June 15, 2025 • 43 mins
When life feels uncertain, it’s tempting to chase after answers. But peace doesn’t come from knowing more, it comes from knowing God.
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Scripture References:
John 9, verses 1-38
Ephesians 1, verses 17-18
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. You know, I'd heard about mom guilt,
but no one ever told me about dad inadequacy and
that feeling sometimes we have his dad's feeling like not
only are we not doing enough sometimes, but I know
some of us feel this condemnation from the enemy sometimes
telling us that we're not enough. And I just felt
(00:35):
led to just prophesy over the dads today and ultimately
just remind you that before you were a father, you
were a son. And there's something so powerful about in
those places where we feel like we're not enough, reminding
ourselves that I was a son first. Chris was just
sharing in the back about the prodigal son, about the
younger son who came home. But I love what the
(00:56):
father spoke over the older son. He said, my son,
everything that I have, it was already yours. And when
you can wake up every day and remind yourself that
I'm a son. First, it's an opportunity to recognize that
everything your father has is available to you. So I
just speak life over you today and the blessings of
your father and Heaven over you today. In the name
(01:17):
of Jesus, we honor you, your honor and your well.
If we haven't yet met yet, my name is Jonathan.
I have the privilege of serving as the campus pastor
here at our Balentine location and welcome everyone's joe Us
and certainly always an honor to be able to share
God's word. I feel so grateful today. It's also always
(01:40):
an honor to stand behind the pulpit of my favorite
preacher on the planet. And it's kind of like if
Michael Jordan invited you to play on his personal court.
You know, you're not on that level, but it's still
pretty it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. And while I
consider it's such an honor to stand behind this pulpit
to day, what's an even greater honor for me is that,
(02:02):
for the last twelve years, the greater honor is that
I've been able to be a part of this church.
And standing behind a pulpit is cool, but sitting in
that seat week to week is so special. I'm so
grateful to be a part of this house under the
leadership of such amazing pastors. Can we thank God for
Pastor Stephen and Pastor Hawley and and the other thing
(02:25):
that's kind of cool about sitting next there is I
get to sit next to my wife of we just
celebrated fifteen years on Friday, fifteen years of marriage. The
Anna knows this right there. Well. I want to share
from a passage of scripture in John chapter nine. It's
this story about Jesus healing a man who was born blind,
(02:45):
and ultimately the man starts getting interrogated by the Pharisees.
And here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna give you
just one verse right now. We'll let you take your seats.
I know the dads just wanted to sit down for
Father's Day. That's it. Give me a break, So one
verse and I'll give you my title. But then I'll
ask that you'd be patient with me because I want
(03:05):
to work through the majority of this chapter John chapter nine,
and work through this story together. Is that good? John
Chapter nine, Verse twenty five. The Pharisees, they're asking this
man questions about who Jesus is. They're mad because Jesus
held him on the Sabbath. You know, they don't like that.
And so they asked this man a question about Jesus,
and look at his response verse twenty five. He replied,
(03:29):
whether he is a sinner or not? I don't know.
One thing I do know. I was blind, but now
I see whether he's a sinner or not. I don't know.
I'm I'm not a student of the law like you guys.
I'm just a I was a blind beggar just a
few days ago. I don't know. But one thing I
(03:51):
do know. I was blind, But now I see. My
title for today is all I know. All I know.
And as you're taking your seat, turn to your neighbors, say,
all I know is that I'm so blessed to be
sitting next to you today. God has really been speaking
(04:13):
to me through this passage. And since it is Father's Day,
let me show you a picture of my family real quick,
because I am a proud dad and my family right
here with my kids. And okay, so my oldest, Zion,
he's ten years old. And then we've got Elias, he
turns eight this week. He was actually born on Father's Day.
And yeah, he came early. I kept telling people, I
(04:35):
think Anna just pushed him out early because she didn't
want to get me a gift. Yeah, and see this
is the problem. And everybody laughs, they thought I was joking.
And then guess what day. Our daughter, Olivia was born
on Father's Day? All right, So if you've got an
extra twenty in your pocket, just bless the Woman of
God so she can get me a proper father this
day gift this year. That's our family. We're so we're
(04:57):
so blessed. And and I grew with three sisters and
we'd always ask my parents, you know, who's the favorite,
you know, and they would always say, we love you
all the same. And that's true, but it doesn't exactly
answer the question, right And as a parent, as a
parent myself, now it's true, I love them all the same.
But tell your neighbors say, there's definitely a favorite. There's
(05:18):
definitely a favorite, Zion, is there a favorite? There's a favorite?
But in this passage in John chapter nine, I love
what this man expressed in that one sentence. He's talking
about the tension of He's saying whether he's a sinner
or not he makes the confession, I don't know, but
one thing I do know, I don't know I know,
(05:39):
And the word no know shows up like eleven times
in this one passage of scripture. You're going to see
it pop up over and over again, and it starts
speaking to me because I find myself in a season
of life right now where I find myself saying more
than ever, maybe I don't know, I don't know. Situations
(06:01):
at work, I'm trying to figure out where it's like, well,
what do we do about I don't know. Just talking
to a friend the other day about health stuff. He's
like everything one thing I read says do this, the
other thing says do that. He's like, I don't even
know what to believe anymore. He's like, I just I
don't know. I don't know. When it comes to even
when me and Anda do like marriage counseling. Now it
used to be we'd go to talk about us, to
(06:22):
work on us. Now we're going to talk about the kids,
like how do we do this? It's getting harder and
harder as they get older. We're trying to figure this
thing out. And I know some of you are like,
you only got a ten year old just just you wait.
But even at the stage we're at right now, I
find myself saying, I don't know, I don't know. Maybe
find yourself in that place today where you're facing situations
(06:43):
and if you're honest, you're like I, I just don't know.
But where it really started to hit me was that,
even when it comes to my faith and my walk
with God, I find myself saying, yeah, I don't know,
I don't know. There's two members in the church who
have really been undermining my confidence as a pastor and
as a follower of Christ. And I don't want to
(07:05):
expose anybody. It's not it's not you, Tad, You're good.
But I'll just show you a picture real quick of
the two church members I'm talking about. Yeah, these two,
these two, because they're at the stage now. It's so
amazing watching our kids grow in their faith, isn't it.
It's so awesome to see them just take steps towards Christ.
And then at the same time, the thing that comes
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with it is they're asking me so many questions, and
they're good questions too, and they'll ask me at the
most unexpected times, like I don't get to I don't
get to do any research. You know, my youngest he
asked me. He some of the questions are fun, like
why did God make bad guys? And then you get
to explain to them, well, actually we're all bad guys,
and apart from Christ, none of us are righteous. And
(07:46):
you're walking them through that, and then ask me, why
did God make mosquitoes? Now that's a it's a tough one.
I hate him so much. That's like the equivalent of
asking why does God let bad things happen to good people?
That's how I feel like every time I get a mosquito,
By Lord, why have you forsaken me? The other day,
we're driving home from school and my eight year old
(08:08):
he was getting ready to be baptized. He got baptized
in our church just a couple weeks ago, and we
were talking about the moment where Jesus was baptized. You
remember that story. Jesus is baptizing and a dove, the
Holy Spirit descends like a dove in the voice of
his father in Heaven speaks over him. This is my son,
whom I love, whom I'm well pleased. And my eight
(08:28):
year old son, he said, Dad, if Jesus is God,
how is God talking to Jesus. He's eight years old
and he's asking me about the Trinity. Have you ever
tried to explain the Trinity to an eight year old?
Forget it? Have you ever tried to explain the Trinity
to a full grown, functioning adult. These are things that
(08:53):
we believe, right, we believe in it. That this is
something that the church, like followers of Christ, have believed him.
But if you asked me the question, how do I know?
I gotta be honest. I don't know sometimes and I'm
trying to. If I had told you turn to your
neighbor right now and explain to Trinity, you would be
pulling up chat GPT so quick and going to some
lame stuff. Well, it's kind of like an egg. It's
three parts that's all in one, and it's like, let's
(09:14):
be honest for a second. We don't know. We don't know.
There's so many things that we believe, and if we're honest,
we feel like, if we're honest, we could say that
we don't know. And the problem is we feel like
we should. I know, I feel like I should. I'm
a pastor. I'm supposed to know these things. I went
to school for these things, and whether it's sitting down
with a couple trying to guide them in the ways
(09:35):
of God as they navigate a situation in life, or
even just the own my own questions that I'm wrestling with.
I find myself saying I don't know. I don't know,
but I'm realizing that if my confidence is built on
all I know, I will always be insecure. And God's
been teaching me through this passage that being in a
(09:56):
place of not knowing isn't always bad thing. In fact,
not knowing might just be a good place to be.
