Peace in a Pandemic, Here's Mud in Your Eye [Part 2]

I'm not much of a horse rider but it was unbelievable that one day on the fast ride where you just like this time I was out of my league, had my contact lenses in this a mistake horses are thrown up dust and mud and is just like my mother fall my heart.

You do not your eyes. If you see so Jesus is putting in his eyes.

It almost seems like exacerbate man's blindness Alan Wright welcome to sharing below were also to hear Allen's message from an old church in central North Carolina in a series we've titled piece in a pandemic, the power of seeing the crisis through the eyes of Jesus. Obviously situation that this whole is going through churches had to pivot in general and especially with the way we worship together in most cases quite virtually swear bringing you this very timely series reached just weeks ago by Pastor Alan to his home congregation.

We trust it will be a blessing and encouragement to you to give you strength to endure. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program. I will make sure you know how to get our special resource available to you right now. Again, very timely for our current situation.

It's a CD audio album: growing deep in times of stress and these are stressful times it can be yours for your donation this month to sharing the light as you listen to today's message on the pandemic go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us@sharingthe.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching piece in the pandemic here is Pastor Alan Wright next shot.

She writes, struck by Lois Burns, with whom I was playing was a shank three wood that flew sideways and hit me directly in the back of the head.

She said I can still remember how the sound exploded in my ear. She said I'm not a crier but I was so stunned, so frozen white male I could do was stand there and we just at Highland Park Hospital happens to be down the street from the course of the girls pick me up and deliver me to the emergency room. The golf cart season splitting pain to go to the hospital and like I just wanted to come out here and just take a break from all the wedding plans and now been smacked in the head with a golf ball. Maybe it's cracked my skull and I take her in for an act. I CAT scan and an MRI and they confirmed that her skull was fine. Melissa what she writes. The doctor asked me all these questions. Had I been experiencing headaches bouts of dizziness. I said no. They phoned my son Kevin who then came the hospital my husband is all well business trip for you to come to. I was a walking miracle.

The doctor said an apple size tumor was taking up nearly the entire right side of my brain is been growing there. Perhaps 15 years and more tests revealed that my brainstem was off-center. My brain is starting to swell from the pressure of being forced to one side of my head and they said a stroke work was imminent and the doctors were amazed that I hadn't had stroke.

The surgery was successful and six weeks later, she walked down the aisle at her son's wedding and she said that Christmas I received a gift from my guardian angel Lois Burns the limited shank, three wood, and she presented me a trophy of Waterford Bud vase crown the infamous golf ball signed that saved her life as love this story because it's a way of God that the moments of searing pain can actually be used by God for his glory and for our good.

I wonder what good is going to come of what is one of the hardest times the world has ever faced in modern time come some of you even right now you realize that there are blessings and being quarantined their blessings and staying at home.

Some of you are finding time together with family. Some of your finding time in the word or time of prayer. Some of your drawing near to God and away the hadn't drawn near to him before there's a spiritual thirst is being created in our land. There are there are people that I was lives are being changed in the midst of this and and I and I believe that there is a possibility of a global awakening spiritually because you know what we're facing in this virus is something that's invisible but infects and then spreads and we seem to have no control over it and what makes us think about is wonder if there's something else that is invisible that can get inside of us has a greater power than we can understand. Wonder if there is a God wonder if there's a spirit of God that can move across people are thinking about this.

Why don't we pray for a global awakening spiritually.

God can bring good out of the darkest times and what is interesting is that he uses mind in this whole story is very odd very odd and and what one thing that is interesting about this is the fact that he made the clay was a violation of Sabbath as we read in John nine verse 14.

Now was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes to the Pharisees again asked him how he received his sight. He said he put mud on my eyes and I washed, and I see now. So the Pharisees said this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath so here's a man who been born blind and now is healed and the Pharisees care more about that somebody violate the Sabbath by making mud needing go on the Sabbath. That motion needing go is considered a violation of the Sabbath and so the making of mud was considered needing action and so it was a revelation of the Sabbath and their minds. This is this a weird scene that she's just healed somebody in the Pharisees are caring more about my new infraction of working on the Sabbath you. This means loving this means that Jesus was willing to stand up against the entire religious aristocracy to his own harm in order to advocate for a blind beggar. It means that God cares about every detail of your life and he will stand up, gets all the religious spirits of the world to defend. I love Lauren Daigle's song rescue because of a lyric there in which she sings I will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night.

