Seeing Beyond: Faith, Purpose, and Divine Healing

"Jesus performed a miracle he's saying in which I came to see, and Jesus performed another miracle in which I came to believe and that second miracle of course is the purpose of John's gospel, at the end of the gospel John tells us clearly that these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name." [00:48:23]

"Now do you see that the immediate response of the disciples to this obvious situation of suffering is that they want an explanation, they want to talk about the cause, why is this, who sinned, was it this man, now of course, we would say it differently today, but is it not still the case that where there is great and obvious need, the debate that immediately erupts is whose fault is this, who's to blame." [00:59:45]

"Jesus moves the focus of the conversation from an argument about the cause to a focus on the purpose, he raises the conversation to an entirely different level and we brothers and sisters must learn to do the same, the culture will continue its never-ending argument about the cause of human suffering who's to blame is the fault with the individual or is it with the fault of others on and on the debate will rage about the cause and Jesus cuts right through it in the most wonderful way and he brings to this man living hope." [00:58:39]

"God does his greatest works in the hardest of situations, here's a man and he's been born with the great disadvantage of not being able to see, he's born blind, how can he possibly compete in a world where the vast majority of people have the gift of sight, what hope is there for such a man and here's the hope that God's work will be displayed in him." [00:56:32]

"Jesus says we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day, notice Jesus says to his disciples he says to us today now we must work, we must because there are certain works that the father has prepared for us to do and we must work these works a very distinctive phrase isn't it we must work these works it's what Jesus did throughout his ministry he gave himself to the work that the father gave him to do and he did it with vigor." [00:52:32]

"See Jesus came into this world on a mission and that mission was to bring the light of hope into a suffering world that is alienated from God and when we become his disciples it means that we sign up for his mission we follow him in bringing light to the world, following Jesus is not some kind of passport to an easy life we live in a suffering world, we live in a world of need, a world alienated from God a world in the grip of sin a world in the darkness of unbelief." [00:54:59]

"Think about your whole life as being rather like a day, and there are three parts to the day, there's the morning, there's the afternoon, and there's the evening, now none of us are promised to live a full day in this world, some have only the morning, others were cut short in the afternoon, they were looking forward to the evening but they did not live to see it." [00:55:52]

"Each part of the day presents a unique temptation, but let me turn this now to the positive and put it this way, each part of the day of your life presents a special opportunity, let me commend these three questions to you that I found helpful in thinking about the span of my own life and I commend it to you, in the morning, ask this question, how can I prepare." [00:56:53]

"Blessing is found when you are ready to believe him and to do what he says and that is of course precisely what the blind man in our story does, we'll see next time that this man's faith was not fully formed it actually developed throughout the story and we're going to follow that in the coming weeks but this man was ready to do what Jesus said one writer says I think very beautifully that this man obeyed Jesus blindly." [00:56:52]

"Father forgive us for spending our strength in arguments in a world of need and suffering, help us to work your works while it is day, help us to walk by faith even and especially when we cannot see what you are doing and make us those who bring light and hope in this suffering world as those who bear the name of Jesus and are known to be his disciples." [00:59:11]

"Jesus is the light of the world, he is the true light that gives light to everyone that's how he's introduced at the beginning of John's gospel, and when Jesus came into the world, John tells us that people were able to come into the light, people were able to walk in the light and notice that Jesus says here as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." [00:53:54]

"Now notice that Jesus does not say that the work of God will be displayed despite his blindness, no Jesus says that this man's painful affliction will be the very place where God's work will be wonderfully revealed and displayed in him, God does his greatest work in the hardest places and that is why we have hope, whatever affliction you may endure, God can use it to display his glory." [00:56:52]