So let's start at the beginning of this story where
this man who is born blind has a miraculous encounter
with Jesus. And there's some things about knowing that I
want to show you through this passage today. Good if
we walk through the scriptures for just a moment. Ken
(10:20):
in verse one, it says, as he went along, he
saw a man blind from birth. Now right there, I
got grateful. I got grateful knowing that even when I
couldn't see Jesus, he saw me and his disciples. They
asked him a question. Rabbi means teacher, teacher. They want
to learn something. Who sinned this man or his parents
(10:41):
that he was born blind? Rabbi, who sinned this man
or his parents that he was born blind? I love
the fact that the disciples are willing to ask Jesus questions.
They're saying, Jesus, we have teach us, teach Us. There's
still at a place in their faith where they're willing
to ask questions. Some of us grew up in a
tradition of faith where we were taught not to ask questions.
(11:03):
We thought faith was certainty in our answers. But faith
is not certainty in your answers. Faith is where you
go with your questions. So they asked Jesus. They're looking
at a man born in an unfortunate situation, and they're
asking him, how did this happen? What happened? Was it
something he did or his parents did. Now it's a
(11:24):
crazy question to us, because remember the man, he was
born blind. So when he says, did this man sin
to be born that way, you're like, well, that doesn't
really compute. But it's kind of a bad question because
it was rooted in bad beliefs. Some of the bad
questions we have are rooted in bad beliefs and here's
what I mean. They the Disciples had such a transactional
(11:44):
view of God that they believe that if anytime someone
was in a situation of sickness or suffering, that God
was so transactional that it must have been punishment for
something that they did. And so, rather than rather than
basing their theology on what the scripture said about God,
who is slow to anger, abounding in love, rich in mercy,
(12:05):
sometimes we begin to create a view of God based
on our circumstances rather than the other way around. So
they actually developed a theology that was common in that
day that someone could commit sin while they were still
in the womb. So when they asked Jesus, why was
this man born blind? It's rooted in the belief that
something must have gone wrong for him to be born
(12:26):
in this condition. But they're asking him a question, and
look what Jesus says in response. He says, neither this
man nor his parents sinned, but this happens so that
the works of God might be displayed in him. They're
looking at a situation and they're asking why why is
this happening? And it's one thing to look at situations
in our life and wonder Why, God, Why am I
(12:48):
going through this divorce?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
God?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Why am I spiraling into this addiction again? God? Why
am I being buried alive by shame again? It's one
thing to look at situations in our life and ask
why is this happening? But Jesus redirects their question with
their answer, and he doesn't necessarily say what caused it,
but he answers why as and what is the purpose
of what they're going through? He said, forget about what
(13:10):
caused this man to be born blind. I want to
show you what's going to happen as a result of
his condition. This happens so that the works of God
might be displayed in him. In other words, that if
I can reframe my belief system to recognize God that
all things are working together for my good. When I
find myself in a situation saying I don't know how
(13:31):
I got here, I can change my question to say, God,
even though I don't know what got me into this situation,
I know that there's something you are doing in me
and through me, and through what I'm facing, You're going
to get glory. This happens so that the works of
God might be revealed in him. After saying this verse six, Jesus,
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he spit on the ground. He made some mud with
the saliva, and he put it on the man's eyes. Go,
he told them, wash in the pool of Siloam. This
word means scent. The scent one is sending him to
a pool called send. So the man went and washed
and came home seeing. Talk about blind faith for just
(14:13):
a moment, the ability to move in obedience even when
you don't have all the answers. Remember, this man has
never seen Jesus. In fact, when Jesus said go wash
in the pool, he didn't tell Jesus, go and wash
and you'll be healed. He gave him no information. Can
you imagine sitting there hearing people talking about you in
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the background. Next thing you know, your eyes are getting
slapped with some mud, and you heard a spitting sound,
and now there's something goofy on your eyes, and you're
going wait a second, and then the man says, go
and wash, And it says that he went and he
came home seeing. Blind faith is the ability to move
in obedience on nothing but a word from Jesus. Some
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of us are stuck in the circumstances we find ourselves
in today because we need too many answers before we'll
move in obedience. Some of us stay trapped in the
place we are and we're praying God get me out
of this situation. And God saying, I gave you in
an instruction, but you needed to know a B. C.
D If then when And God is looking for people
who have blind faith, faith enough to trust in his
(15:19):
voice and not all the answers. So this man goes
to the pool, he washes, and he came home seeing
Can you imagine he's walking back to his village, seeing
mountains for the first time, seeing the blue sky for
the first time, seeing his parents for the first time.
And it says this His neighbors and those who had
formerly seen him begging ask him, is this the same
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man who used to sit and beg Some claimed he was,
others said no, he only looks like him. They don't know,
But he himself insisted, I am the man. How then
were your eyes open? They asked. The man they called
Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes.
He told me to go to saloam and wash. So
I went and washed, and then I could see. So
(16:05):
they bring him to the Pharisees Verse thirteen. The man
who had they bring the man who had been blind
to the Pharisees. Now, the day on which Jesus had
made the mud and opened up the man's eyes was
a sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he
had received a sight. He's given the same testimony over
and over again. He put mud on my eyes, the
man replied, and I washed, and now I see. And
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the Pharisees start going back and forth. This man Jesus,
he can't be from God. He doesn't keep the sabbath,
but others are like. But how is he performing these signs?
So they're divided. They don't know. And then they turned
away again to the blind man. What do you have
to say about him? It was your eyes he opened,
and the man replied, this man is a prophet. They
still did not believe that he had been blind and
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had received his sight, until they sent for the man's parents.
Is this your son? They've got questions? Is this the
one you say was born blind? How is it that
he can now see? Look at this. We know he
is our son. The parent's answer, And we know he
was born blind, But how he can see now or
who opened his eyes? We don't know touch your neighbors said,
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we don't know. Ask him. He's of age, he will
speak for himself. His parents said this because they were
afraid of the Jewish leaders who had already decided, who
had already decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was
the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. They
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had already made up their mind. You ever been in
a situation where someone's asking you for advice and you
quickly get the sense they had already decided, you know,
should I break up with her? Should I keep seeing?
You're like, I've been telling you, this relationship's toxic. And
sometimes people are asking you questions because they just want
confirmation or proof in what they already believe. Right, there's
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times in our marriage where we're arguing back and forth
about something. Instead of actually listening to understand my wife's
side of the story, I'm just listening for my next
argument to prove I was right. It's what the Pharisees
are doing in this story. They're asking questions, But if
we're honest, they're not actually curious, they're not actually trying
to understand they've already made up their mind about Jesus
(18:18):
that he isn't who he says he is, and they're
looking for reasons to trap him. So even though they're
asking questions, it's not the same type of questions that
the disciples are asking. The disciples are asking because they're
seeking understanding. The Pharisees are asking because they have a
questioning spirit. They're just trying to prove what they've already
decided they believe verse twenty four. A second time, they
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summon the man who had been blind give glory to
God by telling the truth. They said, we know this
man is a sinner. Here's our key verse and he replied,
whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know
one thing. I do know. I was blind, but now
I see turn to your neighbors, say I don't know much,
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but I know what he's done for me. This word
no that keeps showing up k n O W the
Bible uses translates different Greek words into this word no.
In this scripture, when the word no shows up, it's
referring to a to a head knowledge. It's it's the
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type of knowing that you can that you can learn
right it's information. That's what the Pharisees possessed, maybe more
than anyone. Remember, their influence in that society at that
time didn't become wasn't because of a political affiliation, but
because of their authorities in the scriptures. They would memorize
the scripture, study the scriptures, study the Law of Moses.
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Their authority was based on what they on, what they knew.
But it was a knowledge that came simply through learning. Now,
of course learning is good. I want my pilots to learn,
I want my doctors to learn. Learning is good. But
but their level of knowledge was solely connected to what
they had learned. When the man says, I don't know
(20:02):
whether he's a sinner or not. Can you imagine you're
a beggar going toe to toe with the theological experts
of your day and they're trying to get him to debate,
what do you say about Jesus? What do you think
about the Messiah? And he's like, yo, this isn't my
area of expertise, this is this is your category. So
he has the humility to say, hey, I don't know.
I don't know. I didn't learn all that. I didn't
(20:23):
go to school like you did. I don't know. I
don't know, but one thing I do know. One thing
I do know, he referred. He begins to reference what
he personally experienced. I was blind, but now I see.
Other times in scripture, there's another word for knowing, like
in Philippians three ten, where Paul says, my one purpose,
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my one aim is that I would know Christ, or
when Jesus prayed for us as believers, that we would
know the Father. It's not the type of knowing that
comes from learning. It's a It's a word that speaks
to relationship. It's the way a father knows a son,
the way a husband knows a wife. It's the type
of knowing that comes through personal experience. Like if you
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ask me to tell you about Anna, I wouldn't just
tell you she's five foot four born January sixth I
wouldn't just like read you information off her driver's license,
right because I know her. I know we've been married
for fifteen years. I have a relationship with her. So
if you ask me to tell you about Anna, i'd
tell you while she's remarkably patient, how do I know?