I love the house will send an army. Allen right you are listening to sharing the line will have more teaching in a moment from today's importance you're stressed out his option on the stresses of life always very stressful season spiritual life can hospital be stressed stressful times. Trust in the ground during stressful times no matter place to turn to Psalms some for during stressful times for every season. Seasons come and go strong and stressful times when you give today. We will send you today's special offer and were happy to send this to you with our thanks for sharing the ministries call us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 or come to our website sharing the.org sharing the line teaching now continue you once again is Allen right mud was messy.

I got to get gross here, but y'all a lot to make mud then that's going take a good bit of spittle is only about too much, but it made it easy this have a little polite will is like you making mud out of this. I maybe part of it is that is is never did care about getting dirty if it meant helping interesting the way that God created Adam and the beginning on the dust made me wonder that the creator scoop down to get the dust and spit on it and turn it into clay and then bold Adam.

I am of the hottest. The oddest thing about the whole story is if you want someone to see better in the last thing you want to do.

Put mud in their eyes so gray. I call this sermon. Here's mud in your eye because it's a it's a long-standing toast of a well wishing all here's mud your eye. Nobody knows where it came from. It probably came from this story but as I hope it goes well with you. Why would ever go well with some. I think mine and I was trying to remember back when did I ever get dirt up in my eyes. And if somebody came back to me. My wife had one. Two trips on a game show different story and three months after we were married we took one of his trips was to grants in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and we rode horses in the grand Teton's. I'm not much of a horse rider but it was unbelievable and I doubt one day on the fast ride where you just like this, I was out of my league, but I had my contact lenses in this a mistake. Horses at the dust and mud and is all it is like that is terrified by the fall my heart. You do not want your eyes if you want to be able to see and so Jesus is putting mud in his eyes. It almost seems like he would exacerbate the man's blindness. Maybe it's because what we need when we are spiritually blind is not the thing most people think they need that when you're spiritually blind and you need Jesus.

What you may need most is something that makes you aware of just how blind you are. In other words, maybe there's someone listening right now you're watching your thinking about whether you really believe in God is something stirring inside your heart. What Jesus I think is implying here is that sometimes it feels like it gets worse before it gets better. Something inside of you starts going. I really can't see what my life is all about. I can't see what the world so in a sense, it's like the presence of Jesus made people who were going to gain spiritual vision. At first feel the awkwardness or even the pain of realizing how little they actually could see. In other words, the only qualification needed for coming to Jesus Christ is to realize that without him you're blind and you cannot see that without him. You could never save yourself there without him.

You're lost we don't bring any of our own merit any of our own righteousness, or any of our good works instead to be a Christian is to trust in Christ and his merits and his good work.

Strange, but maybe what we need the most. Maybe one of the greatest things coming out of this horrible pandemic is. We recognize we need God we thirst for God. It is in the end the story about thirsting for God when you can't see and all you got mud in your eyes and Jesus said, go wash this man just wants to wash and it's interesting he sends him to the pool of shalom to wash the pool.

Shalom is a very interesting piece of biblical archaeology. There is a spring out it was outside of the old city of Jerusalem called the city of David. It was a get home.

Spring you can still see the spring today you archaeology is entering the springs don't change so you can go to springs near that's exactly where they were getting their water 2000 years ago. The spring itself. You could see and it gets connected actually to a title that you going on so the title is here that in this. This is the spring it goes down into it and then the next light shows the tunnel itself that was carved out.

This is the time to see how narrow this tunnel is. This tunnel was built during the reign of Hezekiah in Israel around 700 A.D. he was fearful of the Assyrians that were invading and he didn't want the Syrians don't have access to the waters of the get home. Spring and so he had people dig deep tunnel underneath the old city, so goes outside the city walls around this area of the spring that was fortified and it comes into the city so they can have water. It's fascinating.

You can actually see that there was an inscription that describes how they did it on this ancient Hebrew description but they had people digging from opposite ends.

They came and met in the middle. People wonder how they pull off this engineering feat. It's a fascinating place you can go there now and at the end of it is the pool of solo and they discovered in 2004.

This is where the pool shalom is and I found these ancient steps so people could go down. This would've been a place that people could've could have bay. This is the place where where the man was sent to come and and will and wash the mud out of his eyes. What's interesting about this is at the pool of sin alone was a very important piece of archaeology in reference to the Festival of Tabernacles or is called the feast of blue's in just a couple chapters earlier. Jesus is in the midst of the festival and this is this is just a little bit earlier. John chapter 7, as they are concluding the part of the festival. That was a seven day water ceremony is very interesting. They would they would for seven days they would draw water.

The priest would from the pool of shalom and they carry a golden pitcher full of the water to the temple and is the priest near the temple.

