me deliver you into my

hand that's a pretty bold statement isn't it when Goliath fell down dead I

believe that the faith of the Israelite army had increased because they saw what

the Lord had done day 41 is coming and the reason I know it's coming is because

of what Jesus did for us on that cross but more importantly what he did three

days later because the reality is that anyone can die for you but only one has

the power to rise from the dead and if you have been in church at any time on

an Easter Sunday morning you know the story but I think a lot of us missed the

fact that the cross and resurrection of Jesus places replaces religion with grace

when I was growing up in church I don't really know where it came from but but I

had it in my mind that anybody that would drink beer or smoke cigarettes were

going to hell I don't know why I believe that but I but I really struggled with

the people that I knew that did those things as I got older I realized that

the church I grew up in really turned me into a little Pharisee turned me into a

little legalist now now I don't believe they did that intentionally but but it

did happen a few years ago seeing and I decided to get a tattoo on our ring

fingers mainly because I kept losing my wedding ring

so so I have her name tattooed right there on my ring finger when when my

kids saw that for the first time we were surprised by how upset they were I mean

there were tears they began to question our salvation that they were so

disappointed in us and and I have no idea where that came from because never

once have we told them if you get a tattoo you're a bad person never once did

that come out of our mouth I think sometimes churches have focused so much

attention on what we do that we forget that grace has been poured out on all

of us our primary ministry at our last church in in La Mesa

turned out to be to the D church people of in our community people who grew up

in the church but but but God burned out because they couldn't keep up with all

the rules can you relate to that everyone at church at the church when

they were growing out felt the need to pretend that their lives were perfect

and that they never sinned for someone who's in the middle of a difficult time

that environment can be intimidating therefore it's it's just easier to stop

coming but as you begin to understand the cross and as you begin to understand

the resurrection of Jesus and what he did for us there you realize he didn't

just die for those who had their life together he died for all of us and not

only did he die for us but then he tells death hey I'm not gonna stay that way and

because of that you and I have the chance at abundant life not just in the

future but right now so so if you've tried church and it didn't go well for

you because what was given to you was a set of rules that you had to conform to

I am so sorry that's not why Jesus came to the surf he came to bring freedom

from sin he came to bridge the gap between a holy God and a sinful people

he came to show all of us how much we are loved by him and when I learned that

when I understood that I learned that my sin is just as egregious as the

alcoholics I learned that my sin is just as ugly as those who have addictions and

so what you end up with is you end up with a sinner standing on a stage and

telling you that because I placed my faith and trust in Jesus as my Savior he

changed my life and he can do the same for you there is no life in religion

just just rules there is life in Jesus and that is what is being offered to

you today now again I can't put the right combination of words together to

convince you of that it's the spirit that gives life but scriptures also say

that how will they believe in him who they have not heard and how will they

hear without someone telling them that's why I'm here today I'm here to tell you

that following Jesus that surrendering your life to him is the best decision

that you can make no other religion teaches you that the creator of all

things willingly laid down his life for you so that you can have eternal life

every other religion will tell you that if you follow these rules if you're a

good person if you conform to this standard you might have a shot at heaven

one day where in the world is there hoping that Jesus came he lived a

perfect life he died on a cross for the punishment of all of our sin and he rose

again and is seated at the right hand of his father right now because we weren't

good enough and because he did that because I have surrendered my life to

him many years ago I tried to live my life in a way that honors him not not to

follow a set of rules to conform to some religion but because I know that his way

is better because I've come to realize that his standards are far better than

mine his path is a path that leads to abundant life so the opportunity is that

you out of desperation cry out for mercy because better days are coming they

won't always be easy satan is still on the loose and he will do everything he

can to distract you he will do everything he can to quiet you he will do

everything that he can to inconvenience you but my prayer for you is that as

Jesus walks by you today you see the opportunity to have your life changed

forever that's my hope what better day for him to make all things new than when

you surrender your life to Jesus when you confess those things to him and so and

so my part's done okay I'm going to I'm gonna pray for us our worship team's

gonna lead us in one more song you have a chance to respond or you have a chance

to get distracted again

you have an opportunity to cry out for mercy and with faith tell him what you

need what can what can I do for you what can I do for you let's pray father I

pray right now I pray that your spirit will give life

God our flesh can do nothing but you can bring life and so as we celebrate and

remember your resurrection you overcoming the grave you willingly laying down

your life for us father I pray that as your spirit moves in this room that there

will be those that cry out for mercy

and so we ask your spirit to fall in this room as we sing as we respond I

pray father that you will protect our minds that you will protect us from the

lies the enemy is going to begin to whispering to us father I pray that you

will overcome every form of darkness in this place and bring the light so father

we hand over this time to you and pray that you work your name you pray amen I'm

going to sit right down here if I can pray with you and for anything whatsoever

will you will you come join me