(21:26):
Because we're trying to teach our boys how to clean
up after themselves, and I still leave socks on the
living room floor like a nine year old myself, and
she still lets me cuddle with her. She's patient, she's patient.
I would tell you how she's an amazing listener. It's
unbelievable to watch. Sometimes Anna will sit down with someone
and ask just a couple questions and then they can
talk for an hour, and then she'll just wait to
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chime in at the end with a little bit of advice.
She's really why she's an amazing listener. I would talk
about her in a different way because I have a
personal relationship with her. And so when this man is
being questioned by the Pharisees, they're trying to figure out
tell us something, tell us something we need to know
so we can prove that Jesus isn't who he says
he is. And the man's like, I don't know what
to tell you about that. All I know is I
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was blind. But now I see. This is the power
of your personal experience with God in your life. For
the times where you don't know, for the times where
you have doubts, for the times where you have questions
that you can't seem to figure out, there's something so
powerful about being able to stand confident in what you
do know. I was blind, but now I see it's
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what I personally experience. I was sharing with our youth
just a couple of weeks ago about how I know
it's hard being in high school because people are asking
you all the time about your faith and they don't
understand it. Why do you believe those things about Jesus?
Are you really trying to Are you really trying to
stay pure intil marriage? You really go and serve on
your free time? You go serve at the church. Why
do you do all those things? And there's a temptation
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for us when people are challenging us in our faith
to go to what we know. You know, well, I
believe this about the Bible, and listen, I get that too.
I went to school for this stuff. I love this stuff.
The other day someone was asking me, he said, I
don't know how you believe this Christianity stuff. I said, okay, why?
He said, it seems so illogical to believe in the Bible. Wow,
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And everything within me wanted to start like going apologist mode.
You know, I love watching this guy lately on YouTube,
Wesley Huff, this historian and theologian, and he gives an
amazing defense for the faith, And every time I watch him,
I'm like, oh, I wish I knew all that stuff,
but I can't. I can't remember how old I am
half the time, let alone when the Bible was put together.
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This guy was saying, I don't know how you believe it.
It's so illogical. And while I wanted to start defending
my faith, something into me said stop and just said,
just speak about your personal experience with God. Why do
you follow Jesus? I just started saying, like all the
moments in my life where I felt his hand, his
hand on me, his hand guiding me through. Because you
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can talk someone into believing, you can give them information
that might change their mind, but only personal encounter can
change somebody's part. And there's a level of knowing that
comes from being in real relationship with Jesus, where he's
active in working in your life. That builds a confidence
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that no matter what storms come your way, even if
it's the one thing you do know you can stand
on it, not just for when people are challenging you
about your faith, but for the questions you have about
your faith, for the situations you're facing where you just
don't know to be able to go back and say,
I was blind, but now I see. This man's testimony
(24:39):
has become an anthem for believers. Amazing grace, how sweet
the sound save the wrench? Like me, I once was lost,
Now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see.
In preaching, Pastor Stevens taught us he said, in when
you're preaching, you need an osp A one sentence premise. Ans,
(25:00):
how can can you can you say your sermon in
just one sentence what your message is about? But I'm
realizing in life I need an ost a one sentence testimony,
A one sentence testimony, not an elaborate story, but in
one sentence, the ability to say, just like this man,
(25:21):
I was blind, but now I see. We were with
our leaders just a couple of weeks ago, and we
were talking about this, and and I said, if you
had to boil your story down into into into one sentence,
it's I said, I bet you could do it like that.
You know, like if I said to explain the Trinity
to your neighbor, you'd have to you'd struggle for a minute.
But if I said, tell your neighbor, right, now what
(25:42):
God has done for you, you'd be able to do
it in a moment because it's not real to you.
Someone stood up in the room and they said, my
marriage was at its bottom and God made it better.
Someone said I was in bondage and an addiction and
He set me free. And they weren't giving details, they
weren't going into the whole, just one sentence, and you
could feel faith rising in the room because it wasn't
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just things that people knew in their head. It was
things that were real to them because it's what they
had personally experienced by the power of Christ. You need
a one sentence testimony in your life. I was looking
at different scriptures that speak about what Jesus has done
for us, and I put them in chat gpt to say,
take the verse, make it one sentence. I want to
(26:27):
show you some of these because when we go to
the word of God to learn, which is so important.
We go to the Word of God. Learning is good,
but remember it's always an invitation. It's always an invitation
to experience a reality in Christ. So when I read
the scripture, it's not just for information, but for transformation.
And here's what the scriptures say about you. Now. If
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you don't have a one sentence testimony, you might be
able to find one on the screen right now and listen.
Everything I'm about to read to you. If you are
a believer in Christ, is true of you, but it
may not be true to you yet. When I get
to the one that's true to you, the thing that
you know from the depths of your being, you can shout,
you can praise, you can jump if you want to
look at all these scriptures. The scripture says the Colossians
(27:09):
two thirteen fourteen. I was guilty, but now I'm forgiven
through Jesus. I was abandoned, now I'm adopted. I was
spiritually dead, now I'm alive. I was anxious, but now
I have peace. I was bound, but now I'm free.
I was cursed, but now I'm redeemed. I was condemned,
now I'm justified. I was in darkness, but now I
walk in light. I was unlovable, but now I'm loved.
(27:32):
I was broken, but now I'm healed. I was rejected,
but now I am chosen. I was lost, but now
I'm found. I was weak, now I'm strong. I was
um righteous, and now I'm made right. I was empty,
but now I'm filled with the spirit of God. I
was looking for a church to bat me up and
make some noise right here. I was a slave to sin,
but now I'm free. I was in shame, but now
(27:55):
I'm prowned with mercy. I was defeated, but now I'm victorious.
This is what He's done for me. It's what He's
done for me. And so even as a parent, as
my kids are asking me these questions about faith, if
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I have answers, I want to give it to them.
I want to teach them what to believe, teach them
what we know. But I got to get better about
not just telling them about what I know up here,
but sharing with them the testimonies of what God has
done in my life, in my family's life, what I've
seen him do in this church and in this ministry.
It's the confidence of knowing what I know, just to
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be able to say I know that I know. It's
not just what I learned somewhere in a textbook or
in a seminary course. It's what I personally experienced from
the hand of God in my life. I was lost,
but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I
see again. Tell your neighbors say I don't know much,
but I know what he's done for me. Come on,
(28:58):
do you know what he's done for you? If you
know what he's done for you, take a moment just
to praise his name, for his faithfulness, his hand, his mercy.
This man the honesty to say I don't know, and
yet the confidence to say, but what I do know?
(29:19):
I was blind, but now I see. They keep asking
him the same question, over and over again. What did
he do to you? How do you open your eyes?
The man who at first is so intimidated being pulled
in front of the Pharisees and questioned is you can
see him growing a little bit sass Here he says,
I've told you already and you didn't listen. You want
to hear it again? Do you want to become his
(29:40):
disciples too? He's like straight mocking them now. Then they
hurled insults at him and said, you are this fellow's disciple.
We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke
to Moses. But as for this fellow, we don't even
know where he comes from. This is the only time
(30:00):
the Pharisees say we don't know every other. We know this,
we know that, so blinded by their certainty. And the
one time they say we don't know is when they say,
and we don't even know where this man comes from.
The man says, now, that's remarkable. You don't even know
where he comes from. Yet he opened my eyes. He's
(30:24):
realizing something about the Pharisees in this moment. He's saying, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait wait wait. You give your life to studying these scriptures,
and yet you don't see who the scriptures were talking
about the whole time. Do you mean to tell me
that you know all this but you don't know the
one thing that matters most where this man came from.
(30:48):
We know now look at him, prophesied. We know that
God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the
godly person who does as will. Nobody has ever heard
of the opening of the eyes of a man born blind.
It's the only time someone who is born blind receives
their sight born blind. If this man were not from God,
he could do nothing to this. They replied, you were
steeped in sin at birth, how dare you lecture us?
(31:11):
And they threw him out. Here's where the story gets
cool to me. Remember, Jesus heals them by sending him
to a pool. So Jesus spoke to him, but he's
never seen Jesus. Then he's questioned by his neighbors, questioned
by the Pharisees. Now, after he's kicked out of the temple,
(31:31):
Jesus shows up again. Jesus must have been close the
whole time, because it says that Jesus heard that they
had thrown him out, and when he found him. First
is Jesus who sees him. And now it's Jesus who
finds him. And Jesus finds them, and he asks them
not what he knows, but he asked them a question
about what he believes. He says, do you believe in
(31:55):
the Son of Man? He's asking him the same question
the Pharisees were asking him. Do you believe in the Messiah?
Do you believe in the Christ, the Son of Man,
son of God? The man has a question? Who is he? Sir?
