Sermons

Scripture Reference: Mark 10:46-52

When Joshua marched the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land, they defeated Jericho by marching around the walls seven times. Now Jesus the new Joshua marches the disciples and the church, the new Israel, across the Jordan River and into the territory of the kingdom of God. He conquers sin, death, disease, poverty, suffering, and injustice with resurrection. Today, he enlists a person that understands better than most disciples: a blind beggar named Bartimaus. He exemplifies how we can have courageous faith.

Bartimaus’s courageous faith has six qualities.

1. Persists: he continuously calls out for Jesus, his King, to save him.
2. Needs: Bartimaus recognizes that he needs Jesus, and no one else
3. Leaves: He throws off the cloak that was like a security blanket.
4. Leaps: Faith is a jump into the unknown.
5. Desires: Bartimaus wants what Jesus wants him to have, to perceive and understand as he did before
6. Follows: Instead of going back to the life he had, Bartimaus follows Jesus on the Way.

Today, the same crowds that try to silence you are also the ones that are turning to you. They say, “Take heart, arise, Jesus is calling You!”

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