Sunday, March 6, 2016

Were You Left at "Jericho"?

Mark 10:46-52
46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 47 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!" 48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you." 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight." 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
NKJV


In this passage we are reminded of Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus.
You remember the man standing by the roadway, begging as one being blind would do. It appears he is in the right place. Someone most likely placed him there to beg to those who passed by like those going to King Herod's summer time palace in Jericho.
But on this day, Jesus of Nazareth was passing. And am certain this blind man heard the crowd. And all the noise of those who were following Jesus at the most opportune moment, prompted the blind man to take courage. He was blind and wanted to be heard by the one who had caused the blind to see and the lame to walk.

In the natural aspect of this, I wonder how many plant themselves by the side of a roadway hoping to be heard. They are those who really do not see and are the lame in that they cannot do for themselves. They are the fallen, those who have been abused and even left behind by the loved one. They have come from broken places to reside in broken places. They come from other ruling entities as to overbearing parents, leaders or spouses. They can come from a regular looking home and still fall short in some area of their mind, will or emotions.
How many even today are waiting to hear of "HEALING" in the house, or "RESTORATION" to a broken heart? How many are in a church setting, but with no way to relate a brokenness in their heart? They are silenced by the all-important agenda of a pastoral committee!
In scenes of most churches on a Saturday or Sunday, all are having you to be believe in being happy, teaching happiness, and that there is no brokenness. They desire to let you know "that you have come to happy land" and "there is no trial, no tribulations. They want you to know that you will be protected in the "happy land". This blind man was brought to a place to help him exist but not to flourish.
In the case of Bartimaeus, we see two things going on. He was placed to receive from man and maybe the rich and famous. We also see him placed by Jericho, the summer retreat home for the king and see him ministered by Jesus. He was not ministered to "in the church" but by the side of the road.
It was during a walk Jesus had in going to minister to others. Jesus was on His Way somewhere to reach someone.
Did a family member drop him there to beg, to fill a gap they the family member, or friend could not give him?

Blind Bartimaeus spoke loudly to Jesus, crying out "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Certainly when that happens, there will be those around to say "shut-up"! Or they might tell you to leave the man alone. Either way, this blind man was going to heard. And he continued to cry out, now, not only over the roar of the regular crowd, but also those who would desire to quiet Bartimaeus.

Most certainly God is order! But His order comes in the form of humility. In that of Jesus, He was, is and will always be the Prophet. He was humble before His Father and remain steadfast to pleasing the Father. There is a boldness that rises out of one who is the broken when they see one of courage WHO STANDS IN BOLDNESS TO DO THAT WHICH IS RESISTANT TO THE legalistic views of those who capitalize on religion and not on what was intended from the beginning of time for all of us. The blind saw Jesus spiritually and reached for His divinity and truth with boldness.
It was boldness reaching for boldness. It was the infirm reaching for the healing he desired from Jesus. He was reaching out to "authority" and he saw Jesus holding everything he needed.



So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you." 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight." 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus.

When I think of Jesus passing by, and He stopped upon hearing the blind man speak. Then Jesus command him to come to Him. Upon writing this, I was thinking of the Garden of Eden and the walk Adam had with God in the "beginning". 
We saw where God quieted the world in Chapter 1............"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." (3) Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

There was chaos in Bartimaeus' life and it included much darkness. For whatever background he had, people had placed him near a place where the rich would frequent. He was placed where the hand-outs would come quickly and most likely they were of the very nature of the generous donation to the blind man, indeed!
But what he, Bartimaeus needed was light brought to him and it came when Jesus entered his darkness. And the very spark of life in His voice spoke to the death in his life. Bartimaeus quickly threw off that garment that spoke loudly of "BLIND MAN". He threw off what he did not need to gain what he could from Jesus. He was the expectant.
"What do you want Me to do for you?"  Then Bartimaeus spoke........ "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."   Bartimaeus, called Him Master. This blind man was wanting to recover what was rightfully his. Others born had their sight. He was saying you are the Master, my sufficiency.
 He was experiencing the Holy Spirit on Jesus and that power made him come to the life that was truth and the way for his life.

A truth to remember: the blind had to move toward Jesus.........He is movement and is always going forward. We cannot expect to set up a tent and live in a place, expecting Jesus to show up every day or every other day to meet us at our lowest. If we have met Him and acted on His Word, then we have received something from Him, and we act. We do not revert to the "tent" or place we have set up to stay. His faith made him well. He acted and walked. He went with Jesus, where Jesus was going. He did not stay beside the road at Jericho.


Being reminded of the garden and the creation of man we think of that relationship Adam had with God.
From the garden we saw beauty, and we saw failure. Oh, not for God in God or from God, but in man!  Sad but true!
Yes, Adam fell from his place. From that stance of walking with God, he did not keep that watch to keep it going. And in that I recall that both he and his wife heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Ah, distractions will cost you something!

Genesis 3:8-9
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" NIV

It is interesting that they heard Him walking in the garden. Can you really hear someone walking on grass in a garden of lush vegetation? Interesting! But we find what the "walking" meant!

That walking in the garden..........walking is Strong's 1980.....halak and is................"behave"
in the garden......is Strong's 1588 .....is Greek........fenced garden......defended and protected.

When we truly seek the Lord and hold to His position as the Lord over our hearts, we are in that garden again, but this time in the new Adam which is Jesus Christ. In Him we have life eternally. We are to behave in that garden that is the defended and the protected.