Tell me so that I may believe in him. Jesus said,
you have now seen him. In fact, he is the
(32:18):
one speaking with you. What caught my attention is those
first few words of Jesus when he meets the man
for the second time. Remember when he sees him on
the road, this beggar born blind, Jesus speaks to him,
go wash in the pool. He puts mud on his eyes,
and the man went home seeing he was physically healed.
Now Jesus finds him again and he says this phrase.
(32:39):
He says to him, you have now seen. This is
the second seeing, the second seeing, because look at the
man's response verse thirty eight. After Jesus says you have
now seen, then the man said, Lord, I believe, and
he worshiped him. The first time this man is asked
(33:02):
about Jesus, he calls them a man named Jesus. The
second time he's asked about Jesus, he calls them a prophet.
Now he meets Jesus, and Jesus says, you have now seen.
And something shifted because he doesn't call him a man,
he doesn't call him a prophet. He calls him lord,
(33:22):
and he worshiped. The second seeing led him to a
revelation of who Jesus is. There are people who know
more about the Bible, know more about theology than I
could ever dream. And yet if you ask them about Jesus,
they would say he was just a man. He was
a man. He lived, but he's just a man. There
are people who come to church, there are people who say, man,
(33:44):
I love what Jesus says. It gives me inspiration, it
gives me hope. He was a great teacher. If you
ask them about Jesus, they would say, he's a prophet.
He's a prophet. What he says is true. But what
we read in this scripture and what the scriptures tell
us about him is he's not just a man, and
he's not just a He's Lord. He's the Son of God.
He's the Christ, he's the Messiah. And when this man,
(34:10):
when this man meets Jesus, Jesus says, do you believe
in the son of man? Tell me who he is?
Jesus says, you have now seen, and the eyes of
his heart are opened, his spiritual eyes are open, and
in a moment he recognizes, Oh, oh, what I didn't
know when they were asking me qu what I didn't know?
Then I know now he's Lord, and he worshiped him,
(34:34):
and he worshiped him. When I read that phrase, or
when I read that verse, it reminded me of a
phrase that comes from what the apostle Paul says in
Ephesians Paul he prayed one time in Ephesians one eighteen.
He said, I prayed that the eyes of your heart
may be enlightened. This phrase, the eyes of your heart,
it's an internal knowing. And I thought about that phrase,
(34:56):
and I went to that verse, and what really struck
me was actually the verse before it, verse seventeen. Look
at this. Paul prayed for us as believers, and he said,
I keep asking that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
the Glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation so that you may know him better. I
(35:21):
pray that God would give you a spirit of wisdom
and revelation so that you may know him better. I'm
so grateful that for the moments in my life where
I'm not sure which way is up and which ways down,
that God has given me a spirit of wisdom. The
Word of God says that if anybody lacks wisdom, we
should ask. God gives faithfully without finding fault. The spirit
(35:43):
of God, as believers, is our guide. It'll give us
insight into things that we couldn't know otherwise. I'm so
grateful for the spirit of God that helps me make
decisions in my life that even when I'm not sure
what His will is, that I can be guided by
His Holy Spirit. But the primary purpose of the Spirit
of God, the spirit of wisdom and revelation, is this
so that you would know Him better. When I saw
(36:06):
that word know, I thought, well, which no, is it?
Is it the type of knowing that comes from learning,
or is it the type of knowing that comes through
experience and relationship? And I look it up and it
blew me away. There's a third type of knowing. This
word means spirit revealed in sight. There's what I learn,
(36:29):
there's what I experience. But there is a knowing that
comes through the Spirit of God that illuminates things to
me that no one else could show me. It's a
different type of knowing. It's a deeper knowing. It's a
knowing that I can build my life on. It's a
confidence in knowing who He is. This is like when
Jesus asked Peter the question who do people say that
(36:50):
I am? Well, some people say that you're a prophet,
some say you're Elijah. Some people say just like the
fair some people say you're just a man. Some people
say you're a prophet. But Jesus says, who do you say?
Say that I am? Peter makes this confession. He said,
you are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the
Living God. And look what Jesus says to him. He says, Simon, Peter,
(37:12):
blessed are you for this was not revealed to you
by flesh and blood. Why because when it comes to
the knowledge of Christ's, flesh and blood can't reveal it
to you. That's why before I get up here to preach,
or even when I come sit in church on a
Sunday morning, I pray that God would give me a
spirit of wisdom and revelation. Show that. As my pastor
is preaching the Word of God and I'm learning about
(37:34):
the scriptures, I need the Spirit of God to show
me things that only He can reveal to me. He said,
flesh and blood did not reveal these things to you,
But my Father in Heaven. There's a type of knowing
that comes from the spirit of God, and you, my son,
you daughter of God, have access to that spirit as
a follower of Jesus. That for the moments in your
(37:55):
life where you're like, I don't know what to do next,
you can stand confident saying, even if I don't know
what to do, and even if I don't always know
what I believe, I'm so grateful that the Spirit of
God has revealed to me who he is. That's enough
to build my life on. I was so encouraged by
(38:17):
this man's this blind man's story, because I resonated with
it of just saying I don't know, I don't know,
I don't know, and learning once again to find my
faith and confidence and security not in what I know,
but to build my life on who he is. And
so as I was reading his story, I felt like
I could relate to him, and I was frustrated because
(38:40):
I was like, God, there's just so many things I
don't know about right now. And it was like the
Spirit of God reminded me, he goes, you think you're
that blind man, and he goes, and he reminded me
of a time where I was less like the blind man,
I don't know, I don't know, and I was more
like the Pharisees. I know this, I know that into
my life where I felt like I had all the answers.
(39:03):
So I felt like I was good in my faith,
but I wasn't dependent on God. I was dependent on
what I knew. And it took me back to a
season of my life where I grew up in church
all my life in a really great church with really
great parents who taught me the word of God. I'm
so grateful for that. And as a result of that, though,
as I was getting ready to go to college, I
was going to Bible School. I knew I wanted to
(39:24):
be a pastor. I went into Bible school eighteen years
old thinking I had all the answers debate me, thinking
I was so I know, it sounds cringey just even
hearing me say it right now. And I'm going to
Bible school to, you know, to learn more, just to
top off I already knew so much, just to learn
a little, just a little bit more. And I'm in
(39:47):
the dorm room at Liberty University a couple weeks in.
I'm going to all these classes New Testament, all that
New Testament Survey, Old Testament, all that stuff, learning about
the Bible. And I remember this moment with God where
he spoke to me and he said, do you want
to know more about me? Or do you really want
to know me? And it convicted me because I realized
(40:10):
that I had more knowledge about God than I had
knowledge of God. And it began this process early on
in my freshman year of just beginning to pray to
God sincerely. I had this prayer. I said, Lord, help
me unlearn everything I think I know and help me
truly experience who you are. An honest prayer, a dangerous prayer,
(40:34):
a simple prayer. Lord, help me unlearn everything I think
I know and help me truly experience You for who
you are. And from that point forward, every night when
I would open up the scriptures, it wasn't to learn
more information. It was because I wanted to see the
scriptures as an invitation into knowing Him. That was my
(40:54):
prayer every night. And God answered that prayer in a
season where I was like a pharisee, going, ah, I
have all the answers. So blinded by my arrogance, God
began to humble me. And one of the gifts he
brought me is the worship team here. I asked, Amari,
he's one of our worship leaders over at our Blakeney campus.
I asked if I could borrow him over here at
(41:15):
Valentine today because me and Mari have been friends almost
twenty years. You're getting old. You're getting old, and Amari.
Right around that time, I just remember this guy wandering
up from the dorm floor below me and coming to
sit in the dorm. And every time this guy would
talk about the things of God, I realized, Oh, my goodness,
(41:36):
he sees something I don't see. He knows something I
don't know what. You might not be able to tell.
Watching Amar lead worship, I know you can tell he's
anointed and gifted, but Amari is legally blind. And I
meet this guy at this pivotal moment in my life
where I'm praying God, I just want to know you
for who you are. Take the blinders off. I want
to see you. God sends this man into my life
(41:58):
who starts inviting me just to pray on Tuesday nights
with some other people who are hungry for the face
of God. And as I was just reading about the
story of Mark, why I wanted you hear even it
was just cool for me and nobody else was because
you were such an answer to prayer in my life
at that season. And I'm reading this story about the
Pharisees and a man born blind and It just stuck
(42:20):
out to me that God used a blind guy to
open up my eyes. And the way Jesus ends us
encounter with this man is he says, this weird mission statement,
this weird thing. He said. I came so that the
(42:40):
blind would see, and that those who see would become blind.