The shofar was blown and they sang and they did this for seven days and on the seventh day they did it seven times priest bringing a golden pitcher of water out of the pool of Siloam with all of its history and then take it up to the temple and it was on that last day when they were enacting all of this that in John chapter 7 just a couple chapters earlier, when we are John chapter 7 verse 37 on the last day of the feast of the great day. Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone, first let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures is set out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, so Jesus was saying I'm the fulfillment of the water ceremony of the festival of bones and then just just shortly thereafter he meets a blind man. He tells her to go and wash at the pool, shalom, and we watch as the mud out of his eyes. That famous pool that was the ending point of Hezekiah's famous tub tunnel and a very very public place where everybody would see suddenly the blind man could see the story about see in the blind man progressively sees more and more of who Jesus is. In verse 11, he just called him a man.

The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes, but by verse 17 he said he is a prophet, and by verse 38, he said, Lord, Lord, I believe in the blind man worshiped him. Jesus give us your eyes so we can see even in the days of pandemic. The way you see let's begin looking for the good that can come even that which is devastating and wicked. God's redemptive and can come and bring light out when you least expect it. Most moving stories of the tail of Corrie 10 boom as she describes in her book hiding place was about time that she and her sister Betsy had found themselves in the flea ridden derricks of the raisin ravens brought concentration concentration camp. She and her family had been hiding Jews and eventually were caught, arrested and taken to the concentration camp and they were in barracks 28 and if she tells the story. The place was was reeking and suddenly she felt something biting her leg sleeves. She writes I cried Betsy. The place is coming with them here near another one. I wailed Betsy. How can we live in such a place.

Show us show us it was said. She writes so matter-of-factly it took me a second to realize that she was praying, her sister Betsy was praying show us Lord, how can we exist in such a place that she finally said Cory is given us the answer.

Something they were reading earlier from first Thessalonians in the New Testament, they came to it and read the text go on reading through this first Thessalonians, until they came to this. Rejoice always, pray constantly give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, and Betsy said that Cory that's what we need to do when you give thanks even in this circumstance, even in the circumstances of the flea infested place.

Cory said I cannot. I'll try to give thanks for everything, but not for the fleas and Betsy insisted we have to be thankful in every circumstance.

Later one day Betsy was wondering along with Corrie 10 boom why it was that the guards never came in their barracks so they never found their hidden Bibles. They never discovered the secret worship services that they were having. There were so anointed they never heard them praying their prayers were encouraging one another and with the guards. For some reason never came in and Betsy discovered it one day because she heard some of the guards talking and one of them said it's time to go in there check out the barracks and she heard one of the guards say I'm not going in there.

The places infested with fully and they found out there was a blessing in the flea's everybody's being impacted differently during these days and this season will come to an end, but in our lives were going to face times that feel very dark, and Jesus is the light of the world.

Let's ask him Jesus, how you see this even when things built half. I believe you will begin to open your eyes that in the midst of the darkness. His light shines and out of the toughest times God brings about good for his own name's sake.

Jesus loves you, he sees you and he has the power to bring good out of these days you'll see that the gospel now, in writing, and you're listening to sharing the today's teaching. Here's mud in your eyes it's from the series piece in a pandemic, the power of seeing the crisis through the eyes of Jesus. Very timely series for the state of our world and Pastor Alan is back with us in the studio in just a moment with today's closing thought stressed out his option on the stresses of life will always bring stressful season their spiritual life can be hostile to be stressed stressful times. Trust in the morning during stressful times is no better place to turn the psalmist, some for thinking during stressful times for every season season is coming down today and stressful times when you give today. We will send you today's special offer and were happy to send this to you is our things from shearing like ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 or come to our website sharing the.org back with Pastor Alan and that this is an interesting title but a very timely message that were in here here's mud in your eyes and so what's our closing thought you want to leave with listeners when we feel like all of life is gotten blurry. It would seem like the last thing that you would want is for something to be even more confusing. So the irony of the story Daniel is that a blind man.

The last thing he needs is mud and as I mud doesn't clear things up, and I think part of the message for CE is not just the unusual sign that Jesus used in all of its implications, but to say that sometimes when things are already unclear, and then they get muddier. It makes us aware of how much we need Jesus.

So here's what we really all need and then spiritually speaking is not just to think, well, I don't see life clearly but to have it where we realize we absolutely are lost and can't see it all were blind without revelation from Jesus Christ especially want to say to anyone listening now you feel that life is muddy.

Jesus is the answer and he opened weights to clear your vision spiritually by a miracle except his love, except his grace today. Here's mud in your eye is in the end to say Jesus to clear everything up. This is been sharing the right listener supported production of sharing the