Bartimaeus quickly followed Jesus when he received his sight. He threw away which the world had placed on him either by their own decisive plans or that which they did not understand at all , but in their own thinking merely placed a name tag on him as "the blind". The Lord Jesus will surely open our blind eyes, that which is physical and mental as well.  He will cause us to walk and in that which looks like one who is truly behaving in His garden that is rich with which is ours by believing, adhering to truth and abiding in Him. It is having trust in Him.

For the rich and famous, our wealth is found in Jesus. It is not found in marble palaces or in ornate rings and jewels that sparkly brightly. The wealth of this world is surely fading away, but His Word and truth will remain.

Hebrews 1:10-12
"You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.  
11 They will perish, but You remain;
And they will all grow old like a garment;  
12 Like a cloak You will fold them up,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will not fail."  
NKJV

We see something in Paul's preaching. He gave truth to those who came. But there were those who would not believe. They left.

Acts 28:24-27
24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: 

26 "'Go to this people and say, 
"You will be ever hearing but never understanding; 
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." 
27 For this people's heart has become calloused; 
they hardly hear with their ears, 
and they have closed their eyes. 
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, 
hear with their ears, 
understand with their hearts 
and turn, and I would heal them.'  NIV

In the King James Version, it reads this way.
Acts 28:27
27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. KJV

And that waxed gross has the meaning of rendering callous or to stupefy. It is 3975 Strong's....pachuno.
The NT is 4078,,,,pegnumi.......,,meaning to set up tent.

They are not moving anywhere. They are the stationary. They cannot see, they cannot hear, and they have no understanding. They choose not "to hear".

For those like Bartimaeus, he wanted to see with his eyes, hear with his ears, and understand with his heart and received that good part. He desired to receive that of which Jesus represented in His kingdom ..........that is of humility with one God, is of love and of mercy. For those who will not turn at His humility..........that merciful love.........they will not be the healed.

Psalm 101:1-6
I will sing of mercy and loving-kindness and justice, to You, O Lord, will I sing. 2 I will behave myself wisely and give heed to the blameless way-----O when will You come to me? I will walk within my house in integrity and with a blameless heart.
3 I will set no base or wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them who turn aside [from the right path]; it shall not grasp hold of me. 4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil person or thing. 5 Who so privily slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off [from me]; he who has a haughty look and a proud and arrogant heart I cannot and I will not tolerate. 6 My eyes shall [look with favor] upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks blamelessly, he shall minister to me.

Walking within our house is walking 1st and foremost with God. When we check in with Him, first we check ourselves for anything which should not be there. To be in the blameless way..........the perfect heart is a full heart committed to God.  It is the heart instructed in the things of God. It means having Christs thoughts and purposes in our heart.
Verse 4.....anyone who has a perverse heart, that indulges into their own glory, their own agendas, and has nothing of real growth potential from God's word for another will certainly come to nothing. One who truly recognizes truthful in another will be at peace with them. Those who carry chaos within their hearts, will only bring forth muddy waters that will just muddy up another person. When we are the behaved, we walk wisely. Our counsel is from God and Him alone. He then sends trusted people who counsel with Him as well. A person who feeds on God's faithfulness will recognize another as well!

Romans 2:6-11
6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done."  7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism. NIV


Romans 2:6-11 in the Amplified reads like this: 6. For He will render to every man according to his works [justly, as his deeds deserve]. [Psalm 62:12]  7 To those who by patient persistence in well-doing [springing from piety] seek [unseen but sure] glory and honor and [the eternal blessed of] immorality He will will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and self-willed and disobedient to the Truth but responsive to wickedness, there will indignation and wrath. 9 [And] there will be tribulation and anguish and calamity and constraint for every soul of man who [habitually] does evil, the Jew first, and also the Geek (Gentile). 10 But glory and honor and [heart] peace shall be awarded to everyone who [habitually] does good, the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile). 11 For God shows no partiality [undue favor or unfairness; with Him one man is not different from another] Deut. 10:17; 2 Chronicles 19:7


Those like Bartimaeus, who choose life will find the goodness of God. They will delight themselves in His goodness and dwell in peaceable habitations. They will reside in peace and quiet resting places. (Isaiah 32:18) One will certainly recognize peace, truth and mercy when the love one carries is God's kind of love. Bartimaeus recognized it and heeded His power.

Father thank You for Jesus. He is Life everlasting to us. We receive the Holy Spirit that is poured into us. We are thankful for fruitful fields that becomes the valued forest.(Is.32:15)May we be like Jesus who was not stationary. He did not reside outside the high priests gate or king's palaces, but was outside doing outreach to those in need of life everlasting. Truly we are the happy and the fortunate who seek the Lord, who dwell in Him always abiding on truth that is wisdom and light to us. May we be  those who will speak out in daily communication with the Lord and tell Him what we would like Him to do for us in regard to being able to see that which we cannot see at this moment. Lord, it is our desire to keep reaching and grow louder in reaching you although we know that you are not far from anyone of us, yet we desire like children to get excited and shout sometimes. May we always be the humble before You. May we always come and pray and seek You while we may. For we desire to please You our Father. In Your light we see light. It is in You we live, move and have our being.

"What can we do for You today our Father?" May it be to YOUR GLORY AND IN YOUR PRAISE. AMEN.

Please view a newly posted teaching on Youtube channel.
" Mount of The Lord = The Table of The Lord".


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