So many moments in my life where I feel like God,
I just don't know. It makes me feel insecure. I
feel like I should, But I'm reminded that maybe not
knowing is a good thing. Maybe in the moments where
I'm able to admit God, I'm blind right now, God,
(43:01):
I can't see, Maybe those are the moments where the
Spirit of God comes in like a light to illuminate
my heart and to show me not answers, not what
to do next, not just direction, but to reveal to
me who he is. You are the Christ, You are
the Lord, son of God, Son of Man. I can't
build my confidence in what I know. I want to
(43:23):
build my life on who I know. Thank you for
joining us.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
You can share it with your friends. You can click
the share button, take a screenshot and share it on
(43:49):
your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks
again for listening. God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. You know, I'd heard about mom guilt,
but no one ever told me about dad inadequacy and
that feeling sometimes we have his dad's feeling like not
only are we not doing enough sometimes, but I know
some of us feel this condemnation from the enemy sometimes
telling us that we're not enough. And I just felt
(00:35):
led to just prophesy over the dads today and ultimately
just remind you that before you were a father, you
were a son. And there's something so powerful about in
those places where we feel like we're not enough, reminding
ourselves that I was a son first. Chris was just
sharing in the back about the prodigal son, about the
younger son who came home. But I love what the
(00:56):
father spoke over the older son. He said, my son,
everything that I have, it was already yours. And when
you can wake up every day and remind yourself that
I'm a son. First, it's an opportunity to recognize that
everything your father has is available to you. So I
just speak life over you today and the blessings of
your father and Heaven over you today. In the name
(01:17):
of Jesus, we honor you, your honor and your well.
If we haven't yet met yet, my name is Jonathan.
I have the privilege of serving as the campus pastor
here at our Balentine location and welcome everyone's joe Us
and certainly always an honor to be able to share
God's word. I feel so grateful today. It's also always
(01:40):
an honor to stand behind the pulpit of my favorite
preacher on the planet. And it's kind of like if
Michael Jordan invited you to play on his personal court.
You know, you're not on that level, but it's still
pretty it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. And while I
consider it's such an honor to stand behind this pulpit
to day, what's an even greater honor for me is that,
(02:02):
for the last twelve years, the greater honor is that
I've been able to be a part of this church.
And standing behind a pulpit is cool, but sitting in
that seat week to week is so special. I'm so
grateful to be a part of this house under the
leadership of such amazing pastors. Can we thank God for
Pastor Stephen and Pastor Hawley and and the other thing
(02:25):
that's kind of cool about sitting next there is I
get to sit next to my wife of we just
celebrated fifteen years on Friday, fifteen years of marriage. The
Anna knows this right there. Well. I want to share
from a passage of scripture in John chapter nine. It's
this story about Jesus healing a man who was born blind,
(02:45):
and ultimately the man starts getting interrogated by the Pharisees.
And here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna give you
just one verse right now. We'll let you take your seats.
I know the dads just wanted to sit down for
Father's Day. That's it. Give me a break, So one
verse and I'll give you my title. But then I'll
ask that you'd be patient with me because I want
(03:05):
to work through the majority of this chapter John chapter nine,
and work through this story together. Is that good? John
Chapter nine, Verse twenty five. The Pharisees, they're asking this
man questions about who Jesus is. They're mad because Jesus
held him on the Sabbath. You know, they don't like that.
And so they asked this man a question about Jesus,
and look at his response verse twenty five. He replied,
(03:29):
whether he is a sinner or not? I don't know.
One thing I do know. I was blind, but now
I see whether he's a sinner or not. I don't know.
I'm I'm not a student of the law like you guys.
I'm just a I was a blind beggar just a
few days ago. I don't know. But one thing I
(03:51):
do know. I was blind, But now I see. My
title for today is all I know. All I know.
And as you're taking your seat, turn to your neighbors, say,
all I know is that I'm so blessed to be
sitting next to you today. God has really been speaking
(04:13):
to me through this passage. And since it is Father's Day,
let me show you a picture of my family real quick,
because I am a proud dad and my family right
here with my kids. And okay, so my oldest, Zion,
he's ten years old. And then we've got Elias, he
turns eight this week. He was actually born on Father's Day.
And yeah, he came early. I kept telling people, I
(04:35):
think Anna just pushed him out early because she didn't
want to get me a gift. Yeah, and see this
is the problem. And everybody laughs, they thought I was joking.
And then guess what day. Our daughter, Olivia was born
on Father's Day? All right, So if you've got an
extra twenty in your pocket, just bless the Woman of
God so she can get me a proper father this
day gift this year. That's our family. We're so we're
(04:57):
so blessed. And and I grew with three sisters and
we'd always ask my parents, you know, who's the favorite,
you know, and they would always say, we love you
all the same. And that's true, but it doesn't exactly
answer the question, right And as a parent, as a
parent myself, now it's true, I love them all the same.
But tell your neighbors say, there's definitely a favorite. There's
(05:18):
definitely a favorite, Zion, is there a favorite? There's a favorite?
But in this passage in John chapter nine, I love
what this man expressed in that one sentence. He's talking
about the tension of He's saying whether he's a sinner
or not he makes the confession, I don't know, but
one thing I do know, I don't know I know,
(05:39):
And the word no know shows up like eleven times
in this one passage of scripture. You're going to see
it pop up over and over again, and it starts
speaking to me because I find myself in a season
of life right now where I find myself saying more
than ever, maybe I don't know, I don't know. Situations
(06:01):
at work, I'm trying to figure out where it's like, well,
what do we do about I don't know. Just talking
to a friend the other day about health stuff. He's
like everything one thing I read says do this, the
other thing says do that. He's like, I don't even
know what to believe anymore. He's like, I just I
don't know. I don't know. When it comes to even
when me and Anda do like marriage counseling. Now it
used to be we'd go to talk about us, to
(06:22):
work on us. Now we're going to talk about the kids,
like how do we do this? It's getting harder and
harder as they get older. We're trying to figure this
thing out. And I know some of you are like,
you only got a ten year old just just you wait.
But even at the stage we're at right now, I
find myself saying, I don't know, I don't know. Maybe
find yourself in that place today where you're facing situations
(06:43):
and if you're honest, you're like I, I just don't know.
But where it really started to hit me was that,
even when it comes to my faith and my walk
with God, I find myself saying, yeah, I don't know,
I don't know. There's two members in the church who
have really been undermining my confidence as a pastor and
as a follower of Christ. And I don't want to
(07:05):
expose anybody. It's not it's not you, Tad, You're good.
But I'll just show you a picture real quick of
the two church members I'm talking about. Yeah, these two,
these two, because they're at the stage now. It's so
amazing watching our kids grow in their faith, isn't it.
It's so awesome to see them just take steps towards Christ.
And then at the same time, the thing that comes
(07:26):
with it is they're asking me so many questions, and
they're good questions too, and they'll ask me at the
most unexpected times, like I don't get to I don't
get to do any research. You know, my youngest he
asked me. He some of the questions are fun, like
why did God make bad guys? And then you get
to explain to them, well, actually we're all bad guys,
and apart from Christ, none of us are righteous. And
(07:46):
you're walking them through that, and then ask me, why
did God make mosquitoes? Now that's a it's a tough one.
I hate him so much. That's like the equivalent of
asking why does God let bad things happen to good people?
That's how I feel like every time I get a mosquito,
By Lord, why have you forsaken me? The other day,
we're driving home from school and my eight year old
(08:08):
he was getting ready to be baptized. He got baptized
in our church just a couple weeks ago, and we
were talking about the moment where Jesus was baptized. You
remember that story. Jesus is baptizing and a dove, the
Holy Spirit descends like a dove in the voice of
his father in Heaven speaks over him. This is my son,
whom I love, whom I'm well pleased. And my eight
(08:28):
year old son, he said, Dad, if Jesus is God,
how is God talking to Jesus. He's eight years old
and he's asking me about the Trinity. Have you ever
tried to explain the Trinity to an eight year old?
Forget it? Have you ever tried to explain the Trinity
to a full grown, functioning adult. These are things that
(08:53):
we believe, right, we believe in it. That this is
something that the church, like followers of Christ, have believed him.
But if you asked me the question, how do I know?
I gotta be honest. I don't know sometimes and I'm
trying to. If I had told you turn to your
neighbor right now and explain to Trinity, you would be
pulling up chat GPT so quick and going to some
lame stuff. Well, it's kind of like an egg. It's
three parts that's all in one, and it's like, let's
(09:14):
be honest for a second. We don't know. We don't know.
There's so many things that we believe, and if we're honest,
we feel like, if we're honest, we could say that
we don't know. And the problem is we feel like
we should. I know, I feel like I should. I'm
a pastor. I'm supposed to know these things. I went
to school for these things, and whether it's sitting down
with a couple trying to guide them in the ways
(09:35):
of God as they navigate a situation in life, or
even just the own my own questions that I'm wrestling with.
I find myself saying I don't know. I don't know,
but I'm realizing that if my confidence is built on
all I know, I will always be insecure. And God's
been teaching me through this passage that being in a
(09:56):
place of not knowing isn't always bad thing. In fact,
not knowing might just be a good place to be.
So let's start at the beginning of this story where
this man who is born blind has a miraculous encounter
with Jesus. And there's some things about knowing that I
want to show you through this passage today. Good if
we walk through the scriptures for just a moment. Ken
(10:20):
in verse one, it says, as he went along, he
saw a man blind from birth. Now right there, I
got grateful. I got grateful knowing that even when I
couldn't see Jesus, he saw me and his disciples. They
asked him a question. Rabbi means teacher, teacher. They want
to learn something. Who sinned this man or his parents
(10:41):
that he was born blind? Rabbi, who sinned this man
or his parents that he was born blind? I love
the fact that the disciples are willing to ask Jesus questions.
They're saying, Jesus, we have teach us, teach Us. There's
still at a place in their faith where they're willing
to ask questions. Some of us grew up in a
tradition of faith where we were taught not to ask questions.
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We thought faith was certainty in our answers. But faith
is not certainty in your answers. Faith is where you
go with your questions. So they asked Jesus. They're looking
at a man born in an unfortunate situation, and they're
asking him, how did this happen? What happened? Was it
something he did or his parents did. Now it's a
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crazy question to us, because remember the man, he was
born blind. So when he says, did this man sin
to be born that way, you're like, well, that doesn't
really compute. But it's kind of a bad question because
it was rooted in bad beliefs. Some of the bad
questions we have are rooted in bad beliefs and here's
what I mean. They the Disciples had such a transactional
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view of God that they believe that if anytime someone
was in a situation of sickness or suffering, that God
was so transactional that it must have been punishment for
something that they did. And so, rather than rather than
basing their theology on what the scripture said about God,
who is slow to anger, abounding in love, rich in mercy,
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sometimes we begin to create a view of God based
on our circumstances rather than the other way around. So
they actually developed a theology that was common in that
day that someone could commit sin while they were still
in the womb. So when they asked Jesus, why was
this man born blind? It's rooted in the belief that
something must have gone wrong for him to be born
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in this condition. But they're asking him a question, and
look what Jesus says in response. He says, neither this
man nor his parents sinned, but this happens so that
the works of God might be displayed in him. They're
looking at a situation and they're asking why why is
this happening? And it's one thing to look at situations
in our life and wonder Why, God, Why am I
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going through this divorce?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
God?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Why am I spiraling into this addiction again? God? Why
am I being buried alive by shame again? It's one
thing to look at situations in our life and ask
why is this happening? But Jesus redirects their question with
their answer, and he doesn't necessarily say what caused it,
but he answers why as and what is the purpose
of what they're going through? He said, forget about what
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caused this man to be born blind. I want to
show you what's going to happen as a result of
his condition. This happens so that the works of God
might be displayed in him. In other words, that if
I can reframe my belief system to recognize God that
all things are working together for my good. When I
find myself in a situation saying I don't know how
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I got here, I can change my question to say, God,
even though I don't know what got me into this situation,
I know that there's something you are doing in me
and through me, and through what I'm facing, You're going
to get glory. This happens so that the works of
God might be revealed in him. After saying this verse six, Jesus,
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he spit on the ground. He made some mud with
the saliva, and he put it on the man's eyes. Go,
he told them, wash in the pool of Siloam. This
word means scent. The scent one is sending him to
a pool called send. So the man went and washed
and came home seeing. Talk about blind faith for just
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a moment, the ability to move in obedience even when
you don't have all the answers. Remember, this man has
never seen Jesus. In fact, when Jesus said go wash
in the pool, he didn't tell Jesus, go and wash
and you'll be healed. He gave him no information. Can
you imagine sitting there hearing people talking about you in
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the background. Next thing you know, your eyes are getting
slapped with some mud, and you heard a spitting sound,
and now there's something goofy on your eyes, and you're
going wait a second, and then the man says, go
and wash, And it says that he went and he
came home seeing. Blind faith is the ability to move
in obedience on nothing but a word from Jesus. Some
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of us are stuck in the circumstances we find ourselves
in today because we need too many answers before we'll
move in obedience. Some of us stay trapped in the
place we are and we're praying God get me out
of this situation. And God saying, I gave you in
an instruction, but you needed to know a B. C.
D If then when And God is looking for people
who have blind faith, faith enough to trust in his
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voice and not all the answers. So this man goes
to the pool, he washes, and he came home seeing
Can you imagine he's walking back to his village, seeing
mountains for the first time, seeing the blue sky for
the first time, seeing his parents for the first time.
And it says this His neighbors and those who had
formerly seen him begging ask him, is this the same
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man who used to sit and beg Some claimed he was,
others said no, he only looks like him. They don't know,
But he himself insisted, I am the man. How then
were your eyes open? They asked. The man they called
Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes.
He told me to go to saloam and wash. So
I went and washed, and then I could see. So
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they bring him to the Pharisees Verse thirteen. The man
who had they bring the man who had been blind
to the Pharisees. Now, the day on which Jesus had
made the mud and opened up the man's eyes was
a sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he
had received a sight. He's given the same testimony over
and over again. He put mud on my eyes, the
man replied, and I washed, and now I see. And
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the Pharisees start going back and forth. This man Jesus,
he can't be from God. He doesn't keep the sabbath,
but others are like. But how is he performing these signs?
So they're divided. They don't know. And then they turned
away again to the blind man. What do you have
to say about him? It was your eyes he opened,
and the man replied, this man is a prophet. They
still did not believe that he had been blind and
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had received his sight, until they sent for the man's parents.
Is this your son? They've got questions? Is this the
one you say was born blind? How is it that
he can now see? Look at this. We know he
is our son. The parent's answer, And we know he
was born blind, But how he can see now or
who opened his eyes? We don't know touch your neighbors said,
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we don't know. Ask him. He's of age, he will
speak for himself. His parents said this because they were
afraid of the Jewish leaders who had already decided, who
had already decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was
the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. They
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had already made up their mind. You ever been in
a situation where someone's asking you for advice and you
quickly get the sense they had already decided, you know,
should I break up with her? Should I keep seeing?
You're like, I've been telling you, this relationship's toxic. And
sometimes people are asking you questions because they just want
confirmation or proof in what they already believe. Right, there's
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times in our marriage where we're arguing back and forth
about something. Instead of actually listening to understand my wife's
side of the story, I'm just listening for my next
argument to prove I was right. It's what the Pharisees
are doing in this story. They're asking questions, But if
we're honest, they're not actually curious, they're not actually trying
to understand they've already made up their mind about Jesus
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that he isn't who he says he is, and they're
looking for reasons to trap him. So even though they're
asking questions, it's not the same type of questions that
the disciples are asking. The disciples are asking because they're
seeking understanding. The Pharisees are asking because they have a
questioning spirit. They're just trying to prove what they've already
decided they believe verse twenty four. A second time, they
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summon the man who had been blind give glory to
God by telling the truth. They said, we know this
man is a sinner. Here's our key verse and he replied,
whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know
one thing. I do know. I was blind, but now
I see turn to your neighbors, say I don't know much,
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but I know what he's done for me. This word
no that keeps showing up k n O W the
Bible uses translates different Greek words into this word no.
In this scripture, when the word no shows up, it's
referring to a to a head knowledge. It's it's the
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type of knowing that you can that you can learn
right it's information. That's what the Pharisees possessed, maybe more
than anyone. Remember, their influence in that society at that
time didn't become wasn't because of a political affiliation, but
because of their authorities in the scriptures. They would memorize
the scripture, study the scriptures, study the Law of Moses.
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Their authority was based on what they on, what they knew.
But it was a knowledge that came simply through learning. Now,
of course learning is good. I want my pilots to learn,
I want my doctors to learn. Learning is good. But
but their level of knowledge was solely connected to what
they had learned. When the man says, I don't know
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whether he's a sinner or not. Can you imagine you're
a beggar going toe to toe with the theological experts
of your day and they're trying to get him to debate,
what do you say about Jesus? What do you think
about the Messiah? And he's like, yo, this isn't my
area of expertise, this is this is your category. So
he has the humility to say, hey, I don't know.
I don't know. I didn't learn all that. I didn't
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go to school like you did. I don't know. I
don't know, but one thing I do know. One thing
I do know, he referred. He begins to reference what
he personally experienced. I was blind, but now I see.
Other times in scripture, there's another word for knowing, like
in Philippians three ten, where Paul says, my one purpose,
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my one aim is that I would know Christ, or
when Jesus prayed for us as believers, that we would
know the Father. It's not the type of knowing that
comes from learning. It's a It's a word that speaks
to relationship. It's the way a father knows a son,
the way a husband knows a wife. It's the type
of knowing that comes through personal experience. Like if you
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ask me to tell you about Anna, I wouldn't just
tell you she's five foot four born January sixth I
wouldn't just like read you information off her driver's license,
right because I know her. I know we've been married
for fifteen years. I have a relationship with her. So
if you ask me to tell you about Anna, i'd
tell you while she's remarkably patient, how do I know?
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Because we're trying to teach our boys how to clean
up after themselves, and I still leave socks on the
living room floor like a nine year old myself, and
she still lets me cuddle with her. She's patient, she's patient.
I would tell you how she's an amazing listener. It's
unbelievable to watch. Sometimes Anna will sit down with someone
and ask just a couple questions and then they can
talk for an hour, and then she'll just wait to
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chime in at the end with a little bit of advice.
She's really why she's an amazing listener. I would talk
about her in a different way because I have a
personal relationship with her. And so when this man is
being questioned by the Pharisees, they're trying to figure out
tell us something, tell us something we need to know
so we can prove that Jesus isn't who he says
he is. And the man's like, I don't know what
to tell you about that. All I know is I
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was blind. But now I see. This is the power
of your personal experience with God in your life. For
the times where you don't know, for the times where
you have doubts, for the times where you have questions
that you can't seem to figure out, there's something so
powerful about being able to stand confident in what you
do know. I was blind, but now I see it's
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what I personally experience. I was sharing with our youth
just a couple of weeks ago about how I know
it's hard being in high school because people are asking
you all the time about your faith and they don't
understand it. Why do you believe those things about Jesus?
Are you really trying to Are you really trying to
stay pure intil marriage? You really go and serve on
your free time? You go serve at the church. Why
do you do all those things? And there's a temptation
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for us when people are challenging us in our faith
to go to what we know. You know, well, I
believe this about the Bible, and listen, I get that too.
I went to school for this stuff. I love this stuff.
The other day someone was asking me, he said, I
don't know how you believe this Christianity stuff. I said, okay, why?
He said, it seems so illogical to believe in the Bible. Wow,
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And everything within me wanted to start like going apologist mode.
You know, I love watching this guy lately on YouTube,
Wesley Huff, this historian and theologian, and he gives an
amazing defense for the faith, And every time I watch him,
I'm like, oh, I wish I knew all that stuff,
but I can't. I can't remember how old I am
half the time, let alone when the Bible was put together.
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This guy was saying, I don't know how you believe it.
It's so illogical. And while I wanted to start defending
my faith, something into me said stop and just said,
just speak about your personal experience with God. Why do
you follow Jesus? I just started saying, like all the
moments in my life where I felt his hand, his
hand on me, his hand guiding me through. Because you
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can talk someone into believing, you can give them information
that might change their mind, but only personal encounter can
change somebody's part. And there's a level of knowing that
comes from being in real relationship with Jesus, where he's
active in working in your life. That builds a confidence
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that no matter what storms come your way, even if
it's the one thing you do know you can stand
on it, not just for when people are challenging you
about your faith, but for the questions you have about
your faith, for the situations you're facing where you just
don't know to be able to go back and say,
I was blind, but now I see. This man's testimony
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has become an anthem for believers. Amazing grace, how sweet
the sound save the wrench? Like me, I once was lost,
Now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see.
In preaching, Pastor Stevens taught us he said, in when
you're preaching, you need an osp A one sentence premise. Ans,
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how can can you can you say your sermon in
just one sentence what your message is about? But I'm
realizing in life I need an ost a one sentence testimony,
A one sentence testimony, not an elaborate story, but in
one sentence, the ability to say, just like this man,
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I was blind, but now I see. We were with
our leaders just a couple of weeks ago, and we
were talking about this, and and I said, if you
had to boil your story down into into into one sentence,
it's I said, I bet you could do it like that.
You know, like if I said to explain the Trinity
to your neighbor, you'd have to you'd struggle for a minute.
But if I said, tell your neighbor, right, now what
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God has done for you, you'd be able to do
it in a moment because it's not real to you.
Someone stood up in the room and they said, my
marriage was at its bottom and God made it better.
Someone said I was in bondage and an addiction and
He set me free. And they weren't giving details, they
weren't going into the whole, just one sentence, and you
could feel faith rising in the room because it wasn't
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just things that people knew in their head. It was
things that were real to them because it's what they
had personally experienced by the power of Christ. You need
a one sentence testimony in your life. I was looking
at different scriptures that speak about what Jesus has done
for us, and I put them in chat gpt to say,
take the verse, make it one sentence. I want to
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show you some of these because when we go to
the word of God to learn, which is so important.
We go to the Word of God. Learning is good,
but remember it's always an invitation. It's always an invitation
to experience a reality in Christ. So when I read
the scripture, it's not just for information, but for transformation.
And here's what the scriptures say about you. Now. If
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you don't have a one sentence testimony, you might be
able to find one on the screen right now and listen.
Everything I'm about to read to you. If you are
a believer in Christ, is true of you, but it
may not be true to you yet. When I get
to the one that's true to you, the thing that
you know from the depths of your being, you can shout,
you can praise, you can jump if you want to
look at all these scriptures. The scripture says the Colossians
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two thirteen fourteen. I was guilty, but now I'm forgiven
through Jesus. I was abandoned, now I'm adopted. I was
spiritually dead, now I'm alive. I was anxious, but now
I have peace. I was bound, but now I'm free.
I was cursed, but now I'm redeemed. I was condemned,
now I'm justified. I was in darkness, but now I
walk in light. I was unlovable, but now I'm loved.
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I was broken, but now I'm healed. I was rejected,
but now I am chosen. I was lost, but now
I'm found. I was weak, now I'm strong. I was
um righteous, and now I'm made right. I was empty,
but now I'm filled with the spirit of God. I
was looking for a church to bat me up and
make some noise right here. I was a slave to sin,
but now I'm free. I was in shame, but now
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I'm prowned with mercy. I was defeated, but now I'm victorious.
This is what He's done for me. It's what He's
done for me. And so even as a parent, as
my kids are asking me these questions about faith, if
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I have answers, I want to give it to them.
I want to teach them what to believe, teach them
what we know. But I got to get better about
not just telling them about what I know up here,
but sharing with them the testimonies of what God has
done in my life, in my family's life, what I've
seen him do in this church and in this ministry.
It's the confidence of knowing what I know, just to
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be able to say I know that I know. It's
not just what I learned somewhere in a textbook or
in a seminary course. It's what I personally experienced from
the hand of God in my life. I was lost,
but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I
see again. Tell your neighbors say I don't know much,
but I know what he's done for me. Come on,
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do you know what he's done for you? If you
know what he's done for you, take a moment just
to praise his name, for his faithfulness, his hand, his mercy.
This man the honesty to say I don't know, and
yet the confidence to say, but what I do know?
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I was blind, but now I see. They keep asking
him the same question, over and over again. What did
he do to you? How do you open your eyes?
The man who at first is so intimidated being pulled
in front of the Pharisees and questioned is you can
see him growing a little bit sass Here he says,
I've told you already and you didn't listen. You want
to hear it again? Do you want to become his
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disciples too? He's like straight mocking them now. Then they
hurled insults at him and said, you are this fellow's disciple.
We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke
to Moses. But as for this fellow, we don't even
know where he comes from. This is the only time
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the Pharisees say we don't know every other. We know this,
we know that, so blinded by their certainty. And the
one time they say we don't know is when they say,
and we don't even know where this man comes from.
The man says, now, that's remarkable. You don't even know
where he comes from. Yet he opened my eyes. He's
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realizing something about the Pharisees in this moment. He's saying, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait wait wait. You give your life to studying these scriptures,
and yet you don't see who the scriptures were talking
about the whole time. Do you mean to tell me
that you know all this but you don't know the
one thing that matters most where this man came from.
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We know now look at him, prophesied. We know that
God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the
godly person who does as will. Nobody has ever heard
of the opening of the eyes of a man born blind.
It's the only time someone who is born blind receives
their sight born blind. If this man were not from God,
he could do nothing to this. They replied, you were
steeped in sin at birth, how dare you lecture us?
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And they threw him out. Here's where the story gets
cool to me. Remember, Jesus heals them by sending him
to a pool. So Jesus spoke to him, but he's
never seen Jesus. Then he's questioned by his neighbors, questioned
by the Pharisees. Now, after he's kicked out of the temple,
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Jesus shows up again. Jesus must have been close the
whole time, because it says that Jesus heard that they
had thrown him out, and when he found him. First
is Jesus who sees him. And now it's Jesus who
finds him. And Jesus finds them, and he asks them
not what he knows, but he asked them a question
about what he believes. He says, do you believe in
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the Son of Man? He's asking him the same question
the Pharisees were asking him. Do you believe in the Messiah?
Do you believe in the Christ, the Son of Man,
son of God? The man has a question? Who is he? Sir?
Tell me so that I may believe in him. Jesus said,
you have now seen him. In fact, he is the
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one speaking with you. What caught my attention is those
first few words of Jesus when he meets the man
for the second time. Remember when he sees him on
the road, this beggar born blind, Jesus speaks to him,
go wash in the pool. He puts mud on his eyes,
and the man went home seeing he was physically healed.
Now Jesus finds him again and he says this phrase.
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He says to him, you have now seen. This is
the second seeing, the second seeing, because look at the
man's response verse thirty eight. After Jesus says you have
now seen, then the man said, Lord, I believe, and
he worshiped him. The first time this man is asked
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about Jesus, he calls them a man named Jesus. The
second time he's asked about Jesus, he calls them a prophet.
Now he meets Jesus, and Jesus says, you have now seen.
And something shifted because he doesn't call him a man,
he doesn't call him a prophet. He calls him lord,
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and he worshiped. The second seeing led him to a
revelation of who Jesus is. There are people who know
more about the Bible, know more about theology than I
could ever dream. And yet if you ask them about Jesus,
they would say he was just a man. He was
a man. He lived, but he's just a man. There
are people who come to church, there are people who say, man,
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I love what Jesus says. It gives me inspiration, it
gives me hope. He was a great teacher. If you
ask them about Jesus, they would say, he's a prophet.
He's a prophet. What he says is true. But what
we read in this scripture and what the scriptures tell
us about him is he's not just a man, and
he's not just a He's Lord. He's the Son of God.
He's the Christ, he's the Messiah. And when this man,
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when this man meets Jesus, Jesus says, do you believe
in the son of man? Tell me who he is?
Jesus says, you have now seen, and the eyes of
his heart are opened, his spiritual eyes are open, and
in a moment he recognizes, Oh, oh, what I didn't
know when they were asking me qu what I didn't know?
Then I know now he's Lord, and he worshiped him,
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and he worshiped him. When I read that phrase, or
when I read that verse, it reminded me of a
phrase that comes from what the apostle Paul says in
Ephesians Paul he prayed one time in Ephesians one eighteen.
He said, I prayed that the eyes of your heart
may be enlightened. This phrase, the eyes of your heart,
it's an internal knowing. And I thought about that phrase,
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and I went to that verse, and what really struck
me was actually the verse before it, verse seventeen. Look
at this. Paul prayed for us as believers, and he said,
I keep asking that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
the Glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation so that you may know him better. I
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pray that God would give you a spirit of wisdom
and revelation so that you may know him better. I'm
so grateful that for the moments in my life where
I'm not sure which way is up and which ways down,
that God has given me a spirit of wisdom. The
Word of God says that if anybody lacks wisdom, we
should ask. God gives faithfully without finding fault. The spirit
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of God, as believers, is our guide. It'll give us
insight into things that we couldn't know otherwise. I'm so
grateful for the spirit of God that helps me make
decisions in my life that even when I'm not sure
what His will is, that I can be guided by
His Holy Spirit. But the primary purpose of the Spirit
of God, the spirit of wisdom and revelation, is this
so that you would know Him better. When I saw
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that word know, I thought, well, which no, is it?
Is it the type of knowing that comes from learning,
or is it the type of knowing that comes through
experience and relationship? And I look it up and it
blew me away. There's a third type of knowing. This
word means spirit revealed in sight. There's what I learn,
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there's what I experience. But there is a knowing that
comes through the Spirit of God that illuminates things to
me that no one else could show me. It's a
different type of knowing. It's a deeper knowing. It's a
knowing that I can build my life on. It's a
confidence in knowing who He is. This is like when
Jesus asked Peter the question who do people say that
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I am? Well, some people say that you're a prophet,
some say you're Elijah. Some people say just like the
fair some people say you're just a man. Some people
say you're a prophet. But Jesus says, who do you say?
Say that I am? Peter makes this confession. He said,
you are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the
Living God. And look what Jesus says to him. He says, Simon, Peter,
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blessed are you for this was not revealed to you
by flesh and blood. Why because when it comes to
the knowledge of Christ's, flesh and blood can't reveal it
to you. That's why before I get up here to preach,
or even when I come sit in church on a
Sunday morning, I pray that God would give me a
spirit of wisdom and revelation. Show that. As my pastor
is preaching the Word of God and I'm learning about
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the scriptures, I need the Spirit of God to show
me things that only He can reveal to me. He said,
flesh and blood did not reveal these things to you,
But my Father in Heaven. There's a type of knowing
that comes from the spirit of God, and you, my son,
you daughter of God, have access to that spirit as
a follower of Jesus. That for the moments in your
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life where you're like, I don't know what to do next,
you can stand confident saying, even if I don't know
what to do, and even if I don't always know
what I believe, I'm so grateful that the Spirit of
God has revealed to me who he is. That's enough
to build my life on. I was so encouraged by
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this man's this blind man's story, because I resonated with
it of just saying I don't know, I don't know,
I don't know, and learning once again to find my
faith and confidence and security not in what I know,
but to build my life on who he is. And
so as I was reading his story, I felt like
I could relate to him, and I was frustrated because
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I was like, God, there's just so many things I
don't know about right now. And it was like the
Spirit of God reminded me, he goes, you think you're
that blind man, and he goes, and he reminded me
of a time where I was less like the blind man,
I don't know, I don't know, and I was more
like the Pharisees. I know this, I know that into
my life where I felt like I had all the answers.
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So I felt like I was good in my faith,
but I wasn't dependent on God. I was dependent on
what I knew. And it took me back to a
season of my life where I grew up in church
all my life in a really great church with really
great parents who taught me the word of God. I'm
so grateful for that. And as a result of that, though,
as I was getting ready to go to college, I
was going to Bible School. I knew I wanted to
(39:24):
be a pastor. I went into Bible school eighteen years
old thinking I had all the answers debate me, thinking
I was so I know, it sounds cringey just even
hearing me say it right now. And I'm going to
Bible school to, you know, to learn more, just to
top off I already knew so much, just to learn
a little, just a little bit more. And I'm in
(39:47):
the dorm room at Liberty University a couple weeks in.
I'm going to all these classes New Testament, all that
New Testament Survey, Old Testament, all that stuff, learning about
the Bible. And I remember this moment with God where
he spoke to me and he said, do you want
to know more about me? Or do you really want
to know me? And it convicted me because I realized
(40:10):
that I had more knowledge about God than I had
knowledge of God. And it began this process early on
in my freshman year of just beginning to pray to
God sincerely. I had this prayer. I said, Lord, help
me unlearn everything I think I know and help me
truly experience who you are. An honest prayer, a dangerous prayer,
(40:34):
a simple prayer. Lord, help me unlearn everything I think
I know and help me truly experience You for who
you are. And from that point forward, every night when
I would open up the scriptures, it wasn't to learn
more information. It was because I wanted to see the
scriptures as an invitation into knowing Him. That was my
(40:54):
prayer every night. And God answered that prayer in a
season where I was like a pharisee, going, ah, I
have all the answers. So blinded by my arrogance, God
began to humble me. And one of the gifts he
brought me is the worship team here. I asked, Amari,
he's one of our worship leaders over at our Blakeney campus.
I asked if I could borrow him over here at
(41:15):
Valentine today because me and Mari have been friends almost
twenty years. You're getting old. You're getting old, and Amari.
Right around that time, I just remember this guy wandering
up from the dorm floor below me and coming to
sit in the dorm. And every time this guy would
talk about the things of God, I realized, Oh, my goodness,
(41:36):
he sees something I don't see. He knows something I
don't know what. You might not be able to tell.
Watching Amar lead worship, I know you can tell he's
anointed and gifted, but Amari is legally blind. And I
meet this guy at this pivotal moment in my life
where I'm praying God, I just want to know you
for who you are. Take the blinders off. I want
to see you. God sends this man into my life
(41:58):
who starts inviting me just to pray on Tuesday nights
with some other people who are hungry for the face
of God. And as I was just reading about the
story of Mark, why I wanted you hear even it
was just cool for me and nobody else was because
you were such an answer to prayer in my life
at that season. And I'm reading this story about the
Pharisees and a man born blind and It just stuck
(42:20):
out to me that God used a blind guy to
open up my eyes. And the way Jesus ends us
encounter with this man is he says, this weird mission statement,
this weird thing. He said. I came so that the
(42:40):
blind would see, and that those who see would become blind.
So many moments in my life where I feel like God,
I just don't know. It makes me feel insecure. I
feel like I should, But I'm reminded that maybe not
knowing is a good thing. Maybe in the moments where
I'm able to admit God, I'm blind right now, God,
(43:01):
I can't see, Maybe those are the moments where the
Spirit of God comes in like a light to illuminate
my heart and to show me not answers, not what
to do next, not just direction, but to reveal to
me who he is. You are the Christ, You are
the Lord, son of God, Son of Man. I can't
build my confidence in what I know. I want to
(43:23):
build my life on who I know. Thank you for
joining us.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
You can share it with your friends. You can click
the share button, take a screenshot and share it on
(43:49):
your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks
again for listening. God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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